100 Ugandans arrested for not having toilets.

KAMPALA (Reuters) Dec.19, 2007 - Local authorities have arrested at least 100 Ugandans for failing to build toilets in their homes in the midst of a cholera epidemic that has killed 8 people and infected 164, state media reported Wednesday.

"We cannot watch as people die (of cholera)," northwestern Bulisa district administrator Norbert Turyahikayo told the New Vision daily, justifying the arrest of Ugandans found to have huts with no pit latrines Tuesday.

Police spokesman Hassan Kasinje told Reuters the building of homes without proper toilets was forbidden in Uganda, though he did not know of the arrests.

"It is illegal ... but it is not an arrestable offence. Whoever arrested them is wrong," he said. "A health officer is supposed to instruct them to build or they can be cautioned."

In September, 70 Ugandans in the east were seized for the same offence. Many in remote villages lack latrines.

Cholera epidemics spread by poor sanitation are common.

The lack of logic here baffles me. Yeah, let’s arrest the people who lack “proper” toilets (i.e. pit latrines) in the middle of a cholera epidemic. Could the law enforcement officials not use their time and power a little more efficiently? Arresting people without pit latrines does not alleviate the epidemic.

These people do not have toilets most likely because they do not have the money to build toilets. Even families that do have enough money tend to share pit latrines with other families when their own latrines become full. And pit latrines aren’t even sanitary toilets! If officials truly want to alleviate and eliminate the cholera epidemic, they need to fund more ecologically sustainable toilets and educate the people about proper hygiene. Arresting, or even fining, “perpetrators” is not the answer.