KAMPALA – When the giant landfill in Uganda’s capital Kampala collapsed a year ago, Zamhall Nansamba thought she was hearing an airplane taking off.
Then came screams and a massive wave of garbage rushing toward her, tearing up trees as it went. Nansamba (31) grabbed her children and ran. She was luckier than most, the waste avalanche killed around 35 people before stopping at her doorstep.
Many survivors of the collapse at the Kiteezi dump on 9 August 2024, have yet to be compensated, leaving them stuck at the dangerous garbage site. “We are living a miserable life,” Nansamba told AFP.
Kiteezi, the largest landfill in Kampala, has served the city’s residents since 1996, accepting 2 500 tons of waste daily.
City officials recommended closing it when it reached capacity in 2015, but garbage kept coming. The disaster brought attention to the challenge of waste management in many fast-growing African cities.
A 2017 landfill collapse in Ethiopia killed 116, and a year later, 17 people died after heavy rain caused a landslide at a dump in Mozambique. It doesn’t help that wealthier countries send large amounts of waste to Africa, especially second-hand clothes, computers, and cars.
In 2019, the United States exported about 900 million second-hand clothing items to Kenya alone, with more than half classified as waste, according to Changing Markets Foundation, an advocacy group. The Kiteezi collapse “could have been avoided,” said Ivan Bamweyana, a geomatics scholar at Kampala’s Makerere University.
He explained that the landfill had grown vertically for a decade, reaching about 30 metres (98 feet) in height. Early on the morning of the disaster, rain seeped into cracks, triggering a deadly cascade. “What is coming can still be avoided,” Bamweyana warned regarding ongoing risks at the site.
The landfill still emits methane gas, which caused fires in February and June. Although no longer officially in use, locals sneak onto its slopes to collect plastic bottles to sell.
“I would not be surprised if there was a secondary crash,” Bamweyana said. Official figures on the number of homes destroyed vary, but it’s clear dozens vanished in the initial incident, with more lost during the search for bodies. A Red Cross spokesperson said many of the 233 displaced people have yet to receive compensation. Shadia Nanyongo’s home was destroyed, and she now shares a single room with six other family members.
The 29-year-old told AFP she still hasn’t been compensated. The family eats one meal a day and at night cuddles on two mattresses on the floor. “I pray to God to come with money because this situation is not easy,” Nanyongo said.
Her friend, fellow survivor Nansamba, still lives near the landfill. The smell of garbage fills her house, and vermin infest the area. She said her children get bacterial infections about three times a month. Nansamba wants to move but can’t afford to unless the government, which promised compensation, pays for other houses she owned and rented out and lost in the disaster. Her own house was not destroyed. Memories of the collapse keep her awake at night.
“You hear dogs barking… You think ghosts have come,” she said.
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) told AFP that compensation would be paid in September, and a new landfill has been selected in Mpigi district, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the city centre. KCCA claims everything has been done legally, but the National Forestry Authority (NFA) told AFP that the new site encroaches on a protected forest and wetlands reserve, and city officials started dumping there in late 2024 without their knowledge.
“They did it hurriedly (and) illegally,” said NFA spokesperson Aldon Walukamba.
The city, home to about 1.7 million people according to last year’s census, continues to grow, indicating that conflicts between waste management and environmental protection are likely to persist. For Bamweyana, the expert, what’s needed is education on waste and recycling. “We cannot keep solving the problem using the same mechanism that created it,” he stated. –Nampa/AFP