The WASTE tragedy in the City

Following what we would call a waste slide disaster around the Kiteezi waste collection site in Kampala, many institutional structures have come into question regarding waste management. The tragedy has left many nearby households grieving, as many people are suspected to be buried by the long overdue and accumulated hip of waste.

The waste collection and management at the site commenced in 1996 serving the metropolitan Kampala city region. Since then, several scientific and applied studies found faults with the site and its capacity to hold an enormous amount of waste until 2008, but the concerned institutions have yet to decommission the site. They attribute the delay to the lack of resources and the contestation by the residents in another area (Mukono District) acquired in 2016, in addition to other gaps.

The waste collapsed following some rains triggering among other geomorphological factors, killed many, leaving orphans from households that stayed nearby.

A strain of questions on whether the government and the city’s authorities’ efforts in waste management, land use plans, and law enforcement are being met with negligence, however, remain.

As of 10/8/2024 when the tragedy struck, Kampala is estimated to generate 2,500 tonnes of waste daily, with only a half being collected and reaching the landfill. As such the waste tragedy is both at the landfill and away.

The Mind-Nature Institute grieves with the families that have lost lives, and property in this tragedy and prays that going forward, we all take hazardous situations seriously and work to effectively manage them.