Mbarara set to upgrade to city status
AFTER years of lobbying and preparations, Mbarara Municipality, the largest town in western Uganda is to acquire city status. The municipality mayor, Wilson Tumwine, said the municipality had met all the conditions required to become a city.
By Joshua Kato
AFTER years of lobbying and preparations, Mbarara Municipality, the largest town in western Uganda is to acquire city status. The municipality mayor, Wilson Tumwine, said the municipality had met all the conditions required to become a city.
The district councillors met the state minister for local government, Hope Mwesigye, recently over the impending upgrade.
“We are ready to graduate into a city,†Tumwine said. The municipality has been divided into three divisions — Kamukuzi, Kakoba and Nyamitanga for easy administration.
The municipality is currently the centre of activity in western Uganda. It has the western headquarters of Bank of Uganda, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and most of the regional headquarters of various non-governmental organisations.
If it becomes a city, Mbarara will receive more direct funding from the central government, which would improve service delivery.
Tumwine said most of the roads had been tarmacked and street lighting improved. However, the municipality is still grappling with garbage disposal problems.
There are only three garbage trucks, which cannot effectively remove all the garbage generated. The municipality engineer, Gordon Tusiime, said they would soon benefit from a NEMA project intended to improve garbage collection in urban areas.
In addition to resource constraints, Mbarara’s population is still below the requisite 500,000, before a town is elevated to city status.“We have a night time population of around 100,000 and over 200,000 during the day,†Tumwine said.
However, the upgrade, set for October, is still on course. Analysts believe that to reduce the pressure on Kampala, more cities should be set up immediately. Other towns being considered for city status are Gulu, Mbale and Jinja.
AFTER years of lobbying and preparations, Mbarara Municipality, the largest town in western Uganda is to acquire city status. The municipality mayor, Wilson Tumwine, said the municipality had met all the conditions required to become a city.
The district councillors met the state minister for local government, Hope Mwesigye, recently over the impending upgrade.
“We are ready to graduate into a city,†Tumwine said. The municipality has been divided into three divisions — Kamukuzi, Kakoba and Nyamitanga for easy administration.
The municipality is currently the centre of activity in western Uganda. It has the western headquarters of Bank of Uganda, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and most of the regional headquarters of various non-governmental organisations.
If it becomes a city, Mbarara will receive more direct funding from the central government, which would improve service delivery.
Tumwine said most of the roads had been tarmacked and street lighting improved. However, the municipality is still grappling with garbage disposal problems.
There are only three garbage trucks, which cannot effectively remove all the garbage generated. The municipality engineer, Gordon Tusiime, said they would soon benefit from a NEMA project intended to improve garbage collection in urban areas.
In addition to resource constraints, Mbarara’s population is still below the requisite 500,000, before a town is elevated to city status.“We have a night time population of around 100,000 and over 200,000 during the day,†Tumwine said.
However, the upgrade, set for October, is still on course. Analysts believe that to reduce the pressure on Kampala, more cities should be set up immediately. Other towns being considered for city status are Gulu, Mbale and Jinja.