Abolish the mandatory National Cleaning Day hypocrisy

PM Nabanjja led the cleaning drive at the weekend The common historical outcome of such government programmes is usually tyranny and coercion. COMMENT | NNANDA KIZITO SSERUWAGI | On Saturday, 25th July, I was woken up by the terrifying fracas of dozens of men banging my gate, almost breaking it and hurling insults at whoever might be inside the house. I gathered courage to glimpse through the window and saw some of the men trying to climb and jump over the fence.

On consulting with my neighbours, I was told they were the people doing a drive for the national cleaning day exercise (Bulungi Bwansi). I was alarmed at the anger with which these people banged the gate. On close inspection, I could not recognise anyone’s face.

These were total strangers I had never seen in my life who were now somehow entitled to jump into my compound because the Prime Minister had read a document a few days earlier vaguely declaring July 25 to be a national cleaning day. States usually lay claim to higher ideals before demanding that citizens sacrifice their liberty for something. The Ugandan state has often besought citizens to be patriotic, even introducing compulsory patriotism classes nationwide, to no success.

I was therefore surprised by the seeming popularity absorbed by the mandatory National Cleaning Day initiative. Whereas it conveys the impression of a collective benefit that’s impossible to argue against in the abstract, I wish to contend that in practice, the initiative will breed criminality, especially mob violence. In fact, it has already instigated this.

Nobody denies the palpable fact that Kampala is drowning in uncollected waste. This poor sanitation is linked to the diseases killing our children, yet it’s preventable. This challenge is distributed across several other urban centres around the country.

Such concerns informed Article 39 of the 1995 Constitution, which accords every Ugandan the fundamental right to a clean and healthy environment. Therefore, I doubt that anybody, let alone this article, is against cleaning our communities. My contention here is with the method the government has chosen to enforce public health and sanitation.