Kampala Capital City Authority has allocated Shs50 million to support efforts to eradicate bedbugs in communities across the capital.
The intervention follows growing concern among residents over bedbug and cockroach infestations in several parts of Kampala.
KCCA executive director Hajat Sharifah Buzeki announced the allocation during the weekly Weyonje community clean-up exercise in Kawempe One Parish.
The authority conducts the exercise every Saturday to promote public hygiene, proper waste disposal and waste sorting at household level.
Residents used the exercise to ask KCCA to strengthen fumigation and pest-control programmes across the city.
Officers from the Uganda Police Force and Uganda People’s Defence Forces attended the activity. Representatives of the Patriotic League of Uganda also participated.
Henry Mpiima, a representative of the Patriotic League of Uganda, said the organisation had mobilised young people to conduct Bulungi Bwansi clean-up activities.
The campaign started at village level before expanding to parishes, he said.
Mpiima said volunteers had also been fumigating affected homes. However, the number of households reporting bedbugs and cockroaches had overwhelmed the available resources.
He asked KCCA to provide more support to expand the community initiative.
Joseph Kibuga, the LC I chairperson of Kawempe Kirokole, said many residents suffer from bedbugs without speaking publicly about the problem.
Kibuga, who also serves as a Kawempe Division councillor and deputy mayor, said residents frequently approach him for fumigation chemicals.
They seek help to eliminate bedbugs and cockroaches from their homes, he said.
Kibuga linked the infestation to poor sanitation, overcrowded housing and inadequate ventilation. He said these conditions allow pests to breed and spread more easily.
Buzeki asked local leaders to identify the communities facing the most severe infestations. This would help KCCA direct its interventions to the worst-affected areas.
She also urged households to improve cleanliness, saying proper hygiene remains important in controlling bedbugs and cockroaches.
KCCA warns against illegal dumping
During the exercise, Buzeki warned residents against creating illegal garbage dumping sites.
She said people found dumping waste unlawfully could face prosecution.
Buzeki also encouraged vendors removed from Kampala streets to relocate to existing markets operated by KCCA or private owners.
She said the authority was exploring opportunities to create additional market spaces.
Kibuga, however, said poor waste collection remained a major problem in Kawempe Division.
He said the division lacked enough garbage trucks to collect and transport waste effectively. He asked KCCA to deploy more vehicles to the area.
Buzeki acknowledged the shortage, saying KCCA currently operates only 34 garbage trucks across the entire city.
She said Parliament had approved funding during the current financial year to purchase five additional trucks.
Residents demand action on Kiyanja drainage
Kibuga also asked KCCA to prioritise the construction and upgrading of the Kiyanja drainage channel.
He said improvements to the channel would help address persistent flooding in the area.
Buzeki said inadequate funding had delayed investment in Kampala’s drainage infrastructure for several years.
However, she said President Yoweri Museveni directed the Ministry of Finance in March to finance the city’s drainage improvement plan.
KCCA will begin work on major drainage channels, including Lubigi and Nalukolongo, she said.
The authority will also continue maintaining other drainage channels as more funding becomes available.