Namutumba, Bugweri voters want services closer

CITIZENS' MANIFESTO

By Nelson Kiva, Edward Anyoli, Donald Kirya and Paul Watala

The districts of Namutumba and Bugweri have a combined total population of over 522,000 people. Voters from the two districts said their joint demand to leaders is to bring services closer to the communities.

For Namutumba, the major demands include upgrading Bukono county to district status and upgrading Namutumba town council to municipality status.

“Even many sub-counties are still big, for example, Bulage sub-county has 61 villages and eight parishes. These parishes are still big, and we want some of them split and upgraded to town council status, such as Bulage trading centre, Muwaga trading centre, Nawandagala and Mpumiro,” David Mukisa, the LC5 chairperson of Namutumba district, said.

Roads, district status  

Bukono district, Mukisa said, will serve the Bukono chiefdom, given that the rest of the chiefdoms in Busoga have been granted district status.

Namutumba remains one of the biggest districts in the country with 629 villages, 111 parishes and over 20 sub-counties and town councils.

“Every chiefdom of Busoga has become a district apart from Bukono. Therefore, people are asking for Bukono County to be elevated to a district status. And people are saying if the President accepts their demand, they will vote for him massively,” Mukisa said.

He also recalled the promise by President Yoweri Museveni to tarmac the road from Busembatya-Ibale-Ivukula-Nangonde and Namakoko bridge crossing to Kibuku district.

“The President also promised a road from Kagulu via Buyenvu bridge to Butaleja. When Alice Lakwena was running away, people in that area bore the brunt of her rebellion. She also burnt a school within the area. When the road is constructed, trade will be very easy between this area and Butaleja district. Even people from Tororo to Namutumba use Kagulu-Buyenvu road,” he said.

Mukisa said the President, who is also the presidential candidate for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), promised them tarmac roads from Namutum Namalemba-Namiyumya-Bulange-Butaleja, as well as Mazuba-Bugodo-Kaliro.

The Namutumba LC5 chairperson said safe and clean water production wells have been constructed to deal with scarcity of water in the area. (New Vision/Files)

Health services  

The residents also demanded the upgrading of Nsinze Health Centre IV to a district hospital to reduce the long distance that people travel to access referral services at Iganga Hospital.

The challenges the voters and the leaders in Namutumba and Bugweri want to be addressed cut across sectors of health, education, road network and transport, agriculture and food security, water and sanitation, employment, poverty, energy/ power, security, land management, business and economic issues, environment, domestic conflicts, leadership gaps, among others.

Under health, voters also singled out drug stockouts. Within the education sector, they pointed at the need to construct more secondary and primary schools. Other voters rooted for safe and clean water access within communities.

Bad feeder and community road network is the other challenges they want leaders to fix.

Namutumba district was operationalised on July 1, 2006, after a 2005 parliamentary legislation that approved the split of Iganga district.

This district is bordered by Pallisa to the north, Kibuku (northeast), Butaleja (southeast), Bugiri to the south, Iganga (southwest) and Kaliro district to the northwest.

In the financial year 2018/2019, Iganga suffered yet another split to create Bugweri district.

“In Namutumba, the 20 sub-counties we have, including the town council, have only seven health centres III and yet it is a policy that every sub-county must have a health centre III,” Patrick Mutyaba, the LC5 councillor of Nangonde town council in Namutumba district, said.

Mutyaba also doubles as the LC5 vice-chairperson of Namutumba district. President Museveni, in his re-election bid, will campaign in Namutumba and Bugweri on Monday (November 17, 2025) ahead of other rallies within Greater Busoga.

Citizens’ manifesto 

The voters' concerns in Namutumba, Bugweri and entire Busoga sub-region are also reflected in the New Vision Citizens' Manifesto conducted between March and May this year, where prospective voters highlighted key bottlenecks undermining service delivery in the spheres of healthcare, security, roads, water and sanitation, poverty, unemployment, power connectivity, education, agricultural services, land management, crimes and leadership, among others.

For instance, only about 23.1% of the respondents in Busoga sub-region endorsed the state of health services, while in education more than 84% believe something should be done to improve the sector's performance.

Only 11.4% of the respondents in the sub-region approved of the state of roads and transport as more than 88% suggested more needed to be done in the spirit of better social services.

To ensure a national outlook, the Citizens' Manifesto and Opinion Poll Survey involved 6,006 respondents from 58 districts across the 17 sub-regions. The respondents were randomly sampled from both rural and urban setups.

The residents also demanded the upgrading of Nsinze Health Centre IV to a district hospital to reduce the long distance that people travel to access referral services at Iganga Hospital.

What is on ground? 

Recognising the fact that a huge portion of the local government budgets cater for wages, the voters and administrators claimed that there have been achievements registered in the areas of roads infrastructure, construction of schools and health facilities, among others.

“We want to thank the Government, according to the budget we have (sh40b), we constructed many roads, and most of the roads in Namutumba are motorable,” Mukisa said. Mukisa said some of the roads constructed include Namutumba-Nabinyonyi, Mazuba-Bugodo-Kaliro, Butogoli-Magola, Nawampandu-Namuwondo-Bukonte and Nawaikona-Nsinze Health Centre IV.

