Arua city chokes on accumulated garbage

By Judith Atizoyo

The business community in Arua City are up in arms with authorities over the continuous accumulation of garbage in some major streets.
Some of the affected areas are; Iddi Amin road, Dukalane and Lemerijoa roads.
The garbage has caused a heavy stench in parts of the town drawing protests from traders.
A mobile money agent along Iddi Amin road who preferred anonymity raised a red flag over the irregular collection and disposal of the garbage.
"This garbage has been here for close to a week now and it is greatly affecting our business. The smell is just too unbearable. But also we are worried for our health if this heap remains uncollected. We have some drug shops here and we also wondering what will happen now that it is raining heavily. We have had cholera threats and we are worried it may start anytime if this particular garbage skip is not attended to", she said.
James Elima who deals in produce business at Arua hill market says the garbage has not been collected for the past 4 days.
"The roads have become impassable and the garbage stinks. The tenders collect market dues on daily basis but we don’t know what the money is spent on, we also don’t know what has happened to the vehicle that has been collecting garbage".
Arua City has two functional garbage trucks and 2 skips for garbage management.
However Arua City health inspector Godfrey Apangu attributes the situation to street vending and lack of fuel.
"The concerns coming are very true. But what is true again is that as long as we continue to have markets along the roads like Iddi Amin road, including this market at OPM without the operationalization of our new main market, we will continue to have these problems even if our systems are working. And yes even if all our garbage trucks are working but people still stage road side markets, the waste will always be there on the road. It’s true for last week most of the vehicles we  had were parked here we are only starting to do some work today I think council with some of our contractors have tried to resolve on afew issues to rectify the issues of fuel", he said.

COVER PHOTO: A heap of garbage behind the temporary market at arua Hill. Photo by Judith Atizoyo.