The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | URN | The government has declared the last Saturday of every month as National Cleaning Day. The mandatory three-hour exercise will require all Ugandans to participate, with no vehicles allowed on the roads and all businesses closed during the period.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja announced the National Cleaning Initiative at the Office of the Prime Minister. The announcement was made alongside officials from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government, Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda Police Force, and the National Environment Management Authority at her office in Kampala this afternoon.
According to Nabbanja, 75% of diseases in the country are spread as a result of poor sanitation and hygiene. The cabinet, thus, during its sitting on 11th August 2025 chaired by President Yoweri Museveni, approved a public day for general cleaning nationwide, which they now agreed to implement.
She said diseases like malaria, diarrhoea, and typhoid are directly attributed to poor sanitation and environmental hazards. She cited Kampala as an example, where 2,000 to 25,000 tonnes of solid waste are produced daily, yet only 50-60 percent is collected and disposed of. She said the remaining waste blocks drainage channels, pollutes the environment, and heightens the risk of disease outbreaks.
From reports by the Ministry of Health, Nabbanja said about 33 children die daily from diseases caused by poor sanitation, and hygiene. Citing Article 39 of the Constitution on the right and duty to a clean environment. Cabinet approved the National Cleaning Day initiative in response to the statistics.
“The National Cleaning Day initiative will run from 7:00 am to 10:00 am on the last Saturday of every month. During this period, all Ugandans are expected to participate in organized cleaning activities within their communities, including roads, health facilities, drainage systems, markets, places of worship, schools, and other public places,” Nabbanja said.
She also announced that all unnecessary movement of people and motorists will be prohibited during the three-hour period, except for emergency and security vehicles. All members of the public are prohibited from unnecessary movement, vehicles and no businesses are allowed to be open during the three hours.
Nabbanja has directed all local governments, to take the lead in mobilizing communities and identifying critical areas that need cleaning. She also said new guidelines will be issued following the official launch on the 25th at Kisenyi, Mengo, to be presided over by the Vice President
Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, Minister of Health, urged Ugandans to take up the initiative without resistance, saying good health is a requirement for everyone. He also responded to concerns raised by Seventh-day Adventists, noting that their day of worship falls on Saturday.
“We have deliberately set these early hours of the day to enable people to carry out their other activities later. Secondly, we are not meant to offend any of the beliefs of Ugandans. But I also want to ask, do SDA members also fall sick on Saturday? let me quote the words of Jesus in the bible. He said you can rescue your cow or sheep immediately when it falls into a pit. So let us all participate as much as possible,” Baryomunsi said.
Deputy Inspector General of Police James Ochaya said police are ready to handle violators on the roads. He added that the Force has the capacity to enforce the National Cleaning Day initiative, based on how they enforced Covid-19 restrictions.
Nabbanja noted that the President has Uganda Police Force and other sister security agencies to be deployed on roads to strictly enforce compliance with the National Cleaning Day that will be conducted under the theme “A Clean Uganda is Everybody’s Business.”
What a bogus initiative! Let the city councils do their work and stop this roundabout methods of work. If billions are secured for the purchase of cars for MPigs then KCCA should be better facilitated and resourced. Okay, we clean and who will collect all this rubbish? Where will it go? When will it be collected? We will have piles of rubbish all over that the Nabugabo rubbish people will demand more money to collect it. Poorly thought out.
negative mindset
Where do we take the rubbish after it is collected?
This is the best move ever, Uganda should be cleaned
* the last Saturday of every month
* mandatory three-hour exercise
* all Ugandans to participate
* no vehicles allowed on the roads
* all businesses closed during the period
The idea has a lot of merit, but I think that’s a lot to ask from all Ugandans… and it could actually backfire.
It might work better if it were made voluntary, with some kind of formal recognition given by LCs to those who participate… perhaps a label indicating one’s status that grows with the number of cleanings… 1-10 cleanings = “Level 1 Patriot”, 11-20 = “Level 2 Patriot”, 21-30 cleanings = “Level 3 Patriot” …like that like that. So when you meet somebody and they are introduced as a Level 70 Patriot, everybody must respect that person and listen to what that person is saying, even if they smell like waragi and they look like a ganja bush.
Some people are better suited to this kind of contribution to society than others, and some people will have very different yet still meaningful ways of contributing to society.
Another concept that might work well is getting students to conduct litter patrols in the vicinity of their schools as a form of community service, on a rotational basis – for example, S1s one Sunday afternoon, S2s the next Sunday afternoon…like that like that. That way, community cleanliness and especially avoiding littering can be instilled in our citizens from a young age.
Mandatory things tend to trigger undesirable responses and resistance as nobody likes to feel that they are being forced, even those who would have gladly participated willingly might lose gas because of the fact that it’s mandatory. Also, if it’s mandatory then you will have a lot of shody work from participants who really don’t want to participate… you would rather have a few willing participants who are highly self motivated and enthusiastic than forcing everybody to participate.
What about emergency services like fire and Ambulance? Won’t they be allowed????
Great initiative. It was long overdue. If Ugandans don’t want to participate, then they should stop littering. We are practically living in hell, garbage everywhere, it’s sickening. You don’t need the government to remind you that littering is bad, it’s common sense. I would also suggest that government makes it mandatory for landlords of shops to provide dustbins for ternants so that they stop heaping garbage all over the place. Well done
This is not new! I remember this used to happen during late Sebana Kizito RIP, it died slowly…….. now coming back, 3hrs?
Will this mean no more paying for garbage collection?
The implementation plan is not clear but we, the Patriots, are ready. Sense of community is lacking so much in this country even before we talk of sense of Nationalism. Waiting to see how this lands and the queries that will be raised by different players e.g those that usually hold social, cultural and religious activities around the same time.
Economy wise having 3 dead hours on the economy is a big impact, i know people in the current government are thinking old style, cleaning is good but we must have a functional waste management structure country wide that can take care of these services those who can not manage paying for cleaning does it himself, different people have differing priority time flames some people are earning heavily on saturday morning based on their businesses restricting them during that time impacts their incomes.Why can government just make strong cleaning and waste management programs where every one finds how they fit in these services but not a mandatory old style restriction to economy
Imagine intervening other people’s programs, it is okay with what they have set but they they said it late, some of us have other r morning programming,coz me I have a paper at 10:30 am, yet I stay in Mukono and no vehicles are allowed to move till 10am. The school is in kamwokya making it a 3hr journey with jam. Why didn’t they announce earlier such that people would have got prepared.
We appreciate and welcome the initiative. But couldn’t you make this announcement atleast a month before so that people plan our movements properly? People had long journeys planned earlier on including flights, others have job or doctors’ appointments etc.
It’s a great move I would say. We are the very people littering so why is it hard for us to clean our environment?. I think there should be penalties for those who violate the orders. It does not make sense for you to feel offended if told to clean your own toilet.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” -Exodus 20:8-11
“But they went on from Perge and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day, they went into the synagogue and sat down.” – Acts 13:14
“For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” – Acts 15:21
“And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.” – Acts 16:13