Jinja Mayor throws New Year party, faces revolt from guests

Residents from Jinja Municipality, who were invited to attend the annual end of year party, turned on their hosts; Jinja mayor Majidu Batumbuze and the acting town clerk Jofram Waidhuba, and accused them of corruption.

The Jinja mayor organises the annual end of year party aimed at ushering in the New Year.

The ire of the residents stemmed from ongoing construction works on Main Street and Eng. Zikusooka roads. They claim that Batambuze and Waidhuba have failed to supervise the projects.

The roads are being upgraded under the Uganda Support Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) project. The sh11b World Bank project is contracted to M/star Company.

The residents also accused councilors of not holding the concerned officers accountable. They called on the councilors to closely monitor the road project and other government projects so as to foster development.

Batumbuze was greeted by boos from the residents when he tried to address them and they tasked him to explain why development had been slow during his term in office.

Works on Main Street have been beset by numerous delays. Photo by Doreen Musingo

"You have failed to develop Jinja. Before when you were looking for votes you promised to develop Jinja to a status like that of London. Why do you keep wasting our time?" revellers shouted.

However Batambuze who pleaded for patience said he was being failed by a group of people who do not support development in the area.

"We are fighting to transform Jinja and Busoga as a region, but our challenge is greedy people who politicise issue and are fighting development because London was not built in one year," he said.

He added that a group of youths who were found vandalising USMID projects at Nalufenya and Clive roads were arrested.

Batambuze pledged that 2019 should be a year of work where "nonsense should be put aside" for the development of the town because Jinja will soon attain city status.

Waidhuba on the other hand requested traders along Main Street to clear their trading licenses, saying no wavier will be given despite for traders requesting for one.

"We know the road under construction has affected your businesses but please kindly pay your taxes because these are the funds which help use clear road sides and garbage, pay for security lights and also equip health centres," he said.

The road which was supposed to be completed by the end of December last is still under construction.