UPDF officers have challenged Jinja city residents to reawaken themselves on the importance of garbage management as a key driver to leading healthier lives.
They cleaned Jinja central market, corridors based in the Jinja City’s central business district, coupled with unblocking drainage channels along Alice Muloki road, bus park and Napier market, among others.
The officers also teamed up with city council authorities to dispose of garbage sacks, which had been heaped along the different roadsides in Jinja city.
The mostly decomposing wastes have been bundled onto trucks and ferried to the Jinja landfill for proper disposal.
While cleaning Jinja central market and the surrounding areas in commemoration of the forthcoming Tarehe Sita celebrations in Busoga sub region on Tuesday, UPDF officers have challenged communities to regard proper hygiene highly as a key element in safeguarding their health.
Their team leader, Col. Justus Rukundo observes that several residents have made it a habit to liter garbage in open spaces, which frustrates the primary concepts of cleanliness.
Rukundo says that, some individuals heap up garbage in corridors, causing it to rot and block drainage systems, causing the city roads to flood during rainy seasons.
Rukundo argues that much as there is a centralized system of garbage collection in Jinja city, the poor disposal habits of residents littering plastics and other decomposing wastes in the roads overwhelms the set systems.
Now Rukundo has advised all business owners and city residents to own individuals garbage bins where they can dispose of their wastes to ease central collection by the city authorities.
Ibrahim Abdullah, a wholesale trader along Nizam road in Jinja city says that most business owners are adamant towards paying “polluter pay tax” of 10,000 Shillings monthly and take advantage of the night to dump garbage in the corridors unnoticed.
Abdullah wants city council authorities to introduce heavy fines on individuals guilty of littering garbage, as a means of controlling the vice.
Meanwhile, the southern division mayor, Nasser Ashiraf says that the general cleaning exercise by UPDF officers has acted as a wake-up call to city dwellers on the importance of hygiene.
Nasser says that their health department has been at the forefront of rallying communities to embrace cleanliness and proper garbage disposal, however, some individuals are still uncompliant.
He adds that some L.C.1 chairpersons have drafted bylaws to fine individuals found at fault for littering garbage in their areas of operation.
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