MP Achola Leads Charge for Cleaner Uganda, Rallies Public Behind National Monthly Clean-Up Drive

What the report says

Dokolo Post reports that Pallisa District Woman MP Catherine Achola has called on Ugandans to take part in the government’s monthly National Cleaning Exercise, linking sanitation and environmental care to public health, productivity and development. The report says Achola joined leaders and residents in Kampala on Saturday for the national launch of the campaign, after Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja declared on July 24, 2026, that the last Saturday of each month would be marked as National Cleaning Day under the theme that keeping Uganda clean is a shared responsibility.

Achola urged residents of Pallisa and the wider public to treat cleanliness as a routine obligation, not an occasional activity. According to the report, she said community clean-ups can help reduce plastic waste in drainage channels, rivers and public spaces, with potential benefits for flood prevention and pollution control. She also said the effort should bring together households, schools, churches, offices and local leaders rather than leaving sanitation work only to town and municipal authorities.

The MP further asked parish chiefs to encourage compliance with basic public health measures, including pit latrines, rubbish pits, handwashing facilities and plate stands. Dokolo Post reports that she warned some communities had slipped away from sanitation habits promoted during the COVID-19 period, and said the government wants cleaning to become a sustained national culture.

Pallisa District Chairperson Ben Okiria backed the campaign as a preventive health measure that could reduce disease outbreaks and public treatment costs. Pallisa General Hospital Health Inspector Shariff Oriada also welcomed the initiative and urged schools not to present cleaning as punishment, saying that approach can undermine the idea of sanitation as a collective responsibility.