Rubaga, the mighty hill on the wane

By Stephen Ssenkaaba and Andrew Masinde
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 Rubaga division and Lira municipality

Apart from its sprawling greenery, Rubaga division is home to some of the most important historical sites and places in Kampala. The Kasubi royal tombs (a UNESCO World Heritage site), three Christian cathedrals as well as the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) head offi ce and the Vice Presidents’ offi cial residence. It is also home to many aristocrats and senior politicians.

It is a bit of a shame then that one of the capital’s leading divisions has so much filth with limited public toilet facilities for its estimated population of 500,000 people. This only spells doom as the many people that cannot access the public toilets have to resort to unconventional means. In a survey done by Vision Group, 7% of the respondents said they were aware of a bush, street or field that was being used as a toilet. While 66% of respondents were aware of public toilets in the division, these toilets were found to be dirty leading to a modest 3.1/10 score.

It costs sh208 to use a public toilet in this division, perhaps a little on the high side for the common man, and certainly the reason why some people here have resorted to using unconventional ‘toilets’. A walk around will reveal how much fi lth is lying in Rubaga division. From the stench in Kasubi and Nateete markets to the dusty, muddy and potholed Busega-Lungujja road to the fl ooded swamps of Kitebi, Rubaga cries out for help.

According to the survey, the division is dirty, especially the market and the dustbins. Sixty-two percent of the respondents said the dustbins are insuffi cient and dirty. Not only this, but the most critical places like the markets, individual shops and to a less extent on the streets, lack dustbins. In the absence of dustbins in the markets, the propensity for people to litter the town becomes very high.

Garbage is collected every day with the local people sorting it out at the household level. There is a garbage fi ll that is about 10km from the town centre and is managed by the authority. This might be a disincentive to many people who may not be unable to walk the distance; hence more littering. There are three temporally markets with garbage skips owned by the town council.

Burst sewers remain a problem in the division as 45% of our respondents reported to have seen burst sewer in the division, adding that whenever sewer burst occurs, the response towards fixing them is slow. The division is infested with overgrown grass according to 44% of our respondents and where this was the case, the efforts to maintain grass was very poor. Sixty-six percent of the respondents report having seen livestock moving about in the division in the last six months. According to the division environment office, 90% of residents have access to piped water. Other sources of water include springs/wells and rain water.

The division manages human waste largely through the pit latrines, septic tanks; even though there are cases where people use open spaces to ease themselves. For a place where only about 20% of the population is connected to the sewerage system,this is a health disaster waiting to happen. Despite the growing number of buildings, the division has neither paved drainage system nor structural plan.

The division has one town planner, three health inspectors, one engineer, one lands officer, one education offi cer and an environmental officer According to our survey, the division has only one public toilet, which is maintained by the town council. For an estimated population of 500,000 people, this means more people are not able to access public toilet in the division. The KCCA spokesperson, Peter Kaujju, says all divisions receive revenue from KCCA to fund various projects, including sanitation.

“While KCCA as a whole spends over sh8b on cleaning, the every divisions gets a portion from that vote.” The town clerk Francis Barabanawe estimated that the division runs on a sh1.2b budget. The deputy mayor said the division uses about 10% of the total division budget for sanitation.

Some of the makeshift structures in the division

Bicycles, waste rule in Lira

By Stephen Ssenkaaba and Patrick Okino
Bicycles rule Lira town. On the road, along the streets, around the shops they fill up whatever space is available. This, and the rich pungent smell of rotting food, has become a common feature in Lira town. Men and women go about their work as if nothing is wrong. But everything seems to be wrong. Sanitation is on its deathbed; garbage is the carpet that residents walk on and gaping sewers — the vases in which rich green shrubs grow.

A survey by Vision Group has revealed that uncollected garbage is likely to turn Lira town into a health hazard. The survey which sampled local residents indicates that there are only 40 garbage skips in the entire town of 112,100 people (as per the 2012 Uganda Bureau of Statistics abstract).

