Kisoga, a fast growing town on Mukono-Katosi Road

On Mukono-Katosi Road, is Kisoga, a fast growing small town. Kisoga is 39km away from Kampala.

Driving from Kampala, Kisoga is the town after Kyetume Centre in Mukono District. There is a junction connecting to Nkonkonjeru Town and Katosi landing site. About 700metres after Kisoga, is St Balikudembe SSS on Katosi Road, and Mullajje Centre on Nkonkonjeru Road. Kisoga connects Nkonkonjeru Town and Katosi Landing Site, the reason people are occupying this area for residential and commercial purposes.

Origin
Deborah Nnalongo Semakula, the LC1 chairperson Kisoga Central, and a resident of the place since childhood, says in the past, Kisoga was gifted with fertile soil on which settlers from Busoga took advantage to practise agriculture, and thus the name Kisoga.
After becoming a town board in 1992, it was divided into three local councils; Kisoga A, Kisoga Central and Kisoga B. It was elevated to a town council this year.

Cost of land
According to Nnalongo Semakula, land in Kisoga in 1990s, used go for Shs50,000. Land in Kisoga Trading Centre was mostly sold as 50 x 100 plots. Nalongo Semakula says a 50 x 100 plot in Kisoga goes for Shs40m in the centre, and Shs25m outside town.

She says the cost of land went up because of Kisoga’s proximity to the landing sites thus providing good accommodation for landing site workers. It is easier for people to connect from either Kampala to Katosi or Kampala to Nkonkonjeru and Nkonkonjeru to Katosi.

“We have 40 feeder roads that connect to the different areas such as Ntenjeru trading centre, Mpunge and Mpatta landing sites,” Nnalongo Semakula explains.

She also says the area’s proximity to St Balikuddembe, one of the top schools in Mukono North Constituency, has attracted many people to settle in Kisoga, including the staff of St Balikuddembe, Kisoga Parish.

Economic activities
The fast growing town and the surrounding villages sit on very fertile soils favouring agriculture, especially maize, potatoes, cassava and vanilla. It has a maize mill and vanilla processing factory to support the high production of the two crops.

Francis Lukyamuzi, the Mukono District Councillor for Ntenjeru Sub-County, says these have created employment opportunities for people in Kisoga. He adds that the area is usually quiet during day because most of the residents are busy working.

“The construction of Mukono-Katosi-Nyenga road has led to development of Kisoga,” Lukyamuzi says.

Revenue base
He says on Sundays, residents sell their commodities at the weekly flea market.
Kisoga has more than 800 retail and wholesale shops, four fuel stations, one taxi park, big park, central market.
The biggest maize mill in Mukono is in Kisoga A.

Health
Patrick Mukisa, a resident, says the only government health facility in the area is Kojja Health Centre III, which is in Ntenjeru. Kisoga has one private hospital - Herona hospital and more than 35 clinics and drug shops. Residents mostly go to private clinics because they never find drugs at the government facility.

Security
Hudson Kiyaga, the LC3 chairperson of the area, says they formed security committees that help residents keep safe.

“We use phones to alert one another in case of anything and we get together to curb crime, especially theft in the area,” Kiyaga shares.

They also hold meetings once in a while to discuss issues and identify new residents in the area. He says the most common crime in the area is theft of chickens.

They have a police post that has less than 10 officers and yet Kisoga is a wide area with many villages surrounding it.

He also says the transformer is always down, which sometimes leads to insecurity in the area.

Garbage collection
LC III Kiyaga says they have a problem of garbage collection as they do not have a specific area for garbage disposal.
“We don’t have specific cleaners in the town but do community work “Burungibwanssi” only that we have not yet got the area for garbage instead we drop it in different places.”
He said there is high generation of garbage due to high population in the town of more than 15,000.