Kampala: Let’s clean up our city
Feb 20, 2010
IT was reported that floods overwhelmed Kalerwe and Bwaise in Kampala on February 16. This is shameful to Kampalans and the city authorities. This problem stems from poor planning and lack of cleanliness.
By Nathan Byamukama
IT was reported that floods overwhelmed Kalerwe and Bwaise in Kampala on February 16. This is shameful to Kampalans and the city authorities. This problem stems from poor planning and lack of cleanliness.
Floods inconvenience the poor people who live in those areas, in addition to displacing them, disrupting their businesses and destroying property.
Worse still, if mishandled, the same people are vulnerable to diseases such as cholera and dysentery; it has happened before.
However, floods give credence to recent demands for proper planning and justifies the need for the central government to take over the city.
The problem also highlights the need for initiatives on environmental cleanliness in Kampala, as well as the speedy ban of kaveera (polythene paper), contrary to the laxity of the environment ministry. If there is a will, the Kalerwe-Bwaise situation could trigger environmentally-friendly policy actions that could transform our beautiful country.
The proposed Anti-Litter law by Hon Karooro Okurut, the Nakumatt donation of dustbins and the proposal by some Members of Parliament to shift the capital from Kampala, become relevant whenever the town floods and diseases associated with poor hygiene spread every time it rains.
However, I would suggest to Karooro that if we are to keep the city clean, we should start by changing people’s mentality. I believe our people have lived in unclean Kampala for so long that they think it is normal to continue like that.
Quite often, the would-be-beautiful triangle between Parliamentary building and the Ministry of Finance is littered, yet it has a dustbin and Policemen at the Parliament gate. So even if you put the “environment police†as Hon Karooro suggests, nothing good will come out of them if we do not change people’s mentality.
A friend of mine recently told me he was driving upcountry, behind a minister’s car and all sorts of litter were flying through the windows of the speeding vehicle, oblivious of the harm to the environment and the passengers in the vehicle behind his.
Although we need the law, it is not so urgent. Since we are empowered by Article 39 of the Constitution, it is high time the policy makers, civil society, churches and all patriotic Ugandans, started sensitising masses in the media, churches, at funerals etc, so that people get to appreciate the importance of living in a clean environment. The time we had a cholera outbreak in the city was the opportune moment to have everybody rally behind this campaign. The recent floods also present another opportunity.
A few years back, I lived in Zimbabwe and realised that even the street children would not litter the city. They made use of the dustbins.
But why would a Ugandan businessman, senior public servant or minister, do what a street kid in Zimbabwe cannot? This calls for change, which can only be achieved through sensitising masses in the media, through seminars, political rallies and during religious gatherings. Leaders from all walks of life should be involved in this campaign as was done with the anti-HIV crusade.
The clean and healthy environment campaign is easier to achieve, compared to fighting HIV or implementing land reform because there is no natural or economic compelling force to “disobeyâ€. It only requires instilling a sense of order in the minds of the people.
Everyone wants to live in a clean environment. The city council or Government has to identify what needs to be done to keep the environment clean and implement it. The communities too have to be sensitised on what to do and how to do it.
After about six months of intensive campaigns, those who would have complied should be rewarded and those who do not, be punished, based on the law in place.
There is no doubt all of us would love to live in a clean environment. I can assure you that when compliance has taken root and our city is clean, our pavements rehabilitated, roads patched up and our greenery well maintained, then everyone will be clean at home and in their surroundings. All of us, irrespective of our political affiliation, will love our city.
When this mentality trickles down to smaller towns and villages, Uganda will not only be a better place to live, but will also be free of disease.
The writer is the programme officer,
Cross-Cutting Issues and
executive secretariat
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
John Nagenda is in Amiritsar for an eye operation
IT was reported that floods overwhelmed Kalerwe and Bwaise in Kampala on February 16. This is shameful to Kampalans and the city authorities. This problem stems from poor planning and lack of cleanliness.
Floods inconvenience the poor people who live in those areas, in addition to displacing them, disrupting their businesses and destroying property.
Worse still, if mishandled, the same people are vulnerable to diseases such as cholera and dysentery; it has happened before.
However, floods give credence to recent demands for proper planning and justifies the need for the central government to take over the city.
The problem also highlights the need for initiatives on environmental cleanliness in Kampala, as well as the speedy ban of kaveera (polythene paper), contrary to the laxity of the environment ministry. If there is a will, the Kalerwe-Bwaise situation could trigger environmentally-friendly policy actions that could transform our beautiful country.
The proposed Anti-Litter law by Hon Karooro Okurut, the Nakumatt donation of dustbins and the proposal by some Members of Parliament to shift the capital from Kampala, become relevant whenever the town floods and diseases associated with poor hygiene spread every time it rains.
However, I would suggest to Karooro that if we are to keep the city clean, we should start by changing people’s mentality. I believe our people have lived in unclean Kampala for so long that they think it is normal to continue like that.
Quite often, the would-be-beautiful triangle between Parliamentary building and the Ministry of Finance is littered, yet it has a dustbin and Policemen at the Parliament gate. So even if you put the “environment police†as Hon Karooro suggests, nothing good will come out of them if we do not change people’s mentality.
A friend of mine recently told me he was driving upcountry, behind a minister’s car and all sorts of litter were flying through the windows of the speeding vehicle, oblivious of the harm to the environment and the passengers in the vehicle behind his.
Although we need the law, it is not so urgent. Since we are empowered by Article 39 of the Constitution, it is high time the policy makers, civil society, churches and all patriotic Ugandans, started sensitising masses in the media, churches, at funerals etc, so that people get to appreciate the importance of living in a clean environment. The time we had a cholera outbreak in the city was the opportune moment to have everybody rally behind this campaign. The recent floods also present another opportunity.
A few years back, I lived in Zimbabwe and realised that even the street children would not litter the city. They made use of the dustbins.
But why would a Ugandan businessman, senior public servant or minister, do what a street kid in Zimbabwe cannot? This calls for change, which can only be achieved through sensitising masses in the media, through seminars, political rallies and during religious gatherings. Leaders from all walks of life should be involved in this campaign as was done with the anti-HIV crusade.
The clean and healthy environment campaign is easier to achieve, compared to fighting HIV or implementing land reform because there is no natural or economic compelling force to “disobeyâ€. It only requires instilling a sense of order in the minds of the people.
Everyone wants to live in a clean environment. The city council or Government has to identify what needs to be done to keep the environment clean and implement it. The communities too have to be sensitised on what to do and how to do it.
After about six months of intensive campaigns, those who would have complied should be rewarded and those who do not, be punished, based on the law in place.
There is no doubt all of us would love to live in a clean environment. I can assure you that when compliance has taken root and our city is clean, our pavements rehabilitated, roads patched up and our greenery well maintained, then everyone will be clean at home and in their surroundings. All of us, irrespective of our political affiliation, will love our city.
When this mentality trickles down to smaller towns and villages, Uganda will not only be a better place to live, but will also be free of disease.
The writer is the programme officer,
Cross-Cutting Issues and
executive secretariat
International Conference on the Great Lakes Region
John Nagenda is in Amiritsar for an eye operation