By Libino Byamukama.
apearlnews.com
Locals in Kabale district are concerned over the poor state of roads in their area that have left several bridges on the verge of falling off.
This was revealed on Thursday during a tour by officials from the Ministry of Works and Transport in Kyanamira and Buhara sub counties surveying a 6.8km stretch that connects three parishes: Katokye, Kigata, and Bugarama in Kyanamira Sub County.
Speaking to our reporter, the residents showed concern over the broken Kitibya Bridge, which was swept away by the flood in 2020.
They said that the heavy trucks carrying stones made the bridge weak, and the floods of 2020 that hit Maziba Sub County never spared the bridge.
They added that on several occasions, people have fallen off and drowned in the river Kiruruma while crossing the old bridge.
Residents, including Bugende Jackson, said ever since the bridge was washed away by the flood, the community has been affected on social and economic occasions.
They added that farmers in the village have been struggling to cross the old and risky bridge. Farmers have been making losses on perishable foods like matooke and tomatoes due to the poor means of transport.
About a dozen locals have reportedly drowned in the river while crossing the temporary and old bridges, and the situation is becoming worse for school-going children who have been drowning on a daily basis.
Binareta Tugomwe, 70 yrs. old, said that her grandchild, who is a pupil, almost drowned on the bridge.
The locals applauded the Ndorwa East county legislator, Hon. Wilfred Niwagaba, for his hard efforts to have their bridge and the community road worked on, saying that transportation in the area and for school-going children is going to be easy.
They, however, wanted to have a standard permanent bridge which could not be affected by the bridge.
Arinitwe Moses, the chairperson LC1 of Kategure village in Kigata parish, Kyanamira Sub County, said that the bushy and developed roads in the village have been hindering developments in the parish.
Arinitwe said that due to the poor roads, they have been forced to carry the patients on their backs before crossing the deadly and risky temporary bridges.
He added that it has been difficult for a motorcycle to enter their parish, and the little that has entered has been charging them.Ten thousand shillings to Kabale town versus four thousand shillings on the kigata-kabanyonyi road.
Arinitwe said that when the road is worked on, the transport of tree logs, hard cores, and food staff is going to be easy.
The Ndorwa East county legislator, Wilfred Niwagaba, said that he and Hon. Catherine Ndamira Atwakiire decided to lobby the Ministry of Works and Transport as an emergency after realizing that Kabale District local government has a small budget for the roads.
Niwagaba added that the sub counties in his constituency have the roads connecting the parishes by sub county community access roads, District Roads and Uganda National Roads Authority expect the road that connects the three parishes of Katokye, Kigata and Bugarama.
