A KCCA sweeper on duty It is now a practice that every last Saturday of the month, Ugandans spare three hours of their time, from 7 am to 10 am to participate in the national cleaning days campaign. There is definitely good reason to support this timeous campaign because it will help keep our country clean and contribute to our health and wellbeing. A clean environment and good health go hand in hand, which is why, in 2022, the UN General Assembly declared the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment a universal human right. In Uganda, the 1995 Constitution affirms the primacy of human rights. Article 39 guarantees every Ugandan the right to a clean and healthy environment. But the enjoyment of this right has a corresponding civic duty to create and protect a clean and healthy environment, per Article 17(j). Viewed in this way, we cannot assert our right to a clean and healthy environment and leave the responsibility of protecting it to government alone. All of us have a cardinal role to play in that regard. Uganda has so far held two national cleaning days in tandem with other African countries that have adopted comparable programmes. Rwanda has ‘Umuganda,’ a citizen-led public works initiative, and Ghana reintroduced its National Sanitation Day in 2025. There is considerable optimism that Uganda’s initiative has been embraced, with citizens seen taking part in the cleaning campaign. Some have even gone as far as mopping tarmac roads, a sight that is chucklesome. That notwithstanding, there is an emerging rights question that necessitates our attention. Among the rights we should not sidestep is the inalienable right to life. What marred the second National Cleaning Day on August 29, 2026 puts forth this concern. What was meant to be a peaceful cleaning day ended in tragedy, with 38-year-old Ronald Kizito Juuko shot and killed by Uganda Police Force Constable Allan Ogwal after he reportedly attempted to ride through a secured area. If we are to look at this incident through the lens of human rights, the right to life provides an important basis. In his 1690 Second Treatise of Government, John Locke stressed principles such as the divinely granted nature of human life and the equal and inalienable status of every person. He regarded the right to life as one of the fundamental natural rights, inherent to every person. So, by the same reasoning, we need to ensure that our efforts to create a clean, healthy and safe environment do not come at the expense of the right to life. Article 221 of the Constitution places an obligation on security agencies to observe and respect human rights and freedoms in the performance of their functions. It is upon this basis that even when enforcing the National Cleaning Days guidelines, the police and other security organs are expected to exercise their mandate in a manner that protects the rights of those they are required to serve. So, at both ends of the spectrum, can we clean Uganda while protecting rights? Yes, we can. First, let’s start by gazetting the National Cleaning Days guidelines. Once this is done and the guidelines are aptly disseminated, citizens are likely to have a better understanding of what is expected of them, and enforcers too will have a demarcated framework within which to exercise their mandate. This will go a long way in mitigating the risk of arbitrary or top-heavy enforcement that may violate rights, thus the need for Parliament to prescribe lawful standards for the cleaning campaign. Second, owing to the fact that the initiative is premised on a whole-ofgovernment and whole-of-society approach, its implementation should allow citizens to exercise a sense of autonomy and ownership. Goodwill exists among many Ugandans. That is why the campaign should build on this goodwill and allow citizens to embrace it and feel part of it, rather than develop a perception that it is being imposed on them. Finally, the National Steering Committee of the National Cleaning Days needs to further popularise the guiding principles, with the human rights-based approach going hand in glove with them. Such an approach would see the campaign implemented in a manner that respects rights. We all desire to live in a clean country. The government and its subjects bear a shared responsibility towards achieving this objective, and the success of the cleaning campaign is hinged on both parties fulfilling their respective obligations in accordance with the law. The writer is a human rights advocateThe post Let’s clean Uganda while protecting rights appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.