Littering, having a bushy compound could land you in jail for a year
Government has tightened the noose around issues concerning sanitation through introduction of harsh punishments for offenders.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, the State Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Isaac Musumba said following the enactment of the Physical Planning Amendment Act, it is now an offence for anyone to litter or have a bushy compound.
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“It shall be an offence to litter. Every person in Uganda is now under obligation to refrain from littering or dropping rubbish outside litter bins. On conviction, the offender will be subject to a fine of up to two million shillings or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both,”Musumba said.
The Minister said the new law makes it mandatory for premises to have a litter or garbage bin and failure of which, offenders are liable to a fine or imprisonment on conviction or both.
The new law has also tightened the noose around people littering streets and roads while throwing rubbish from moving vehicles, sugarcane loaders who leave heaps of rubbish in the road and vendors who leave dirt in the roads and these will be subjected to heavy fines.
Bushy compounds
According to the Minister homesteads must be kept clean at every time and in the new law, every house must have its exterior painted regularly, making it an offence for one’s house to look dirty.
“It is also an offence not to slash the green patch at one’s premises. This attracts a fine of two million shillings or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both. If there is a green compound at your premises, it should regularly be slashed,”Musumba said.
The law also emphasizes the use of pavers and cleanliness at all business premises according to Musumba.
“The owner of a premise must place a sign with street and plot name on the plot as prescribed by the local government. Contravention of the above makes a conviction to a fine not exceeding shs960, 000 or imprisonment not exceeding two years or both.”
The Minister said the new guidelines are meant to cater for the fast rate at which the country is urbanizing.
“The implementation of these measures has been placed in the hands of parish chiefs and sub-county chief or their equivalent in towns because these are the people on the ground,”Musumba noted.
