Masaka Catholic diocese on Wednesday opened the first modern shopping mall in Masaka town without sanitation facilities.
The shopping mall is located in Nyendo town along Kitovu Road. Bishop John Baptist Kaggwa of Masaka Diocese opened the building on Wednesday for usage after performing religious rituals. Bishop Kaggwa sprinkled holy water around the four-storeyed building before praying for it.
Bishop Kaggwa said the church used donations from Christians and well-wishers through the Bishop Annual Appeal Fund since 2006. He did not disclose how much was used to construct it but said it was in billions of shillings.
However, the magnificent building named Bishop JB Kaggwa Shopping Mall lacks toilet facilities. The shopping mall is expected to host over 20000 customers and traders daily.
George William Ssimbwa, the shopping mall architect, whose Nkwaju Builders undertook the construction, said it has no toilet facilities because UMEME refused to relocate its transformer from the Church-owned plot of land.
Ssimbwa explained that under the structural plan, the toilet facilities are supposed to be constructed alongside the shopping mall. He argued that according to the plan approved by Masaka municipality, the transformer was supposed to be relocated elsewhere to give way for the shopping mall construction but since then, Kirunda Magola, the Umeme Manager has reportedly refused to relocate it.
Ssimbwa said the toilets will be constructed in August after UMEME has relocated the existing one and then installed the mall’s own transformer.
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Godfrey Kayemba, the Masaka Mayor who attended the opening ceremony said the lack of toilet facilities is a breach of the municipal sanitation policy. Kayemba demanded that the new shopping mall and other Masaka shopping arcades improve the sanitation facilities before the impending operation against poor hygiene catches up with them.
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David Lutaaya, one of the traders on the shopping mall said they are now utilizing pay toilets constructed by UN Habitat located a few meters from the shopping mall. Lutaaya wondered why the shopping mall owners did not construct flush toilets at every level.
Recently, Masaka Municipal council issued fresh warnings to close all arcades lacking sanitation facilities. But the warnings seem to have fallen on deaf ears since no one among the landlords has responded to the warning. A recent report by Masaka Municipality shows that over 70% of the arcades in the town lack toilet facilities.
