A morning fire that destroyed many traders’ stalls and stores in Kiganda Zone, Kisenyi II Parish, in Kampala Central Division yesterday cost them billions of shillings.
Some of the impacted traders were on the scene of the tragedy by 7 am, but they were unable to save anything because all of their stock had been reduced to ashes.
Due to a lack of water, the Police Fire Brigade also struggled to extinguish the fire, which had destroyed maize mills, chicken feed warehouses, and grain stockpiles, among other things.
The fire, whose origin had not yet been determined as of the time of publication, was reported to have started at 4 am by Mr. Isa Mugume, a witness and dealer.
Mr Mugume, however, said he was disappointed that the police did not respond in time. “We called them at 5am and they arrived at 7am. This place is less than a kilometre away from the Police Fire Brigade head offices,” he said.
In interviews with this website, Mr. Mugume and other traders urged the authorities to look into the cause of the many fires that have destroyed the traders’ goods in the area over the past year.
The traders claimed that those looking to seize the land on which the former operate may have ignited the fire.
“We (traders) have been receiving warnings from unscrupulous individuals, asking us to vacate this piece of land or else await what is coming our way,” Mr Mugume said.
Another trader who wanted to go by the name Nakandi lost numerous bags of maize flour and questioned why their location was frequently targeted by fires.
“Our merchandise has been burnt three times. The first time, fire gutted our stores in February 2022, the second one was in August last year and now this is the third one,” she said.