Arapai College needs a saviour

By Kikonyogo NgatyaWHO will save Arapai Agricultural College from the ruins of neglect and shame?Once a source of glory for the people of Eastern and Northern Uganda throughout the 1950s and ‘70s, the college infrastructure has collapsed.Most of the buildings are overgrown with bushes. Some have very old asbestos roofs overgrown with algae. Others have roofs that have fallen in due to disrepair. It is, however, evident that the college built by the colonial government was a wonderful architectural work. The college is located a few kilometres outside Soroti town.There are currently over 250 students pursuing diploma courses in agriculture, animal husbandry and agricultural entomology.Some students complained that most of the roofs leak. There is no library. James Otto, one of the lecturers at the college told The New Vision that the library was gutted by fire some years back. It has never been reroofed nor properly restocked.The students sleep in make-shift structures. The roof on one of the boys’ dormitory was blown off by wind some three years back. It has never been renovated. “It is terrible. It leaks. When it rains, we have to sleep holding buckets to stop the water from getting our beds wet,” one of the students said.Walkways are in a very sorry state. Lecturers said they did not have decent accommodation. Most of the projects which were established for students’ demonstration have long been shut down. The students, some of whom graduated last week, complained of studying theoretical work instead of practicals.Some lecturers said they have on several occasions threatened to lay down tools due to poor facilities. However, Emmanuel Ntirushize, the college principal, says those are “unfounded rumours.” He nontheless acknowledges that the college’s image is ‘not so good’. He adds that he is working to improve the situation.The college no longer has a farm for demonstration purposes. The green-house, roofed with asbestos, leaks and is in a very bad shape. This was partly intended, according to lecturers, to teach students how to quickly multiply seedlings for planting. Arapai’s establishment within a rural setting has little or no impact at all on the nearby farmers. Whereas other colleges offer nearby communities advice on new modern farming techniques, some farmers interviewed said they hardly interact with the lecturers or other agricultural experts.Otto, speaking on behalf of the principal, said the ministry of agriculture has no funds to rehabilitate the institute.He also said that the college was adversely affected by the war in the 1980s and most of the renovation work was abandoned. Arapai and Bukalasa agricultural college management were recently transferred from the ministry of agriculture to the ministry of education and sports.Martin Muwaga, an official with the agricultural education component in the ministry of education, said the Government was planning to embark on the rehabilitation of the institute.He however, said that they (government) were still looking for funds.He said two consulting companies, Norplan and Techno consult, have been awarded the tender to measure bills of contract for the college.Otto said the college has started receiving some help from the Danish Government through the Agricultural Sector Programme Support Programme (ASPS).He noted that a number of projects ranging from poultry, goat rearing, piggery and rabbit and goat-keeping are being revived with Danish funds.With the increasing need for farmer advisory services, the overwhelming neglect to Arapai college hurts.