The Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Judith Nabakooba, has launched a five-year project that targets 10,000 slum dwellers in Kampala City and Kumi district. 

The slum dwellers targeted are in the Kampala suburbs of Kisenyi, Kamwokya, Mutungo-Bbiina and others in Kumi district. 

Nabakooba launched the project that was dubbed “Home Equals” at Golden Tulip Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday, June 14. 

The project was initiated by Habitat for Humanity Uganda (HFHU), a non-governmental organisation, prioritising sanitation, access to water and land tenure security. 

A pilot study for this campaign undertaken within selected zones of Kampala Central, Kawempe and Nakawa divisions indicated that access to essential basic services such as clean water and safe sanitation facilities is a great challenge. 

While speaking at the launch, the minister pledged full support to HFHU during the course of the campaign. 

“Count on my ministry for the necessary support. Even if it means contacting the respective stakeholders, we will be ready to help you so that we work as a team in a more coordinated way,” she said. 

She emphasised that the Government is working tirelessly to ensure sanitation in densely populated slum areas. 

“It is in a home that we start to see the world and venture our dreams. As the government, we have put a lot of focus on a home as the best starting point for all our interventions,” she said. 

Nabakooba also said in areas such as sanitation in Kampala, she had been reliably informed that Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), working together with National Water and Sewerage Corporation and other partners like Water for the People, had started to construct two public toilets per parish. 

“This points to the point of collaboration in this campaign,” she said. 

She, however, advised the HFHU team to also look at areas around social development because it is also very important. 

“We can look at improving where someone is staying but also people need to improve their economic wellbeing. The government is implementing programmes that support households. As we are launching the House Equals campaign, let’s as well embark on helping these people benefit from Parish Development Model. It is good to improve the housing but those slum dwellers need social and economic development,” the minister said. 

What others said 

Robert Otim, the national director of HFHU said after five years, the campaign will then spread to other parts of the country. 

“We are going to start with these areas and later the campaign will be spread to all parts of the country,” he said. 

He stated that there is a housing crisis in Uganda and youth are moving away from their homes in search of job opportunities and end up getting affordable houses in the city centres, leaving some of the homes that HFHU have built.