MICHAEL ABONEKA: Beyond the Kiteezi incident, what is next?

It is sad that trash actually killed over 20 Ugandans and left over 14 nursing injuries. It is unfortunate that the landfill came down on the houses of the residents in the area. As you may be thinking, there are many unanswered questions about this incident. In 2015, it is told that the authorities were warned of the danger the landfill posed and a recommendation of finding another alternative place for dumping garbage was made-however, the dumping continued until the unfortunate incident. Kampala produces over 2,000 tonnes of garbage every day, and yet only 50% of this is collected and disposed leaving over 1,000 tonnes unattended to. I have not been chanced enough to see the Kampala City Authority’s Waste Management and Disposal policy/strategy. KCCA’s approach to waste management is through a private partnership project which solely relies on the private sector for collection and disposal of garbage. What we desire is a Policy or strategy to guide and mitigate such incidents.

Away from Kiteezi, the biggest issue we need to deal with is Waste Management. We need to proactively walk the journey of recycling our waste and putting it to productive use. As a country, what is our vision and strategy for all Urban and non-urban areas in terms of waste management? How are the cities, municipalities and other local governments managing their waste? Who is monitoring this? The Kiteezi incident may be unfortunate, but there are hard lessons to learn.

There seem to be looming crises of places such as Banda, with a fuel depot surrounded by dwellings and a busy highway, what happens on the fateful day when the depot bursts into flames? Who approved such land use amidst dwellings? Isn’t it time to discuss our city planning? Should we have Fuel depots and landfills in residential areas? These have implications on the health of human life. Do we think about the people of Kasokosoko and what would happen if the Kireka Hill, which has been fragmented gives away one day? Do Authorities see these things? Do they take time to assess the likely scenarios especially with the continuous rains die to climate change?

We must, as a matter of urgency settle these questions. The planning and implementation units should speak one language and at all times, the human rights-based approach should prevail as all plans should focus on protecting and improving lives of people in Uganda. We cannot continue to respond to these incidents as emergencies when we know what to do but simply decide not to act! The negligence of those in leadership should not cost any further lives, for the blood of the innocent lives is upon their shoulders.