Two roadside markets and a Taxi Park in Luweero town council are operating without toilets putting the lives of vendors and taxi operators at risk of cholera outbreak.
Balikyewunya and Kasana markets attract a population of more than 500 people. The vendors sell roasted meat, fruits, water and operate from 7:00am-10:00pm.
Next to the markets is Kasana Taxi Park, which also lacks a toilet.
Nicholas Mugerwa, a vendor at Kasana market, says that when they want to ease themselves some of them beg people staying in the neighbourhood while others use polythene bags.
Mugerwa adds that the town council erected one public toilet for the whole town but it lacks doors and it’s filthy. He says that they have petitioned the town council to construct a joint toilet for the taxi park and market users in vain.
Another vendor from Kasana market, Muhamadi Nsubuga, says that the vendors are living under fear of a cholera outbreak due to poor human waste disposal.
The Caretaker of Balikyewunya market, Lameck Buule, concurred with the vendors saying that they have asked the town council and the land owner for action.
The vendors headed by a health activist, Muhamadi Kabugo, also besieged the assistant Chief Administrative Officer Fred Kyeyune in his office and tabled a petition accusing the town clerk, Muluuta Mugagga and district health inspectors of neglecting their duties.
Kabugo says that they want Mugagga to either close the markets or construct public toilets.
Kyeyune did not give any concrete response when he just promised the vendors that he would address the matter. But when contacted, the town clerk Muluuta Mugagga said the council lacks funds to construct toilets and the users are unwilling to partner with the authority to construct the facility.
A World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme report released in April 2012, said that that at least 3.5 million Ugandans have no latrines at all and the place of convenience is open spaces. The report indicates that another 13.8 million Ugandans use unsanitary or shared latrines. This poor sanitation is costing the country at least UGX 389 billion annually.
