Nation Media Group scribes dominate 2017 water and sanitation awards

Mr Tajuba (R) received special recognition for his work in the water and sanitation reportage. Photo by Stephen Otage

KAMPALA.

Journalists across all the Nation Media Group outlets in Uganda featured in all categories of the 2017 water and sanitation awards given out Friday evening. 

Mr Benjamin Jumbe from KFM and Mr Paul Tajuba and Daily Monitor respectively received special recognition for the compelling stories they published highlighting issues in the water and sanitation sector.  Mr Jumbe’s story was aired on KFM while Mr Tajuba had his published on digital platforms. 

Ms Susan Nanyonzi and Jamira Muwonge both from Spark TV a Luganda television station received special recognition and the first runner up awards in the television category. 

Ms Muwonge explained to the guests that as a community television, Spark Television offers a voice to the underserved and she managed to expose challenges that the slum communities face in the water and sanitation sector where access to clean water is extremely difficult. 

Felix Basiime the Fort Portal bureau chief for Monitor Publications Limited also received special recognition in the print category. 

Alfred Okot Okidi the permanent secretary ministry of water and environment who presided over the awards thanked the media for the role it plays in causing behaviour change within the population where 37 percent of Ugandans do not wash hands after visiting toilets. 

"I am not accusing anybody, but this is a collective sector effort to educate the population about the importance of hygiene and sanitation," he said. 

Robert Otim the coordinator national hand washing initiative and also the brain behind the awards said the awards were introduced last year to amplify the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene because it is a sustainable development issue. 

"This is a complex and challenging sector which needs high levels of investment and we have realized that the private sector has a lot to offer," he said adding that the previous experiences have provided them better insight of what requires to be done to improve performance of the sector.