Luwero, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | Residents of Luwero Town Council are raising alarm over significant environmental and health hazards as the local cemetery and dumpsite, established two decades ago, have reached their limits.
Due to the lack of space, officials have resorted to shallow burials, stacking bodies on top of each other, or placing them in a single pit at the 2.5-acre public cemetery in Kalongo Zone, which also serves as a dumping ground for waste collected from the community.
Authorities report that the cemetery receives an average of five unclaimed bodies each week, often from accidents, murder scenes, and other incidents across the district. The situation has worsened with the arrival of Sudanese refugees, who are also interred in the same cemetery.
Simon Ssebale, a concerned local, reported that dogs have been disturbing the graves, leading to the exposure of human remains. Doreen Zawedde, another resident, highlighted the intense odor emanating from the cemetery due to the inadequate burial practices employed by town council workers.
Irene Nambaasa, another resident, expressed fear that improper body disposal could trigger disease outbreaks in the community. Meanwhile, the adjacent dumpsite, which shares the same land, is also at full capacity.
With no room left for waste, garbage is now being discarded on roadsides or within residential areas. Luwero District Councillor Robert Majanja Ssekubulwa voiced concerns about the potential for a cholera outbreak, especially with the rainy season approaching, as the overflow of garbage could spill into homes.
He urged the town council to relocate both the cemetery and the dumpsite to new locations to protect the health of residents. Luwero LC III Chairperson, Chris Johns Buwembo, stated that the district has allocated Shs 50 million in the 2024/25 financial year to purchase new land for these purposes.
Buwembo also called on the government to assist in managing the town’s daily waste collection, as the town council is currently overwhelmed.
“It’s is full, you cannot dump there now…if we keep pushing it and pushing, it can be of great problem whereby it can cause the same like what happened in Kiteezi. So basically, right now we’re yearning for any help but basically from the government to find a way of helping us in Luweero to see that we get at least a piece of land where we can transfer the garbage.
Also Read: Five more sacks with decomposing bodies found in Nairobi dumpsite
Two, to have the machines that can help us in collecting the garbage here and there. We allocated Shs 100m to procure a garbage truck which is also not sufficient. We also had to budget some Shs 50m for land procurement, the process is starting but Shs 50m is not substantial enough,” said Buwembo.
The crisis comes on the heels of a recent tragedy at the Kiteezi landfill in Kampala, where a collapse claimed the lives of at least 35 people and left over 100 others displaced.
As the Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) works to identify new locations for waste disposal, many town councils, municipalities, and cities nationwide are also grappling with waste management issues, sparking concerns that similar disasters could occur elsewhere.
