Dorothy Kisaka, the Executive Director of KCCA has pledged to work tirelessly until every Parish in Kampala has a garbage truck.
“We are not there yet, right now we collect about 52% of the garbage generated by the city, to be there we need to collect all 100% and we are moving there soon,” she said
Kisaka made these remarks while commissioning new garbage compactor trucks, skip loader trucks, cesspool empties’ and tractors all of which are part of a wider effort in solid waste management in the city of Nakawa on Friday.
Kampala Capital City Authority acquired 10 new garbage compactor trucks, 5 skip loader trucks, 5 cesspool empties’, and 5 tractors at approximately Shs5.5 billion.
The new garbage compactor trucks bring the total number to 22 trucks in the city meaning on average, every 5 divisions of Kampala shall have at least 4 trucks.
“We have a strategy on how to get there, we think that if we break up the city into small units, we will move gradually and incrementally towards the 100% goal” she added.
Kisaka also revealed the Authority’s plans on the newly acquired landfill in Dundu Mukono district and she noted that in collaboration with the Health Ministry, a medical waste handling facility is being set up lately occupying 5 of the 135 acres.
KCCA recently acquired 135 acres of land in Dundu Mukono to set up a waste recycling plant and relieve the Kiteezi landfill which is lately full to capacity and no longer sustainable.
Speaking at the same event, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwaago expressed concern about the sanitation and solid waste management sectors being the least funded in the city which poses a huge struggle for them at the top management and also for those that work and leave in it.
“With sanitation particularly, it is not even institutionalized, we are relying on donors like Bill Gates, GIZ, Bloomberg, and others. For solid waste management, it is little money and we are struggling to boost our feet” he said.
Lukwaago called upon the government to provide funding if they manage several crises in the capital Kampala.
According to Lukwaago, maintenance lately is a huge challenge at KCCA, there is no fuel in the city, and these are issues that need to be addressed if the city is to achieve the status of a Smart City.
“Our policy is that every parish should have at least one customized truck, we have 99 parishes, we still have a long way to go and this is the reason we are pushing to have a bigger budget.” He explained.
“The reason we are not in position to collect all the garbage is that we have very few trucks and those available are in poor mechanical condition, our capacity is just 56% of the entire garbage collected in the city,” Lukwaago said
This commissioning event was attended by the area Member of Parliament Hon. Joel Senyonyi, Nakawa Mayor Paul Mugambe, Hon. Oliver Namazzi the Minister of Public Health, Hon. Kigozi Rose the chairperson of Public health, Nakawa division casual workers amongst others
On the issue of the casual workers, all the leaders acknowledged that there is a need to improve on their well fair and to also address the issue regarding their contracts such that everyone working for the good of the city gets satisfaction treatment.
In his speech, Paul Mugambe the Mayor of Nakawa noted that with these new trucks, they expect to collect more garbage and they are hopeful that the division will soon become a better place for locals to enjoy and live in.
“This will also improve on the state of our drainage system because when we don’t collect garbage, locals end up depositing it in the channels which end up getting blocked hence causing floods in rainy seasons” he explained.
Hon. Echebu Charles the chairman LC2 of Naguru Parish reported to the Executive Director about the drainage that links Naguru to Lugogo bypass that it hinders transport and it has become a death trap to many in the division.
“The Authority also promised to work on the drainage that links Naguru to Kololo but this hasn’t been sorted yet, our children are getting problems crossing while going to school in the morning which interrupts their education” he further asserted.
Joel Senyonyi the area Member of Parliament thanked the Lord Mayor and the whole team at KCCA for the solid waste management trucks issued to them and he also reminded the Executive Director on the issue of improving the working standards of the casual workers.
