Hoima city council feuds with locals over garbage management

Hoima, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Hoima city authorities are on the spot for allegedly dumping garbage on private land. Residents of Kibaati cell in Hoima City East division which hosts the 2.5bililion Shillings nonfunctional waste recycling plant, accuse the city authorities of dumping garbage on their plots.

Built in 2012 with funding from the World Bank and National Environment Management Authority-NEMA, the garbage recycling plant has remained nonfunctional due to the lack of electricity and running water. The plant which seats on three acres of land has the capacity of processing 70 tons of garbage daily.

Currently, the area is littered with garbage collected from different areas of the city. Residents nearing the plant have petitioned the Hoima Resident City Commissioner-RCC to compel the authorities to stop dumping garbage on their land.

Mary Nyangoma, a resident of Kibaati says that for the last four months, garbage trucks from Hoima city have been dumping garbage on her plot of land. She wants the city authorities to compensate her for the inconvenience.

Betty Mwesigwa, another resident wonders why the city authorities decided to dump garbage on their land without their consent. He wants the Home City council to revamp the defunct garbage recycling plant to avoid unnecessary dumping of garbage.

Emmanuel Kyalimpa, another resident wants the city authorities to stop dumping garbage on private land before they seek legal redress. Badru Mugabi, the Hoima Resident City Commissioner-RCC has since confirmed the complaints by the residents.

He has instructed the Hoima city council to compensate the aggrieved residents and stop dumping garbage on their land.

He has also tasked the affected residents to fence off their land to avoid any future conflicts.

Brian Kaboyo, the mayor of Hoima city says that it is unfortunate that drivers of the garbage trucks have been dumping garbage on private land. He however says that they have reached a comprise with the aggrieved residents on how best to handle their grievances.

Hoima East Division which comprises the central business area, is the biggest generator of solid waste in Hoima city. The majority of the waste comes from the abattoir, the central market, restaurants, hotels, schools, factories, and other processing units in Kiryatete industrial area.

According to statistics obtained from the city authorities, the solid waste generation rate was between 150 to 200 tons per day in 2016. 34.6 percent of the waste generated at the household level was food waste, about 26.8 percent plastic, paper,and cardboard while the proportion of textiles in the waste was estimated at 7.8 percent.

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