The general public woke up to the news on Saturday morning that garbage had swallowed up more than 100 homes near Kiteezi landfill in Wakiso District.
Six months ago, our sister station, NTV Uganda, reported about the people minting a dime from collecting plastics, chicken feed from the landfill. However, the station also interviewed people who live near the landfill, who decried the foul smell from the landfill and health conditions such as cough, tetanus, stomach aches, among others.
The President has directed the Inspectorate of Government to investigate “who allowed people to live near such a potentially hazardous and dangerous heap” and warned the general public against settling in wetlands and protected zones.
Media reports indicate that a section of the landfill collapsed following rains in the past days.
The rains don’t treat Kampala and its surrounding areas quite well, especially due to poorly planned human settlements, poor drainage systems within and outside the city. The roads are poorly lit, pot-holed, flooded, and dusty much as sweepers work daily.
The above challenges are perennial and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) officials do not need reminders. These are issues that should keep KCCA Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka and her team awake as they project a soon-to-be smart city.
With the tragedy at Kiteezi, the political and technical wings at KCCA should ask themselves whether or not Kampala is a city. Save for newly-constructed public toilets that are not enough, it is hard to cite functional public systems in Kampala.
As politicians and technocrats rack their brains on where garbage from the capital city, about 2,500 tonnes that would be dumped at Kiteezi every day, will be handled, discussions should also focus on who should answer why there are or were settlements at the landfill, which was opened in 1996 and was expected to be decommissioned by 2018, who deserves compensation, who or what agency will compensate victims and affected people and who is liable for the accident and or negligence, among others.
Also, KCCA officials and political leaders should familiarise themselves with research and findings about Kampala and its challenges, in this case Kiteezi landfill, and instead of joining the chorus of those lamenting, act and improve sanitation, street lighting, improved housing, and garbage collection, among others.
We also call for reinforcement of the search and rescue teams. Some people could still be rescued alive, if the operations are meticulously planned and executed by professionals. However, the response to the disaster was wanting in the first 24 hours so the number of survivors to be rescued after 48 hours could be few or nil.
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