Slum life: Where homes double as brothels

Sep 10, 2020

In Kimombasa slum, Mama Angel lives with her two daughters in a one-room house. The bedroom area doubles as a brothel for sex workers at night.

CRIME | SLUMS 

The Kampala slums of Kimombasa in Bwaise and Kawempe, Kikubamutwe in Makindye division, and Kisenyi, a stone's throw from the city centre, are homes to thousands who take advantage of the cheap housing and easy access to the city centre.

Unfortunately, these slums have also become a haven for thieves, a cover for prostitution and a thriving drug trafficking business.

In fact, some of these slums derive their names from the crimes associated with them.

History of names

Godfrey Oguttu, who was born and has lived in Kikubamutwe all his life, says the place was notorious for thieves who would raid the nearby plush neighbourhood of Muyenga, Makindye, Kabalagala and Kansanga.

"Sometimes they would be trailed to this place and as a punishment, their heads would be smashed as a deterrent to others," Oguttu says.

However, over a period of time, the name has been given a different meaning by the prostitutes who use it when asking their clients for unprotected sex.

Kimombasa in Bwaise, on the other hand, derived its name from Mombasa, Kenya's coastal town.

"This was a wetland, but we are told in the early 1970s, some sex workers who had travelled from Mombasa and got involved in sex work, retired and settled here with a lot of money.

They constructed some houses and slowly recruited the locals into the trade.

The name thus developed and we have known it for that," says Maria, who runs a pork joint in the area.

When dusk falls, prostitution seems to overshadow any other activity in the slums


Kimombasa is prone to floods and has the cheapest accommodation in the area. A single room is between sh10,000 and sh30,000.

Criminals' hide-out

According to Kawempe district Police commander Siraje Bakileke, Kimombasa is a hub and hide-out for hard-core criminals.

"The place has become a notorious hide-out for in the bars and these bars operate 24 hours! They wait for darkness to pounce on the innocent residents," Bakileke adds.

"Some of the thugs who terrorise the neighbourhood are the unemployed youth, who loiter around during the day, playing cards and taking drugs.

Most men spend their time in the bars and these bars operate 24 hours! They wait for darkness to pounce on the innocent residents," Bakileke adds.

Prostitution thriving

Most houses double as brothels and bars. Some of the women engage in prostitution in their one-room shacks with their children present, thinking they are too young to understand what is going on.

Prostitution goes on throughout the day and night.  Those involved include children as young as 12 to old women above 40.

Some of the prostitutes disguise their trade, but there are those who openly dress in skimpy clothes and position themselves along the main routes in the area, wooing customers.

Mama Angel has been a resident of Kimombasa, Bwaise for over 30 years.

Kimombasa is just three miles away from Kampala city, along Bombo Road.

She came here in the early 1980s to escape the war in Luwero triangle that saw her entire family wiped out.

When Sunday Vision went in search of some of the longest living residents in the area, most people referred us to her.

Alcohol consumption is a favourite activity for passing time


Mama Angel, who stays in a one-room house, quit the sex trade after she fell in love with one of her clients and has turned her house into a lodge.

According to her, it is meant to supplement her income.

Midway through our interview, some clients walk in. The woman, who is skimpily dressed, asks for a room and pays Mama Angel sh1,000 for the room.

I thought perhaps the woman had rooms somewhere, but was bewildered when Mama Angel told the couple to go behind the curtain that separates the sitting area from the bed.

The two immediately started their activities, seemingly oblivious to our presence.

Mama Angel's three-year-old daughter is also in the room, while another girl, about six years, is doing homework.

The woman asks for bikozesibwa to mean condoms, and without fear that she is exposing her daughter to sex at an early age, sends her to the nearby shop to buy condoms.

I ask her whether the child is not too young to be sent to buy condoms, but she says it is the way she raises money for their food and fees.

Twenty minutes after the couple had finished their business, another man comes into the room and asks for bhangi.

