Police in Kampala have confirmed one person dead after soil caved into a construction site in Kisenyi II on Friday morning at 9:00am.

The deceased, only identified as Kato, succumbed to injuries at Doctors Clinic, Mengo, shortly after the incident at a construction site at Mbiro Zone, Kafumbe-Mukasa Kisenyi II, Central Division in Kampala City.

Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Deputy Police Spokesperson, said the proprietor of the site remains unknown but that two people were rescued from the debris and rushed to hospital. However, one succumbed to the injuries.

He explained that the body was conveyed to the City Mortuary at Mulago as investigations into the incident continue and added that efforts are underway to track down the site engineers. 

According to the Kampala Capital City Authority Council (KCCA) Deputy Executive Director, Eng. David Luyimbazi, works on the site were stopped recently but work somehow went on.

“It’s a deep excavation with a potential of collapsing any time because all sides are vertical deep foundations which are not safe. This site was stopped maybe because of being unsafe but I am yet to establish the facts,” he said.

Incidents of buildings collapsing have been rampant in Kampala with authorities attributing it to fake and unapproved construction plans and use of minimised or substandard materials.

On 6th May 2022, at least three people died after a building collapsed in Makindye, Ssabagabo division in Wakiso district. The police confirmed eight other people were retrieved alive from the collapsed building and are receiving medical attention.

According to eyewitnesses, those recovered were from buildings neighbouring the collapsed structure.

On 17th May 2022, a 19 year old builder identified as Nsamba died when a storey building collapsed in Katale, Bukwenda , Wakiso District. Two others were rescued in the process.

Luyimbazi blames such occurrences on investors who often by pass KCCA to construct illegal structures.

He, however, admits that the authority has not been aggressive on such proprietors.

“It’s true that there is some reluctance in policy implementation but sometimes when a site is [cordoned] off, we may not know what is happening inside. It is incumbent upon developers to do what is right,” Luyimbazi said.