Bughendera residents demand district

Sep 27, 2011

RESIDENTS of Bughendera in Bundibugyo district want their county elevated to district status.

By Mary Karugaba

RESIDENTS of Bughendera in Bundibugyo district want their county elevated to district status.

It is comprised of seven sub-counties: Kasithu, Harugali, Ndugutu, Ntororo, Ngamba, Bukonzo and Sindila.

The residents argue that the idea of a new district curved out of Bundibugyo is as a result of public demand and supported by over 90% of their population.

Presenting a petition to the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, last week, Bundibugyo vice-chairman Mbalibona Balilali said the county was geographically hard to reach, hard to stay in with extremely poor service delivery which had denied the people a chance to access services.

“The difficult terrain makes people traverse long distances to access markets for their agricultural produce and fetching water from gaping valleys,” Balilali argued.

In the petition, the residents argued that the county was endowed with natural resources like forests, a conducive climate and fertile soil that would enable it generate local revenue to sustain its programmes if granted the district status.

They also said most business in the district was run by people of Bughendera county, forming a strong revenue base.

The petition was signed by over 17,000 residents from Bughendera. They said the current district administration was dominated by people from other counties who side-line them.

The area MP, Joseph Matte, said their request for a district was not honoured when the Government submitted names for 21 more new districts, which are now before the Cabinet.

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