Kampala — A TOTAL of 31 buildings in Kayunga town have been closed for lacking latrines. The town health inspector, Daniel Eberu, on Friday led the team comprising the town council law enforcement officers in the crackdown.

Most of the structures were commercial houses, mainly on Church Road and around the bus park.

Among these was Tukolebukozi building, which has over 30 shops, two restaurants, a bar and about 130 residents.

The team found that the buildings had full pit-latrines and residents reportedly eased themselves in dark corridors separating one house from the other and on the streets during night time.

Eberu blamed the poor sanitation in the town on such unhygienic practices.

Not having latrines and places of convenience, he added, was a violation of public health regulations.

"During earlier inspections, we told the landlords to dig pit-latrines and gave them a deadline but they turned a deaf ear to the warning," said Eberu.

"We could not tolerate such conduct because it can result into an outbreak of diseases like cholera, spread by poor sanitation."

Before locking up the buildings, tenants were ordered to vacate and warned that those who resist would be forced out and prosecuted in court.

Eberu said the buildings would only be reopened after new latrines that meet the required health standards are constructed.

A woman, only identified as Hajjati, who rents a shop on Tukolebukozi building, blamed landlords for their predicament, saying they paid their rent promptly.

"We pay sh80,000 per room but because our landlord is greedy, he does not take trouble to address the problem using the money we pay," she said.

"We are now going to make losses because we don't know when our businesses will reopen, while others are stranded with nowhere to reside."