Reverse Arua Decision

ARUA MUNICIPALITY has allocated plots of land in the town’s golf course to private developers. A road leading to the town’s main stadium has also been blocked. The state minister for transport has expressed shock at the developments, which he fears will affect recreational activity in the municipality. Arua is one of the oldest municipal centres in the country, is strategically located, and serves as a bridgehead for commercial activity with two neighbouring states. And as the capital of a big and well-populated region, it is an important centre in the administrative structure of Uganda. It is therefore important that the town develops a modern outlook as it continues to expand and develop. But this will not come when done haphazardly. The allocation of plots to private developers would almost certainly have been done fraudulently, because the town possesses a plan that would gazette land for use in different endeavours. There would be plots for factories, residential houses, schools, markets and other commerce, and recreation. Now Arua finds itself in a tight corner when a local football club has qualified to play in the nation’s top league and access to the stadium is blocked. But it need not to have got to the point of big time football coming to the town for the anomalies to be redressed. It must be out of the realisation that recreation is a vital part of a healthy community that existing facilities are protected and planners take into consideration sport and leisure when allocating resources. Now the urban authorities should be compelled to adhere to approved plans. the allocation of plots should be reversed, and the culprits prosecuted. Ends