Town residences let waste water through the alleys

This means there is one dustbin for every 2,903 people. Indeed, 88% of our respondents said while they may have seen dustbins in the town, these are not only insufficient, earning the town a measly 4.6/10 score, but are also dirty. Seventy-four percent of the respondents said it is not easy to find dustbins in the town.

Sixty percent of the respondents claim to have seen someone litter town in the past three months. The nearest garbage skip is 12km away and rubbish from the alleys is often carried by town authorities.

There are three markets in the town and only two of them have garbage skips. What do the people in the other markets without a garbage skip do? A number of men and women who sweep the streets cannot effectively do their job because of lack of equipment.

The truck that is supposed to collect garbage and ferry it to dumping sites is consistently out of fuel. Garbage, human faeces, polythene and used condoms litter the town alleys. According to Geoffrey Obote, the secretary works and technical services, Lira town has a total budget of sh21b in the financial year 2013/2014.

Out of this, sh48m is dedicated to sanitation. “This was increased from last financial year’s sh32m because of increased population,” he said. Maurice Odung, the mayor said some of these funds were locally generated while others were donated by partners. Despite the effort, Lira town still has major sanitation challenges

. According to the survey, 36% of the respondents said they had ever seen sewerage bursts in Lira town. They reported that whenever there is a sewerage burst, the response towards fixing it is slow (score 3.6/10). Another 30% had ever seen open soakpits or manholes in the town, most of which had been open for at least three months. Information from the health inspector’s office says only 10% of the town population is connected to the central sewerage system. Even though 84% of respondents knew about public toilets in Lira town, these toilets were averagely clean at 5.6/10 score. At sh191 average cost of a public toilet visit, most residents should be able to afford using a public toilet, thereby controlling unwanted disposal of human waste. But the 18% mentioned use of bushes, fields and alleys as toilets. Fourty-six percent of the respondents had noticed overgrown grass in the town with 4.6/10 score).

Half of the respondents said the gardens were also not well-maintained. Loitering livestock and poultry is also common as 66% of the respondents said they had seen animals and chicken moving about the town. In order to restore order in the town, the town clerk, Christopher Kawesi, says they have asked bicycle owners to organise themselves as talks are in progress to find gazetted places for them to operate.

This, he said, is because Lira is a town with the highest number of bicycles. He also said there is uncoordinated disposal of polythene bags, but some people have now been assigned to collect them. An NGO has also shown interest to recycle the polythene bags. The town has one planner, a health inspector and four assistants, one engineer, one lands officer, one education officer and an environment officer. These are few technocrats for a population of more than 100,000 people

Most people dump rubbish in the alleys of shops

GOOD PRACTICES
The Lira municipality mayor, Maurice Odung, says the municipality uses the media, especially the radio to sensitise the communities about proper sanitation. According to Paga Quirine, the principal health inspector, toilet cleaning and maintanance has been tendered out to private companies. In places where this is not done, communities collect money to clean their toilets. The municipality recently obtained a truck, which compresses garbage before disposing of it. By compressing the garbage, the truck is able to absorb more of the garbage and provide a more efficient collection method. A sanitation and health bylaw that sets standards has been passed. The bylaw penalises those who litter and flout hygiene and sanitation regulations.
PLANS


Mayor Maurice Odung said they are set to launch the Keep Lira Clean campaign. They intend to set aside one or two days every month to clean the town and hold household senstisation programmes on health and sanitation. This will involve routine visits by health inspectors to monitor hygiene and educate people about sanitation. To address the bad roads and dust problem, Lira will implement a sh6b project under the Uganda support to municipal infrastructure development project funded by the World Bank.

Lira’s main street. Bicycles form the biggest traffic in town. Photos by Patrick Okino

MAYOR’S VIEW

We would like to improve the new disposal strategy that we launched recently. This strategy involves separating biodegradable and non-degradable garbage. We put in place separate bins to separate the two, but because of lack of funds, this system collapsed. It is our plan to resume this system with more funding from our partners