Kisenyi residents choking on sewage

On a roadside in Kisenyi, Kampala, waste matter floats on a busy road, with pedestrians, vehicles, motorcycles and vendors tussling for space. 

On one side are metal fabricators and blacksmiths going about their work, amidst, sewage flowing on the ground above sewer pipes. In the mess, a slight slip can see you fall into sewage.

The atmosphere is stinky. It is been like this for more than a week now.

“Our health is in danger. I have suffered stomach aches,” one man lamented, as I took pictures.

“Do they want us to suffer from cholera?” he asks, before requesting to put the news out to alert the concerned authority to know. 

The same lane has three spots where sewage floats.

Apparently, sewer drains were blocked by waste and sewage found its way up. Paul Kayemba, a hardware dealer near the mess, says it has it is negatively affecting people’s businesses.

“I sell food stuff and people do not come because it is smelly here,” Silvia Nalema, a maize flour wholesaler, whose shop has sewage flowing right in the front. For the spot, it has been a month. “We are not making money yet we need to pay rent,” she cried.

It was news to National Water Sewage Corporation (NWSC) when reached on their toll free number and twitter. They, however, promised to follow up the complaint.