Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has asked Parliament for an additional Shs6.018 billion to fund a proposed salary increment for street cleaners, as the Authority moves to improve sanitation across the city.
The request was presented by KCCA Executive Director Sharif Buzeki on Tuesday while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Presidential Affairs on January 20, 2026, during the presentation of the Authority’s 2026/2027 National Budget Framework Paper.
Under the proposal, KCCA plans to raise the daily wage for street cleaners from Shs6,000 to Shs10,000. According to documents submitted to Parliament, KCCA’s overall budget is set to rise from Shs950 billion in the 2025/2026 financial year to Shs1.1 trillion in 2026/2027. Of this amount, Shs12.983 billion has been earmarked for cleaners’ salaries.
However, Buzeki said the allocation is insufficient to cover both wage increments and the recruitment of additional workers, hence the need for extra funding.
“Currently, a cleaner is paid a daily rate of Shs6,000. We are proposing to increase this to Shs10,000. With the increasing number of roads being constructed, we require an additional 432 cleaners. We anticipate adding 81.87 kilometres of paved roads under the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area,” Buzeki told the committee.
The proposal, however, attracted scrutiny from legislators. Benjamin Kamukama, the Member of Parliament for Ruhama County, questioned the justification for hiring more cleaners while KCCA is also seeking Shs1.5 billion to procure mechanised street-cleaning equipment.
“You are asking for an extra 432 cleaners, and at Shs10,000 per day, this will cost over Shs1.5 billion annually. At the same time, you are proposing to spend Shs1.5 billion on cleaning machines. What is the best option?” Kamukama asked.
He further queried whether the acquisition of machines would eventually lead to the phasing out of cleaners, arguing that mechanisation could be a cheaper and more sustainable option.
Kamukama also suggested outsourcing street cleaning instead of having KCCA directly employ and pay workers on a daily basis.
In response, the Minister of State for Kampala Capital City and Metropolitan Affairs, Kabuye Kyofatogabye, defended the proposal, saying manual cleaners cannot be immediately replaced by machines that are yet to be procured.
“At this moment, you cannot lay off workers because the machines we are talking about may take up to a year to be delivered. Shall we leave the roads unattended in the meantime?” Kyofatogabye asked.
He explained that as Kampala’s road network expands, both mechanised and manual cleaning will be required, particularly to clear drainage channels and prevent flooding.
“In the long term, we shall introduce mechanised cleaning, but we shall also maintain manual cleaning, especially for desilting. We will not lay off workers overnight; we plan to retain them for at least the next five years,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, concerns were raised over the lack of funding for waste management infrastructure. Abubaker Kawalya, the Member of Parliament for Rubaga North, expressed disappointment that no funds had been allocated for the decommissioning, rehabilitation and repurposing of the Kiteezi landfill, despite a requirement of Shs80.3 billion.
He also noted that the Shs13.68 billion needed to establish a new waste disposal facility in Buyala and the Shs4.355 billion required to compensate victims of the Kiteezi landfill disaster had similarly received no funding.
“We discussed this matter extensively after last year’s tragedy in Kiteezi, and many of us expected government to act. But when you look at this budget, there is zero allocation. Government is not willing to fund this programme, and as a committee, we need to take action,” Kawalya said.
The committee is expected to make recommendations on KCCA’s budget proposals ahead of the finalisation of the 2026/2027 national budget.
