'My best friend went to work - and was crushed to death by rubbish'

Fighting backmost the tears, 22-year-old rubbish collector Okuku Prince recalls the infinitesimal his champion friend's lifeless assemblage was recovered astatine a monolithic rubbish dump successful Uganda's capital, Kampala.

The landslide astatine the Kiteezi dump past August killed 30 people, including his person Sanya Kezia.

"I deliberation immoderate radical are inactive underneath the garbage," helium tells the BBC.

Many of them eked retired a surviving by washing and selling immoderate discarded items they recovered that inactive had worth - thing from sportfishing nets to integrative bottles, solid jars and the components of aged physics devices.

A blame-game erupted aft the fatal collapse, with Kampala's metropolis assembly and cardinal authorities accusing each different of negligence, portion immoderate of the dormant inactive languished nether tonnes of rubbish without the dignity of a burial.

When authorities tractors did yet excavation up Kezia's body, determination were injuries to the 21-year-old's face.

It was horrifying for his person to spot him enveloped by stinking, rotting waste.

"We're not harmless here. Unless they [repair] it, possibly level it. Otherwise, radical are not safe," says Mr Prince, who earlier becoming a rubbish-picker had been studying instrumentality astatine the Islamic University of Uganda.

Unable to spend tuition fees aft his household became financially unstable, his regular daily is present a acold outcry from libraries and lecture halls.

Youth unemployment is astatine situation levels successful Uganda, and determination are galore similar Mr Prince who often hazard their wellness and wantonness their dreams conscionable to marque a living.

"I travel present to the dump successful the morning, cod polythene bags, instrumentality them for washing and merchantability them," says Mr Prince. "I marque 10,000 shillings [equivalent to $2.70 oregon £2.10] a day."

The illness has near him successful further fiscal distress arsenic helium utilized to unrecorded by the broadside of the dump - but has had to determination due to the fact that of information concerns.

The houses of others were besides destroyed during rescue operations.

Compensation wealth has been paid to the families of those who died, but not to astir 200 radical who mislaid their homes, section authorities person admitted to the BBC.

Officials are "waiting for the valuation and fund allocation", says Dr Sarah Karen Zalwango, the caller caput of nationalist wellness and the situation astatine the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

Some reason that the Kiteezi illness was inevitable due to the fact that basal communal consciousness was ignored.

"You can't instrumentality 4 cardinal people, get each that waste, mingled - degradable and non-degradable - and instrumentality it to 1 dumping site. No, that's not however we [ought to] bash it. But we've been doing it for implicit 20 years," Frank Muramuzi, a Kampala-based municipality planner, tells the BBC.

The Kiteezi landfill was built successful 1996, with financing from the World Bank, to supply a single, large depository for coagulated discarded generated by Kampala.

As Kampala has grown, truthful excessively has its biggest rubbish dump.

On the bluish borderline of the city, it present covers 15 hectares (37 acres) - an country the size of much than 22 shot pitches - with its stench spreading further still.

Birds of prey tin beryllium seen flying overhead.

The city's residents and businesses make an estimated 2,500 tonnes of discarded each day, fractional of which ends up successful dumping sites crossed the metropolis - the biggest being Kiteezi.

But the occupation is that Kiteezi lacks the on-site recycling, sorting and incineration facilities that landfills are expected to have.

"With each furniture of trash piled up, the bottommost layers go weaker, particularly arsenic the decay and decomposition of integrated discarded increases the temperature," Mr Muramuzi explains.

"Without vents, methane and different gases stay trapped astatine the bottom, further multiplying the fragility of the loosely held structure."

Yet this tin easy beryllium fixed, helium adds, truthful agelong arsenic the authorities commits to periodic monitoring and audits which origin successful environmental, societal and economical needs.

Had that already been successful place, "the havoc that happened successful Kiteezi would person been avoided", helium says.

So, if the solution is this simple, wherefore is it not already happening?

The reply seems to beryllium a operation of powerfulness struggles and fiscal mismanagement.

Ultimate work for keeping Kampala "clean, habitable, and sustainable environment" lies with the KCCA, but Mayor Erias Lukwago, from the absorption Forum for Democratic Change party, says his bureau lacks the indispensable powerfulness to enact the changes.

The KCCA says it has repeatedly projected plans to decommission Kiteezi but says the funds needed to bash truthful - $9.7m - transcend the city's fund and person not been made disposable by cardinal government.

"All the enactment we person been getting is courtesy of improvement partners and donors similar Bill and Melinda Gates, GIZ, and WaterAid… but their capableness is precise limited," the Kampala politician said recently.

"If we were getting capable backing from the cardinal government, we would beryllium precise acold close now."

There is nary connection from the authorities connected whether it volition allocate funds for Kampala's biggest dump.

It did wage $1,350 to each of the families of the deceased, saying immoderate further wealth would lone beryllium forthcoming if authorities agencies were "found to beryllium responsible".

A period later, a study furnished by the country's constabulary and transgression probe section led to President Yoweri Museveni - a noted governmental hostile of Kampala's politician - sacking 3 elder KCCA officials, including the authority's enforcement and nationalist wellness directors.

James Bond Kunobere, Kampala's coagulated discarded absorption officer, admits that past year's deadly illness was a much-needed wake-up call.

At present, the authorities successful the Ugandan superior are drafting plans to crook integrated discarded into compost and trim "unnecessary waste" coming into the city.

But they privation the nationalist to instrumentality immoderate work too. At the infinitesimal radical wage 1 of the 7 backstage discarded firms operating successful Kampala to cod their rubbish, which is each bundled unneurotic with small thought fixed to recycling.

"We haven't changed the mindset of residents to benignant waste," Mr Kunobere tells the BBC.

"If you sort, discarded has antithetic destinations. If you mix, it each goes to 1 - the landfill."

Experts accidental specified initiatives are important but bash not code the bigger structural inadequacies astatine Kiteezi.

And for radical whose lives person been shattered by caller events there, it is excessively small excessively late.

"They promised america compensation, but I haven't received thing - astir everyone is complaining too," Mr Prince tells the BBC.

"We mislaid our friend. All that transpired successful the process was sorrow."

Additional reporting by Natasha Booty.