The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Soroti, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The poor garbage management in Soroti City has attracted the attention of the Church of Uganda Archbishop, The Most Rev. Dr. Stephen Samuel Kazimba Mugalu. The Archbishop who is on his pastoral visit to Soroti Diocese made the comments while delivering a sermon at St. Peter’s Cathedral on Sunday.
He said that there’s a lot of garbage especially polythene bags littered around the city that he notes makes life difficult for the residents. The Archbishop tasked the community and the authorities in the city to take responsibility for the management of and disposal of waste.
The Soroti East Division Mayor, Paul Omer, attributes the garbage mess to the residents who he notes have failed to heed the guidance of the City Council. Initially, the City authorities would collect garbage from gazetted areas but that stopped when garbage skips were erected along Haridas and School roads in Soroti East Division.
Naume Akeit, a businesswoman in Towntalks, one of the busiest business areas in Soroti City says that they are charged daily fees for garbage but trucks rarely collect the garbage that is generated every minute.
“We used to collect garbage from our houses in front of our houses where it is picked up by the city trucks. But these days, those trucks rarely come and if they do, they stop at the main disposal area,” she said.
The Kasilo County Member of Parliament, Elijah Okupa urged the residents to take responsibility for their waste before shifting blame to the authorities. Okupa, who was among the congregation at St. Peter’s Cathedral, says that it is embarrassing for Soroti City, which is the heart of Teso to be synonymous with garbage all the time.
The Soroti City garbage management was one of the key issues driving the Soroti East Division MP by-election campaigns last year, especially from the ruling NRM party candidate, Herbert Edmund Ariko, and his party leadership. Ariko and the NRM faulted the then MP Moses Attan Okia of FDC for failing to work with the city authorities in ensuring that waste management is addressed.
He promised to have the issue addressed within the first months of his stay in Parliament if given a mandate. But the issue of waste management has since remained a matter of concern in the city, especially in the East Division which generates most of the waste. Soroti East Division hosts the central market and most of the businesses and the most vibrant Division in Soroti City.
The poor garbage management was one of the issues that instigated the protests which forced the Minister of Local Government, Raphael Magyezi to intervene lately by arresting the market managers and a section of city staff involved in the running and maintenance of the market.
In February this year, Soroti City authorities handed the waste management contract to a private firm, Asante Garbage Management Services. This is after the approval of rates for the collection of garbage by the city council in May 2022.
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