Over 8000 Nakeseke children at risk after school toilets fill up

NAKASEKE. Lives of more than 8000 primary school children in Nakaseke District are at risk after school latrines in 15 schools got filled up. The pupils are now reportedly using the nearby bushes to ease themselves.

The district councilors on Wednesday raised the red flag to the concerned district authorities at a heated council meeting where the Councilors led by the Chairperson for Education and Health Services Committee, Ms Juliet Dian Nassimbwa claimed that the situation may become worse once the rainy season starts.

Mr Julius Nabimanya, the Ngoma Sub county district councilor, claims that the lives of children cannot be compromised at any one time with the district now expected to consider the situation as an emergency. “We should look into the possibility of using some local revenue resource envelope to address the emergency while rallying parents to get on board. It is true that we do not have the money as a district but we can still find ways of resolving the problem as an emergency,” Nabimanya said in an interview.

Benjamin Makanga, the district secretary for works advised the communities to team up with the district to build the latrines. “The district has no money to build all the latrines which could cost more than Shs200m. We can rally the parents to mobilize resources to address the situation. We are just going into the budget planning process which may not address the problem in the short run because the situation is now an emergency,” Makanga said.

Nakaseke District education officer Mr Steven Batanude said the district was liaising with the School heads of the affected schools to ascertain facts on the ground. “We want to find out whether some of the latrines can be drained which could be a cheaper way of addressing the situation,” Batanude told the district councilors on Wednesday.

Some of the affected schools include; Bukeeka, Kyaluseesa, Lumpewe, Kiziba, Magoma, Katooke, Mifunya, Kikamulo, Kivumu, Mbukiro, Kirinda, Kaddunda, Nakaseeta Roman Catholic, Nakaseeta Church of Uganda, Bukuuku Ddegeya and Nkuzongere Primary Schools.

A Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine with 6 stanzas costs about Shs13m when complete, according to the information obtained from the Nakaseke District works department. editorial@ug.nationmedia.com