Mbarara eyes city status

Sep 24, 2013

Although Mbarara town seems to be steadily progressing, a number of challenges still hold it back. Garbage collection has remained one of the key challenges the town is grappling with.


trueIn the Make Uganda Clean campaign, Vision Group will be profi ling major urban centres in the country highlighting their sanitation situation, culminating into a gala night on November 25, where the cleanest towns will be recognised. Today we bring you profi les of Mbarara municipality and Kayunga town

By Watuwa Timbiti and Abdulkarim Ssengendo
Although Mbarara town seems to be steadily progressing, a number of challenges still hold it back. Garbage collection has remained one of the key challenges the town is grappling with. The town got a garbage dumping site in Kenkombe, Kakoba division. According to a recent Vision Group survey, a high proportion of respondents in Mbarara (94%) have seen dustbins in the town, although they fi nd them to be insuffi cient and dirty. More than three quarters of the respondents reported that it was easy to locate a dustbin in Mbarara town.

A high proportion reported availability of cleaning schedules for the town and more than half, (84%) reported that the town is cleaned daily. Overall, residents are satisfied with the cleanliness of the town, scoring 7.1/10. Although many respondents (81%) consider Mbarara town to be clean, 19% of the respondents say it is polluted. Only 26% of the respondents said they had done nothing to improve the cleanliness of the town.

Three quarters (75%) have seen someone litter the town in the past three months. “To improve cleanliness, 61% of the respondents reported they personally avoid littering, 7% have taken part in the exercise to clean up the town and 7% had sensitised people about living in a clean environment,” the survey reads in part.

Although all the respondents reported that electricity was the main source of lighting in town, only 48% of them had seen working street lights and less than half said the lights are not in a working condition. “Fifty-two per cent felt that the streets of Mbarara were not well-lit and not safe at night with 45% of the streets well-lit and safe and 3% did not know the status of the streets at night.” More than half of the respondents reported that the roads were partially tarmacked.

Garbage disposed of near shops

There are relatively few potholes rated with a score of 4.2/10 and to 61% of the respondents, more than half of the buildings are newly painted and 39% have old paint.The main source of water is piped water and public taps. Only 7% believe there is a noise control programme in the town and more than half of the respondents said Mbarara town is noisy, attributing it to motor vehicles, prayers, boda boda riders, traders and taxi operators. On livestock/ poultry loitering, only 26% have ever seen livestock/poultry loitering in the town in the past six months

 Although majority (84%) have seen sewage pipes burst in the town, they acknowledge fast response towards fi xing, thus a score 5.2/10. “Seventy-four percent had seen open soak pits/manholes in the town and of these, 82% reported that the manholes had been open for less than two weeks,” the survey reads in part. Although a high proportion (90%) of the respondents, according to the study, is aware of public toilets in the town, the toilets are dirty, thus a score of 4.5/10. The average cost of access is sh130.

Less than half of the respondents have noticed overgrown grass in the town and grass maintenance are average, scoring 5.0/10. Majority acknowledged existence of wellmaintained gardens/planted trees, earning the town a 5.7/10 score. However, the town clerk Johnson Baryantuma, says the garbage is collected in skips (where they dispose it) and they use a disposable route chat. “We have four vehicles for garbage management in the municipality. Health inspectors and town agents take the responsibility of supervision,” he says.


An aerial view of the main market


The district in brief
Mbarara is believed to have got its name from the local tall green grass locally known as ‘emburara’ (hyperenia ruffa) that covered the whole area.Its commercial growth gained pace with the appearance of Asian traders and by 1950, there were about 15 commercial premises and more enterprises were set up between 1950 and 1960.

The town was declared a township authority in 1957 under the British administration at Kamukuzi and elevated to a municipal status in 1974, although wars in the country’s history gave it a blow. Most houses were built without plans, resulting partly in the current challenge of congestion in the town, according to the town clerk, Johnson Baryantuma. Despite that, the town has had dreams of attaining city status since 2010.

It is one of the major gateways to Kigali, Bujumbura, Tanzania and several towns in the eastern Congo. Mbarara town being a conurbation of other towns in the western region and a gateway to the Great Lakes region, has continued to grow because of its favourable location. Mbarara, whose population is over 110,000 people and a growth rate of 4.5% has 59 primary and six secondary schools, five health centres, one regional referral hospital and two universities. Agriculture is the main economic activity.

Door-to-door garbage collection in Kayunga
Kayunga attained town status in 1987. It was carved out of Kayunga sub-county. The district has a population of about 35,000 people. About 87% of the population rely on farming as major source of income, 10% are engaged in business, while, 3% work in offices. The town has 21 primary schools, 14 of which are privately-owned. The town has one government-aided secondary school and five private ones.

There is also a hospital and Ntenjeru Health Centre IV. In a bid to keep the town clean, Kayunga town council has adopted a door-to-door method of collecting garbage. The town mayor, James Katumba, said they phased out garbage collecting centres in the town to involve residents in garbage management. “The residents put their garbage in sacks and our truck moves around the town and people take their garbage whenever they hear it hooting,” Katumba says. A Vision Group survey found there were hardly any dustbins in the town. Of interviewed respondents only 19% reported having seen dustbins in the town.


