Kampala residents risk preventable illnesses and flooding as poor waste disposal and blocked drainage channels continue to threaten public health, prompting calls for greater community participation in keeping the city clean.
Jubilee Insurance Uganda chief executive officer Eugine Mutekhele said regular cleaning and proper waste management were critical to reducing the spread of diseases, particularly among low-income communities that bear a disproportionate burden of poor sanitation.
“Without regular cleaning, floods will clog our channels and diseases will follow like malaria, typhoid, cholera and others, which disproportionately affect poor people more,” he said.
Mutekhele was speaking on Saturday as Jubilee Insurance employees joined Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) officials in a cleaning exercise covering several streets in the city centre.
The exercise began at Jubilee Insurance’s head offices on Kimathi Avenue before participants moved through Parliament Avenue, Kampala Road, Nasser Road, Rosebury and Dastur Street.
Mutekhele said the company’s participation was driven by the need to prevent illnesses rather than concentrate on treatment after people become sick.
“Although we are in the business of health, we believe that preventive care is better than curative,” he said.
He called on corporate organisations to support the government’s monthly cleaning initiative by providing equipment and mobilising their employees to participate in community activities.
Mutekhele said many residents were willing to clean their neighbourhoods but lacked basic tools such as brushes, spades and gloves, limiting their ability to participate.
He urged companies to pool resources to support the exercise and promote a culture in which maintaining clean surroundings becomes a shared responsibility.
“We hope that we can develop a mindset change where cleaning becomes part of our lifestyle,” he said.
Sheila Komugisha, the Kampala Capital City Authority woman councillor representing Kamwokya and Kololo, said poor sanitation continued to expose residents to preventable illnesses.
“Many of our people are falling sick with preventable diseases simply because they are not taking good care of their environment,” she said.
Komugisha thanked Jubilee Insurance for supporting the exercise and called for sustained cooperation between local authorities, businesses and communities to improve sanitation.
Shaherose Jamal, the director of Jubilee Life and Health Insurance, said the private sector should support the government’s decision to designate one Saturday every month for community cleaning.
She urged more corporate organisations to participate, saying their involvement would help expand the initiative and make it a regular practice.
KCCA officials said the programme had yet to attract widespread participation and appealed to more organisations to provide equipment and mobilise residents.
Eliazar Balwaine, the executive secretary for finance and administration at KCCA Kampala Central, said some communities were willing to participate but lacked the tools needed to carry out cleaning activities.
At the end of Saturday’s exercise, Jubilee Insurance donated the equipment used by its employees to KCCA to support future operations.
The company said it hoped the initiative would encourage more businesses to invest in environmental conservation and help make regular cleaning part of everyday life in Kampala.
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