The Parliamentary Forum on WASH has urged KCCA to increase the monthly pay for street cleaners from Shs130, 000 to Shs600, 000 to match the high cost of living.
In the early hours of every morning, before the sun breaks over the Seven Hills of Kampala, a silent army of men and women takes to the streets. Armed with short-handled brooms, plastic sacks, and reflective vests, they are the heartbeat of the city’s sanitation system.
They sweep away the dust of the previous day, clear the clogged drainage channels, and ensure that by the time the morning commute begins, the capital is presentable.
Yet, for years, this essential labor has been rewarded with a stipend that many describe as “starvation wages.” Currently, these street cleaners earn a mere Shs 130,000 per month. On Tuesday, March 17, 2026, the Parliamentary Forum on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) brought this issue to the forefront of national debate, issuing a stern urge to the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to raise this pay to Shs 600,000.
The Mathematics of Survival
To understand why the Parliamentary Forum is pushing for a nearly 360% increase, one must look at the brutal reality of the cost of living in 2026. In Kampala, a standard “kaveera” (small bag) of charcoal now costs upwards of Shs 5,000. A kilogram of maize flour averages Shs 3,500. For a cleaner earning Shs 130,000, their entire monthly salary is exhausted after purchasing just a few basic food items and paying for a shared single-room rental in the city’s outskirts.
“How can we expect someone to keep our city clean when they cannot afford soap to wash their own clothes?” questioned one member of the WASH Forum during the parliamentary session. The Shs 600,000 proposal isn’t just a random figure; it is modeled after the “Living Wage” requirements for an individual to afford basic housing, nutrition, transport, and healthcare in an urban environment plagued by inflation.
The WASH Forum’s Argument
The Parliamentary Forum on WASH, led by advocates for public health and labor rights, argues that the current pay scale is a violation of human dignity. They point out that the cleaners are exposed to hazardous materials daily—medical wastes, broken glass, and fecal matter in drainage systems—often without adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
By keeping wages at Shs 130,000, the KCCA is effectively presiding over a “working poverty” crisis. The Forum argues that a well-paid workforce is a more efficient one. Increasing the pay to Shs 600,000 would reduce the high turnover rates currently seen in the sanitation sector and attract more youth to a profession that is vital but currently stigmatized by its low pay.
KCCA’s Financial Dilemma
On the other side of the ledger, the KCCA finds itself in a perennial budget deficit. The Authority has often cited “limited central government transfers” as the reason for the stagnant wages of its casual laborers. Currently, the city relies heavily on SACCOs (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations) to manage and pay these cleaners, a system that has often been criticized for delays and “administrative deductions” that further shrink the cleaners’ take-home pay.
The move to Shs 600,000 would require a significant budgetary realignment. Critics of the raise argue that the city cannot afford such a jump without cutting services elsewhere or increasing local taxes. However, the WASH Forum counters that the “cost of filth” the medical expenses associated with cholera, typhoid, and malaria caused by poor sanitation far outweighs the cost of paying cleaners a fair wage.
The Social Impact of the Raise
Beyond the numbers, the proposed pay raise is about the social fabric of Kampala. Many of these cleaners are single mothers and elderly residents who have no other social safety net. A jump to Shs 600,000 would mean:
- Educational Stability: Children of cleaners would be more likely to stay in school rather than being sent home for lack of fees.
- Health Improvement: Cleaners could afford better nutrition and private clinics when the overstretched public system fails them.
- Local Economy Boost: Shs 600,000 entering the pockets of thousands of low-income workers would immediately circulate back into local markets, helping small-scale vendors.
The Path Forward
The Parliamentary Forum on WASH has made its move, but the ball is now in the court of the KCCA executive and the Ministry of Finance. For the cleaners, the wait continues. Every day that passes without a resolution is another day they sweep the streets of a city they can barely afford to live in.
As Kampala continues to grow as a regional hub for business and tourism, the question remains: Can a city truly call itself “modern” if it treats its most essential workers as an afterthought? The push for Shs 600,000 is more than a labor dispute; it is a test of Uganda’s commitment to the middle-income status it so frequently advertises.
Conclusion
The “Army of the Brooms” deserves more than just a “thank you” or a reflective vest. They deserve a wage that reflects the difficulty and the necessity of their work. If the Parliamentary Forum on WASH succeeds, March 2026 could be remembered as the month Kampala finally decided that cleanliness and dignity should go hand in hand.
