Africa-Press – Uganda. The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) has backtracked on its earlier demands that owners or drivers of private cars must have trash cans after Uganda Law Society (ULS) questioned the legality of their directive.
The ULS argued that Nema cannot implement a law that doesn’t exist, since there is provision for mandatory trash cans in vehicles in the environment laws.
The regulator Tuesday announced that private cars can now move without drivers having to worry about the fine that comes with not carrying a dustbin.
The exemption is provided for in regulation 33 of Statutory Instrument 49 of 2020 which states that, “The owner or operator of a public service vessel shall provide waste receptacles in the vessel and shall be responsible for cleanup, where waste is littered.”
Ms Naomi Karekaho, the spokesperson of Nema, told this publication that private cars can move without dustbins but if they are caught littering or dropping any kind of waste on the streets or public places, they will be required to pay the fine.
“The dustbin is specifically for public transport because they carry many people at a time, so these people may want to eat and dispose of the bags carrying their food stuffs, other passengers may have babies whose mothers want to change their diapers, so that is why the public transporters should have dustbins to carry the rubbish of their passengers,” Ms Karekaho said.
Ms Karekaho also said for a private car that has one or two people, they can hold onto their waste but if they throw it on the streets, they will pay a fine of Shs6 million fine.
Last week, Nema postponed the enforcement of its express penality scheme, which among others, required all vehicles, both private and public, to have dustbins.
In a statement released on Friday, a few hours to the commencement of the April 1 directive, the Authority’s executive director, Dr Barirega Akankwasa, said the enforcement had been halted for at least 30 days after an engagement with public transporters who asked for more time to acquire dustbins.
In February, Nema announced that it was set to implement a new express penalty scheme intended to deter non-compliance to environment laws and to prevent environment degradation.
Among the new regulations, every car is supposed to have a dustbin. Any car found without a dustbin would result in the arrest of the driver or payment of a Shs6 million fine.
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