OPINION.
Its a hot and dry season in most parts of the country. And if you have moved around particularly beyond kampala road and your town front yard, you should have observed clogged our drainage systems are with heaps of both kaveera and rotting garbage.
The quickest question that I often hear people raise is where is KCCA, or the town council garbage management unit? I have to admit that I too, having grown up with similar questions in mind I am begging to think such questions are disempowering and reckless, and this is why.
If you have not been observant enough to realize that the rain water trenches are not as full as they often are during rainy seasons please do and learn why. Alot of people utilize the darkness off night to dump sacks of rubbish into the open trenches or sweep their rubbish into the drainage systems where they expect rain to clear up the piles. Those with floating septic tanks too open then in anticipation of rain or as soon as it starts to rain. I wonder if you have ever thought of where all this garbage ends up, or do you think that by any chance the city traps this garbage before iit ends up into the main lakes where we draw water from for our children drink?
Its time we picked up this mantle as the community from the overwhelmed gabbage collection bodies because we too can. I mean we are sitting on an environmental time bomb. Its hard to appreciate the gold of saltless and toxi- free water that we enjoy as a counntryy until you visit countries around us that cant access such an opporrtunity without invesstinng so heeavilly into its filtration. I doubt national water can filter our water well enough to completely free it of both fecal and pollytthen relatted toxins. This water together with food grown in these polythen full soils are responsible for all sorts of cancers that we are struggling with today.
I would suggest that on an individual and family level we learn on our own to separate decomposing and non decomposing garbage material. The only support we need is on how safely we can dispose kaveera because burning is also hazardous to our environment. The decomposing material may be used in composite pits and be recycled back into urban farming.
Our local district councils need to comme up with by-laws deterring reckless garbage disposal and implementation teams should be facilitated by heavy fines on offenders. By so doing it will be possible to collect billions of money from people as we reduce medical bills for our families and increase safe fish production.
Ugandans have great business and innovative ideas and schools should pioneer and compete for safest recycling intervervventions. We needed to increase green spaces too as we celebrate the international environment day, human survival and thrival is by design most possible in forest-like environments than in the desert.and its us to realize this dream. Our children too must learn this.
As NEMA, KCCA and the private sector lays down strategies for this garbage disaster I call upon each one of us to do something. Vehicle operators please ensure that your cars have rubbish collection cans.Passengers please, its very backward to enjoy a drink and throw a bottle out through the window.. who does that in this generation, except in Uganda. It’s a shame we cant face anymore. In other countries you would pay a big fine.
District councils please draft by-laws and ensure their implementation. Fine offenders highly as we protect our environment. A clean environment is equivalent to good physical and mental health. And have heard that a dirty environment is the first sign of spiritual possession. Let us liberate ourselves by planting tree too for a cooler planet.
Together we can…
