As the 2026 general elections campaigns shift to a steady gear now, candidates, especially presidential candidates, are attracting sizeable crowds as they traverse different parts of the country.
Photos of large crowds are always a source of pride and accomplishment for the various candidates and their campaign teams.
However, as the rallies go on, with the candidates passionately talking about their plans for the country if elected, the waste that piles up in and around these rally grounds is becoming a real concern.
It is inevitable that with such large gatherings, there will be a lot of waste, especially empty plastic bottles, polythene bags, and paper waste, that harm the environment. Have any of the candidates and campaign teams paid mind to this undesirable by-product of the rallies?
Are they concerned enough to make sure that the various areas they visit are left in good sanitary condition, or is that not important enough to plan for?
In our story of November 6 titled, ‘Environmentalists warn of rising waste during campaigns, David Kureeba , the programmes officer at National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) advises candidates and their campaign teams to take responsibility for managing the waste.
He offers a few ideas that the candidates and their campaign teams would do well to take up or at least consider and modify.
He says, at every venue, there should be dustbins to collect the rubbish generated. Even the vehicles used by candidates and their teams should have dustbins.
Candidates should use reusable materials such as water flasks and biodegradable packing to reduce plastic use, and he also suggests that manufacturers should introduce a small fee for each plastic bottle collected from the community.
‘If one bottle is worth even Shs50 or Shs2000, people will have a reason to pick them up’, he says.
While community hygiene is mostly a behavioural issue and cannot be left entirely to visiting politicians, communities must hold these aspiring leaders to a higher standard than most.
Why should someone who promises better healthcare, higher salaries for teachers, more affordable or even cheaper education, a more rewarding trade environment, and whatever else the politicians are promising leave behind a pile of waste in the aftermath of their rally?
Isn’t this the time to start leading by example? Isn’t the environment an important aspect in the livelihood of the voters that are being wooed? Rallies should not be an opportunity for mass littering.
This should be an opportunity for the various candidates to show by example how much they care about protecting the environment and what truly matters most to them as leaders or aspiring leaders.
As suggested by Mr Kureeba and the other environmentalists, candidates and their teams must have a proper waste management plan for their rallies.