Kampala suburbs still littered with uncollected garbage a week after National Cleaning Day

What the report says

Several Kampala suburbs were still dealing with uncollected garbage a week after the first National Cleaning Day, according to The Observer. The report said waste remained along roadsides and near homes and businesses in areas including Bwaise, Munaku, Nabulagala, Tula Road, Kyadondo Medical Centre Junction and Kibuli, with residents warning that the piles were rotting, smelling bad and attracting flies and other pests.

The article said the situation was most visible on Mukalazi Road in Bwaise, where garbage collected during the cleanup was still piled beside restaurants, food kiosks and residences. Residents told The Observer that the delay had made daily life harder and raised fears of illness, while some said people had started burning the waste, adding to air-pollution concerns.

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) said it had cleared most of the waste from the city-wide exercise, but acknowledged that collection was still continuing in some places. KCCA executive director Hajjat Sharifah Buzeki said the cleanup produced unusually large volumes of garbage, especially in Makindye Division, and that more than 15 trucks had been deployed there. The authority also said future cleaning days will be handled differently, with residents expected to take waste directly to collection trucks and prove they have regular waste-collection services.

The issue matters because residents and officials both linked the remaining garbage to public-health risks and business disruption, while also highlighting the challenges of managing large-scale community cleanup drives in a city with ongoing waste-collection gaps.