KAMPALA: From potholes to fibre poles and cables

Kampala the city known for potholes but now a city of Fibre poles and cocktail of cables

COMMENT | SAM TINKA | I first came to Kampala in 1998 after I finished my S.6 exams. As usual, it’s during long vacations that one would visit relatives. I stayed with my brother in the Bugolobi flats and also with another brother in the Kyambogo estate.  Over the years one common denominator I observed about Kampala city was potholes.

There are those potholes that became a trademark of the city, like the potholes at Katwe opposite Total Petrol station, one near Uganda Bati in the industrial area, and another close to Securex on Bandali Rise. These are potholes that they seal and, in a month’s time, are back bigger in size compared to when they were worked on.

I will save my views on the pothole issues for another time, to allow this article to concentrate on the new crazy look of Kampala as a result of millions of poles and spaghetti-like cables.

In the era of digital transformation, smart cities are emerging as the future of urban development. With the increasing need for connectivity, data analysis, and efficient management of resources, fibre optic infrastructure has become essential for the seamless functioning of smart city applications.

The advantages of fibre are numerous and undeniable. From its lightning-fast data transmission capabilities to its ability to handle large bandwidth requirements, fibre paves the way for real-time data analysis, improved citizen services, and enhanced sustainability.

However, the poles and cables installed in Kampala by internet service providers have turned Kampala from being a confused city into an ugly, bad-looking and extremely disorganized capital city.  Drive along Port Bell Road, especially near American stores; what you see on the left side looks like a slum in Bangladesh. Which raises several related issues for me.

• Environmental degradation. Some Uganda districts outlawed the cutting of trees to burn charcoal; this was done in the name of saving and protecting the environment. Where are these millions of logs coming from? Are the internet service providers replanting trees or running any sort of CSR, even if the service is outsourced, to plant more trees?
• Safety concerns. In many places, these poles not only look weaker but also fall often, yet they are placed near electricity poles. Every time UEDCL teams come to service power lines, they get difficulty accessing their own poles. In some places, it’s even hard to distinguish between electric and fibre cable.
• Smart city campaign. In 2024, KCCA ran an operation with UNRA and other environmentalists. I know of so many people that lost their buildings and flowers and trees, especially along the southern bypass, in the name of a smart city. Green spaces in Kampala were gazetted. No one bothered with internet service providers who erected hundreds of poles and cables that make Kampala look ugly. In 2024, the then KCCA director said, “We rolled out a smart city campaign enhancing infrastructure with ICT and focusing on technology, infrastructure, and people’s well-being – T-I-P.” Is this the smart campaign she meant?
• The look and feel. Kampala’s look and feel is horrible. We can learn from our neigbours Rwanda. What welcomes you into Kigali is order, beauty, and a fresh breeze. Why is it difficult for Kampala leaders to get Kampala’s CBD well organized.
• Boda Boda craze. If you want to know how beautiful or ugly Kampala is, be at the Jinja Road traffic lights – Kitgum House – at around 6pm. Certainly you will see more than 500 boda-bodas on all sides of the road, competing with motorists and pedestrians and breaking traffic rules. In 2014, I went to Mulago to see a patient who was a victim of a boda boda accident. In that hospital ward, there were 29 patients; 27 were boda-boda victims, and the 28^th patient was a boy who fell off his bicycle. The 29^th patient was also a child who fell from a guava tree. The rest were boda boda casualties.

The poles and cables erected in the whole of Kampala and surrounding districts have sealed the fate of the beauty of Kampala as a capital city of Uganda.

If Churchill resurrected today and visited Nakasero market, for example, which is surrounded by rubbish heaps, he would alter what he had hitherto named Uganda as a Pearl of Africa. He would without hesitation name Uganda the “garbage dump of Africa”.

How can fresh, tasty pineapples, oranges, pawpaws, passion fruits, mangos at Nakasero market share the same space with houseflies, rats, and maggots?

Dear ED-KCCA, Mayor Eng. Balimwezo and your new team, do something different.  Find a solution, be it short-term or mid-term for the fibre data transmission lines.

The current poles and cables don’t only make the city look ugly, but they also send a message that the city leaders, be they technical or political or incompetent, are too detached from the real world. Please find a way of investing in underground ducts that can be used by all service providers so that the city is saved from ugly overhead cables that make Kampala look less than a capital city.

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