Residents raise alarm over poor state of access roads

Kole residents are dissatisfied over the poor state of community access roads in Bala, Alito and Akalo sub-counties.
They have now appealed to Kole District administration to intervene. Some local leaders said they had sent several letters to the district authorities giving a detailed description of the state of the roads but no action has been taken.

“We want Ms Betty Nam (the LC5 chairperson of Kole) to tell us why she has abandoned us,” Mr Martin Olaka, a resident, said at the weekend.

Another resident, Ms Christine Otim, said Ongolowelo-Adwila Road in Abeli Parish, Akalo Sub-county, has become impassable because it was last rehabilitated nine years ago.

Mr Jimmy Obong, the LC1 chairperson of Alwala Village, said farmers lack access to better market for their agricultural produce due to the bad state of the roads.

“Our leaders only come back to beg for votes when elections draw nearer,” he said.

Roads are the predominant mode of transport and this reliance on them has led to the establishment of Uganda Road Fund (URF), a body responsible for financing of road maintenance in the country. URF was established by an Act of Parliament in 2008 and became operational in 2010.

Today, the responsibility to open and maintain roads is split between the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) and local governments.

When money is sent to the sub-county, the leadership can decide either to use the locals for labour or request the district for road equipment to support the work on community access roads.

In Kole, this newspaper found out that community access roads such as Lira to Teboke via Bala, Amach through Akalo to Bala, and Kole District headquarters to Inomo via Bala, were planned for rehabilitation last year.

A total of Shs200 million was released by URF for the work on these roads in the first quarter of 2018/2019 Financial Year.

However, the former LC3 chairperson of Bala Sub-county, Mr Caesar Alajo, said the district leadership did some grading but failed to pour murram on the roads because of alleged mismanagement of the funds.

“Whereas citizens complain that government is not doing enough to work on the roads, the problem is actually with local government administration that is misusing the money,” Mr Alajo said.

URF had indicated on their website that they had suspended funding to Kole District in the second quarter of 2018/2019 Financial Year because of accountability issues.

Like the rest of Uganda, agriculture is the main economic activity in the north. Farmers engage in mostly subsistence farming to feed their families and sell their surplus to raise money to meet family needs such as health and education.

Experts say for the community to exploit the potential of agriculture, they must be supported with a good road network in order to transport their goods to the market.

Ms Loy Tino of The Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition (TAACC), a non-governmental organisation, operating in Lango Sub-region, said market access in Kole has remained a big problem because of the poor road network.

“If farmers cannot access markets, they will lose the morale to produce,” she said.
The LC3 chairperson of Akalo Sub-county, Mr John Oculi, said they will rehabilitate all the community access roads in the area this financial year.

However, he acknowledges that some roads have not been rehabilitated because of limited funding.

“We receive Shs18 million from URF for periodic maintenance of community roads within the sub-county and the money is too little,” Mr Oculi said.

Ms Betty Nam, the district chairperson, on Saturday said her administration has budgeted Shs102 million this financial year for the rehabilitation of Ongolowelo-Adwila Road.

“Most of our community access roads are also being worked on with support from other projects such as Nusaf,” she said.