Police reports on Sunday indicate that at least 21 people have died in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, following a large landfill site collapse late Friday. After heavy rain, the Kiteezi landfill—a main waste disposal facility for the city—gave way and caused a disastrous landslide burying surrounding inhabitants and scavengers under mountains of trash.
Apart from a great death toll, the landfill’s collapse has left 14 others injured; the corpse count is projected to grow as rescue operations under progress. The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) in a statement attests to at least two youngsters among the departed.
Although the precise events causing the collapse are yet unknown, preliminary city authority reports point to a “structural failure in waste mass,” most likely brought on by the recent heavy rainfall over the area. Long a risky site, the Kiteezi landfill, located on a steep hill in a poverty-stricken part of Kampala, has many people living nearby and scavenging plastic debris to make a living.
According to Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman Patrick Onyango, police found 21 bodies at the catastrophe scene. He voiced worries about the possibility of more deaths, pointing out that efforts are still in progress to precisely count the afflicted population. “We are still in contact with the local authorities. Although they are presenting different numbers, security has assigned our staff to interact with the families bereaved of loved ones as well as with the local government and leaders.” Onyango added. He also underlined the need of cross-checking information with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics to ascertain the number of persons present at the landfill during the fall.
For numerous years, Kampala officials have been worried about the Kiteezi dump since it gets more and more packed and unstable. Since 2016, plans to close the site and commission a bigger, safer garbage disposal place outside the city have been under debate; nonetheless, progress has been slow and the causes of the delay are yet unknown.
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Reacting to the tragedy, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni mandated an instantaneous inquiry of the occurrence. President Museveni expressed his annoyance and concern about the safety of the city’s citizens by asking why people were allowed to live so near an unstable stack of trash on a sequence of posts on the social media platform X.
The collapse of the Kiteezi landfill reminds us quite clearly how urgently better waste management and safety precautions are needed in fast expanding metropolitan regions. The catastrophe also begs important issues about urban design, environmental safety, and local government duties in safeguarding sensitive areas as the city laments the death of its citizens.
