City traders renew call to scrap toilet fees 

Traders in Masaka City have renewed their demand for free lavatory services in commercial buildings.
Led by Mr Arafat Lutwama, the traders say paying money to access toilets is unfair when they pay rent and taxes.
Some commercial buildings lack toilets and tenants walk to neighbouring buildings where they pay between Shs200 and Shs300 per visit .
This has forced some tenants to use buckets inside their shops to answer nature’s call.

“ It is true  some  traders have  resorted to using buckets and polythene bags to ease themselves , which  explains the smell of urine in some streets like Broadway and Elgin ,”  Mr Lutwama said on  Monday.
Mr Vincent Kasumba , the chairperson of Masaka City Traders Association, asked authorities to  meet with building owners and find a solution.
“ Our proposal has always been that the toilet fees be deducted from rent fees. It is exploitation to charge toilets fees on a building where someone rents a shop,” he said.

The city speaker, Mr Tony Ssempijja, said they have to first ascertain whether all commercial buildings in the city  have clean toilet facilities before suspending the fees.
“We have information that some landlords turned toilets into stores, this is unacceptable, we are   going to close all buildings without operational toilet facilities because they put the lives of the occupants at risk of contracting diseases related to poor hygiene. We shall then tackle the issue of toilet fees, ”  Mr Ssempijja said.

 However, building owners claim that the fees help them in keeping the facilities clean and paying water bills.
“I don’t think it is true that some buildings operate without toilet facilities, maybe the toilets are closed early or they charge extra fees which prompts some tenants to seek services from neighbouring  buildings,” Mr Tom Mubiru, a building manager, said.

City plans to build public toilets
The Masaka City mayor, Ms Florence Namayanja, said they are in  advanced stages of building more public toilets and renovate the existing ones to ensure that  residents access cheaper or free sanitary facilities.

“ In our next  city budget, we  have earmarked some money to erect  public toilets as part of our grand plan to improve sanitation standards in the city,” she said.
Currently, the city  has about nine public toilets, some of which are in a sorry state.
City authorities had earlier ordered owners of business premises to stop collecting toilet fees from tenants. saying their action contravenes the Public Health Act. However,  the landlords did not take heed.

A similar arrangement was first introduced in Kampala three years ago and President Museveni also supported it, but city landlords protested the move. The President made the proposal after tenants complained during a tour of the inner city in 2018 that business had become costly due to multiple tax obligations backed by additional payments.