Roads in West Nile reflect the state of the nation
Trucks stuck on Nebbi-Goli-Paidha road last year. West Nile Sub-region has for decades been faced with a poor road network, which leaders say has derailed the area’s development. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- If trade with DR Congo is so important that the Ugandan government must construct roads deep into Congo, then it would only make sense to upgrade the Nebbi-Goli road from the travesty it has wallowed all this while.
Yesterday the President delivered the State of the Nation Address.
He will have, with great pride, spoken about the achievements in the infrastructure sector, reeling off figures on road networks constructed since 1986 when the NRM government came to power.
There will have been promises on the same subject. But there is West Nile.
It is the state of the nation for West Nile every day. The roads in this sub-region do not reflect the 37 years of NRM although there are clouds heavy with expectation.
A stretch on the Pakwach-Nebbi road and the Nebbi-Arua road have grey dust from workmanship, while the Atiak-Adjumani road is being upgraded.
However, the Karuma-Pakwach highway – especially the 62.5km stretch from Olwiyo in Nwoya District to Pakwach Bridge – remains a bloat to the government.
A year ago, Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) announced that it had started rehabilitation works on the road but there are hardly any signs that the Shs177b budgeted for it is being used in the works.
It is a travesty to infrastructure anthem so common in NRM manifestos that 37 years of rule and it is only by a ferry that Adjumani and Moyo can be connected despite neither being an island.
These citizens who must use the ferry and boats continue to wallow in shallow dreams of a bridge especially with travellers to South Sudan now also using the same route, thus increasing the burden.
The longing for these citizens must not be too long for their dreams to lose meaning.
There are also those who have dreamt until they have forgotten to dream.
These are the people who have prayed for the Nebbi-Goli Customs road that connects Uganda to Mahagi town in the DR Congo to be upgraded.
The road connecting to DR Congo is used for transporting agricultural and fuel products from Mombasa. It is economically viable for cross-border trade.
Few still recall that in the 1990s, road surveys were conducted on the Nebbi-Goli-Paidha road to pave the way for tarmacking.
Countless promises by the President – including during a visit to his home in Rwakitura by West Nile leaders in 2016 – have only yielded more promises, dust and dirt.
During the rainy season, the stretch from Nebbi-Goli-Paidha-Nyapea-Warr to Vurra becomes impassable. The road is narrow and with gullies.
It turns muddy during the rainy season and is extremely dusty during dry seasons. For many hearing that such a road connects Uganda to DR Congo thereby facilitating trade, it would sound like a peril in the Pearl of Africa.
This should not be the state of the nation but it continues to be.
If trade with DR Congo is so important that the Ugandan government must construct roads deep into Congo, then it would only make sense to upgrade the Nebbi-Goli road from the travesty it has wallowed all this while.
