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KCCA fails to trace stolen weighbridges
Charles Ouma, KCCA acting director for legal affairs. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The machines are used to measure the quantity of garbage each truck takes to the dumping site
- During a recent engagement between the KCCA technical team and the city’s Public Accounts Committee at City Hall, the committee chairperson asked the former to explain why the two weighbridges have not been recovered.
- The KCCA acting director for public health, Mr Daniel Okello, in an interview on Monday, acknowledged that the weighbridges went missing.
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has failed to recover two weighbridges for Kiteezi Landfill in Kawempe Division, which went missing six years ago, Daily Monitor has learnt.
According to the Auditor General’s financial statements for the year 2012, the two weighbridges were stolen by some officials from the garbage collection site at Kiteezi. The weighbridges are used to measure the quantity of garbage each truck takes to the dumping site.
Mr John Muwanga, in his report addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, noted that although officials at the landfill said they took the weighbridges to Rwanda for repair, they have never brought them back.
However, Mr Muwanga did not mention names in his report, which was copied to the Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi.
“…management, in response, explained that the monitoring and inspection unit of the KCCA has conducted investigations and confirmed that there were two weighbridges, which were illegally sold in Rwanda and police statements were recorded by three witnesses,” the report reads in part.
Although he advised management to bring the culprits to book, this has not been done and neither have the two weighbridges been recovered.
During a recent engagement between the KCCA technical team and the city’s Public Accounts Committee at City Hall, the committee chairperson asked the former to explain why the two weighbridges have not been recovered.
However, Mr Charles Ouma, the KCCA acting director for legal affairs, explained that they were still searching for the investigations file from the archives, which he said would give them headway to prosecute the perpetrators.
Daily Monitor visited the landfill last Friday and found no weighbridge there. Officials at the site declined to comment on the matter, referring us to their bosses at City Hall for a comment.
The KCCA acting director for public health, Mr Daniel Okello, in an interview on Monday, acknowledged that the weighbridges went missing.
However, he declined to respond to our follow-up questions on when the stolen weighbridges would be replaced.
The deputy manager for corporate and public affairs, Mr Robert Kalumba, in an interview yesterday, said they are currently using the weighbridges at the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra).
“After loading garbage, the trucks then go to these weighbridges to measure how much they are carrying. They then proceed to Kiteezi to dump garbage and return to the same weighbridge. We get the initial weight of the truck carrying the waste and that of the truck when it’s empty and then we get the exact kilogrammes,” he said.
Mr Kalumba said they use Unra weighbridges at different sites. He said at least 420,000 tonnes of garbage is deposited at the landfill monthly.
Kampala Deputy Lord Mayor Sarah Kanyike said the matter will soon be presented before the council.
ABOUT LANDFILL
The landfill, which is located 9km from Kampala off Gayaza Road, was gazetted in 1996 as a landfill to accommodate all garbage collected from all the five divisions of the city.
At this facility, waste is received, bulldozed, spread in layers and covered with soil, compacted and the waste water treated.
However, it has since filled up and KCCA has acquired 135 acres to construct a new landfill in Dundu, Mukono District.
