Who is George Agaba?

By Raymond Baguma

GEORGE Ninsiima Agaba, the director of physical planning in the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), is no stranger to controversy.

He previously served in the defunct Kampala City Council (KCC) as deputy director of physical planning. He mysteriously held onto the same post during the transition between the old regime of KCC and the new one KCCA.

Agaba was one of the eight directors who were forwarded to President Yoweri Museveni for appointment to head KCCA.

In his role as director at KCCA, Agaba is known to be overzealous in enforcing the law and issuing 28-day ultimatums before demolitions.

In some interviews, Agaba refers to himself in the third person singular saying: “I don’t see where Agaba is going wrong. I think Agaba is doing his job under the Physical Planning Act and the Public Health Act. If I am breaking a law, someone should say so.”

In September, he issued a list of properties in Kampala that were marked for demolition. He defended his action, saying the authority was demolishing structures in line with the Physical Planning Act.

Since last year when KCCA was established, Agaba has been the centre of focus in the demolition of illegal structures in Kampala.

In November, he said almost 500 buildings were marked for demolition and the number kept growing. From his overall estimate, almost 80% of buildings in Kampala either have no plan or contravene the approved plan.

In a city with such illegal structures, Agaba has the unenviable job of enforcing the law that involves bringing down buildings, which are a source of livelihoods or homes.