Vendor’s death leaves Kampala authority with Shs123.916 million drainage liability

Olive Basemera’s street vending business earned an estimated 30,000 Ugandan shillings a day. After her death in an open drainage channel, that modest income became the basis for compensation to five dependants. The High Court in Kampala has ordered Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to pay her family Shs123.916 million, according to The Independent Uganda’s report of the judgment.

Basemera, 37, drowned in the Nakivubo channel on August 4, 2017, during heavy rain as she tried to avoid a city enforcement operation. Her family argued that enforcement officers had pursued and threatened her. They also accused KCCA of failing to protect people from the open channel. The authority countered that she was responsible for her death because she fled the enforcement team and entered stormwater.

Liability rested on the unguarded channel

Justice Boniface Wamala found that the family had not established that officers chased Basemera. Their witnesses were not at the scene, and much of their testimony relied on accounts from others or television coverage. A police report confirmed that the drowning had occurred and been investigated, but did not independently establish exactly how it happened.

The court nevertheless held KCCA negligent. Its legal responsibility to build and maintain major drainage infrastructure required precautions against foreseeable danger, the judge found. Heavy rain and flash floods could send water over channels and roads. Guardrails, warning signs and public awareness efforts were among the reasonable safeguards he identified. The use of open drains elsewhere in the world did not excuse leaving them unprotected in a flood-prone setting.

Justice Wamala held that KCCA breached its statutory duty of care by failing to protect road users from falling into open drainage channels.

The ruling also assigned Basemera 30% contributory negligence—the share of responsibility attributed to her own actions. Wamala said she knew she was trading without a licence and acted negligently by trying to avoid arrest and entering stormwater near the channel. That finding reduced the compensation payable to her family.

A small business income shapes the award

For loss of dependency, which compensates relatives for lost financial support, the court estimated Basemera’s net earnings at Shs900,000 a month. Projecting her working life to age 60 produced lost income of Shs248.4 million. The court deducted 30% for her contribution to the accident, then another 30% for income she would have spent on herself. The resulting dependency award was Shs121.716 million.

Her two youngest daughters, Grace Komujuni and Misero Basemera, were each awarded Shs40.6 million. Rose Nalujja, one of the plaintiffs, received Shs30.516 million. Basemera’s grandmother, Dorita Kabahika, and sister, Mary Kansiime, each received Shs5 million. Funeral costs added Shs2.2 million: the family proved expenses of Shs7.2 million, but KCCA had already contributed Shs5 million, which the judge deducted.

The decision follows another financial setback for the authority. Barely a week earlier, Commercial Division Judge Stephen Mubiru ordered KCCA to pay Bisons Consult International Limited Shs1.302 billion for breaching obligations under a 2016 contract to construct eight drainage channels. The contract was signed during former executive director Jennifer Musisi’s tenure.

The wider issue to watch is how unsafe drainage is addressed. In a separate 2021 ruling following vendor Cissy Namukasa’s drowning, the High Court found that government and KCCA had violated residents’ rights through inadequate road and drainage infrastructure. It directed them to report to Parliament within three months on safety measures and comprehensive maintenance plans. The latest judgment puts another financial cost on failures to safeguard that infrastructure.