RDC decries Jinja's garbage disposal woes

Jan 18, 2016

Jinja Municipal Council which is considered by Uganda Tourism Board as a tourism destination can’t operate to attract tourists when poorly managed

Eric Saakwa the Jinja district deputy Resident District Commissioner (RDC) has decried the poor management of garbage in Jinja Municipal Council (JMC) saying it caused an offensive stench in the town.

Saakwa during an interview with New Vision at his office on Monday, also decried the lack of security lights along roads in the municipality which he also said had caused insecurity both to people and their properties.

Saakwa noted that Jinja Municipal Council (JMC) which is considered by Uganda Tourism Board as a tourism destination can't operate to attract tourists when poorly managed.

"The town is littered with garbage which has caused a bad stench, while all the streets are dark, this has caused insecurity in the town thus scaring people from venturing into different attractions the town has offer. No tourists or native is willing to spend in a dirty and insecure place," he noted.

Saakwa identified some dirty places filled with garbage include Amber Court market where it takes over three weeks to collect the waste, Mpummude, Walukuba, newly constructed central market and along streets in Jinja town.

Saakwa also identified dark spots in town which included Magwa village, Kisinja road, Wanyama road in Bugembe town council. Other places are Mafubira where he said recently a youth was raped and later strangled to death by thugs due to lack of enough security lights and along Nsuube-Kagoma road in Jinja district.

"We have enough intelligence about the dark spots in the town and district at large, we call upon all people who know people terrorizing others to reach out to us so that we as security help," he said.

Saakwa tasked the Jinja Town Clerk David Kyasanku that in case they have any arrears with UMEME, to clear bills and also improve on garbage management. 

During a recent budget council for JMC Kyasanku who did not mention how much they spend on garbage collection and management in the town while noting that they can no longer handle and that they are in the process of adopting the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) system where each person pays for his own garbage.

According to the JMC public relations officer Rajab Kitto, Bison's company which was contracted to manage garbage in the town demands over sh200m in arrears.

Kitto explained that they have a bylaw on garbage management but it had not incorporated garbage management of the newly constructed Jinja Central Market.

"We have to review the bylaw to incorporate garbage management of Jinja Central Market which houses over 5000 vendors. This will give us a better position fix clear charges the contractor should follow while collecting garbage," he said.

Kitto noted UMEME demands JMC arrears of over sh1.2b which have accumulated for the past 15 years.

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