The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) community will be participating in the National Cleaning Day on Sunday, a day after the nationwide exercise, to avoid interfering with their day of worship.
The Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabbanja, said on Wednesday that the SDA community will remain at home during the designated cleaning hours and undertake their cleaning activities the following day.
The Prime Minister said the arrangement follows guidance from President Museveni and is intended to allow the Adventist community to participate in the national sanitation campaign while respecting their religious obligations.
‘In observance of the Seventh Day Adventists community and following the guidance by the President, the Seventh Day Adventists will remain at home during designated cleaning time. They will proceed to their places of worship after 10:00 am,’ Ms Nabbanja said.
‘However, they will be required to undertake their National Cleaning Day activities on the following day, which is a Sunday. The Seventh Day Adventists leaders are advised to oversee their cleaning activities accordingly,’ she added.
The second National Cleaning Day will be held on Saturday, August 29, from 7 am to 10 am, with the main activities taking place at Kyaliwajala Umea Primary School grounds in Kira Municipality, Wakiso District.
The exercise will be conducted across the country, covering cities, districts, municipalities, town councils, sub-counties, parishes and villages.
Ms Nabbanja said the government had made the National Cleaning Day a permanent programme following the strong response to the inaugural exercise.
‘The strong response on the first National Cleaning Day demonstrated that when Ugandans unite behind a common purpose, we can transform our communities and improve the quality of life for all,’ she said.
During the cleaning, movement of vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and persons will be restricted, except for garbage collection trucks, medical and ambulance services, security personnel, tourists, health workers and people undertaking scheduled international travel, who will be required to have evidence.
Unlike the inaugural national cleaning day exercise, Ms Nabbanja outlined plans to improve waste disposal and management.
She urged households, institutions, businesses and individual members of the community to avoid littering and indiscriminate dumping of rubbish.
The Prime Minister ordered that Local government leaders, commanded by the Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) down to Local Council 1 (LC1) leaders, mobilise communities and map out areas to be cleaned every month, as well as designate places of garbage collection as opposed to residents collecting garbage from anywhere.
‘The population is advised not to dump rubbish by the roadside, drainages or verandas. Rubbish should be properly placed in designated areas identified by local council wards to ensure ease of collection by garbage trucks,’ Ms Nabbanja said.
She also called for waste segregation at household level, saying ‘waste should increasingly be viewed as a resource that can be recovered, recycled and put to productive use.’
She further ordered that local authorities should ensure cleaning materials are available and communicate the designated areas to residents at least one week before the exercise.
Ms Nabbanja also directed authorities to ensure that collected waste is taken to approved treatment or disposal facilities and urged them to coordinate with private waste collectors to voluntarily participate in the exercise.
‘Coordinate with private waste collectors to voluntarily participate so that the national cleanliness complements rather than disrupts routine services. We also need to ensure that public spaces, including markets, roads, village churches and transport facilities, are regularly cleaned to avoid waste from piling up on the national cleaning day,’ she said.
She added, ‘Local councils should hold an evaluation meeting after each cleaning exercise to review the activity, address sanitation and waste management challenges, discuss community well-being and agree that actions should be taken before the next cleaning day.’
She said enforcement should target littering, illegal dumping, blocked drainage channels and improper waste disposal while promoting compliance and lasting behavioural change.