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By Cantona Joseph April 02, 2026 17:08 (EAT)

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The Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school, in Makindye Division, Kampala City. Photo/Courtesy

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A sombre mood engulfed Ggaba Early Childhood Development Program school in Kampala, Uganda, on Thursday, after a man stabbed and killed four children. 

Reports indicated that the man gained access to the daycare centre under the guise of a parent, where he briefly engaged the administrator in charge. 

Thereafter, he is reported to have locked the gate, brandished his weapon and began stabbing any child that he came across. 

Mudavadi outlines Nairobi’s Ksh.47.2B flood control strategy under Ruto–Sakaja pact

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi appears before the National Assembly plenary April 1, 2026.

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Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has outlined the key highlights of a Ksh.47.2 billion Nairobi flood resilience masterplan, designed to bolster the city’s defences against increasingly frequent and severe flooding. 

The strategy forms part of the broader Nairobi Rising Programme, a flagship cooperation framework between President William Ruto and Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson.

Nairobi’s vulnerability to flooding, worsened by the presence of three major rivers flowing through the city, has been thrust into the spotlight following recent heavy rains. Speaking in Parliament, Mudavadi said the masterplan adopts a “Sponge City” approach, aiming for a coordinated, climate-resilient transformation of the city’s urban systems.

“The strategy is structured in three progressive phases to ensure both immediate response and long-term sustainability,” Mudavadi said.

Phase I (2026) focuses on emergency stabilisation, including rapid rehabilitation of critical drainage systems, establishment of flood early warning mechanisms, development of flood risk mapping, and strengthening coordinated emergency response capacity across the city.

Phase II (2026–2028) will target structural resilience through comprehensive drainage solutions across river sub-catchments, rehabilitation of key river corridors such as Mathare and Ngong, construction of underground flood retention infrastructure, and integration of green infrastructure to reduce runoff and enhance water absorption.

Phase III (2028–2032) aims to deliver long-term climate adaptation, including citywide deployment of resilient infrastructure systems, expansion of green corridors along river networks, and creation of a dedicated Climate Resilience Investment Fund to sustain interventions.

Mudavadi emphasised that tackling flooding in Nairobi requires a whole-of-society approach, combining emergency response, strategic urban planning, and sustained investment. He noted that the National Government and Nairobi City County are already implementing critical infrastructure projects, including road and drainage upgrades, sewer and sanitation expansion, and integration of flood mitigation systems within transport and housing developments.

A coordinated emergency response unit, bringing together national and county disaster teams alongside security agencies, has been established to support evacuation, rescue operations, and humanitarian assistance. On riparian enforcement, Mudavadi revealed immediate steps are underway to demarcate and protect riparian reserves, coupled with targeted evacuation of residents in high-risk zones.

The announcement follows a series of meetings between President Ruto and Governor Sakaja, including a State House session where Sakaja chaired the implementation committee reviewing progress on projects under the KSh 80 billion Nairobi Rising Programme.

E-waste report exposes toxic dumping in Kenya’s informal settlements

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Kenya imports approximately 70% of its electronic equipment, much of which arrives near the end of its useful life, generating an estimated 51,000 metric tonnes of electronic waste annually. This makes e-waste the country’s fastest-growing waste stream, yet only about 1% is formally recycled.

Waste pickers in Kenya are said to be paying the heaviest price for the escalating e-waste crisis. Exposure to toxic chemicals released during unsafe handling of electronic waste – including open burning, acid leaching, and manual disassembling – has left 61% of waste pickers in Nairobi’s Korogocho settlement reporting health problems. Many suffer from respiratory illnesses, while more than a third report skin infections.

At the launch of a policy brief and factsheet on ‘The escalating e-waste crisis devastating communities in Kenya and Ghana,’ held earlier this week, Greenpeace Africa warned that toxic electronic waste, often disguised as donations or recycling, is putting lives and ecosystems at risk.

Hellen Kahaso Dena, Pan-African Plastics Project Lead at Greenpeace Africa, stated that Kenya is witnessing “waste colonialism” in action. “Wealthy countries are offloading toxic burdens onto African communities under the guise of development and charity,” Dena said.

“When only about 1% of e-waste is formally recycled, the remainder is handled in informal settings where waste pickers, many from vulnerable groups, are exposed to dangerous substances such as lead, cadmium, and carcinogenic fumes from burning electronics.”

According to the Greenpeace Africa policy brief, surveys conducted in Nairobi’s Korogocho informal settlement paint a harrowing picture of the health toll on waste workers.

The report shows that 61% of respondents reported health issues linked to e-waste handling, with 47.2% experiencing respiratory complications and 35.3% reporting skin damage or infections.

The report further indicates that children as young as six years old are involved in sorting and burning e-waste to extract metals such as copper, silver, and aluminium.

In the process, they are exposed to carcinogenic fumes containing toxins including lead, cadmium, beryllium, and furans.

“These are not abstract numbers. Behind every statistic is a mother, a child, a young man trying to earn a living by picking through the world’s discarded electronics with his bare hands. That is the human cost of our collective failure to manage this crisis,” Dena emphasized, underscoring the scale of the health emergency facing informal workers.

Environmentalists are now calling for stronger political goodwill among African governments to enforce Extended Producer Responsibility regulations, formalize policies that protect informal waste workers, and implement stricter measures, working with customs authorities, to stop illegal e-waste shipments at border points.

The report comes at a time when Kenya is tightening its import policies on electronic goods. The country has already implemented, and continues to strengthen, restrictions on the importation of e-waste and aging electronics to curb pollution and protect public health.

Launched in Nairobi on the United Nations International Day of Zero Waste, the report brought together policymakers, civil society actors, researchers, and community representatives to confront what Greenpeace describes as a deepening crisis of waste colonialism.

The event also featured an immersive photojournalism exhibition by Kenyan photojournalist Edwin Nyamasyo, whose powerful images capture the human and environmental scale of the crisis as experienced by frontline communities in Kenya and Ghana.

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