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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA councillors are calling for an audit into the operations of firms contracted to collect garbage.
The decision was taken during a meeting between the KCCA Standing Committee of Public Health and the three companies; Homklin Company Limited, Nabugabo Updeal and Kampala Solid Waste Management Consortium commonly known as Kasasiro.
During the meeting held on Tuesday at the City Hall, committee members accused the companies of substandard work. The companies were also accused of levying different garbage collection fees in similar areas.
According to the contracts, the companies are required to levy a monthly charge of 30,000 Shillings for premium services (3 bags per week) and 3000 Shillings per month for bring-to-truck services.
The committee chairperson, Kampala Central One councilor Francis Mbaziira told the companies that they shall be subjected to an audit to assess their capacity regarding the number of trucks, their tonnage and their conditions compared to the amount of work.
The committee wants KCCA to also start issuing a certificate of competency to the companies before extending their contracts.
KCCA first issued contracts to the three companies for four years in 2016 before an extension was granted in 2019 despite disagreements from some political leaders and rival private collectors who accused the authority of monopolizing the collection of garbage.
In 2019 when the cabinet resolved to extend the contract of the companies, Erias Lukwago, the City Lord Mayor was up in arms challenging the decision which he said wasn’t informed by an audit. He accused the companies of delivering substandard work.
In June this year, KCCA extended the contracts of the same companies for ten years. However, this prompted the council to pass a resolution to recall the review contracts.
During the meeting, representatives of the companies cited challenges of poor road infrastructure in slums and lack of payment by some companies among other challenges.
On the disparities in fees, they told the committee that they also consider the amount of garbage collected and how often it’s collected from a customer. They argued that some businesses generate a lot of garbage.
The Executive Director of Homklin Company Isaac Katureebe says they can collect garbage but decried lack of payment, which hinders their operations.
Abubakar Sonko, the Director Nabugabo Updeal said that KCCA should sensitize the public on proper waste disposal. He also said that the company has 5 trucks that can carry 30 tons of garbage and 21 trucks of 7 tonnes.
The Chairperson of Kasasiro, Denis Mushabe also asked KCCA to improve the roads to enable the trucks to access areas to collect garbage.
Mushabe also said that they struggle to find space to dump at the landfill in Kiteezi since it has been used beyond capacity.
Kampala produces over 2,000 tons of garbage daily yet KCCA has only 12 functional garbage collection trucks. Only about 56 percent of the garbage is collected while the contracted firms collect 32 percent and KCCA 24 percent.
The Kampala City Council Solid Waste Management Ordinance of 2000, mandates KCCA and its agents to ensure that solid waste in Kampala is collected and conveyed to treatment installations to satisfy both public health and environmental conservation requirements.
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