Mitooma uses one latrine

trueIn the Make Uganda Clean campaign, Vision Group will be profling major urban centres in the country, highlighting their sanitation situation, culminating into being recognised. Today, we bring you profle of  Mitooma town.

IT  has enjoyed town council status for three years now. Why then does Mitooma still look like a village? The answers to this question lie in this town’s underdeveloped structures and dirty environment. The town is located along one of the most potholed road in the western region. Mitooma, which was craved out of Bushenyi district, is located 85km west of Mbarara town.

A recent Vision Group survey indicated deteriorating sanitation conditions in this town whose population is 22,000. The survey based on views from residents revealed that, while people knew about cleaning schedules, the town is only averagely clean.

trueWhile all respondents said dustbins were suffcient, littering remains a big problem in this town as 53% of the respondents said they had seen someone litter the town in the past three months.

More than half of respondents said they participated in cleaning the town,  13% said they had done nothing to contribute to
cleanliness in the town.

Public toilets are a major area of concern in this town. Fourty-seven percent of the  respondents said they knew the public toilets in the town. However, these toilets were dirty,  scoring 1.3/10 on toilet coverage and cleanliness.

Before its elevation to town status, Mitooma had one public toilet. Even this single toilet was closed when its water supply system broke down. The town council authorities have requested one of the residents to offer them one of his toilet stances for public use. Unfortunately, people are not willing to pay to use it. This means the entire town has one public toilet.

Drainage is also in a bad shape as the town lacks a properly constructed drainage system. The authorities still use manual labour to open and maintain the few existing drainage channels. Maintaining these, especially during the rainy season, has proven a Herculean task as the fooding waters erode the channels and lead to silting.

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Safe and clean water coverage stands at 80%, which, for a young and rural town, is commendable, but there remains a few newly created suburbs that have yet to be connected to the water supply system. The town has put up public taps.

The town clerk, Daudi Bukomoko, says the council is trying to secure funds for supplying water to the entire town.

The town has no market. Food vendors,  especially women keep complaining about lack of stalls to display their items. Many of them display their food items on the ground, which poses grave health risks.

The town also remains quite bushy as 67% of the respondents said they had noticed grown grass in the town council, expressing concern that very little is being done by authorities to clear up the bushes.

Animals are a threat to cleanliness in this town as they keep loitering in the town. A whole 93% of the respondents claimed to have seen livestock/poultry loitering around town in the past six months.

Despite all efforts by the authorities to improve matters, insuffcient funding to sanitation programmes remains a huge
challenge. Out of an annual budget of sh379.4m, a paltry 8% is dedicated to sanitation-related activities. This can hardly
do anything to improve the sanitation conditions in this town. The authorities have also secured land for dumping garbage.

GOOD PRACTICES

Set a day for cleaning

The town has been divided into six zones and each one has been allocated an individual to help collect garbage from people’s homes and take it to garbage skips.

Two garbage skips have been placed in two strategic places for both cleaners and other people to dump their garbage. It is later transported to a dumping site.

trueThe town council has established a tree nursery and a flower garden to preserve the environment.

The first Wednesday of every month has been set aside for general cleaning. The day has been dubbed Mitooma Cleaning Day.  All residents and their leaders participate in the clean up  activities.

The authorities have set up Buharambo market to boost the incomes of the community.

The town clerk, Daudi Bukomoko ,says experts have been employed to senstise the communities on cleanliness. The town authorities also carry out sanitation home visits.

A garbage bin in the town

GET INVOLVED

So after reading that, ofcourse we definitely would like to hear from you

• VOTE for the cleanest town and give reasons
• WHAT should we do to improve Ugandan towns?
• WHAT can you do as an individual to keep your town clean?

SMS: Type clean (leave space) your comment and send to 8338

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