Mbale's heaps of garbage soil the image of what was once Uganda's cleanest town

Iconic among the features that described Mbale in the 50s and 60s was its orderliness and cleanliness. So clean was it that it was ranked the cleanest town in East Africa.

But now, with years to its name, the town is a far cry of its glorious past as heaps of garbage that compete in height with some of the town's buildings dot some of the eastern town's more run-down areas.The town's leaders blame the deterioration of the town on years of neglect from the central governments and inadequate revenue for garbage collection and other beautification activities.