Climate change activists and Buganda Kingdom officials have rallied residents of Kigungu and Ndese landing sites in Entebbe municipality to remove plastic waste in and around the Lake Victoria shoreline. The team visited the two landing sites to interact with residents and encourage them to remove waste especially plastics from and around the lake.

The kingdom officials include Robert Buwembo, the Kigungu Parish Chief and Erone Vero Bubye, the Busiro Gombolola Chief while the climate change activists and Rotary Mariners were led by John Mary Odoi, the chairperson Board of Directors Climate Action Network Uganda.

Odoi explains that the cleanup exercise is part of the activities lined up for the UN Clean Seas Campaign and the Uganda Water and Environment Week 2021. The UN campaign is being implemented by Flipflopi, the first recycled plastic sailing dhow made entirely from ten tons of plastic waste collected during the beach cleanup along the Kenyan coast.

Flipflopi’s first expedition around Lake Victoria aims at bringing regional consensus on ending unnecessary single-use of plastics, raising awareness on the need to conserve waterways, protect livelihoods and save the environment. Over 40 million people depend on Lake Victoria.

The expedition is supported by the governments of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, UN agencies led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Union, French Development Agency (AFD) and UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.

The dhow set off from Lamu in Kenya to Zanzibar in Tanzania and arrived at Kisumu on March 3rd, 2021. It is expected to sail into Uganda on March 11th and leave on March 22nd, 2021. It will first arrive at Lolui island, then move to Buvuma Island, Jinja sailing club, Katosi, Ggaba Beach, Kigungu landing site and finally Banda Island.

Odoi says the team moved along the beaches in Kigungu to raise awareness about the cleanup exercise. The team also asked the traders and residents, mostly fishermen and boat operators why the lake shores and the lake have waste such as plastic bags commonly known as buvera, bottles, cups, plates and human waste.

However, some residents couldn’t have any of this saying that the team gave the impression that they are the ones responsible for polluting the lake.

Bubye told the residents that the team was on a fact-finding mission on the source of pollution, the extent of pollution and degradation and urged people to clean up the lake.

Bubye told Uganda Radio Network-URN that Buganda Kingdom is supporting the expedition because the Nabagereka (Queen) Sylvia Nagginda has a programme of cleaning up the lake.

Robert Buwembo says the kingdom has been liaising with local leaders to clean up communities and discourage people from washing and bathing in the lake.

Odoi says Ndese landing site residents also dump plastics and other waste into the lake. He noted that the landing site with over 800 residents has inadequate toilets.

Some of the people, particularly those who reside at Ndese landing site say some of them have nowhere to bathe from or even sleep. The people including 60-year-old Robert Kiwanuka say they were among the 500 people displaced from Makusa, the sinking island five years ago and settled at Ndese landing site.

Medi Kayidali, a social worker and Kigungu resident urges the government and well-wishers to help them set up shelters and relief items such as food, clothes, blankets and funds to buy the recommended boats and equipment.

Odoi says the team will thereby forward these people’s plea to the local authorities and the central government.