Members of Parliament from West Nile have accused the NRM government of consistently sidelining West Nile’s needs in the national budget.
The lawmakers are now planning a demonstration on May 1st to protest the government’s continued neglect of infrastructure development in their region.
The group says that despite repeated pledges, especially those made by President Museveni in his NRM manifestos, projects like the Nebbi-Zombo-Vura Road and the Goli and Padea border posts remain unfunded.
Leading the group, the vice chairperson of the West Nile Parliamentary Caucus, who doubles as MP for Obongi Constituency, Dr. George Didi Bhoka, said that the region’s transport system remains in poor condition, with major roads excluded from the National Development Plan, thereby undermining economic growth.
Bhoka said this move is to bring to the attention of the government the pathetic situation of roads and bridges in West Nile, specifically the road from Nebbi to Paida, Zombo, and Vura, amongst other things.
He noted that integrated transport and communication is a very critical asset that is significant for socioeconomic transformation.
This is in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SGD) number nine that implores governments to invest in strategic road transport communication infrastructure to spur socio economic development.
“We, the leaders and citizens of West Nile, have noted with concern the pathetic state in which some of our strategic road infrastructures are. These are road infrastructure that have been in our national development frameworks, NDP 1, NDP 2, NDP 3, and some of them have been omitted in NDP 4. A case in point is the road from Nebi to Paida, Zombo, and Vura, which is a strategic trading route”-Dr .Bhoka highlighted.
He further mentions that the second road that’s very important for the people of West Nile and the whole country, including our neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo is the road from Nebbi to Arua city in Koboko that is not in a very good state.
He cites an example that just two weeks ago, members of Parliament that were travelling from Kampala and going to a rural city had their goods robbed on the way because of the pathetic situation of this road.
Therefore, we want to urge the government in general and the Ministry of Works and Transport to take immediate action to ensure the road from Nebbi to Vura via Zomba and Paida. The road from Panimul to Dufile, Baya, Rhinocamp and Obongi and the road from Nebi to Arua City are fixed in the short term, medium term and in the long term.
Isaac Otimgiu, Padyere MP, noted that most of the times, West Nile seems to always be the last in the packing order in terms of acquiring infrastructure development. You are all aware that the National grid was just set in West Nile at the beginning of this year. We were for all these years the only region not connected to the National grid, that also we had to make a lot of cries to happen.
Now in the budgets from the various parliamentary committees we feel our subregion has been left out in terms of infrastructure development, Otimgiu suggests.
He expressed dismay that the 119-kilometre Nebbi-Zombo-Vuura road was again dropped in the latest budget call circular.
He pointed out that the people of West Nile have received a lot of promises from national leaders.
The then UNRA executive director Allen Kagina came with Area MP and inspected the road from Nebbi upto Goli, she promised us air, nothing has happened in regard to tarmacking that road.
“His Excellency, the President has visited greater Nebbi three times this term and through out his speeches he has promised that the Nebbi-Goli-Zombo-Vuura road was to be worked on this term (2021-2026) and its disappointing that as we come through the last budget cycle of this term, that road has not appeared in the recommendations of the parliamentary physical Infrastructure committee”-Otimgiu noted.
He revealed that there is reliable information that the road had been captured by the physical infrastructure committee but sadly, when the funds became short, the Ministry of Works decided to pull out this very road which has been there for a long time, which is the reason why the group is not happy.
On several occasions, especially during the rainy season, the buses going to Paida have had to stop in Nebbi, and passengers have to use motorcycles to continue their journey along Jokia going towards Paida, so many trucks have fallen along that journey.
He further expressed frustrations, saying that the border post of Goli alone raises over 500 million shillings every month but it remains the only custom border post that is not tarmacked.
“We have a trade surplus with the Democratic Republic of Congo. We have a trade surplus with Sudan. So if we do not improve the road structure, then we shall not be achieving our targets as a country,” Otimgiu stressed.
He concludes that it is in this regard that they have decided to hold a peaceful demonstration on Thursday, 1st of May, and we are hereby calling upon all our people along that area of Nebbi, Zombo Vura to join the leaders of that area.
We shall march with our cultural leaders, and we shall walk with our religious leaders from Nebbi to Goli, as a reminder to our government of its social contract with the people, he said.
