Govt seeks Shs200b to operationalise Mukono garbage facility

The government plan has already been opposed by a section of Mukono locals, who say the government must instead first share a comprehensive plan on waste management.

The State Minister for Kampala Metropolitan Affairs, Mr Christopher Kyofatogabye Kabuye, yesterday notified Parliament’s Committee on Presidential Affairs that the government would use Shs200b to organise for a new dumping site in Dundu. 

Mr Kyofatogabye revealed that whereas the government had prepared to shift from Kiteezi landfill to Dundu, the plans were stalled by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“After Covid, we were grappling with the decommissioning of Kiteezi, but we needed between Shs26b and Shs30b to do it. Fortunately, we no longer want open landfills. All we want is a recycling system,” Mr Kyofatogabye told MPs.

He added: “To operationalise Dundu, we need between Shs190b and Shs200b so that we can come up with a whole composite system of refinery and making bricks so that we no longer have to dump garbage that can cause such a catastrophe.”

The same plan was backed by the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Mr Yunus Kakande, who indicated that the government “plan now is to turn this garbage into electricity and fertilisers.”

Mukono North MP Abdallah Kiwanuka reiterated that Mukono residents were against the government plan of shifting the garbage site to Dundu.

“We are imagining shifting disasters from Kampala to our area. We don’t know how the government operates…” Mr Kiwanuka said. 

He added: “Dundu is purely gazetted by Mukono District as a residential area. We are ready to accommodate those people [Kiteezi victims] at Dundu and shift all the machines to Kiteezi rather than shifting the problems from Kampala (to Mukono).”

On a firm note, Mr Kiwanuka said: “We are not ready to receive and accept your garbage. That is the position of my people.”

Elsewhere, Amuria District Woman MP Susan Amero rallied Parliament to fault Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) authorities for purchasing the Dundu land before undertaking feasibility studies and other requisite steps.

“What are our priorities in this country? Do we have to buy land before we do a feasibility study on what we intend to establish in that place? Because the 135-acres in Dundu has been idle for all these years,” Ms Amero said.

On the other hand, the Shadow minister for environment, Ms Christine Kaaya Nakimwero (Kiboga Woman MP), suggested that the government reworks its approach to waste management in the country.

“Kiteezi by all the standards is not a landfill…and let’s use this scenario to check [things out in] our local government because this is an eye-opener,” she said and suggested that the government embarks on sensitising the citizenry on waste management at source.

“All of us must go and sensitise our people on the need for us to collect this garbage while separating it at source…we are supposed to take waste management as a priority for the city,” she said.

During plenary at Parliament yesterday, the Third Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Rukia Nakadama, said they have moblised more equipment to expedite the emergence response at Kiteezi. 

She also said President Museveni had “put up an investigation team to rule out the possibility of negligence. So we have to give these people an opportunity to do what they have been ordered to carry out.”

She also noted that a comprehensive report from Cabinet would be tabled next week to inform Parliament of the next course of action.