Namutumba authorities fail to raise revenue from public toilet
The public toilet in Namutumba Central Market that has not raised any revenue 12 years after it was constructed. PHOTO | RONALD SEEBE
What you need to know:
- While the leaders say they are finding it difficult to meet operational costs of the facility, the residents think the Shs200 fee is too much for a facility that lacks basic amenities such as water and electricity.
Authorities in Namutumba Town Council, Namutumba District, have said they have not realised any revenue from a public toilet, 12 years after it was constructed.
The public toilet was in 2011 constructed in Namutumba Central Market by the Ministry of Water, with funding from the European Union and the Central Government. However, the town council receives no revenue from it.
Mr Samuel Kabakubya, the Namutumba Town Clerk, said the toilet is under the mandate of “local people” who have since mismanaged it, while there is reluctance by locals to pay taxes.
“We allowed the business community to be in charge of collecting money from the public toilet but they are not managing it well. We tried to source for a contractor to collect money but failed,” Mr Kabakubya said in an interview at the weekend.
He added: “If I am talking economics, we face budget cuts every financial year because we expected to get more revenue from the public toilet in vain.”
Mr Kabakubya further said they are finding it difficult to meet operational costs of the facility, adding that the little money that is collected is used for buying toilet paper and paying for utilities such as water and electricity.
He said it is “unfair” for people to use a public toilet and they don’t pay, adding that the town council is responsible for maintaining sanity, but for any government project, there is cost sharing.
“The locals committed to paying Shs100 after complaining that Shs200 was too much, but they are not even paying Shs100,” he said.
However, residents said the fee is still at Shs200. Led by Mr Wilber Mukembo, the residents said: “Paying Shs200 to access a public toilet is unfair. Public toilets are free of charge.”
But Mr Kabakubya added that a number of buildings and businesses in the town council lack toilet facilities, and they have started closing them.
“Our next engagement is to encourage traders to use public toilets which are available. Namutumba Town has two public toilets but during the budgeting process, we do not budget for revenue from them because the law does not allow,” he further explained.
Mr Mukembo said the public toilet is in a sorry state and has spent the past 12 years without running water, among other challenges, which is not worth the levy.
A trader in Namutumba Central Market, who only identified herself as Nalongo Harriet, suggested that the toilet fees be deducted on the rent remitted to the town council for each lockup. But Mr William Menya, another trader, proposed that toilet fees be met by the landlords.
Mr John Kabale, one of the landlords, however, said he and the colleagues cannot pay toilet fees because they do not use the public toilet.
“By now, we expect authorities to know the number of landlords without toilet facilities in their buildings. That is the very data they should use to start charging toilet fees, especially for those without,” he said.
Mr Godfrey Mwembe, the Namutumba Town Council chairperson, said in October, they embarked on a campaign to suspend all commercial buildings without clean toilet facilities because they put the lives of their occupants at risk of contracting poor hygiene-related diseases.
