Sorry state of roads irks Bunyangabu farmers

Bunyangabu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The road network in Bunyangabu district is in a sorry state because of the heavy rains in the area. According to the residents, most of the roads are currently unmotorobale, which has affected their access to produce markets. John Businge, a banana and coffee farmer and resident of Bukara parish in Bukara sub county says that the district leadership has not helped the population on roads.

“Whereas our district is known as one of the leading agricultural areas particularly when it comes to matooke and coffee production, we feel deprived because of the status of our roads. We were happy that the season had changed and we would sell our produce at a higher price but this has not worked because vehicles cannot pass through any road to access our produce,” he said.

Biira Bihande, a resident of Katebwa sub county says that rain has destroyed most of the roads in the sub-county. “The rains here don’t stop, we are incurring double expenses to deliver our products to the safer places where vehicles can collect them. All the profit we make goes back to ferry matooke to distant areas, where it is then loaded on trucks to the final destination,” Biira revealed.

Rushid Abigaba, a resident of Buheesi sub county says the district leadership is to blame for the sorry status of roads. He says that the government sent funds to district authorities to work on the roads in vain. He says that they could not sell their produce during the dry season at a better price because a bunch of bananas dropped to as low as Shillings 1000.

James Ategeka Mugarama, the Bunyangabu LC V chairperson conquers with the complaints raised by the farmers on the status of roads in the district. He blames the problem of low local revenue collection since vehicles cannot access most parts of the district to collect food. According to Ategeka, when the government rolled out Bunyangabu in 2017, the government allocated Shillings 1Billion to the road sector.

He however says that the money has been reducing. Currently, they receive only Shillings 700 million that he says cannot allow them to fix all roads in the district. He explains that they share the Shillings 700million with town councils and sub-counties, leaving them with only Shillings 120million.

Ategeka has appealed to the government to increase funding for the road sector to ensure that all roads in the district are rehabilitated. He has asked all leaders to cooperate and prioritize service delivery in the district.

Bunyangabu district physical planner Mugenyi Rubale says that their biggest challenge is poor local revenue collections. He highlighted the need for the district council to pass ordinances tightening local revenue collection, saying many people go untaxed. Bunyangabu district was carved from Kabarole district.

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