Police announce traffic restrictions for National Cleaning Day
Police say the restrictions are intended to enable mandatory participation in the nationwide sanitation exercise aimed at improving public health and preventing sanitation-related diseases.
Uganda Police Spokesperson, Kituuma Rusoke. (File photo)
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Uganda Police Force has announced a nationwide restriction on the movement of vehicles and vessels on Saturday, July 25, from 7:00am to 10:00am as one of the measures to enforce the country's inaugural National Cleaning Day.
Police say the restrictions are intended to enable mandatory participation in the nationwide sanitation exercise aimed at improving public health and preventing sanitation-related diseases.
During the three-hour exercise, all motor vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and vessels will be prohibited from using public roads and water bodies across the country.
Instead, every person staying in Uganda is expected to remain within their local communities and take part in clean-up activities before normal movement resumes at 10:00am.
Police said only essential services will be exempted from the restrictions.
The force appealed to the public to cooperate with security personnel deployed across the country.
Monthly cleaning exercise
The restrictions follow the Government's decision to institutionalise a mandatory monthly sanitation exercise to improve environmental hygiene.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja launched the initiative on Thursday at the Office of the Prime Minister, declaring the last Saturday of every month as National Cleaning Day.
Speaking at the launch, Nabbanja urged Ugandans to embrace the exercise as a national responsibility.
"For three hours, let Uganda stop and clean. This is a government directive, not a voluntary community activity," Nabbanja said at the launch. Stakeholders at the event included several ministers and senior security officers.
The Prime Minister said poor sanitation continues to contribute significantly to disease outbreaks, noting that about 75% of illnesses in Uganda are preventable and linked to poor hygiene, improper waste disposal and blocked drainage systems.
Health minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi described the initiative as a key preventive health intervention that will help reduce outbreaks of cholera, typhoid, dysentery and other sanitation-related diseases.
"Preventive healthcare is far less costly than treating disease. Keeping our environment clean reduces breeding grounds for disease vectors, improves hygiene and protects communities," he said.
The initiative builds on Uganda's long-standing Bulungi Bwansi community clean-up tradition while adopting a more structured national approach similar to Rwanda's monthly Umuganda programme.