Sewerage dealers protest heavy fees on septage disposal services

The petitioners, comprising 40 companies and over 480 individual members are private operators who provide sanitation services specializing in faecal sludge collection, transportation, and its safe disposal and management. They also support toilet building and emptying, and unblocking of sewers and septic tanks.

The petition was presented by Kiboga District Woman Representative on their behalf during a plenary sitting mid-week in which the petitioners asked the government to remove the disposal fees charged by sewage treatment plants for faecal sludge since wastes are recycled into manure for sale.

Petition grievances

The petitioners are aggrieved by the sector’s operational challenges which include multiple charges from different government agencies, poor waste disposal, and limited sewage treatment plants which affect service delivery given the volume of faecal sludge.

They also argue that they are downtrodden by multiple reporting to various government regulatory agencies and the requirement to pay multiple charges which are charged at every stage of their operations.

The levies include trading licenses, income tax which is levied on commercial goods vehicles, the disposal fee to the National Water and Sewerage Corporation-NWSC, the operational license fee paid to National Environment Management Authority-NEMA, and the environmental and sanitation service fee paid to Kampala Capital City Authority.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa directed Parliament’s Tourism, Trade, and Industry Committee to study the petition and report back to the House with appropriate recommendations within 45 days before the House takes a decision.

Organisation

The rapid population growth in Uganda's urban areas has greatly outpaced the ability of the urban authorities to provide adequate management of waste, especially faecal sludge. As a result, the government engages septage dealers through Public Private Partnerships – PPP for effective management of faecal sludge treatment plants.

Challenges

At least 90 per cent of the population in the metropolitan area relies on on-site sanitation facilities (pit latrines and septic tanks), whereas 50 per cent of households share one sanitation facility and faecal sludge constitutes over 96 per cent of human waste in the metropolitan area.

Despite this situation, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation(NWSC) only covers a few sections of the country.

More than 50 per cent of pit latrines are un-lined and filled with solid waste and only 20 to 25 per cent of the toilets have ever been emptied by a service provider. The rest have either been abandoned or been emptied directly into the environment, posing health risks.

Access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene is the most basic human need for health and well-being as enshrined under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) of the United Nations.