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Pader town council’s garbage management has been protested by residents who demanded the resignation of the past chairman.
By Lalam Regina Olal
Pader – February 17, 2022: The Pader garbage tractor is supposed to move around the town council twice a week: Tuesday and Friday but this have stalled.
Town residents are already complaining of a stench due to an uncollected heap of garbages.
Lucy Acob, a tomatoes vendor said it has taken one month without seeing a tractor moving around to collect garbage from within the market.
Lucy urged the town council authority to do something before the rain starts because ‘its smell is unhealthy’.
Akello Nighty, the chairperson of Pader town council market vendors, said she forwarded to the authority their challenges and she was told the tractor was down
Akello added that during this dry spell the garbage collectors are burning. “I requested local leaders to fasten repairing the tractor.”
In response to the concerns of the residents and traders, Kilama Fearless Wod-Acholi, LC3 chairperson of Pader town council attributed the challenge to limited funds to support garbage collection.
He added there has been low revenue collection because of Covid19 and lockdown.
Kilama revealed that all the budget plans for the financial year 2020/2021 were disturbed by lockdown and the town council could not collect enough local revenue.
“Currently the tractor for collecting garbage is still under repair and there is a limited fund for fuelling the tractor and may reduce the numbers of movement to only ones a week.”
In October 2008, Pader town council got a new and first garbage truck. At that time, garbage management was a big challenge to the town council leadership.
Five years later, in June 2012, the town council vendors and residents had a protest, calling on the then LC3 chairperson Lapit Joseph Omona to resign.
They accused him of poor leadership and failing to control garbage.
Pader town council, in February 2015 passed a new garbage tax that demands residents and traders to pay.
Town council residents were to pay shs1,000 per month for their garbage collection and another group of taxpayers was to be charged shs100,000 to shs150,000.
