World Toilet day was commemorated on 19th November 2022, under the theme ‘making the invisible visible with the aim of raising awareness of the 3.6 billion people worldwide living without access to toilets.
As the frontrunner in promoting sanitation in Uganda, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) intends to build 44 toilet facilities in the 5 divisions of Kampala within the next year through the “KAMPALA WATER – LAKE VICTORIA WATER AND SANITATION PACKAGE 5B PROJECT”
According to the Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) report of 2020, toilet coverage in Uganda is estimated at 89% on average and as low as 36% for urban areas.
Kampala city alone has more than 50 informal settlements, and this has exacerbated sanitation problems due to high levels of unemployment and poverty. In some cases, people cannot afford the costs of setting up toilet facilities, hence resorting to unsafe ways of disposing of their human waste like in drainage channels especially on rainy days, polythene bags which are then disposed off in open spaces. In other cases, maintenance of the facilities is lacking.
Such practices create a haven for deadly diseases like cholera, dysentery, among others.
The KCCA Physical Planner Mr. Valle Agaba, attributed improved sanitation especially in slum areas to the different punitive measures put in place like arresting and fining of tenants and landlords without toilets.
The Kampala Water Urban Pro-Poor manager, Mr. Siraji Bassajja, says the project is to address all aspects of sanitation, connect toilet facilities to the sewer line, change people’s mindset on how to manage waste with the aim of curbing sanitation related diseases and save the environment from pollution.
In the wake of sanitation related diseases, NWSC is taking a positive step to eradicate conditions that can prove fatal to communities.
NWSC also looks to establish a sanitation chain which involves waste collection and management, construction of sanitation units and community engagement.
