KCCA DEEPENS AIR QUALITY EFFORTS, HOSTS DHAKA CITY DELEGATION

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has intensified its push to clean up the city’s air, with Executive Director Hajjat Sharifah Buzeki calling on residents to take an active role in safeguarding the air they breathe.

Speaking during a press conference on Thursday at the Lord Mayor’s Parlor, Buzeki said Kampala must act decisively to reduce pollution and safeguard the wellbeing of its people.

“Many residents are unaware of the harm caused by daily activities such as garbage burning, dust from unpaved roads, and emissions from vehicles and industries,” Buzeki said

Kampala's air quality is generally considered poor to unhealthy, consistently exceeding World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for safe air, primarily due to high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

Buzeki outlined ongoing efforts to curb emissions, including expanding the city’s dense network of over 100 air quality monitors, enforcing vehicle inspection, digitising traffic management, restricting approvals for heavy polluters, and investing in non-motorised transport. She added that KCCA is committed to paving more roads to reduce dust emissions, emphasizing that out of Kampala’s 2,104km road network, only 740km are paved.

The briefing was held alongside a visiting delegation from Dhaka City, Bangladesh, in Kampala for a four-day benchmarking mission under the Partnership for Healthy Cities. The delegation is led by Joseph Ngamije, the Deputy Director of the Partnership for Healthy Cities Africa.

 “We are deliberate about greening and re-greening Kampala. Each village now has air quality champions, and we continue to encourage every resident to plant a tree,” she said. “Our decisions are guided by evidence, and we remain committed to strengthening learning and collaboration under the Partnership for Healthy Cities.”

Both Dhaka and Kampala are part of the partnership for healthy cities (PHC), a global network of over 70 cities that are working together to combat the threat of non-communicable diseases. The partnership is implemented by Vital strategies with technical support from World Health Organization and funded by Bloomberg philanthropies.

Representing the Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor Olive Namazzi called for air quality to be fully institutionalised within KCCA through the creation of a dedicated air quality unit with its own budget. She pressed for fast-tracking the Air Quality Ordinance and said community sensitisation must increase if Kampala is to see lasting change.

“Air quality issues must be embedded in the institution’s core work. We need a dedicated unit, proper budgeting, and stronger enforcement,” Namazzi said.

Ngamije described Kampala as a leading example in data-driven urban health management and applauded the partnership for enabling cross-city learning.

Dhaka City representative Hassan Abdul also commended the collaboration, saying both cities are committed to improving the health of their populations through shared innovation.

Prof. Engineer Bainemugisha of AirQo noted that Kampala now has one of the densest air quality monitoring networks in Africa, thanks to sustained investment and strong partnerships.

“Air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death worldwide, causing 7.9 million deaths every year,” he said. “No single city can solve this challenge alone, we must collaborate. AirQo remains committed to working with KCCA to support evidence-based solutions.”

The Bangladesh delegation wraped up its four-day visit after engagements with KCCA departments, AirQo, and other partners working to strengthen air quality management in the city.

By Geofrey Mutegeki Araali

Communication and Media Relations Officer