KCCA runs to Cabinet over ultimatum to dump garbage at Nkumba landfill

The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) deputy Executive Director, Mr David Luyimbazi, has said the Authority is yet to find an alternative dumping site for the city’s garbage.

Mr Luyimbazi said they are seeking the intervention of the Cabinet, which is meeting today at State House Entebbe, to address the four-day ultimatum issued by the Entebbe Municipal Council on Friday to stop dumping garbage at the Nkumba–Bufulu landfill.

 “We don’t have an alternative, we are depending on the Cabinet seating on Monday (today). This is a national issue, it is no longer an issue of Kampala. It is a regional issue, Kiteezi serves Wakiso, Kira, Makindye Ssabagabo, Mukono and Kampala, it’s a greater Kampala Metropolitan issue, it’s a national, we are hoping Cabinet will make a decision where we go,” he said in an interview with Daily Monitor yesterday.

He added: “Even where they are chasing us, that land was bought with government money. That landfill was not bought with the mayor’s or councillors money. Nansana didn’t buy Menvu with their own money, it was government money so this is a national issue where the government must help us prevail over these jurisdictions to conduct themselves in a peaceful way otherwise the city is choking.”

The ultimatum was issued after a Friday closed-door extraordinary full council meeting called by Entebbe Municipality Mayor Fabrice Rulinda to discuss a request from KCCA to dispose of solid waste at the Nkumba-Bufulu dumpsite for three months.

“We shouldn’t politicise these things especially when there is an emergency. It makes a serious matter become a joking subject. I saw on NTV, the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwako saying I refused to meet him because he is in the Opposition and I am NRM, this is a national emergency,” Mr Rulinda said.

Temporary relief

He said the council had granted KCCA temporary relief to avoid a sanitation crisis in Kampala by allowing them access to the dumpsite until the end of Monday.

 “We have decided to allow them dump their garbage until end of Monday (today) as we manage our small dumping area. It doesn’t have the capacity to handle the volumes that come out of Kampala. We have been handling between 50 to 150 metric tonnes of garbage daily, KCCA produces 2,500 tones, that is abnormally more than we have the capacity to handle,” he said.

Mr Rulinda, who visited the landfill on Wednesday afternoon, said they initially halted further dumping in the area because KCCA did not seek permission from the municipality, which owns the landfill.

He said Mr Lukwago and his deputy, Doreen Nyanjura, sought assistance from Katabi Town Council Mayor Ronald Kalema, in whose jurisdiction the dumpsite is located. Mr Kalema granted KCCA permission to use the landfill for one month, a decision that was disregarded by Entebbe Municipal authorities, who own the site.

Hopeful

On Thursday last week, Mr Rulinda met Mr Luyimbazi who delivered a letter from the KCCA Executive Director, Ms Dorothy Kisaka, requesting to use the dumpsite in Katabi Town Council.

“Our request is to be allowed to use this landfill for about three months. When I got to Entebbe, there were about three major concerns. First is environmental damage, Entebbe is producing about 50 to 75 tonnes of rubbish daily, we are going to be bringing in 1,500 tones which might likely overwhelm their landfill,” Mr Luyimbazi told journalists.

“The other issue is about marabou stocks (kaloli). They have an impact on the safety of the airport that is in Entebbe. That is an issue they want to see that we come up with mitigation actions. The other issue is that they want collective responsibility, they want the entire council to seat and give us a feedback, in the meantime we still are grappling with the issue of where to take the garbage coming from Kampala,” he said.

When contacted on Friday, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) Spokesperson, Mr Vianney Luggya, said: “Birds can easily enter the aircraft engine or collide with the aircraft causing damage to the aircrafts.”

He added: “That is why [we have a] hazard control unit which undertakes runway sweeps to ensure that there are no birds on the runway or its vicinity before an aircraft lands or takes off.”

Mr Luggya said UCAA regularly sensitizes communities in Entebbe, particularly those near the airport, on better waste management practices to help reduce the attraction of birds in the area. Waste is a major attractor for birds, which feed on it, posing a threat to the aviation industry.