Africa-Press – Uganda. Ntungamo leaders have started fundraising to address the challenge of poor road network in the district.
Leaders, including Members of Parliament and councillors at all levels, are soliciting support from locals and businesspeople to contribute money to work on roads.
The move, which started in Rushenyi County after locals realised that the government would not address their infrastructure challenge in the area, is being replicated in the whole district.
“When our MP explained to us through a series of online meetings the difficulty in opening roads with government funds, we decided to hire equipment from Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to work on our roads. Since 2021, we have opened at least 15km of roads in our area using the same method,” Mr Kana Rwamutemba, a Rushenyi resident, said.
Mr Denis Savimbi, a district councillor for Itojo Sub-county, said the same thing was done in his area and mobilisation was done on the social media platform WhatsApp and the community embraced it.
“When I posted the challenges we were facing on Whatsapp, people from my sub-county offered to help us work on some roads. We have since built a market and we are moving on. It is difficult to wait for the government to work on our roads yet we are the ones suffering and finding difficulty in movement and transportation of our goods,” he said.
Mr Muhumuza said the fundraising drives normally raise between Shs10m and Shs50m, which he said is enough to make a road the government, through procurement procedures, would spend more than Shs500m to complete.
“We make first-class murram roads and because they trust how we do it, even the other communities want us to show them how we do it,” he said.
In Kajara County, the area Member of Parliament Michael Timuzigu Kamugisha, started an initiative to fund community roadworks.
“By motivating communities and coming up with little funds, they can ease access. This is better than giving out money for waragi whenever you visit the constituency. I buy culverts, and they co-fund and buy other items and provide labour. Where the road cannot be worked on by hand, I hire equipment or we get them from the district and fuel them with contributions from affected communities,” Mr Timuzigu said.
The initiative has also been embraced in Rushenyi County, which has resulted in the construction of roads in Rubaare Sub-county and Rubaare Town Council, Ngoma Sub-county, Rwahi- Rwentobo Town Council, Rugarama North Sub-county. Mobilisation is also done on WhatsApp.
“We have generous people who work in different departments of government, others are business people and they want their areas to be well connected, through our network we realised we can do something for our areas, we started with school some years back and now we have been working on roads,” Ms Naome Kabasharira, the Rushenyi County MP, said.
Mr Benjamin Kamukama, the Ruhaama East County MP, said the government allocates about Shs1b annually to local governments for roads but it is not enough.
“Our budget allows us to work on only two roads in two constituencies every quarter. Even the government’s Shs1b is not enough in Ntungamo with a vast road network. This means some roads may spend four years without being worked on,” he said.
The Ntungamo District Chairperson, Mr Samuel Mucunguzi, said the funding from the Central Government for roads is not enough and that residents must be involved in maintaining the available road network.
“We received Shs15m for the first quarter of this financial year for road funds to work on our 689km of the district road network. Our budget for the road fund for a whole financial year is Shs300m, we can’t do much. The Shs1bn was used on the worst roads but was not even enough. , “he said.
Mr Prosper Butubuura, the district engineer, appreciated community engagement in road maintenance in the district but advised them to always consult his office for technical guidance.
ROAD NETWORK
According to Ntungamo District’s five-year development plan from FY2023/2024 to FY2028/2029, the district has a network of 2,220kms of national and sub-county roads.
District roads are 689km. The district has 13 town councils, three municipal divisions, 1,031 villages and four counties.
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