By KT Reporter
Members of Parliament have raised alarm over a string of fatal accidents and injuries at road construction sites in Mukono Municipality under the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development Programme (GKMA-UDP), warning that infrastructure development must not come at the cost of human life.
At least four people have died since construction began in September 2024, a grim reality that lawmakers on the Presidential Affairs Committee encountered firsthand during a monitoring visit to Mukono and Kira municipalities on Friday.
An Environment and Social Safeguards Summary Report compiled by Mukono Municipality’s technical team shows that two workers died while on duty at sites operated by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), raising concerns about occupational safety and the right to secure working conditions.
The other two deaths occurred at sites managed by Stirling Construction Company. One man was reportedly shot while attempting to siphon fuel from a tractor, while another drowned after falling into an unattended drainage channel.
Beyond the fatalities, the report documents 11 serious injuries, 72 minor injuries, and 18 near-miss incidents, suggesting systemic safety gaps that critics say could have been prevented.
Addressing the committee, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Greater Kampala, Monica Edemachu, said the government had intervened by suspending works and carrying out a comprehensive safety assessment.
She noted that contractors were required to undergo mandatory safeguards training and could only resume operations after implementing stricter safety measures. Edemachu added that similar incidents had not been reported in other municipalities implementing the GKMA-UDP, intensifying scrutiny over compliance with safety standards in Mukono.
Yet on the ground, anxiety persists, particularly in residential stretches along the Nasuuti-Nakabago-Ntawo road, where residents say open drainage channels have been left exposed despite the contractor, Stirling, indicating that works in the area were complete. For parents, traders, and schoolchildren who navigate these roads daily, the hazards have turned routine movement into a calculated risk.
Project consultants have already recommended revisions to the drainage designs, but the contractor is yet to implement them. Mukono Town Clerk Francis Byabagambi warned that the delayed redesign could ultimately inflate costs for the municipality, a burden likely to be borne by taxpayers.
Providing a progress update, Eng. Stephen Kibuuka of UB Consultants told legislators that roads managed by Stirling, including Nasuuti-Nakabago-Ntawo, Bajjo-Seeta, Serado Link, and Kigunga Link, are 76.81 per cent complete.
Meanwhile, roads under CCCC, Anthony-Kame Annexe, Albert Cook-Cathedral Rise, Kame-Nabuti-Katosi, the Administrative Link, Access Road, and Link Road, stand at 78.3 per cent completion. But lawmakers stressed that progress statistics mean little if human lives remain at risk.
Committee chairperson Alex Byarugaba Bakunda urged contractors to meet deadlines without compromising social and environmental safeguards, emphasising that infrastructure development must never come at the expense of human dignity and safety. He also called for improved street lighting, tree planting, and stronger community protection measures around construction zones.
The road works in Mukono and Kira municipalities form part of the wider GKMA-UDP, a project valued at over 560 million US dollars and financed by the World Bank through a Program-for-Results model, with additional support from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
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