The Kampala Urban Dogs Association (KUDA) has expressed shock at media reports suggesting that dogs mainly from the slum areas of the city were practicing unhygienic and uncouth lifestyles. KUDA members majorly from Kololo, Muyenga, Nakasero and Minister’s village in Ntinda were reacting after a local television channel aired shocking visuals of stray dogs in the ghettos of Kisenyi, Katanga, Ndebba, Kakajo, Kibuli and Makerere Kivulu sleeping on pavements, eating food from KCCA garbage dumps, and even having live sex downtown on the streets. Members have asked Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) to severely punish the erring dogs and take immediate step to civilize them or else they “act”.
“Oh my God, It was shocking and disgusting! Are we really living in the 21st century? huh?, When will these uncouth canines guys learn to behave? Such behavior shames the whole Kampala dog society, and we must act before it’s too late. I swear, I can’t understand the mentality behind such morbid manners.” Doggy Fresh, a pet dog from Bulange, Mengo expressed his concerns and outrage while feeling nauseated.
Within hours of the news being aired, Muyenga Pet dogs requested their masters to go on local radio stations and also create twitter, facebook and youtube pages condemning such behavior. An online petition was also launched appealing to put an end to such incivility among stray dogs. Thousands of pet dogs had endorsed the petition by putting their signatures using the KUDA app developed by a local web development firm, Fly Online Limited, on their iPads and Galaxy tabs bought by their masters for them, by the time UCN filed this report.
Following the outrage among KUDA members and media, the government has ordered an enquiry into the whole scandal. KCCA alongside the Military Police have been directed to immediately tear gas and arrest dogs who are found indulging in indecent behavior like having sex on the Kampala potholed roads. Government has also set up a parliamentary Kangaroo committee that would analyze the situation and suggest steps to better the lives of the ghetto dogs.
But in a rather hard-hitting response, the stray dogs have dubbed the outrage and government concern as ‘Katemba’, branding KUDA and KCCA as ‘idle and disorderly” and have termed such reactions as being offensive to their clan. Representatives of the Ghetto Independent Stray Dogs Association (GISDA) have asked the KUDA members to “shut the fuck up” and mind their own business and stop bitching.
“Wama chali wange look here, after cohabiting with humans, agayaaye have grown oba waaat .. hmm?. How can they even expect us to follow their lifestyle and manners atte nga they know we don’t have those luxuries down here? .. Musege, the spokesperson of GISDA seethed as he reached for a lighter to fire his weed joint. It’s so easy to criticize and yap in their boss’s air-conditioned rooms and eating at Sheraton .. mssqeewww” .. he barked.
Meanwhile the Uganda Police has deployed its trained dogs in the ghetto areas to abate any trouble just in case the ghetto dogs decide to protest. “We have intensified foot patrols and working with the local authorities to sensitize the ghetto dogs about hygeine and STDs. We are warning any dog that dares throw a stone or bone that the repercussions will be severe, we are armed to the teeth!”, Wadri, the German Shepherd from the Police Dog Unit revealed.
