Traders, leaders link Kisenyi deadly fire to land grabbers

Several traders in Kiganda Zone, Kisenyi II Parish in Kampala Central Division yesterday lost billions of shillings in an early morning fire that gutted their stalls and stores.

By 7am, some of the affected traders were already at the scene of the incident but they couldn’t save anything since all their merchandise had been burnt to ashes.

The Police Fire Brigade also struggled to put out the fire, which had gutted maize mills, poultry feeds stores and maize stores, among others, amid lack of enough water.

READ: Fire guts Kisenyi market

Mr Isa Mugume, a witness and trader, told this publication that the fi re, whose cause had not been established by press time, started at around 4am.

Mr Mugume, however, said he was disappointed that the police did not respond in time. “We called them at 5am and they arrived at 7am. This place is less than a kilometre away from the Police Fire Brigade head offices,” he said.

Mr Mugume and other traders, who talked to this publication, called upon the government to investigate the motive behind the frequent fi res that have destroyed the traders merchandise in the area in the last one year.

The traders said the fire could have been started by individuals whose motive is to grab the land on which the former operate.

“We (traders) have been receiving warnings from unscrupulous individuals, asking us to vacate this piece of land or else await what is coming our way,” Mr Mugume said.

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Another trader, who preferred to only be called Nakandi and lost several bags of maize flour, wondered why they have been a target of frequent fi res.

“Our merchandise has been burnt three times. The first time, fire gutted our stores in February 2022, the second one was in August last year and now this is the third one,” she said.

Traders’ pain

“What pains me most is that we use loans to run these businesses. I have lost about Shs30 million in this particular outbreak. If there is someone who is interested in this piece of land, they should tell us to leave instead of causing this suffering to the poor,” Ms Nakandi said as tears rolled down her chicks.

Mr Ramathan Manduwa, the chairperson of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party for Kiganda Zone, Kisenyi II Parish, also claimed that the arsonists could be sponsored by those interested in the land.

“We have been witnessing fire outbreaks in this very place every six months. Those interested in this land should be open instead of hiding behind fi res,” he said.

Bishop David Livingstone, a pastor at Christianity Focus Church, which is adjacent to the burnt stores, said there are many questions that must be answered in regard to the cause of the fire.

“People are wondering; what is the cause of these fires? Who is responsible? Why did it take the fire brigade two hours to reach the venue yet they are a kilometre away,” Bishop Kiganda said, adding, “I arrived from Entebbe at around 7:30am and the fi re was still destroying people’s merchandise. It raises many questions and makes one believe that allegations that some people are making are true.”

He also said such incidents may force the affected traders to resort to committing crime to make ends meet. “Most of these traders rely on loans and such fires put them in danger as they have to pay back the money to the banks and also fend for their families,” Bishop Kiganda said.

Police tasked Mr Salim Uhuru, the Kampala Central Division mayor, urged police to get to the root cause of the fire.

 “It’s not the first fire, not the second fire, not the third and not the fourth. It’s becoming too much. We shall get the reports from the police, but if there are any evil people behind this act of burning people, they should stop it,” Mr Uhuru said. Mr Godfrey Okobo, the operations officer at the Police Fire Brigade, said they did what they could to put out the fire.

“We received a call at around 5:31am and our response was immediate only that there were three fi res at the same time. We responded and on arrival, our responders said the fire was serious and that they needed backup,” Mr Okobo said, adding, “We had to call our stations within here such as Kawempe, Bweyogerere, Nateete, Kabalagala and our main station. The fi re kept increasing. We called Entebbe and Mukono for more help.”

He said the makeshift structures with materials such as iron sheets and wood made the fi re spread easily and also difficult to put out. Mr Okobo said while the cause of the fire had not been established, he said reports about previous fires reported in the same area pointed to electric short circuits.

He also dismissed allegations that four children had perished in the fire.

Sergeant Elly Walusimbi, the community liaison officer at Fire Brigade headquarters, said: “We are trying our best to know what caused this fire.” “We responded immediately when we got a call but depending on how Traders, leaders link Kisenyi deadly fi re to land grabbers

What traders say

 “What pains me most is that we use loans to run these businesses. I have lost about Shs30 million in this particular outbreak. If there is someone who is interested in this piece of land, they should tell us to leave instead of causing this suffering to the poor,” Nakandi, affected trader

Police Fire Brigade attempt to put out the fire. A child whose parents’ property was destroyed by the fire at the scene. The fi re spreads so fast, even if you reach the scene after two minutes, you will find that it has burnt 50 percent of the property,” Mr Walusimbi said.

He advised traders to cooperate with the fi re brigade in the investigations and asked them to come for free training on how to control fires.

 “Come and we train you how to control fire free of charge, so that we tell you that when a fire starts, this is what you’re supposed to do,” he said.

Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, the deputy spokesperson of Kampala Metropolitan Police Area, said the fire brigade team could not easily access the area due to lack of access routes caused by congestion.