Africa-Press – Uganda. Authorities in Nakasongola District are yet to utilise a Shs250m road grant received in the first quarter over a lack of clear guidelines despite the poor state of the different community access roads.
The Shs250m is part of the Shs1billion government allocated to each district for road works.
“We have the Shs250m road grant funds on the district account, but we are yet to get the clear usage guidelines. We prefer that the money goes for road maintenance to ensure we work on many roads unlike the earlier proposal for rehabilitation,” Mr Sam Kigula, the Nakasongola District chairperson, told a district council meeting last week.
The access roads, which are in a poor state, include Kansiira-Lwabyata and Ntuuti-Nabutaka, which are almost impassable.
Mr Kigula said the poor roads are impeding access to health facilities and schools, among other institutions.
Mr Rogers Sunday Bwanga, the Nakasongola District council speaker, in a separate interview, said without clear guidelines, authorities are reluctant to utilise the funds.
“When I go back to our areas, the major problem is the poor road infrastructure. The roads are in poor shape. Unfortunately, it’s the rainy season and the maintenance costs will be even higher, Mr Bwanga said.
Mr Godfrey Ssemaganda, a resident of Lwabyata Sub-county in Nakasongola District, said the access road linking Ntuuti and Lwabyata is almost impassable.
“During the dry season, one can manoeuver through but the heavy rains will make the road impassable if the district fails to undertake some maintenance at sections that have many potholes,” he said.
But in the neighbouring Nakaseke, Mr Benjamin Makanga, the secretary for works at the district council , at the weekend said leaders have resolved to spend the Shs250 million on rehabilitation of the roads.
The chairperson of Luweero District, Mr Erasto Kibirango, said the district’s roads committee is yet to convene and decide on the next course of action as they await communication from the Ministry of Local Government.
“We have the Shs250m road grant on the district account but we have not used the money…Our community access roads are in poor shape,” Mr Kibirango said yesterday.
But on September 5, during a plenary sitting, the minister for Local Government, Mr Raphael Magyezi, told lawmakers that guidelines on the utilisation of the Shs1 billion road grant had been circulated to the different local governments.
Initially, the local governments were told to use the Shs1 billion road grant for maintenance works. Mr Magyezi, however, told MPs that changing the grants from rehabilitation to road maintenance will give the local governments more kilometres of roads covered than the earlier idea of rehabilitating a few kilometres.
The minister also clarified that most local governments were hesitant to utilise the Shs250 million that is already on their respective accounts due to lack of clear guidelines and the risk of non-compliance, but said his ministry had taken the initiative to have the Parliament guidelines circulated.
But by last Thursday, many local governments were yet to receive new guidelines on the utilisation of the Shs250 million road grant disbursed for the first quarter of the Financial Year 2023/2024.
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