‘My friend died in Kiteezi trash trash’

Having returned tears, 22-year-old garbage collector Okuka Prince remembers the moment when the lifeless body of his best friend was found on a huge garbage in the Uganda capital, Campal.

Last August, 30 people, including his friend Sanya Kezia, killed the Kiteezi landslide.

“I think some people are still under the garbage,” he tells the BBC.

Many of them have earned for life to wash and sell all discarded items that have found that they still have value – anything, from fishing nets to plastic bottles, glass jars and components of old electronic devices.

After the fatal collapse, the guilt broke out, and the Campal Council and the Central Government accused each other of negligence, while some of the dead were still perish under the tone of garbage without dignity of burial.

When the Government tractors eventually dug Kesia’s body, there were injuries to the face of a 21-year-old.

It was scary that his friend saw him wrapped in stinky, rotten waste.

“We are not sure here. Unless they are [repair] That, maybe he equates him. Otherwise, people are not sure, “says Mr. Prince, who studied the right at the Islamic University of Uganda before becoming garbage.

Unable to afford tuition fees after his family became financially unstable, his daily routine is now far from libraries and lectures.

Youth unemployment is at the level of the crisis in Uganda, and there are many like Mr. Prince who often risk their health and leave their dreams just to make a living.

“I come here to the landfill in the morning, collect polyethylene bags, take them for washing and selling them,” says Mr. Prince. “I make 10,000 shillings [equivalent to $2.70 or £2.10] day. “

The collapse left him in further financial troubles as he once lived side by side of the landfill – but he had to move for safety problems.

The houses of others were also destroyed during rescue.

The money from compensation was paid to the families of those who died, but not about 200 people who lost their homes, the local authorities were recognized by the BBC.

Officials are “waiting for the assignment of evaluation and budget,” says Dr. Sarah Karen Zalwang, a new manager of public health and the environment at the Kampal Capital City (KCCA) City Administration.

Some claim that Kiteezi collapse was inevitable because the basic common sense was neglected.

“You can’t take four million people, get all that waste, mixed – degradable and not bracket – and take it to a single rejection of a place. No, it’s not so [ought to] Do it. But we have been doing this for over 20 years, “says Frank Muramuzi, an urban planner based in Kampali, for the BBC.

The Kiteezi landfill was built in 1996, with the financing of the World Bank, to ensure a unique, main depositors for the solid waste created by the campal.

As Campal grew, so is the biggest garbage.

On the northern edge of the city now covers 15 hectares (37 hectares) – an area of ​​more than 22 football fields – with the stench still expanding.

Birds of prey can be seen flying over the head.

The residents and companies of the city create about 2500 tons of waste every day, half of which ends in landfills around the city – is the largest Kiteezi.

But the problem is that Kiteezi lacks the institution for recycling, sorting and burning on the spot that the landfills should have.

“With each layer of garbage, the lower layers become weaker, especially since the decay and decay of organic waste increases the temperature,” explains Mr. Muramuzi.

“No openings, methane and other gases remain trapped at the bottom, additional multiplication of fragility slightly held structures.”

However, this can be easily improved, he adds, as long as the Government obliges himself to periodically monitor and audit that factor in environmental, social and economic needs.

If it had already been established, “the devastation that happened in Kiteezi would be avoided,” he says.

So if this solution is simple, why is it not happening already?

The answer seems to be a combination of fighting for power and financially poor management.

The ultimate responsibility for the maintenance of the Campale “pure, inhabited and sustainable environment” lies on KCCA, but Mayor Erias Lukwago, from the opposition forum for a democratic change, says his office lacks the necessary power to make changes.

Kcca says he has repeatedly proposed plans to break down Kiteezi, but says that funds are needed for that – $ 9.7 million – exceeding the city budget and that the Central Government is not available.

“All the support we have received is the kindness of development partners and donors such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Giz and Watedaid … But their capacity is very limited,” said Mayor Kampal.

“If we had received appropriate funding from the central government, we would be very far away at the moment.”

There is no word from the government whether it will allocate funds for the biggest landfill.

He paid $ 1,350 to each of the families of the deceased, saying that every further money would only be if the government agencies “found themselves responsible.”

A month later, a report published by the Police and Investigation Department in the country led to the President of Yoweri Museveni – the famous political opponent of the mayor of Kampale – who dismissed the three senior KCCA officials, including executive and public health directors.

James Bond Kunobera, a Campal’s solid waste management officer, admits that last year’s deadly collapse was a much needed call to wake up.

Currently, the authorities in the Uganda capital make plans for converting organic waste into compost and reduce the “unnecessary waste” coming to the city.

But they want the public to take over a certain responsibility. At this point, people pay one of seven private waste companies that operate in Campali to collect their garbage, which is all in the package along with a little thought about recycling.

“We have not changed the mindset of residents to sort waste,” Mr. Kunobera tells the BBC.

“If you sort, waste has different destinations. If you are mixed, everything goes to one – a landfill.”

Experts say such initiatives are important, but they do not solve greater structural inadequacy in Kiteezi.

And for people whose lives are broken down with recent events, there is too late.

“They promised us a fee, but I didn’t receive anything – almost everyone complains,” Mr. Prince says for the BBC.

“We lost our friend. Everything that happened in the process was sad.”

Additional Natasha Booty reporting.