📷 Kampala traders count losses as over 20 arcades flood after Friday downpour

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A Friday, October 31, 2025, morning downpour has left traders in downtown Kampala counting losses after several arcades were flooded.

Several basement shops on different arcades, including Original Shauri Yaako, Ggaggalwala Shauriyako, Nana Centre, Capital Center, Pentagon, Nabukeera, Qualicell, Pentagon, Shamba, Total, Frech Plaza, Ssekaziga and Container Village were flooded.

At the Total and French Plaza, several traders remained stranded outside after the Police blocked them from entering the building for fear that they could easily drown due to the heavy flooding.

Several traders were also injured after they clashed with the Police as they attempted to block them from protesting. The protesters argued that flooding that had led to business losses was due to city tycoon Hamis Kiggundu’s closure of Nakivubo channel, which has always acted as a water catchment hub for the past years, hence minimising flooding in the downtown.

David Mukiibi, the spokesperson of the Nabukeera Plaza, blamed the flooding on ongoing works by Kiggundu, who was controversially allocated the Nakivubo Channel to construct shopping arcades.

“This flooding has been caused by the blocked drainage channel.  Kiggundu has blocked the natural flow of water into the channel, and it's finding its way back into our arcades,” he said.

Yasin Bulunda, one of the traders who was counting losses on Friday, said what hurts them most is the fact that “the arcade owners had just increased their rent by 10%. Now, we have lost almost everything to the floods. We don’t know whether Kiggundu will compensate us for the losses we have made.”

Edward Ntare, the chairperson of the United Arcade Traders Association, said traders were in pain because of the losses they had made.

Kiggundu was controversially given the Nakivubo drainage channel to redevelop it into shopping arcades. Despite the project being halted by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) which issued a stop-work order citing concerns about environmental impact, flooding, construction continues.