A critical sanitation crisis is unfolding at Uganda’s Rwentobo-Rwahi Onion Market, a vital trading hub in Ntungamo District, where hundreds of traders and residents face dire hygiene conditions due to a severe lack of toilets and overwhelmed waste management systems. Serving over 800 people daily, including merchants from neighboring regions and countries like Rwanda and South Sudan, the market’s lone public toilet is described as either unusable or woefully inadequate, forcing vendors to resort to open defecation in nearby bushes, plantations, or residential areas.
“We have no toilets here. We return home during work hours just to relieve ourselves,” said Daniel Ainerukundo, a trader at the market. Another vendor, Alex Twinomugisha, recounted clashes with locals angered by traders using land near their homes. “Anywhere we find becomes our toilet,” he said. Compounding the issue, uncollected garbage piles up meters from market stalls, emitting foul odors and raising fears of disease outbreaks. Waste is collected weekly by a private contractor using a motorized tricycle (tukutuku), but traders say the service is overwhelmed. “Within two days, the trash returns. The smell is unbearable,” one vendor explained.
Local leaders warn the situation threatens both public health and food security. Stephen Sabiti, LC2 Chairperson of Katoma Ward, noted that open defecation near farmland risks contaminating crops. “These traders contribute significantly to the local economy, but their safety and health are at stake,” Sabiti said, urging immediate intervention.
Bright Joga, Principal Town Clerk of Rwentobo-Rwahi Town Council, acknowledged the infrastructure gap. He explained that the current waste management system, designed for smaller volumes, struggles during peak onion seasons when the market processes up to ten truckloads daily. To mitigate the crisis, the council has initiated a weekly “sanitation day” and promotes repurposing onion waste as fertilizer. Joga also confirmed plans to construct a four-stance public toilet this financial year, though he emphasized existing facilities remain insufficient for the population.
Beyond sanitation, traders grapple with plummeting onion prices, which have dropped from 25,000 to 10,000 Ugandan shillings per basin, squeezing livelihoods. Many argue that neglecting infrastructure jeopardizes the market’s viability. “We generate revenue for this town. All we ask for are basic facilities,” a vendor stressed. With health risks escalating and economic pressures mounting, calls grow for authorities to prioritize solutions before the crisis spirals further.
