Hoima City to implement “polluter pay system” to promote garbage management

Last Updated 37 seconds ago by tnd News, Uganda

Hoima city authorities are seeking to implement a “polluter pay system (PPS)” as a mechanism to handle mismanagement of garbage.

The garbage has been a challenge for years, both outside and in the city’s central business area.

City authorities say the need to implement PPS comes at a time when new political officials have assumed office with higher expectations for positive changes and development.

Speaking to tndNews, Uganda reporter, the Hoima City Mayor, Isingoma Edward, said they are set to implement the system which is also applied in other parts of the country.

Isingoma explained that the system will mandate residents to pay for the collection and management of the waste they generate.

In 2025, Hoima City Council passed a council resolution mandating both homes and business operators to start paying for their garbage to be taken to the designated waste management area in Kibati cell.

The cell is located about three kilometers off the central business area. However, the resolution has never been put into action.

Oftentimes, the concerned authorities have cried out for unlimited resources to buy land, but also to facilitate the course of garbage collection, leaving most areas within the city centre unreached.

This has several times left communities carrying out garbage and dumping it at house corridors and roadsides.

However, according to Isingoma, everyone is determined for a positive development in his political term. “We have created enough space at the Kibati garbage management ground and can accommodate large amounts of garbage for the next two years.”

Besides the space, the city has plans to sort waste before disposal to ensure more effective and sustainable garbage management, Isingoma added.

“Garbage management is my first action to take during my term in office,” he assured residents.

Edward Lwanga, the Hoima City Clerk, warned persons, especially scrap and plastic bottle collectors, against removing garbage from the Kibati landfill site without authorisation, saying that any victim of the act will be arrested and prosecuted.

“Only individuals and organisations that have been duly authorised by the city authorities will be allowed to access and remove waste from the site,” he emphasised.

Lwanga added that with AFCON coming to Hoima City next year, the city authorities have to start preparing so that they can have a clean city.

Grace Kahwa, the female councillor of Kibingo Ward, Hoima West Division, urged the upper authorities to take garbage collection as a priority, noting that some communities do not have enough land to accommodate garbage.

Scovia from Hoima East, however, remains concerned about the cost of payment for garbage collection, noting that communities already pay different taxes to support public service delivery.

“Already we pay taxes like operation taxes, which is a contribution to support public service delivery,” she said. “There is no need for us to pay more money for our garbage to get collected,” she told tndNews, Uganda.

Asiimwe Kasim, a resident of Hoima City, has requested the authorities to employ people who will sort out garbage so that the new site can be properly managed.

On December 23, 2025, on the official commissioning of Hoima City stadium, President Kaguta Museveni condemned the leadership of Hoima City for allowing the city premises to stay in poor hygienic status with litter all over.