By: Melanie Aanyu

Mbale City authorities are currently embroiled in a fight over rights of collecting garbage from Mbale Central Market and dumping it at Doho.


The fight has come after Mbale Central Market authorities decided to give the garbage collection contract to Orient City Cleaners Ltd, a private company at a daily fee of Shs500,000.



According to Perez Wambende, the chairperson of Mbale central market, Mbale city used to collect the market garbage at Shs800, 000 daily but has for the last two months failed to collect the garbage.


Now Latibu Magambo, the managing director of Orient city cleaner’s company limited says that he was shocked when on Monday 19th September, 2022, the Mbale City Resident Commissioner, Ahamada Washakie came to the Market and verbally ordered his company to stop the garbage collection saying Mbale City is planning to take over the contract.



He revealed further that this morning, 20th September, 2022 Mbale city sent its truck to the Central Market to start collecting rubbish but was stopped by vendors since the work has already been awarded to Orient city cleaner’s limited.



However, James Kutosi, the Public Relations Officer of Mbale City has said that Mbale city wants to take over the work of collecting rubbish at Mbale central market because Orient city cleaner’s limited has failed to perform its work as expected.



He argued that sometimes rubbish can stay for a full week without being collected at Mbale central market making the Market dirty while putting the lives of vendors at risk of contracting cholera and other related diseases.



Efforts to get a comment from Washakie were futile press time after he said he was in a meeting.