Cities, urban growing centres asked to reduce fees on public toilet

CITIES | TOILETS | ZALWANGO 

KAMPALA - The heads of Cities and Urban growing centres have been asked to reduce toilet fees for public toilets to make them affordable for people.

In Kampala, there are about 1000 public toilets and they charge sh500 per visit.

Speaking during the commemoration of World Toilet Day in Mutungo, a Kampala suburb, the program manager Rights to Grow in Community Integrated Development Initiative (CIDI) Evelyn Zalwango is optimistic that if the charges are reduced, it will reduce the problem of open defecation.

Zalwango said the situation is worse in slums where flying toilets have remained rampant due to few public and private facilities that exist, adding that these areas are characterised by poor drainage systems and in the rainy season the problem worsens.

Village Health Team member Khadija Namuli said most of the homes in Mutungo don’t have soak pits, adding that landlords end up releasing faecal matter in the drainage system which she said was dangerous because they end up contaminating water sources.

It is against this background that the Right to Grow consortium-Uganda which comprised four partners including The Hunger project-country lead partner, Action Against Hunger, World Vision in collaboration with CIDI among others offered emptying services at a subsidised rate as part of activities to commemorate the day.

A cesspool emptier, emptying one of the toilets in Mutungo on World Toilet Day. (Credit: Violet Nabatanzi)

The cost of emptying a toilet in the city and its suburbs is estimated at sh150,000.

According to the 2020 Ministry of Water and Environment sector performance report, 22% of the rural population are practising open defecation which is 8.8 million Ugandans. 

On average toilet, coverage is estimated at 79% and as low as 36.3% for urban areas.

Kampala faces many challenges because of the rapid urbanisation which is at 5%, low coverage of sewer network at 10% and pit emptying services being largely unaffordable by the urban poor in the informal settlements.

The consortium through Zalwango called for a need for awareness creation campaigns to improve hygiene practices and compliance to the sanitation laws and ordinances.

They also called upon local governments and Kampala Capital City Authority, cities and municipalities to enforce the public health act which requires that every building must have a toilet in place.

Hellen Kasujja from CIDI said their organisation has been constructing toilets in Karamoja communities, hospitals, and at school level.

She said open defecation affects water sources causing diarrheal diseases and other infections that are connected to poor hygiene due to lack of toilets. 

Majority of people in Kampala access shared toilets.