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Silver Mugoya, a resident of Busolwe in Uganda's eastern district of Butaleja, is a road crash survivor who lost his left leg in a nasty collision.

The crash involved a vehicle and a motorcycle at a pavement drop-off at the Sleeping Baby roundabout along the Mbale-Tororo Road.

“Since [roadside vendors] had used the entire stretch of the pavement to display their merchandise, I could not help but walk on the pavement edge, closer to the road. When the crash occurred, I was in a no-man’s zone, barely hanging on,” recalls Mugoya.

He believes that if he had been walking on the pavement at the time of the crash, he would have escaped unhurt.

Mbale City is struggling to recover pavements from the business community. (Photo By Javier Silas Omagor)

Looking back, he feels a sense of resentment at the fact that while the vendors' merchandise remained intact, he lost a limb as a result of being forced to walk off the occupied pavement.

Mugoya and other road users of Mbale, especially pedestrians, wonder how the paved sidewalks in the city have been 'hijacked' and occupied by vendors at the expense of road users’ safety.

"It is worryingly becoming a huge road crash risk to us as road users, particularly pedestrians," says Mugoya.

"Especially during daytime, pedestrians almost have no walkways, crossways or sideways to navigate through the city.”

Inside Mbale Regional Referral Hospital, Agnes Wabuloko received treatment after being knocked down by a car that skidded off the road along Market Avenue Street.

“It was a slight contact from the car but when I lost control, I fell onto the metallic bars and iron sheets put on display on the pavement by a certain hardware operator there," she said.

As a result, Wabuloko sustained deep head injuries after falling on the sharp merchandise.

“It is a pity that we, the pedestrians, have to pay for the lost pavements of this city using our blood, legs, arms and even life," says another resident, Deo Wambi.

'We are in the jungle'

Davis Onek, a road engineer with Plinth Road Construction Company, says the geometry of a roadway and its sidewalks matters.

It plays a role in road crash frequencies as well as the crash severity level in especially urban settings.

“Take into consideration a scenario where a road sign is covered or obstructed by a business advert hoarding, or automobiles parked on the pavements," says Onek.

Traders have taken over most of the pavements in Mbale City. (Photo By Javier Silas Omagor)

"The drivers and pedestrians, including all the other road users, will not be able to make right decisions and could end up in crashes."

Beyond Mbale, road crashes resulting from 'hijacked' pavements happen in other parts of the country.

Often times, drivers usually are the first to take the blame when a crash happens — from assumed recklessness and speeding to distraction and driving under the influence.

Yet, in some cases, crashes happen due to brake failure, a tire blowout or even hydroplaning (due to poor drainage on the road).

Other times, like for the two freak incidents involving Mugoya and Wabuloko, pavements 'hijacked' by overly enthusiastic vendors and ones that are poorly managed can be the cause of a road crash.

An evening drive through the streets of Mbale city provides disturbing pictures of cracked pavements, some walkways turned into open bars, restaurants, small markets, garages, or parking yards.

Some traders have even erected advertising hoardings and signposts on these pedestrian-mobility safe zones, blocking off pedestrians.

And as dusk sets in, street children and adults settle down on the pavements in preparation for some shuteye under Mbale's night sky.

“Being a pedestrian is the most risky thing on our city roads today," says 58-year-old Hakim Watenyeli. "To walk over there and come back home safe, you need to tread carefully."

Watenyeli lost a friend to a pavement crash when an errant motorcycle rider (boda boda) forced his way onto the walkway during heavy traffic caused by a procession and knocked him dead.

“For every year that passes by, there is nothing left behind for pedestrians on our city roads,” says Watenyile.

"We are in the jungle where survival is for the fittest.” 

Road safety (or the absence of it) has become a global public health concern.

Maria Nkalubo, the principal operations officer of Emergency Medical Services at the health ministry, identifies children, elderly and the diffrently abled (PWDs) as the most affected by mismanagement of pavements.

Maria Nkalubo, the Principal Operations Officer, Emergency Medical Services at the Ministry of Health identified children, elderly and persons with disability as the most affected. (Photo By Javier Silas Omagor)

The abuse or misuse of pavements in Mbale city contradicts with the pillars on safer roads and mobility under the UN's decade-long campaign on road safety.

The goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety (for 2011-2020) was to reduce the number of road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2020.

This was to be achieved by implementing road safety activities in the areas of road safety management, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer road users and postcrash response — which are the five pillars.

Under one of these pillars, the documented measures to achieve this included improved safety-conscious planning, design, construction and operation of roads as well as enforcement.

The activities under this pillar included encouraging governments to set a target to “eliminate high risk roads by 2020”, identify hazardous road locations or sections where excessive numbers or severity of crashes occur and take corrective measures accordingly.

'Politically connected'

Local authorities are scrambling to address the peculiar phenomenon [pavement-related crashes], yet find themselves grappling with more questions than answers. 

"It's unlike anything we have seen before," remarks Rogers Taitika, the Elgon region Police spokesperson. "We are exploring all avenues, but at this point, we are at a loss."

Taitika observes that besides illicitly taking away the pavements from the pedestrians, the perpetrators go on to limit the road width since their activities spill over into the roadway, increasing the risk of road crashes.

Out of every six road crashes that occur in Mbale city on a daily basis, three are pavement-related, according to the Elgon Police records as of 2023.

Mbale city mayor Cassim Namugali is convinced that the UN Global Plan can only be achieved by a multifaceted approach.

Pedestrians desperately struggle to find their pathway on a pavement which is being swamped by vendors in Mbale city. (Photo By Javier Silas Omagor)

“There is a lot of politicization of issues, including what would rather be beneficial for all such as road safety, and that weakens the enforcement not only in Mbale but across the country."

The major says "our enforcement is willing and able but these erratic business operators on the pavements are politically connected".

"So when you try to correct them, a certain politician will call claiming that his or her voters are being harassed."

Government speaks out

Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, the Minister of Works and Transport, confirms that the concerns about Mbale city’s 'hijacked' pavements reached his desk and that the matter is being prioritized.

He says pavements not only provide safety to the pedestrians, but also occassionally act as the clear zone for errant motorists within the city unlike highways where there are forgiving road designs.

The term 'clear zone' is used to designate the unobstructed, traversable area provided beyond the edge of the travel way for the recovery of the errant vehicle.

The clear zone includes shoulders, bicycle lanes and any additional space, if available. The greater the width of the clear zone, the more room is available for an errant driver to recover before hitting an object.

This means a greater clear zone means a safer road.

In order to bring back order and tranquility on the pavements in Mbale and across the country, minister Wamala directed road agencies to evict all traders operating on walkways and road reserves.

While also calling for co-operation from the public, he says the move is aimed at improving road safety as well as road infrastructure.

“I just want to make this clear: trading on a road reserve, walkway or pavement is illegal. Whoever breaches it commits an offence and is liable of conviction to a fine not exceeding 168 currency points or seven years imprisonment or both.”

To ensure the implementation of the transport minister’s directive, relevant authorities have confirmed to New Vision that actions are already being considered while some are already at the initiation stage.

Taking action

John Bosco Ssejemba, the director of road infrastructure protection at Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), reveals that operations have started on a small scale in the capital Kampala and that cities such as Mbale will also benefit soon.

“I want to confirm that operations are already in place for us to clear these illegal activities once and for all," he says.

Operating a business on pavements or road reserves is illegal and could lead to seven years imprisonment. (Photo By Javier Silas Omagor)

The acting director of Traffic and Road Safety in the Uganda Police Force, Lawrence Niwabiine, says business operations on the pavements contravenes the Roads Act and Section 66 of the Penal Code Act while "undermining an intervention to reduce the carnage."

Niwabiine explains that the misuse of sidewalks contributes to the 4,806 Ugandans who died in road crashes in 2023, accounting for 13 deaths per day.

This was an increase compared to the 4,534 deaths recorded in 2022.

In Mbale city, the case of 'stolen' pavements continues to baffle authorities and captivate the community's attention.

And until the problem is solved once and for all, road users are advised to tread carefully and remain vigilant.