Basemera’s daughter, Rose Nalujja together with her uncles; Patrick Kugoza and Richard Baleke from Kyenjonjo have dragged KCCA and Attorney General to the High Court in Kampala, seeking payment of over Shs800 million as compensation for loss of life expectancy and dependency on her mother.
Through Asinguza and company advocates, the 21-year-old accuses the Authority’s security manager, Kituuma Rusoke, and his team of just looking on as her late mother drowned in Nakivubo channel.
She further accuses them of having failed to call the rescue team to save her life.
The family wants court to declare that KCCA neglected its duty to fence and cover up Nakivubo Channel hence posing a danger to the public.
According to the daughter, 37-year-old Basemera was earning Shs50,000 daily from selling sweets, hankies and roasted groundnuts on different streets of Kampala which money she could use to ably take care of her three children.
Basemera was vending handkerchiefs when she was confronted by KCCA officers and jumped into the Nakivubo Channel in a desperate attempt to escape.
Unfortunately, she ended up drowning. Her death sparked off riots in Kampala city centre as vendors carrying Basemera’s body protested against the brutality of some enforcement officers which forced Police to fire bullets in air to disperse the surging crowds.
Last year, KCCA gave Shs50 million as compensation to the parents of the late Ryan Ssemaganda, a toddler who was knocked dead at City Hall.
Ssemaganda was knocked by KCCA vehicle when its driver was reversing. The toddler had taken refuge under the vehicle, according to court documents, when his mother was battling a charge of illegal vending before the KCCA court.
Following the the incident, street vendors and some members of the public were seen demonstrating at the gates of City Hall.
