Jane Nafula
13 May 2008
The state of sanitation in Uganda's urban areas is very poor, with only 59 per cent of people reported to have access to safe sanitation services.
The situation is not any different in Kampala city, where the available sanitation facilities both in commercial and residential areas cannot meet the needs of the ever increasing population. Kampala's population stands at two million.
Slum areas are the most affected where the urban poor live.
Such areas are characterised by low latrine and safe water coverage, ill health fuelled by poor disposal of human waste and garbage.
The Kampala Declaration on sanitation defines sanitation as personal hygiene and environmental cleanliness which involves observance of clean water chain and general improvement of the living conditions.
Kampala City Council Chief Health inspector Mohammed Kirumira says about 6.2 per cent of households in Kampala lack toilets.
It is also estimated that only 52 per cent of the city dwellers have access to clean water while 48 per cent of them use contaminated water. Poor disposal of human waste has left several water sources contaminated.
Most of the affected areas are in city slums like Katanga, Ndeeba, Kibe Zone, East Nsooba in Kawempe Division, Kigagga zone, Nateete, Kasubi, Nakulabye, Kyiwunya in Rubaga dDvision, Kisenyi, Kamwokya, Kigugube, Katwe, in central and Nsambya central, Kanygoga, Namuwongo in Makindye Division.
"These are just some of the few areas but most residential houses in Kampala lack pit latrines and other basic sanitation facilities," Mr Kirumira said. "That is why cholera outbreaks are common in the city."
The LCIII Chairman for Kawempe Division, Hajji Nasser Takuba says many landlords are only after making money and they don't mind about the lives of tenants. He says although the Public Health Act requires developers to first construct pit latrines before building the houses, very many people are not adhering to this requirement.
Hajji Takuba says the communal pit latrines that were constructed by different stakeholders to improve the sanitation situation in his division have been personalised by individuals who own land onto which they stand.
However, Water and Environment Minister Maria Mutagamba says leaders in Kawempe, like several low land areas, should learn how to handle the sanitation challenges mainly caused by the topography of the area.
"If you can't improve the sanitation situation here, park and go," she said. "But if you decided to live here, learn how to co-exist with nature other than dumping solid waste and garbage into the drainage channels."
She said the government will discipline landlords who have personalised communal toilets constructed in various parts of the city.
"The divisions should reclaim all these latrines and those who refuse to hand over these facilities should pay for them so that we can use this money to construct other latrines other than leaving our people to dump human waste everywhere," she adds.
Currently, over 400 people in Uganda die of diarrhoea due to poor sanitation and hygiene. About 80 per cent of the disease is caused by poor sanitation conditions like lack of safe water sources.
It is because of such challenges that the German Technical Cooperation through the Reform of Urban Water and Sanitation Sector, a partnership of the Ministry of Water and Environment has come up with a Public -Private Sanitation Project to tackle sanitation problems in the most affected areas in Kampala.
Under the new arrangement, GTZ has entered into partnership with the Uganda Micro -Finance Limited and Centenary Bank that will provide loans to landlords and people who own houses to secure sanitation facilities like toilets from Crestanks and Poly Fibre.
The pilot phase of the partnership is estimated to cost 200,000 euros. 100,000 euros would be contributed by the German government through GTZ.
The German Ambassador, Mr Reinhard Bushholz, says more investments should be directed to water and sanitation.
He says Uganda like many other countries does not lack resources, but it lacks the political will to spend more money for sanitation and hygiene.
"There is a challenge for politicians and other stakeholders in the fields of funding and law enforcement," he says.
The UN declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation to break the silence and boost sanitation progress.
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