Kampala — IN Kampala, everywhere you look, buildings, shops and taxi parks are crammed with much more than they can handle. Elizabeth Agiro scrutinises why Kampala is such a magnet in a disorganised way.

WHAT is it with congestion and our society? To an observer, it would seem like there is a magnet, which draws almost everyone and everything to each other and to have a little space between items, would probably amount to an abomination. Everywhere you look - buildings, universities, prisons, shops, taxi parks - are crammed beyond the limit. In the case of buildings, they are usually built too close to the roads, leaving no room for construction of pavements and designated parking slots.

In schools, Budo Junior School has served as the best example of an administration so keen on admitting more students than the facilities can accomodate. Shortly after the inferno at Budo on April 14, in which 20 girls died, pictures in the press revealed the congestion in that dormitory. The destroyed structure, initially a classroom then dormitory, housed 45 pupils with triple decker beds clustered so close to each other, there was hardly space to move between beds. With only one door and no other escape route, it is little wonder that so many girls were trapped inside.

Congestion, however, is not exclusive to boarding schools. A walk around town, for example, will reveal that several retail shops, commercial buildings and streets are crowded. Take Kiyembe Lane for example. It is a corridor in the central business district opposite Nakasero Market and between Tourist Hotel and Express Holiday Inn. This is one place that beats the chaos at Owino Market on a good day. There is usually too much jostling and shoving of people out of the way for boda bodas or cars. On either side of the lane are shops crammed with people bargaining for one item or another. In each of these shops, are five or more people behind the counter with demarcated areas for their merchandise.

The goods are stacked high on walls and necessitate the use of a long stick to bring them down for a customer's inspection. In Nakasero, one shop sells household items. The norm with such businesses is that one person rents the room from the building's owner. That tenant in turn, rents the room out to several other people so as to rake in more money.

The taxi parks, on the other hand speak for themselves. An aerial view of the Old Taxi Park offers an eyeful of organised chaos. Crooked queues of commuter taxis occupy the centre of the park while many more flank the perimeter. The majority of these await their turn to receive passengers.

A good number hoot and screech their way into the park through an entrance that was designed for few vehicles. At the various exits, men in blue shirts with UTODA (Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association) inscribed on the front, check to make sure the taxi driving out has paid park fee. While this usually results in jams at the exits, it ensures that taxis don't operate illegally.

One conspicuous characteristic of the park is the number of taxi touts standing at various points shouting the destination of the taxis, although boards placed on top of the taxi help one identify which taxi they should enter. There is never a peaceful moment in this part of town.

The streets too, provide no respite for motorists. They are mostly narrow with just enough space for a few cars to park. The rest make do with nearby pavements and in the short run contribute to the pavement breakage. Why then, you wonder, do buildings sprout all over the city with no provision for parking within the premises? Yet, Kampala City Council provides this as one of the guidelines to be fulfilled, but nobody ever abides by the rules. Why?

According to the Commissioner Building in the works ministry, Ruhweza Kazahura, the lack of planning leads to chaos, a common phenomenon in Uganda. He says local authorities are not doing their job, which is why there is hardly any planning in the cities.

"Even the structural plans which are there are outdated and not being followed," Kazahura says.

In addition, he says there is a change of land use. One moment there may be free land and the next a building standing in its stead.

"The available laws and by-laws are inadequate. They need to be updated. Unfortunately, there is no regulation for parking," he says.

Whereas buildings sprout haphazardly in the cities, KCC guidelines provide that for every 50 square metres of letable space, a constructor should provide space enough to park one car. Kazahura says that unfortunately the Government cannot prosecute defaulters because a guideline is not law.

For such cramped buildings - with narrow corridors separating them - there are great health implications. However, there is no statutory instrument to put the Public Health Act in place. For its part, the works ministry has been providing advice, which has not been followed. In the near future though, once the Building Control Bill is passed, the ministry will declare the entire country a planning area such that anyone coming up with development must be approved by local authorities.

The current law only refers to specific town areas. Kazahura says the archaic provisions in various laws are going to be reviewed to keep up with the times.