Makindye leaders to close health centres, schools over poor hygiene

Leaders in Makindye Ssabagabo Municipality have threatened to close all government hospitals and schools over poor sanitation.

“When it comes to sanitation, Makindye Ssabagabo is badly off. We have no garbage trucks, garbage is dumped everywhere, the place is stinking, toilets within health centers and schools are too dirty and flies are all over the place, which has put the lives of our patients and children at risk because anytime we shall have a cholera outbreak in Makindye due to poor hygiene. It looks like government forgot about us,’’ said the Deputy Mayor Makindye Ssabagabo, Mr Moses Kanala, during the Annual Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Symposium/Sanitation week commemoration in Makindye Ssabagabo Municipality held at Shine Resort Hotel in Kigo on March 21.

“We give these hospitals and schools money for maintenance, they have school management committees, and hospital committees, but they have failed to maintain their facilities. If they want us to clean for them, let them wait for us because this time we are serious. This serves as a warning to all hospital administrators that if they have failed to maintain these facilities, they should leave before we get to them because we shall handcuff them and take them to the police station. This is Operation Hakuna Mchezo,” he added.

He added that, “starting next week, this operation is not going to spare anyone starting with the LCs, Village Chiefs, Members of Parliament and the community, because we are interested in a clean environment and municipality.”

The Deputy Mayor also noted that the Municipality had rolled out mass killing of stray dogs to check on the increased cases of dog bites reported by the residents.

“The campaign to have stray dogs killed follows fears that the stray dogs that are not vaccinated could easily lead to the spread of rabies. This is a warning to residents who have failed to take care of their dogs and let them loiter in the community. We shall not spare your dogs," he said.

The Municipal Health Officer, Ms Sarah Namutebi Alibeera said that on average every homestead in Ssabagabo has six people implying that the amount of solid waste generated is too much, which is a big challenge.

Ms Enid Naikoba, a Project Officer with Water Aid based in Makindye Ssabagabo, running a sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene project aimed at improving sanitation and systems that deliver WASH services within the municipality said they conducted a baseline study intended to inform the progress of the project for the next three years.

"As part of the study, we have moved to  communities, health centers and schools and it was interesting to discover that WASH was not really performing so well in Makindye Ssabagabo mainly in the community,'' she said.

She added that “when you look at the largest percentage of latrines, over 53 percent within the municipality, these are people who own pit latrines that are not lined, which poses a great contribution to contamination of water and environment, and presents a challenge in managing fecal matter."

"We are looking at how the municipality can plan to ensure that people at least move away from using unlined pit latrines. Solid waste management is still a great problem and a lot of sensitisation needs to be done. Makindye still has a lot to do in health communication to ensure that people appreciate handwashing. We also established that there are people who still think that they don’t need pit latrines in their homes. 3 percent said they don’t think pit latrines are important. That means there are people who defecate in water contributing to polluting our water.”