Kiboga Passes Public Health and Sanitation Bill

The Kiboga district local government on Thursday passed an ordinance on public health and sanitation.

 

Kyomya John, the Chairperson of the Social Service Committee at the district council, explained that the ordinance is intended to ensure that residents observe hygiene and sanitation in their homes.

 

In this ordinance, every family must have a latrine and if it fails the family head must be arrested, and penalized.

 

Kyomya says the penalties for those without pit latrines vary from three months imprisonment during which the convict will engage in community work.

 

He says one can also pay a fine of two currency points ( about 40, 000 shillings) and construct the latrine within one week.

 

Mutumba Abdu, the Secretary for Health, adds that the ordinance will ensure that homes are clean. The ordinance compels homes to separate human living quarters from those housing domestic animals.

 

During the extra ordinary council meeting presided over by the speaker Kibwami Noah, the councilors agreed to erase a clause that said a resident should be warned before being arrested.

 

Dr Muluuta Hannignton, the Kiboga district health officer, says that one of the diseases that are affecting the people of Kiboga is diarrhea which is caused by poor hygiene.

 

He adds that, the ordinance will help to reduce on the spread of such diseases, as the sanitation and hygiene in homes will have improved.

 

But some of the residents who spoke to this reporter said the ordinance was not relevant.

 

Kakooza John, a trader in Kiboga, says he does not understand how the town council can enforce the ordinance yet it has failed to build a public toilet.