Campaigns: What is on Butaleja residents' wish list

ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

Today, National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi is in Butaleja district to campaign for his bid for the presidency. The residents here have asked whoever will be the next president of Uganda to tarmac the road that connects the districts of Namutumba, Butaleja and Mbale.

On several ocassions, angry residents have dug up trenches across the Mbale-Butaleja-Namutumba highway whenever the Doho Rice Scheme floods in Himutu sub-county.

Moses Hirya, who resides in Busolwe town council, says protests have been common because of the poor state of the road.

He says protesters always dig up the road at dawn at the peak of the floods, adding that the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) digs water channels on either side of the road to direct water off the road to avoid flooding.

Hirya says the poor state of the road is hindering the development of Butaleja, adding that the district needs better roads for farmers to access markets for their produce.

He says the residents have on several occasions made attempts to contact relevant authorities to repair the road without success, adding that bad road is affecting the economic activities in the district.

Zaituna Nabwire, a resident of Nabiganda, says that current torrential rains in the Mt. Elgon area flooded River Manafwa and the water crossed hit the road and washed away some bridges.




She says Government pledged to construct the Tirinyi-Pallisa-Kumi road and the Pallisa-Kamonkoli circular road but that it has yet to be fulfilled.

Nabwire adds that commuter taxis from Mbale to Butaleja always get stuck at Doho, leaving several passengers stranded on the route.

"Other vehicles opt to use the longer Mbale-Tororo-Busolwe-Butaleja road, which is expensive to small earners."

John Nambafu, a resident of Kachonga, says boda boda cyclists take advantage of the problem by hiking fares along the route because of the bad road from Namutumba through Butaleja to Mbale.

"They charge sh15,000 from Mbale to Butaleja district, up from sh10,000, while those who operate Butaleja to Namutumba charge sh20,000 up from sh15,000," he says.

"We have been forgotten by this government. It is true there is some great job that Government has done in other sectors, but we need the road to help our people fight poverty in their households," says Nambafu.

"Our farmers will be able to transport their rice and other produce easily to access better markets in Kampala."

Isiko Jagenda, a rice farmer at Doho, says the district had pledged to build two water tunnels on either side of the road to ease the flooding on River Manafwa.