# Uganda Weighs Moving Its Capital as Kampala's Congestion Hits a Breaking Point

> A minister called the city 'unlivable, unchangeable and untenable' and floated relocating administrative functions elsewhere, even as officials pour $3 billion into fixing the roads and drainage choking Uganda's economic engine instead.

- Source: African Economy
- Canonical URL: https://africaneconomy.net/article/kampala-unlivable-unchangeable-capital-city-conundrum
- Author: African Economy Staff
- Section: Policy & Governance
- Published: 2026-10-21T11:20:20.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-21T11:20:20.000Z
- Tags: Uganda, Kampala, urban planning, infrastructure, capital relocation

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Greater Kampala generates 60 percent of Uganda's national GDP and hosts around 4.5 million people on any given day, but mounting congestion has pushed some officials to openly question whether the city can keep functioning as the country's administrative capital, according to a report by Forbes Africa. State Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development Margaret Muhanga Mugisa described Kampala's situation as unlivable, unchangeable and untenable, and floated shifting the city's administrative functions to Nakasongola district while letting Kampala remain the country's commercial hub.

Makerere University urban and regional planning researcher Dr. Kiggundu Amin Tamale said the proposal reflects both a genuine growth strategy and an attempt to escape intractable problems like traffic gridlock and slum development that have proven resistant to incremental fixes. Any such move would require a constitutional amendment, since the 2011 Kampala Capital City Act formally designates Kampala as the country's administrative hub, a legal barrier that makes relocation a far heavier lift than simply announcing a new site.

Kampala's Lord Mayor, Ronald Balimwezo, opposes relocating administrative functions at all, arguing the better path is heavier investment to actually fix the city's congestion rather than abandoning it. In the meantime, a $3 billion, five-year revitalization plan launched in September 2025 aims to upgrade or reconstruct 325 kilometers of roads and build 80 kilometers of new drainage channels, targeting a cut in average travel time from 4.2 minutes per kilometer down to 3 minutes by 2030. The debate echoes earlier capital relocations in Nigeria, from Lagos to Abuja, and Tanzania, from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, both undertaken for similar reasons.

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Originally published by African Economy. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://africaneconomy.net/article/kampala-unlivable-unchangeable-capital-city-conundrum.