Issues that await Museveni on Labour Day fete in Fort Portal

Fort Portal City is scheduled to host the national Labour Day celebrations on May 1 at Kabura playground where President Museveni is expected to be the chief guest.

However, ahead of the celebrations, residents in Fort Portal City and surrounding districts that make up the Tooro Sub-region have outlined key demands, which they want the President to address.

The major demands are increasing funding for new cities and districts in hard-to-reach areas, tackling low tea prices, addressing unfulfilled pledges, and alleviating youth unemployment, among others.

The former Fort Portal City interim mayor, Rev Kintu Willu Muhanga, emphasised the need for Mr Museveni to intervene by directing the Ministry of Finance to increase funding for the newly created cities, saying since their elevation from municipality status, they have been struggling with insufficient resources.

Rev Muhanga said whereas the new regional cities should serve as centres for service delivery in their respective regions, they continue to operate with limited staff and poor service delivery due to inadequate funding.

“Our cities, including Fort Portal, are still grappling with little resources from the central government. What we need from the President is for him to direct the Ministry of Finance, since we are in the budgeting process, to ensure that next financial year, we receive an increased budget,” he said.

He also expressed concern over the lack of road equipment for Fort Portal City to help in opening up new roads
Additionally, Rev Muhanga called for the enactment of laws specifically tailored to govern the operation of new cities unlike Kampala, which has the KCCA Act regulating its operations.

He also urged the President to address the unfulfilled pledges made to Tooro Sub-region, particularly the government’s commitment to establish an industrial park, promised in 2018.

“We have many unfulfilled pledges in Fort Portal, including Kijura Road, the Agro-Industrial Park, Buhinga stadium, and Saka Road, among others. If all these projects are completed, they will significantly contribute to addressing the issue of unemployment in Fort Portal City,” Rev Muhanga said.

Rev Muhanga also expressed disappointment regarding the construction of Buhinga Stadium, which was initially commissioned but is now reportedly slated for construction in Hoima City. This shift has left the residents feeling neglected and their expectations unmet.

The frustration over unfulfilled promises last year in April saw six individuals from Fort Portal City arrested and imprisoned at the Katojo government prison for holding a peaceful protest.

FYI: Case against reverend who sought to remind Museveni of his pledges dismissed

Other residents want the President to address the challenges facing the tea sector, particularly the sharp decrease in tea prices since the beginning of the year.

Falling tea prices
Mr Timothy Tusiime, a resident of Kiko Town Council, Kabarole District, said some farmers have resorted to uprooting their tea gardens and replacing them with food crops such as maize, beans, and cassava due to a decline in prices.

Through the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Tusiime called on the President to establish standard prices for all tea farmers. “You can imagine that now a kilogramme of green tea leaves at a farm is sold at Shs150, we hope that the President‘s visit to the region will bring assurance on how tea prices will not keep fluctuating because currently, the tea plucker is benefiting than a farmer,  atea plucker is paid Shs100 per kilogramme,” he said.

In the districts of Kabarole and Kyenjojo in the Tooro sub-region, tea serves as the main cash crop, with over five tea estate companies supported by growers. However, due to the significant reduction in tea prices, some farmers are now forced to reconsider their involvement in the tea sector.

Ntoroko District chairman William Kasoro appealed to the President to increase funding for his local government because it is located in a hard-to-reach area and lacks adequate physical infrastructure while suffering recurrent floods.

“We receive a paltry Shs40 million quarterly for district road maintenance, which falls woefully short of what’s required. Our terrain’s flatness poses unique challenges as water fails to drain properly, exacerbating road deterioration,” he said.

Mr Henry Kyomuhendo Akiiki, who heads the ghetto youth in Fort Portal City, said Labour Day is an explicit reminder of the contributions of workers, but said it’s unfortunate the majority of the youth have remained unemployed despite the existence of government programmes such as Emyooga and PDM.

“We strongly believe that this industrial development can create more than 40,000 jobs. Therefore, we task the Labour Day organisers to remind the head of state to emphasise the operationalisation of our Kabarole Agro-Industrial Park,” he said.

Unfulfilled pledges
In 2012, President Museveni pledged to tarmac the 30-kilometre Fort Portal-Kijura Road. He reiterated this commitment in 2013 while meeting district leaders from the Rwenzori Sub-region at his country home in Rwakitura. However, to date, the road remains untarmacked.

In 2018, construction of Kabarole Agro-Industrial Park was commissioned. However, construction has not taken off due to a dispute between the Kabarole district local government and the Rwebitaba Zonal Agricultural Research Development Institute (ZARDI), which currently occupies the land.