Justice Musa Ssekaana of the High Court Civil Division in Kampala has ordered Stirling Civil Engineering Limited to pay Shillings 86 Million to Charles Besigwa as compensation for the loss of his son Jonan Agaba Besigwa.
Agaba died while digging an underground pit.
The verdict was delivered following an application filed by Besigwa against the construction firm. The aggrieved father petitioned the court in 2014 arguing that on January 4th, 2014 at around 7:00 am, his son Agaba reported for duty at the Company’s site at Kafumbe, Mukasa Road where he was instructed to go to work in an underground pit.
However, a Backhoe, which was working above, dumped the soil that buried his son. A backhoe is a special equipment used for excavation consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm.
Besigwa noted that there was no supervisor to coordinate and direct employees while executing the excavation duties.
“The plaintiff/Besigwa, his fellow workers and good Samaritans laboriously retrieved the deceased using spades and other rudimentary tools to dig him up whereupon the deceased was transported on a Boda boda to Nsambya hospital”, the court heard.
Besigwa further told the court that doctors at Nsambya pronounced his son dead at arrival. He then transported his son's body that night to Keina in Ntungamo district for burial and met all the other bills with the exception of the coffin, which was bought by the Company.
Through his lawyer Dr James Akampumuza, Besigwa asked the court to direct the company to compensate him for the damages caused and the loss of earnings by his 28-year-old son who was receiving Shillings 12,700 per day. In its defence, the construction firm through its lawyer Geoffrey Mutaawe asked Court to dismiss the case on grounds that the deceased was not its employee but a casual labourer.
The firm further argued that his death was a result of a pure accident that couldn't be blamed on the company. However, in his judgement, Justice Ssekaana found Stirling Civil Engineering Limited liable and declared that Agaba’s death was a result of negligence on the part of the company.
“From the evidence on record, it is very clear that the defendant/Company owed a duty of care to the deceased, Agaba during the time of his work as a casual labourer, which included providing proper safety precautions, supervision and guidance while at the site for work”, Ssekaana noted.
He noted that the site operations required supervision to avoid any accidents to the workers and other people on site. “Furthermore, upon the occurrence of the accident, it is very clear that there were no proficient tools or ways to dig the deceased out of the pit to ensure first aid for close to one hour thereby leading to his death,” he ruled. He directed Stirling Civil Engineering Limited to pay damages and costs of the suit.