We later learn that Mama Angel is also the biggest bhangi seller in the slum and gets her products from Wakiso.

A stick of bhangi goes for sh300 and it is on high demand here.

With virtually total absence of waste disposal management, slum residents resort to the use of "flying toilets" and defecating in the open


Local leaders, police in dilemma

According to the LCI chairperson of Kimombasa, Noordin Ssentamu, his area has 3,800 residents, but the number increases in the evenings.

He says some of the ladies come from as far as Maganjo, Bombo, Matugga and Nansana to ply their trade here.

"Some hide in the prostitution business to steal from their prospective customers," Ssentamu says.

He says there have been incidences of some women hiding thieves under the beds.

 "They tell you to take off your trousers and show you where to place them and as you are busy with the woman, the thief empties the contents of the trousers," he says.

Ssentamu adds that before the Police intensified their night patrols, stolen phones and wallets were being sold at give-away prices.

The women involved in sex trade have no kind words for the Police, who they accuse of harassing them and in certain cases, taking their hard earned money.

"When they arrest you, they take everything in your pockets and later imprison us," Sharon says.

However, the LC officials are in full of praise for the recent Police operation to continuously rid the area of prostitutes and thieves.

"Ever since Bakileke was appointed, the bars no longer operate till morning as was the case before and the incidents of crimes have gone down tremendously," one officer says.

Hard knock life

The LC officials also say they suffer from sanitation problems. Kimombasa has no piped water.

We learnt that there are only two functioning toilets in the area and the residents have to pay every time they visit one.

Because of the expense, most have resorted to using buckets or polythene bags, popularly known as flying toilets.

They wait for the cover of darkness to throw them into the drainage channels.

And because accommodation is cheap, the tenants are at the mercy of the landlords.

"You cannot complain and when you do, the landlady simply says whoever cannot afford a bucket (to defecate in) is free to look for housing elsewhere," says a resident.

One of the ladies who runs the toilet just behind the Bwaise market has made a fortune.

According to her, she charges between sh200 and 400 per person.

"It depends on what one wants to do. But I also offer showering services."

The sight of used condoms floating on dirty water, dry feaces mixed with garbage is a common sight.

"Kampala Capital City Authority has not contracted any company to collect garbage from our area in the last seven years. People throw garbage wherever they please. It is contaminating water here," Sentamu says.

The presence of brothels in Kimombasa overshadows that of churches.

The only born-again church in the area is Soul Winning Chapel in the middle of a hub of brothels.

Recently, the church was forced to fundraise to buy off a building that had become a haven for prostitutes.

In revenge, the prostitutes dumped a bucket of used condoms at the door of the church.

What happens in Kisenyi

Here, the sight is not any different. Despite the fact that the sprawling slum is being eaten up by recent massive developments like the Tirupati Shopping Mall, the demolition of the bus park, dilapidated mud-and-wattle houses are still common.

According to the Kiganda Zone LC chairperson, Mwasa Mugenyimubi, they are working hand-in-hand with the Police to rid the area of thugs.

"But we still have active dens of prostitutes and thieves," Mugenyimubi says.

There is a zone known for the Karimojong beggars who litter the streets during the day.

Here, accommodation is as cheap assh500 a night, but it is as filthy as a pigsty.

"Landlords do not provide toilets. The rent is only for the house," says Isma Matovu, one of the landlords in the area.

He adds that the commercial toilet facilities are open from 5:00am to 10:00pm.

Beyond that time, finding latrines is a nightmare and the residents have also resorted to flying toilets.

Illegal power

Sunday Vision also learnt that though most houses here were connected to the main power line, they were all illegal connections.

"The supply of electricity in the area is controlled by cartels and electricity is sometimes tapped from established power lines.

Even officials from the electricity distribution company, Umeme, fear disconnecting them because to carry out such disconnection, they must come with armed men," Sentamu says.

Sentamu, however, says not everybody in the slum is bad.

"We have some people who earn a living genuinely."

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