One of the storeyed buildings under construction in Kayunga town. Photo by Charles Charles Jjuuko

“The few dustbins were mostly seen on the streets/roads (11%) and market areas (7%). The 19% who had seen the dustbins reported it was not easy to access them,” the survey notes. Although almost all respondents interviewed (93%) viewed Kayunga town as clean, 59% of them have seen someone litter the town in the past three months. Although 48% say they personally avoid littering and 10% have taken part in the town cleaning exercise, 31% have done nothing to improve the town’s cleanliness.

A high proportion of the respondents (96%), however, acknowledged availability of cleaning schedules for the town, roads/streets and market areas. In the same breath, 85% said the town was cleaned at least two to three times a week. Overall, the residents were very satisfi ed with the cleanliness of the town, earning a score of 8/10). Although electricity is the main sourceKayunga attained town status in 1987. It was carved out of Kayunga sub-county. The district has a population of about 35,000 people.

About 87% of the population rely on farming as major source of income, 10% are engaged in business, while, 3% work in offi ces. The town has 21 primary schools, 14 of which are privately-owned. The town has one government-aided secondary school and fi ve private ones.

There is also a hospital and Ntenjeru Health Centre IV. In a bid to keep the town clean, Kayunga town council has adopted a door-to-door method of collecting garbage. The town mayor, James Katumba, said they phased out garbage collecting centres in the town to involve residents in garbage management. “The residents put their garbage in sacks and our truck moves around the town and people take their garbage whenever they hear it hooting,” Katumba says. A Vision Group survey found there were hardly any dustbins in the town.

Of interviewed respondents only 19% reported having seen dustbins in the town. “The few dustbins were mostly seen on the streets/roads (11%) and market areas (7%). The 19% who had seen the dustbins reported it was not easy to access them,” the survey notes. Although almost all respondents interviewed (93%) viewed Kayunga town as clean, 59% of them have seen someone litter the town in the past three months.

Although 48% say they personally avoid littering and 10% have taken part in the town cleaning exercise, 31% have done nothing to improve the town’s cleanliness. A high proportion of the respondents (96%), however, acknowledged availability of cleaning schedules for the town, roads/streets and market areas. In the same breath, 85% said the town was cleaned at least two to three times a week. Overall, the residents were very satisfi ed with the cleanliness of the town, earning a score of 8/10).

Although electricity is the main source of lighting in the town (96%), as high as 59% indicated they had never seen the street lights working. Despite this, 89% said the streets/ roads were safe at night. The survey also found that only 56% of the town roads were tarmacked, 37% murram and 7% levelled ground. The town has relatively few potholes, thus scoring 4.5/10. To 63% of the respondents, nearly half of the buildings were newly painted and only 37% had old paint. The majority of the town population (63%) relied on piped water as their main source of water, though only 4% of the residents had piped water connections.

Other sources were the borehole (30%) and the pond/lake/dam (4%). The piped water is averagely regular and clean, thus a score of 5.1/10 and 5.8/10, respectively. No respondent reported existence of a noise control programme in the town though the majority (52%) felt that the town is noisy, with motor vehicles contributing to much of the noise (89%), boda boda (63%), traders (11%) and road show advertisers (7%).

It is common to fi nd livestock/poultry loitering in the town. 78% of respondents had seen animals in town in the past six months; cows (15%), goats (78%) and hens (37%), thus a score of 4.0/10. Kayunga has no central sewerage system. On public places of convenience, at least 78% of the respondents were aware of the availability of public toilets in the town – VIP latrine (64%), fl ush toilets (41%), bush/fi eld/ street/corridors (9%) and the traditional pit latrine (9%). The average cost for public toilet access is sh163 though the toilets are reportedly dirty with a score of 3.0/10. All the respondents (100%) have at one time seen grown grass in the town.

 


Goats loitering on the streets in Kayunga

Only 7% have seen gardens/planted trees in the town, acknowledging that they are wellmaintained, getting a 6.0/10 score. To manage garbage, Katumba says they are planning to sensitise people on garbage management. “We now want to sensitise people to learn how to separate decomposing garbage from that which can be recycled like plastics,” he stated

. He says the town’s biggest challenge is a poor drainage system, requiring stone pitching of the trenches. “Whenever it rains some streets in the town fl ood because we have a poor drainage system,” says Katumba. “Kayunga town council twinned with Witzenhausen town in German and because of the relationship they have promised to support some of the projects in the town,” town clerk Margaret Nansubuga says.

Top on the agenda: Enforcing municipality policies

On the drive to attain municipal status, the town clerk, Margaret Nansubuga, says the town council has come up with policies like banning construction of non-storeyed buildings to give the town a new look. The town budget allocation for garbage collection this fi nancial year is sh27m, which is insuffi cient, according to the town council health inspector.


Nansubuga says the town’s funding largely comes from the government and they are expecting some funding from the donor community to meet the town’s objectives. “Kayunga town council twinned with Witzenhausen town in German and because of the relationship they promised to support some of the projects carried out in the town,” she says.

MAYOR’S VIEW

 Garbage collection centres were phased out in the town since residents are now involved in garbage management. “The residents put their garbage in sacks and our truck moves around the town and people take their garbage whenever they hear it hooting,” Mayor James Katumba says

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