Querries have emerged after the new multibillion Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) 23-floor tower in Nakawa flooded with water after a downpour.In a video captured circulating on social media, employees are seen running away from their desks taking refuge in another corner. Computers which were on desks were left to be pounded by the leaking water.
After a while, some staff members are seen running back to their desks to pull off the computers in order to salvage them from the water impact. It is not clear which floor was leaking.
The 23-floor building cost taxpayers Shs 139bn. It was officially opened by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in January this year. Its completion meant that URA had to shift most of its staff from nearby Kampala offices to the tower.
Ugandans on social media questioned whether the money was put to good use following the floods. Some have called for the investigation and possible arrest of the contractors.
The building also houses the office of the URA commissioner general Doris Akol.
URA said in a statement that its tower “is a green building, designed to use a natural ventilation system where fresh air comes through the louvers, and hot air rises through the atrium and finally exits through the louvers at the rooftop.”