Soroti rental units without latrines to be closed

Soroti district authorities have vowed to close rental houses without sanitary facilities. 

This is part of efforts to achieve 100 percent of sanitary facility coverage in the district which currently stands at 80%. 

The secretary education and health Soroti district council, John Calvin Elenyu, told New Vision that they have received numerous complaints from tenants accusing landlords of failing to provide them with sanitary facilities. 

Among other sanitary facilities tenants demand include, latrines, bathrooms and rubbish pits. 

According to Elenyu, this puts the lives of people living in the informal settlement at risk of contracting disease emanating from poor sanitation such as cholera and diarrhoea among others. 

Martine Amodoi, the district health educator urged landlords to construct bathrooms and latrines to combat such diseases. 

"I want to urge all landlords and landladies to construct toilets and bathrooms for residents to avoid spreading of diseases especially this season of heavy rains, "said Amodoi. 

He warned that any plot that will be found without latrines will be closed and action taken against the owner. 

"It's against the law to find more than twenty people using the same bathroom" he observed. 

"How can more than twenty people use one bathroom? That cannot happen."