He said the roads worked on by the central government include Kibali sub-county headquarters via Namakoko up to Budwapa bridge-Naibiri-Niganga. “We are currently working on Kibali-Nabweyo swamp up to Kaliro.

We are also working on Mpologoma bridge in Bugobi sub-county. We have used up to sh60b. We are also working on the road from Bugobi town council up to Nakazinga,” he said.

In the area of education, Mukisa said the Government had given them about sh3b to construct Nabweyo Seed Secondary School, adding that they have also recruited teachers in the school.

“The school has about 1,500 students already in the three years of existence. Even this financial year, we are going to fence that school. The other school being constructed is Nankonde Seed School, and they are using over sh3b,” he said.

Mukisa added: “We have also been given over sh1b for construction and renovation of many primary schools. Some of the schools where we have put up some buildings include Namutumba Primary School and Namutumba Modern Primary School, where we have put two classrooms and 36 desks.”

At Kalamira Primary School, Mukisa said, sh125m was secured to construct staff houses for teachers. “We have also constructed two buildings at Lyalangi Primary School, while at Kabira Primary School, we have constructed two classrooms and procured 28 desks for pupils,” he said.

In the health sector, Mukisa said three health centres II have been upgraded to health centre III status, including Kakulu Health Centre.

“We have also upgraded Igarama Health Centre II to Health Centre III and recruited personnel and procured many equipment. The construction and upgrade of Nangonde Health Centre is also underway,” he said.

On the scarcity of water, Mukisa said safe and clean water production wells in Bubusa, Bulange sub-county, Irondo Kiwanyi sub-county, and Nsinze-Isegero Mailo have been constructed.

“There are other pending production wells we have put in place at Namuwondo trading centre, Maqwi in Nangonde sub-county and in Ivukula town council,” he said.

PDM cash  

Aminah Mutesi Nalugoda, the NRM flag-bearer for Bugweri district Woman MP seat, called for an increase in the number of beneficiaries of the Parish Development Model (PDM) per parish, noting that the current figures were too low.

President Museveni has since indicated the plan to increase the PDM money from the current sh100m per parish to sh300m.

However, some presidential candidates, such as Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform (NUP) have threatened to abolish the PDM programme altogether. Nalugoda also requested for the tarmacking of Nondwe-Busembatia road, improving healthcare, establishing Kirunda Kivejinja Memorial Centre and the completion of the construction of Bugweri district headquarters, currently at the foundation level.

Swaliki Lukaba, the NRM flag-bearer for the Bugweri LC5 seat, said there was corruption in job recruitment, alleging that applicants were forced to pay for jobs. “For someone to apply for a job, she/he has to pay for it. Leaders extort money,” Lukaba said.

Aminah Mutesi Nalugoda, the NRM flag-bearer for Bugweri district Woman MP seat, called for an increase in the number of beneficiaries of the Parish Development Model (PDM) per parish, noting that the current figures were too low.

Expert view  

To tackle the challenges in these districts, Richard Muganzi, the director of programmes at the Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development, said the President and other leaders should prioritise infrastructure and the challenge of inadequate health services in Namutumba and Bugweri.

“Bad roads continue to isolate communities. The weak rural connectivity limits access to health facilities, schools and markets. During heavy rains, bridges and feeder roads are often washed away, cutting off entire villages and disrupting service delivery.

“The Government should invest in climate-resilient road infrastructure and establish emergency response and referral systems, especially for pregnant women, accident victims, and critically ill patients who frequently struggle to reach care in time,” Muganzi said.

He added that the President and leaders should focus on addressing improving access to safe water, noting that many households still rely on contaminated streams.

Poor sanitation contributes to high rates of diarrheal diseases, while enforcement of community-led total sanitation remains weak.

Muganzi said leaders should prioritise climate-resilient issues, integrate the initiatives into PDM and expand gravity flow water schemes to serve highland communities.

Voters’ views 

Edward Wamutya, voter from Busolwe  

We want the next government to tarmac the road from Namutumba through Busolwe, Butaleja-Nabumali-Mbale so that our people are able to transport produce to the nearest markets in Bugisu and Busoga.

Ali Muyinda, voter from Namutumba  

The Government should upgrade Namutumba Health Centre III to hospital status, improve education standards and construct feeder roads for easy access to other social services like healthcare, education, markets.

Godfrey Namongo, Bugweri Chiefdom Prime Minister  

We request an increase in the number of PDM beneficiaries per parish. There should also be a dedicated youth programme to fight unemployment in Bugweri.

Swaliki Lukaba, LC5 flag-bearer from Bugweri district 

There is an alarming issue selling jobs at the district, where prospective applicants are forced to pay leaders to secure employment. For someone to apply for a job, she or he has to pay for it. Leaders extort money.

Aminah Mutesi Nalugoda, NRM flag-bearer for Bugweri Woman  

There is a need to prioritise four critical development issues, which include tarmacking the Nondwe-Busembatia road, improving health services in hospitals, establishing Kirunda Kivejinja Memorial Centre and the construction of the Bugweri district headquarters.