City authority okays plan to rename streets, roads

A plan by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to rename all city streets and roads currently named after colonial masters and other foreign dignitaries is on the cards.
The speaker of KCCA council,  Ms Zahra Maala Luyirika, yesterday told Monitor that the process will start in January next year.

“That matter was brought before council but we referred it to the physical planning committee. The committee has been working with the directorate of physical planning and they will be tabling a report before council on January 13, 2022 on renaming city streets and roads,” Ms Luyirika said.

She noted that the council supports decolonising city streets and roads, and naming them after natives who made significant contribution towards the development of the country.
The KCCA Act mandates the council to initiate, formulate policy and enact legislation for the management of the capital city.
Ms Luyirika made the revelation following yesterday’s meeting where city lawyer and also a special advisor to Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II , Mr Apollo Makubuya, presented a petition to the KCCA’s top leaders about renaming city streets and roads.

However, Mr Makubuya didn’t delve into the details of the meeting and referred us to the KCCA’s technical team.
The KCCA’s acting spokesperson, Ms Juliet Bukirwa, confirmed the meeting but declined to disclose details. She said  the executive director would make a communication on the matter.
The meeting was a follow-up to an earlier petition where Mr Makubuya petitioned the then Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, on June 25 2020. 
The petition was signed by 5,200 people with Mr Makubuya as chief petitioner.

The petitioners implored the  Parliament to remove symbols, street names, monuments and other geographical features that represent a legacy of colonial conquest, exploitation and impunity.
“…the petitioners strongly believe that the continued public display  of colonial iconography which glorifies individuals responsible for the brutalisation, subjugation and humiliation of colonial people’s in Uganda [and elsewhere] is a slap in the face of the many brave people that fought for the political independence of Africa from the 15th Century until the late1960s,” the petition reads in part.

They argued that colonial iconography not only offends fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals and groups from cruel inhuman and degrading treatment but reinforces and celebrates a culture of colonial supremacy, domination and impunity.
“…remove street names and monuments that celebrate and immortalise colonial subjugators such as Brig Gen Trevor Ternan, Lord Frederick Lugard, Maj Gen Henry Colville, Commissioner Harry George Galt and the Kings African Rifles who were notorious in their inhumane and degrading treatment of the colonised peoples in the Uganda Protectorate,” the petition adds.

The petitioners recommended that Parliament makes comprehensive policies and laws to streamline the naming or renaming of geographical features, streets and public places by a representative body of eminent Ugandans in a manner that addresses the legacy of colonialism and oppression.
They also asked government to revisit the school curriculum, content and methodologies on Uganda’s struggle against colonial rule and meaning of independence to ensure that the history of the country is taught in its entirety rather than which glorifies the colonial order and demeans those that resisted it in any form or were subjugated by it.

In 2017, KCCA council headed by Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago renamed Nakivubo Mews after former Kampala City mayor and businessman John Ssebaana Kizito.
John Ssebaana Kizito road stretches from the Clock Tower and joins Namirembe road at the Ham shopping ground. Most of the city roads are named after foreign personalities.
In September this year, councillors tabled a motion to rename one of the city roads after deceased businessman Bulaimu Muwanga Kibirige, alias BMK, for his contribution towards development of the country.

CONSIDERATIONS
Parties interested in proposing a new name or replacement name for a road are required to complete a Road Naming Proposal Form. Once completed, the form is submitted to KCCA for evaluation.
The proposed name is in accordance with Kampala City’s road naming guidelines and KCCA has power to approve the name.
The name also has to relate to an official public or private road under the authority’s powers.
In the case of naming of new roads, it is a requirement that naming submissions contain a brief background of their origin.
 
 Developers of gated or restricted entry developments that contain internal roads may also apply to KCCA for approval of these internal street names.
Developers meet the costs of erecting signposts with street names on private roads.