Mbale on road to becoming world class city

POLITICS   2021 ELECTIONS

Apart from being a key commercial hub in eastern Uganda, Mbale is also historical to the decades-long National Resistance Movement (NRM)/ Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) struggle to rid Uganda of bad leadership. 

In the early 1970s, a young revolutionary Yoweri Museveni, the current chairperson of NRM and President of the Republic of Uganda, united with some of his colleagues in Mbale, to fight Idi Amin. It is here that President Yoweri Museveni survived being killed by Idi Amin's soldiers at the house of his comrade, the late Maumbe Mukhwana, in Malukhu housing estate.

In his book, Sowing the Mustard Seed, President Museveni narrates how he tactfully escaped from Amin's soldiers after they arrested him with three of his colleagues. Museveni says as soldiers led them out of the house, he pretended like he was going to open the car door and jumped over the fence. He ran but his colleagues did not do so and were executed by firing squad.

Mbale, therefore, occupies an important place in the history of the NRM and the party has enjoyed good support, except in a few instances where the Opposition has used cheap propaganda to win the municipality mayoral and MP seats. 

When the NRM came to power in 1986, Mbale was one of the towns which warmly welcomed the new liberators, despite having been a stronghold of the Uganda People's Congress regime.

The early NRM cadres such as Maumbe Mukhwana, James Wapakhabulo and Wanzusi Wasieba played a significant role in endearing the party to residents.

It was only disrupted around 2005, when the opposition managed to take the municipality MP seats, partly due to infighting among NRM leaders after the death of James Wapakhabulo. The rest of the seats in the rest of the constituencies in the district - Bungokho North, Bungokho south and Woman MP seat remain fully under NRM.

The mayoral and municipality MP seats being under the opposition has not stopped the NRM from implementing major infrastructure and service delivery projects, especially since 2011. This has since seen the opposition-run out of lies to sell to the people and the voters are now fully behind the NRM. This is mostly due to the services and development the town has enjoyed over the last four years (2016-2020). The projects are as explained below:

Roads

Over the last five years, roads in the town have undergone momentous transformations under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) project. Roads were tarmacked and streets paved. Street cameras and traffic lights have been installed, making the city a force to reckon with. The roads that have been tarmacked include Republic Road, Pallisa Road, Mugisu Hill Road and Nabuyonga Rise. These pieces of infrastructure have seen the town shine and spread tenterhooks to the surrounding trading centres such as Bugema, Nakaloke, Kamonkoli and Mooni to form a metropolis that makes the area deserve city status. Nakaloke, Nauyo-Bugema, Namanyonyi and Bukasakya town councils have been added to Mbale city.

Over the last four years, a major highway linking the town to the town of Lwakhakha on the border with Kenya has been tarmacked. The new 41km highway will bring to two, the number of world class roads that link the city to Kenya. The road that goes through Manafwa and Namisindwa district up the border with Kenya will boost international trade and transport. Earmarked for tarmacking is also the Namagumba-Budadiri road, which will easily wipe out opposition from the town and greater Bugisu sub-region.

The loss of the municipality MP and mayoral seats to the Opposition can partly be blamed on the massive reconstruction of town infrastructure that made the town look dusty. The contractor carried out major excavations in the town centre, inconveniencing some people in the process. The opposition lied to residents that the town was being destroyed. The completion of the reconstruction has made the town sparkle, leaving the opposition without fodder for their propaganda in the next elections.

Modern market

Over the last four years, a multi-billion new modern Mbale Central Market has been constructed to replace the old which was prone to fires that used to leave vendors counting losses. Because of NRM's efforts, the problems of the market vendors have reduced from big infernos to payment of water bills and collection of rubbish, which are easy to sort out.

"The market has improved the livelihoods of many people from Mbale and the surrounding areas. After 2016, the government under USMID, gave us funds to make roads and the first cluster is done. Commencement of the second and third clusters which will cover more City roads is also underway," Mafabi Mutwalibi Zandya, the city's interim mayor, who belongs to the Opposition acknowledges.

Good street lighting has seen small scale vendors sell their merchandise even at night. Private supermarkets such as Bam Shopping Centre and Mbale Shopping Centre have also employed many youths and provided services to the people.

Industrial Park

The Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park is one of 22 state-level industrial parks in Uganda that employs a number of youths in the town, having been established four years ago. The 2.51 square kilometer industrial park, located in Doko on the Mbale-Tirinyi road. Currently, 13 large-scale Chinese enterprises have signed intentional entry agreements with Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park with a total investment of $160m.

Eight enterprises have started construction among them, covering the production and manufacture of LED lamps, daily necessities, wood processing and furniture, steel structure production and installation, wires and cables, transmission and distribution towers, logistics storage and other fields.

The park is continuing to attract investors, especially with the recent connection of the park to the new 16.5MW Siti II hydropower electric dam on the slopes of Mt. Elgon. The dam is in line with Uganda's quest to provide cheap electricity for industrial and domestic use. The industrial park is also near the railway line to northern Uganda and Kenya, which is being revamped by the UPDF to ease transport, especially for industrial goods. 

"The new industrial park is going to create many employment opportunities to the people surrounding the regional hub. In addition, Mbale can now interact with the world community at city level, something which was not possible five years ago," Batanda Paul, the town clerk, says.

The park has shaken up the hitherto abandoned western flank of the town, with a number of hotels and commercial structures coming up. A drive through the old Industrial Area and Kamonkoli trading centre on Tirinyi Road will bring to one's eyes, the evidence of this development. 

The old Industrial Area has also not been left behind as more businesses, especially the grain and coffee milling section, have been established. Visible among these is the Mt. Elgon Millers that processes wheat.

Health

Mbale is home to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital that has undergone a major facelift, especially in the staff quarters section. A new block of flats to accommodate the hospital workers has been built to easy the medics' ability to provide medicare.

Education

A number of primary schools have undergone a major facelift. Mbale Secondary School, the town's biggest secondary school, has undergone a major infrastructure overhaul through a grant from the World Bank. Modern CCTV cameras were installed and a mega wall fence, classrooms, library and laboratories built. The completion of the laboratories has seen the school emerge among the top four in sending science students to universities in Uganda.   According to a New Vision survey of 2018, Mbale SS was the fourth in sending the highest number of science students to universities.

Conclusion

In addition to the above, other NRM programmes such as the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) for the elderly, Universal Secondary/ Primary Education, universal access to electricity have been a big success in Mbale over the last four years. The new city MP and mayoral seats are, therefore, for the NRM to lose in the 2021 elections.

Story adapted from the Presidential handbook