UGANDA, Apac | Real Muloodi News | Dozens of tenants have been left stranded after Apac Municipal workers closed shops and rental properties due to poor sanitation.
The six-day operation, which began last Thursday, 06th June, 2024, targeted rental properties that lacked essential sanitation facilities such as latrines, drainage systems, and proper garbage disposal pits.
The crackdown was concentrated in the central business area, where issues such as open defecation, littering of kitchen refuse, polythene bags, and plastic bottles in back lanes and corridors are prevalent.
According to the municipality’s Department of Environmental Health, only 50 per cent of rental properties in this area have the required sanitation facilities.
Mr Richard Nirwehe, one of the affected tenants on Chegere Road in Arocha Division, expressed his concern about the impact on his livelihood.
“I am now closing my business yet I paid rent for six months and currently I don’t have money to shift to another building. The landlords must be serious, otherwise they are going to have problems with us,” he said.
Samado Yada, a motor vehicle mechanic whose garage was also closed, shared his frustration.
“We are paying heavy taxes yet there is no serious business, and with the closure of our business premises, we are going to starve. I am appealing to landlords to always comply with the law so that tenants don’t suffer the consequences of their negligence,” he stated.
Another tenant, Ms. Susan Abia on Republic Street in Akere Division, described the difficulties her family is facing due to a filled-up pit latrine.
“I am now unable to access my house so that I can prepare food for my children who are returning from school. I am also very hungry but there is no way yet I paid my rent for three months,” she said.
David Livingstone Okeng, the principal health inspector of Apac Municipality and acting municipal health officer, explained that the landlords whose properties were closed had ignored multiple warnings.
“We are not doing well in terms of pit latrines and drainable toilets and we have people littering waste everywhere. We have people defecating in open places and those defecating in polythene bags and dumping them in corridors,” Okeng said. “We then issued the nuisance notice but people were not responding positively, so we decided to begin enforcement.”
Okeng further elaborated that if landlords fail to improve sanitation, their tenants will be evicted.
“We are going to fine those landlords Shs200,000 then we open their houses and give them a grace period of one month to construct the toilets. We are not allowing the construction of new pit latrines. All the new sanitary facilities should be either a drainable pit latrine or water-borne toilets,” he added.
The current latrine coverage in Apac Municipality stands at 94 per cent, with hand washing facilities at 37 per cent.
The central business area, which includes Temogo Ward in Arocha Division, Central Ward in Akere Division, Industrial Ward in Atik Division, and Teibu Ward in Agulu Division, has the highest number of households and business premises without pit latrines.
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