Don’t vote LC1 candidates without toilets, utensil stands — minister Kawooya
Kawooya said local leaders at the village level remain influential in their respective communities and should act as role models by possessing key home basics.
State Minister for Health in charge of general duties, Hanifa Bangirana Kawooya addressing the community health workers in Lugazi. (Photos by Jackie Nambogga)
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A toilet is one of the basic infrastructure required at home and in public places in the promotion of hygiene and sanitation.
However, in Uganda, the national toilet and latrine coverage hovers around 79 to 80 percent yet about 19 to 20 percent of the population are estimated to have access to safely managed basic sanitation facilities. Uganda has a population of 45.9 million people, according to the 2024 national population census.
It is against this background that the state minister for health in charge of general duties, Hanifa Bangirana Kawooya, called on voters to choose only those local leaders with toilets and utensil stands during tomorrow's Local Council 1 (LC1) elections.
Kawooya said local leaders at the village level remain influential in their respective communities and should act as role models by possessing key home basics.
Speaking to community health workers (CHEWs) in Lugazi town, Buikwe district, last week, Kawooya urged them to intensify home visits while encouraging communities to promote sanitation, hygiene and safe health practices, including possession of toilets.
State Minister for Health in charge of general duties, Hanifa Bangirana Kawooya (centre in yellow dress), in a group photo with the community health workers. 
According to the 2023 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation, globally, five billion people still live without safely managed sanitation, while 419 million people practice open defecation.
In Uganda, it is estimated that 7% of the population practices open defecation, which poses severe public health risks, resulting in diseases like cholera, dysentery and other waterborne-related cases in rural and peri-urban communities.
These trends continue to undermine Uganda’s efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.
He added that others use the nearby schools and health centres during day, but use 'flying toilets' at night. 'Flying toilets' is a term used to describe people who ease themselves in polythene bags before they throw them away.
However, in partnership with public health officers, Kauta said they conducted operations, and he threatened to arrest locals without toilets as a strategy to improve sanitation in the area.
“Even my immediate neighbour never had a latrine, and the children were littering waste, but I threatened to arrest him, and he constructed one,” he said.
Since the biggest part of Kamuli municipality is rural, Michael Museebe, the area assistant RDC, said many households did not have latrines.
“We have one LC1 chairperson from Kasoigo village who doesn’t have a pit latrine; it is so saddening,” he said.
However, Museebe said they needed to go beyond having toilets, as some LC1s were embroiled in scandals of animal theft and aiding multiple land sales.