The Insurance Regulatory Authority has in a rare gesture, donated four garbage skips to Nateete market, as one of the ways to extend support towards a cleaner environment.
The skips were handed over by the IRA CEO, Al Hajji Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega to the acting director for public health and environment at KCCA, Dr. Sarah Zalwango.
“We have donated the skips in order to try to systemize the disposal of waste. What we have been doing before was the mixture of both organic and inorganic waste making it non-reusable after disposal and has been making markets very dirty,” Kaddunabbi said.
He explained that working with KCCA, the insurance regulator has provided different skips for different kinds of waste and purposes.
“We provided a skip for organic waste and another one for organic waste, both of which( waste) can be used for different purposes, other than mixing them.”
He explained thar Insurance Regulatory Authority believes that giving back to the population is one way of making sure the touch the hearts of ordinary Ugandans.
“We have graciously donated the skips and we shall do so in other markets as this is the first of its kind.”
According to Mariam Nalunkuuma, the Manager of Corporate Affairs at the IRA whereas by giving back to the market community , the insurance regulator doesn’t hope to directly benefit from them, they can do so by taking up insurance policies from the various insurers.
“We don’t want you to support us as IRA directly but the best way to do it is to acquire insurance policies. For example, there are unforeseen circumstances like fire outbreaks that can raze down market stalls. If one is insured, they are assured of being taken back to the position they are in before the fire. Our call is for market vendors to choose from the various insurance packages that you can benefit from,” Nalunkuuma told vendors in the market.
The acting director for public health and environment at KCCA, Dr. Sarah Zalwango hailed Insurance Regulatory Authority for boosting efforts towards a cleaner Kampala.
“This is a welcome gesture by the Insurance Regulatory Authority. As KCCA, we have started a campaign to send a message to Kampala residents that we are implementing a sorting system where inorganic and organic waste is separate at disposal,” Dr.Zalwango said.
She explained that this ought to be done at the source where vendors and all Kampala dwellers sort the waste before disposing it.
“Before taking the waste to the garbage bin, you have to separate recyclable and non-recyclable waste. By doing this, you are increasing the value of waste and making it easy to be disposed but also reused for other purposes.”
Dr.Zalwango said they are popularizing this campaign as one of the ways to deal with the problem of garbage in Kampala.