Ronald Mugera Bbaale, the Chairperson of Masaka Municipality Business Community lashed out to the city leadership of neglecting a critical aspect of public hygiene in the town despite them being prompt in collecting taxes.
Residents
and business operators in Masaka City have clashed with the leadership
over demands to operationalize public toilets in the town.
Masaka
Municipal Council previously operated at least 20 public toilets in different areas that include green
spaces, taxi parks and stages, traditional streets, social-service centers
among other places.
However many of these toilets are no longer in existence after they
were either replaced by private buildings or closed down after the municipality
failed to maintain them.
Ronald
Mugera Bbaale, the Chairperson of Masaka Municipality Business Community lashed
out to the city leadership for neglecting a critical aspect of public hygiene
in the town despite them being prompt in collecting taxes.
He explains that the absence of public toilets has
resulted in chronic poor disposable of human waste in some corners of the
town, which puts the health of residents at great risk of
contracting sanitation-related diseases.
Joseph
Kizza Lukyamuzi a who operates a grocery shop along Buddu street in Masaka town
has accused the city leadership of being negligent in creating a safe and
health working-environment for the residents from whom they collect taxes.
He
has also criticized the city technical team for failing to maintain the few
remaining public toilets. He adds that the absence of sanitation
facilities has left many people without alternatives but to urinate
on verandahs
and walls of buildings.
//Cue in; (Luganda) “ensonga nyingi naye….
Cue out; …..toilet eziwera.”//
Lukyamuzi has also blamed the city authorities for presiding over a filthy town, arguing that
while they usually struggle to collect garbage and sweep the streets, their
efforts are insignificant with the absence of public toilets.
Abdul
Mugumya, another trader in Masaka alleged that the closure of public toilets in
the town could be a selfish plot between the city authorities and landlords, to
profiteer from the fees tenants pay to use private toilets in arcades and other
commercial plazas.
//Cue in: “waliwo ku kisaawe….
Cue out; …..muzireke.”//
But John Bahengana the Masaka Municipality City Town Clerk downplayed
the demands;
arguing that having public toilets in the area will instead cause the town a
lot of unwanted characters that will contribute to many social evils.
Bahengana
has instead urged people operating businesses in the different commercial
blocks to resist separate charges for using toilet facilities in buildings they
rent.