Sustainability Waste Leadership in African Cities: A Systematic Review of Governance Mechanisms with Evidence from the Kiteezi Landfill Collapse (Kampala)

Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in African cities reflects deeper governance, equity, and risk challenges. This study examines how leadership and governance mechanisms shape MSWM outcomes under conditions of informality, fiscal constraint, and fragmented authority. A PRISMA-guided systematic review of 43 studies across sub-Saharan African cities identifies five critical governance dimensions: systems integration, institutional clarity, risk governance, inclusive leadership, and accountability. The findings show that implementation depth, multi-actor coordination, and risk-aware oversight matter more than formal governance models in determining system performance and resilience. These mechanisms are subsequently validated through an embedded diagnostic case of the Kiteezi Landfill collapse in Kampala, which exhibits the same configuration of governance failures identified in the synthesis, including fragmented responsibility, weak risk monitoring, and delayed intervention. The paper reframes MSWM as a leadership and risk governance problem and offers a mechanism-based diagnostic framework to support urban authorities in aligning institutional capacity, social legitimacy, and long-term resilience.

Keywords: Sustainability Leadership, African cities; municipal solid waste management; waste governance; informal sector integration; accountability; risk governance; land-use and buffer zones; Kiteezi Landfill (solid waste disposal site in Uganda).