Buhweju's Nsiika can even do better

Nov 09, 2013

In the Make Uganda Clean campaign, which is running until November 25, we throw the spotlight on Nsiika town.

trueIn the Make Uganda Clean campaign, Vision Group is profiling 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 the profile of Nsiika town.

By Elizabeth Namazzi

Nsiika town council is located in Buhweju district. It is 319km west of Kampala. Nsiika became a town council in July 2010 when Buhweju was granted district status. The town is small and is still struggling with development and sanitation issues.

However, it should be doing much better since it is the headquarters of Buhweju district. Nsiika’s health care system is still lacking, the roads need to be re-constructed and the residents are yet to enjoy the benefits of being connected to grid electricity. These are some of the issues that came up during Vision Group’s Make Uganda Clean survey.

Rubbish disposal and dustbins

Survey results indicated that something has to be done about rubbish disposal in Nsiika town council. Presently, residents litter the town, throwing rubbish anywhere. In our survey, 93% of respondents said they have seen someone litter rubbish in the last three months.

Not surprisingly, the respondents’ overall satisfaction with the cleanliness of their town is low, with town council, streets/roads and market areas scoring 3.9/10 each for cleanliness.

To improve on the level of cleanliness in the town, 48% of respondents reported that they personally avoid littering, while 52% said they have taken part in cleaning Nsiika town.

The respondents indicated that the dustbins need urgent attention. They gave the dustbins a paltry 0.3/10 although, interestingly, 86% of the respondents said there is a cleaning schedule for the dustbins.

Why the dustbins are still so dirty is a mystery the town authorities and residents need to look into. One of the reasons littering is so rampant could be the absence of public dustbins in the town.

Respondents said there are dustbins in the town, but none are for public use. They all reported that the available dustbins belonged to individuals, like shop owners and indicated that it was not easy to locate a public dustbin. Nsiika town council authorities, therefore, still owe their residents as far as providing public dustbins is concerned.

Lights, roads & buildings

Grid electricity in Nsiika is still a dream. Kerosene continues to be the main source of lighting for the residents.

The roads also need tarmacking. Respondents reported that their roads are either murrum (64%) or levelled ground (36%). On the positive side, these roads hardly have potholes.

The town council could do with modern buildings. Moreover, all the current buildings were reported to have 100% old paint.

Main source of water

This town scores highly when it comes to piped water. A whopping 93% of the respondents reported that they have access to piped water. The rest of the residents get water from the public well.

However, there is room for improvement as far as the water’s cleanliness is concerned. It scored 6.4/10 for being clean. The respondents, however, rated the water as very irregular with a score of 2.4/10.

Noise

Nsiika is probably the quietest towns. All respondents said their town is not noisy at all.

Livestock

As far as getting animals off Nsiika’s streets is concerned, the town council has a bit of work to do. All the respondents reported that they have seen livestock loitering around the town in the past six months. The cows reportedly loiter in the town regularly (6.3/10).

Public toilets & sewage


One does not have to part with a coin to use a public toilet in Nsiika town council. This probably explains why it is difficult to keep the toilets clean.

All the respondents were aware of the existence of public toilets and rated them as very dirty with a score of 2.9/10. All the toilets are VIP latrines. However, no respondent had ever seen sewage bursts in Nsiika Town.

Over grown grass and gardens


The town council authorities still have to sort out the town’s grass maintenance. 86% of the respondents said they had noticed over grown grass in the town and reported that grass maintenance is very poor. They gave a score of 2.9/10 for this.

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