By Joshua Walakira & Wafula Malik
Kabale Municipal Council started benefiting from the Government of Uganda program called the Uganda Road Fund in 2009 and this has helped the local residents to enjoy proper service delivery especially developing their areas and having access to the main town center with less difficulties. The Kabale Municipality Engineer Alex Tumwesigye says that benefiting from the Road Fund program has improved the passability of the roads in the area from 40% in 2009 to about 80% to date. “Some of roads like Rugarama, Rwamafa, Kazooba, Muhumuza and Mutambuka have been re-sealed under the government program of Road Fund. Town suburbs of Northern and Southern divisions have benefited a lot from this program,” Alex Tumwesigye said in an interview with Mulengera news. He said that Road Fund cash quantities have been steadily increasing thus helping the town to attain economic growth. “Last Financial Year, the Uganda Road Fund money was at Shs1.035bn and this FY it was increased to Shs1.113bn,” he says adding they would like to benefit more from the URF by way of giving them equipment and staff training so that the URF program support becomes more comprehensive and have more sustainable impact. He gratefully notes that Road Fund is currently contributing about 90% of the road sector spend for Kabale Municipality. Tumwesigye also reveals that as a Municipality they have been able to gainfully employ 77 people that work as road gangs purposely to clean the town roads every day. The cost is met off the support that comes from Uganda Road Fund. He says the other alternative fund sources complimenting on what URF gives them are USMID and local revenue. “That is how we do the construction and maintenance of roads in Kabale Municipality but a huge chunk comes from Uganda Road Fund and we thank their management for always standing with us. They have been very understanding ensuring our funding doesn’t decline but steadily increasing which we know doesn’t come easily because the resource envelope is always inadequate yet they have a whole country to cater for,” says Eng Tumwesigye who is primarily responsible for all the roads in Kabale Municipality.
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
Eng Tumwesigye also suggested that its high time Uganda Road Fund considers funding of the training of engineers on road designs and management as an aspect of capacity building in the local governments. “Improved funding on roads reduces road break down. People are aware of the Road Fund activities because their leaders are timely involved in the Road Fund projects before they begin,” Tumwesigye said. The Kabale Municipality Town Clerk Joseph Monday said that Uganda Road Fund is a blessing to his town and was hopeful there will always be continued support from the program. He is optimistic with partners like URF Kabale’s increased urbanization will doubtlessly be achieved in a sustainable manner. Kabale Municipality Mayor Byamugisha Sentaro says that there is need to change Uganda Road Fund guidelines to achieve increased benefits for the community members. He said that more roads such as Garage Street and Cohen have been maintained under the Road Fund program. He also suggested areas of possible improvement saying: “Road Fund money is for maintenance only and yet there is need for opening new roads to facilitate community development. As we target getting a city status we need to have all the planned roads opened and tarmacked to reduce dust from our beautiful tourism town,” Mayor Byamugisha Sentaro said. He nevertheless thanked Uganda Road Fund for supplementing development of their town more than any other national government agency. The Secretary for Production at Kabale Municipal Council Badru Biryomumisho appealed for increased Road Fund allocation because their Council collect very little money from local revenue and other taxes. He also says that URF should have a compensation component so that people can easily give up their land for purposes of opening new roads. “The fact that Kabale Municipality depends on the Road Fund for the maintenance of the roads in the town, there is need for increased funding and change in the guidelines so that town authorities can be allowed to use the Road Fund money for opening new roads and sealing them,” Biryomumisho said. The chairman of the Works Committee at Kabale Municipal Council Ronald Bifabusha called for timely release of Road Fund money so that the designated or earmarked road projects can be implemented in a timely manner. While acknowledging there has been improvement in releasing funds on time, Bifabusha sys it’s very painful for local government units to end up returning funds to the treasury at the end of the financial year simply because of inability by the entities to use the money on time. He regrets such makes leaders seem incompetent in the eyes of the public whereas not. “Road Fund has improved urbanization in Kabale town as many hotels, commercial buildings and private education institutions have come up along the maintained roads under the URF program. For that we are eternally grateful to the leadership at Road Fund. We are nevertheless proposing increased funding from Road Fund so that every cell in our town is connected to a road that connects it to another cell. There is also need for change in Road Fund guidelines so that street lighting can as well be done on the maintained roads,” suggested Bifabusha whose oversight role requires him to monitor all road works being done by the technical team. The president of the Kabale Municipal Development Forum Rev Fr. Balterzar Ndyomugabe appreciated the URF program noting it has positively changed the face of Kabale town especially in the road sector. He was wishful that in future there is rapid expansion and increase in the amount allocated under the URF program to his Kabale Municipality. For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.
