Just as National Cleaning Day is sensitizing Ugandans against carelessly dumping garbage and littering, likewise the population needs awareness that noise pollution is a crime. There is a noise pollution law called National Environment Noise Standards and Control Regulations 2023 that regulates noise limits. Many people seem to be oblivious of this law. When I was a teenager, I used to live in Kololo, along Wampewo Avenue, at a time when it was a quiet, pleasant, purely residential, posh neighbourhood. During the school holidays, my sister and I used to go for long walks to visit our friends, who lived in other parts of Kololo. One of our favourite pastimes was walking around the neighbourhood and sometimes climbing Kololo Hill to view the mansions in Upper Kololo with our friends. Sadly, this peace and quiet is no more as this avenue has now become a mixed-use area, combining residential and commercial enterprises, because many houses have been bought and converted into noisy bars and bustling restaurants. When will peace prevail? I can only imagine the inconvenience the Kololo residents are going through! They have not had the chance to enjoy the tranquility I once did. Some residents would like to preserve Kololo as an upscale residential area, because they are now fighting the noise pollution being emitted by some bars, which they often report to the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to intervene. ‘Mixed-use area’ needs a rethink because peaceful co-existence is next to impossible. In a mixeduse area, business owners operate as if they are in a commercial area, which is precisely why residential neigbourhoods were zoned separately from commercial areas in the first place. While they are at their business, you are at your home, so it becomes a conflict of interest. Residential houses and commercial enterprises should not be combined, but zoned separately; especially if the noisy commercial enterprises do not want to invest in soundproofing, because they believe their loud music attracts customers, so it you tell them to soundproof, or contain the noise by reducing the volume to acceptable decibel noise levels, they feel resentful and think you interfering with their business. They argue that they have a license to operate, completely disregarding the fact that they are operating in residential areas. Yet, after a hard day’s work, people need to rest. Perhaps they think that by operating so close to people’s homes, these people will become their customers, but more often than not, they are a public nuisance. I no longer live in Kololo. Now I live in Najjera, where I have experienced all manner of noise pollution. I can be enjoying a quiet afternoon, when all of a sudden, the purveyors of noise pollution disturb my peace of mind. Out of the blue, a mobile vendor (a vehicle with loudspeakers attached) begins moving along the road, loudly selling their wares, playing a recorded message on repeat, and I wonder what happened to trade order? Shouldn’t these mobile vendors be in the market? The same applies to mobile trucks advertising upcoming events. Event planners, who have informed police that they are going to hold an event or an open-air concert in a residential neighbourhood seem to think it gives them carte blanche to blare their music as loud as possible. Then there are open bars with no soundproofing where music is played all night long at such a high volume that the windows vibrate. All this is compounded by incessant hooting of horns by taxi drivers and boda bodas. Noisy neighbours have an I-don’t-care attitude when it comes to pollution. To mitigate this, landlords should make new tenants sign a tenancy agreement, where one of the stipulations is the tenant agrees not to make excessive noise. After all, one can use their earphones or headsets in order not to disturb their neighbours. Noise pollution is getting out of hand. Noise pollution is stressful, inconveniences people who work from home, can lead to sleep deprivation and is especially difficult for sick, bedridden patients, who have nowhere to go. This problem is not unique to Kololo and Najeera, it is happening nationwide. NEMA and KCCA have hotlines to report noise pollution. NEMA also has environment inspectors that deal with air quality, noise pollution and noxious smells. However, out of the three, the highest number of complaints arise from noise pollution, which shows that the practice has become so widespread that people need to be sensitised on a massive scale to bring about meaningful, societal change. The writer works for Uganda Media CentreThe post Noise pollution is a crime appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.