KAMPALA, Uganda | Human rights advocacy organisation Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) has petitioned the Civil Division of the High Court over the failure by the government of Uganda to decommission the Kiteezi landfill promptly, violating settlers’ rights to a clean and healthy environment.

The petition filed against the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) declares that KCCA’s failure to establish and maintain proper functional waste disposal management infrastructure and to control the discharge of toxic material into the community of Kiteezi-Kitetika stream leads to a continuing threat to rights to a clean, healthy environment as stipulated in the constitution.

CEHURD wants the court to order the decommissioning of the Kiteezi landfill within 12 months and also direct the KCCA and NEMA to restore the environment to mitigate the effects of the collapse of the landfill.

They further ask for the court to order KCCA and NEMA to monitor and ensure that there is no further waste disposal at the Kiteezi landfill.

CEHURD’s Deputy Executive Director Noor Nakibuuka Musisi said they have considered going to court so that the Kiteezi case becomes a reference point on how landfills ought to be managed in the future and safeguard the health of people who live around them.

On the 13th of August 2024, the government, through the Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hon. Lillian Aber, while presenting a statement on Kitezi landfill to the House chaired by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, said that the government will move to decommission Kitezi landfill following its collapse and the death of over 23 people.

Aber said, “The tragic events have underscored the critical vulnerabilities in our waste management system. As a result, the government has decided to fast-track the decommissioning of the Kiteezi landfill,” she said, adding that ‘a 200-metre buffer zone around the landfill has been preserved, and we are flattening the garbage hill to stabilise the area as we phase out operations,” which has never been fulfilled, tempting CEHURD to file a lawsuit against the government.