City of potholes(yet we are spending money to mend the "image" of the Ssaabagabe who continues to lavish himself with $400K Range Rovers, $300K Hummers, $1M Mercedes, etc -- at our expense, and that of the next generation. Some "vision" this is!)![]()
When our honourable ministers make a strong case for sleeker, stronger vehicles because their current vehicles are no match for potholes all over Kampala�s roads, they should be taken seriously. Potholes are on the rampage everywhere.
As Kampala City Council (KCC) takes an unending nap, these potholes are making it a point to consign vehicles to scrapyards through accidents on city roads.
Ploughed gardens?
Take for instance the short stretch between Bukoto and Ntinda. A drive through here will shake your faith and spine to jelly, or give you a mean stomach ache if you are fresh from lunch.
Dispersed randomly like simsim in a newly-ploughed garden and measuring about a foot in depth, these potholes will test your driving skills. Perhaps your acrobatic skills too.
As if to add insult to injury, the stench of sewage from a burst sewer in Bukoto, around the turn-off to Kisaasi arrests you and holds you in check for a few minutes if you are ensnared in a traffic jam. Usually, motorists along this route have two options: slackening the pace of the vehicle so as to scrape through the �manholes� in slow motion or step on the accelerator and subject the vehicle�s tyres and shock absorbers to hell. This is the �politics� of potholes.
Enormous potholes
Namuwongo road, from the railway tracks past the Monitor offices to the trading centre is potholes galore. Circular, oval, square, pentagon or pyramid shapes all interlocked like tracks of cattle in mud. They stretch as far as the eye can see. Parallel to Namuwongo road is 7th Street. The potholes here give the impression of a recently-cleared minefield in Fallujah, and one would be for given for dubbing them gullies. To tell the difference would be asking too much.
Now that the rains are back, craters have seized control of the road with vengeance. If you own a saloon car, you are better off driving through a stone quarry.
Pedestrians on the pavement are often showered with the filthy water as vehicles splash through these small lakes.
On the Mukwano road offshoot that joins Kibuli road, potholes are cramped like sardines in a 20-metre stretch. The potholes hit you in the face like a rude slap. Bodaboda chaps swerve from one side to the other as they dodge these potholes.
The segment from Kibuli Demonstration School to the Kabalagala-Muyenga road junction is awful. The road is rugged and rutted. The ugliness is obscene. Here the potholes and inadequate tarmac compete viciously for the motorists� attention, and in so doing, the innocent pedestrian on the pavement suffers. He or she is instantly banished to the bush or gate of any nearby office or res idential building and forced to watch in bewilderment the drama of drivers desperately groping for an even surface.
Lying defiantly at the intersection of the two roads is the mother of all potholes in Kampala. The hole stores water from all sorts of places, giving it the due name, lake Kibuli. The number of cars it has grounded since it developed some three years ago is uncountable.
Very bad spots
The situation only gets worse along Gayaza road. The section especially between Kubbiri and Mpererwe adds a new meaning to the word pothole. Traffic cops no longer flag down cars here. They just watch in awe as motorists clench their teeth while outmanoeuvring the ugly openings.
If there is any road in Kampala that should be closed, it is the one that runs through Bombay Gardens in Old Kampala and grudgingly joins Sir Apollo Kaggwa road at a dangerous 90-degree angle.
The road is one large ditch. With its craters measuring about two feet in depth, this road stands out from the rest. I watched in amazement as a commuter taxi waded through this lake, half of it practically swallowed. Surprisingly its engine did not stall. This road takes the title for the worst road in Kampala.
That list doesn�t end here. Kisenyi-Rubaga road is another of motorists� nightmares. Gigantic potholes have made the road so rutted that a garden of sweet potatoes might be described as even in comparison. The potholes on the Kasubi-Nabulagala road shake a car so vigorously that you may mistake the experience for an earthquake.
Even the rich cry
You probably thought such a posh suburb as Kololo was devoid of gullies. Don�t be fooled. Get to Ibis Vale in front of Population Services International, George Street towards the Russian Embassy, and Yakobo Lane, and you�ll see potholes you never imagined existed. Banana suckers can sprout and grow well in these potholes.
Kyadondo II road that joins Makerere road to Sir Apollo Kaggwa road is another big joke. Drive through Buziga near Munyonyo or from Nsambya hospital to the American Embassy and you�ll encounter another brand of ditches on the road. These ones are guaranteed to test the mechanical resista nce of a vehicle and assess how long motorists can clench their teeth.
These roads have a full package of contours, gullies, ditches and flaked spots. Whereas the stretch from Lugogo by-pass to Acacia Avenue is relatively smooth, a ride through Kisaasi and Mutundwe is more of a mauling than an easy day out. The potholes on this road are simply heart-rending.
Hard to describe
Lungujja is another place with notorious roads. All the routes off the main road defy description.
Near the Old Kampala police station, there are six killer potholes squashed together, which makes driving a depressing art. Further on there are multiple gullies near Old Kampala Senior Secondary School. Potholes have become the standard mode for describing the geographical locations of these two institutions.
Since Columbus Olanya, the Capital FM comedian, went on a hunger strike over a gaping pothole on Kira road, the road has been fixed and is relatively smooth. Perhaps that is the only way to get the city council to fix potholes.
EndsNew Vision: Sunday, 5th June, 2005
At what point, do you suppose, will our politicians realize that re-building roads with say a 20-year lifespan standard is the least expensive option in the long term? Yet, these same fellows dreaming of increasing tourism, what a pipe-dream!
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