Ugandan constitutional rights, duties which are often violated – Part I

What you need to know:

Disaster preparedness. Ugandans are asking, what are the plans the minister or his predecessors have put in place for such an eventuality?

Any Ugandan who went to school and is interested would read and know our constitutional duties and rights. Some of these rights are combined to be enjoyed or performed by each individual. Many of the important duties are entrusted to the government while many of the rights are vested in the citizens and the people.

Some of these rights are combined to the extent that where there is a right, there is a corresponding duty. For instance, as Ugandan citizens we have a constitutional right to be protected together with our property.
Correspondingly, we have duties to respect lawful orders, including loyalty to Uganda. These duties and rights virtually cover every human activity in the land. They are to be found in both central and local regions. They are in either public or private institutions. Should they not be obeyed or become violated, the law intervenes decisively one way or the other. Individual rights are enshrined in Article 50 of the Constitution which provides procedures for their enforcement.

Consequently, whenever a duty is not performed or a right is infringed there is a specified body or person who must be blamed and held liable. This leads to another right to prosecute or sue for correction and compensation.
This brings us to the collapse of a multi-storeyed building in Buziga village, Makindye, in Kampala that led to some unsubstantiated stories to be published about workers who were constructing the same building had been buried alive in the rubble.

One does not need to be a construction engineer to guess the reasons why this happened. For years similar accidents have happened many times in the city with more less the same tragedies. The law imposes a duty on the officials of Kampala Capital City Authority to approve and supervise the plans, construction, engineers and constructor of the building in jurisdiction of the Authority.

It is obvious that KCCA failed to do their duty, to the extent that when the structure collapsed burying the deceased, the report says that the supervising engineer ran from the site instead of guiding the would-be rescuers. It seems no alarm was made loudly in the neighbourhood for the residents to answer the alarm in their tens to help in the rescue even if they were to lift brick by brick.

The few residents who turned up had no one to guide them, no one suggested that they should attempt to do anything or shout for neighbours and other residents to come to the assistance of those buried alive.

Apparently, someone alerted the police about the collapse of the building that even the police were not then aware of the number of people trapped in the rubble. It is reported that the few police personnel who turned up eventually managed to get one tractor and attempted to remove the rubble. They found the task impossible. They seem not to have reported at headquarters to mobilise more helpers from the city. However, those present said they were hearing loud voices in agony calling for help.

Uganda has a minister responsible for disaster preparedness to deal with such emergencies and other calamities. Ugandans are asking, what are the plans the minister or his predecessors have put in place for such an eventuality? Several residents in Kampala have reported less tragic but illegal transactions in which Kampala Capital City Authority leaders, officials and employees commit against them invariably through corruption, abuse of office and nepotism often demanding money in exchange for doing a public duty.

However, the Authorities’ leaders including the minister, Lord Mayor and the executive director always ignore such calls.
In other countries this would be a national tragedy, demanding that the faulting leaders and employees resign and be subjected to public inquiry. However, this is Uganda!
In Part II, we shall discuss other failures and consequences of ignoring the law.