KAMPALA, Uganda | City Hall Court in Kampala has remanded a 26-year-old man for dumping garbage in a drainage channel. Ronald Katende, a resident of Katwe in Kampala, was captured in a viral video removing garbage from a tricycle, also known as a tuk-tuk, and dumping it in a drainage system during heavy rain in Kampala.

Katende was later tracked down by KCCA officers, arrested, and detained at the central police station in Kampala, where he spent a night before being brought to court on Tuesday.

Senior grade one Magistrate Edgar Karakire charged him with one offense of depositing waste in an undesignated place, which is contrary to section 97 of the National Environment Act. , Upon being produced in court, Katende pleaded to the magistrate to release him, saying that he has a wife who is pregnant.

However, the magistrate ordered that he should be remanded until the 15th of April, 2025, as the prosecution prepares the facts. Katende will also be sentenced that day should he maintain his plea of guilty after reading brief facts about the case to him.

KCCA Executive Director Sharifah Buzeki since the assumption of office has appealed to the public to desist from dumping waste indiscriminately, as most of this, she said, ends up clogging the channels, which affects water flow.

Buzeki reaffirmed KCCA’s commitment to improving drainage infrastructure across the city to combat the city’s persistent flood challenges. Katende’s case comes at a time when the city is faced with heavy rains which have caused widespread flooding in the city, disrupting traffic, damaging property and paralysing business operations.