Story by Naboth Isaac Niwagaba
5-8-2022.
Locals in Igabiro Cell, Mwanjari ward, Southern Division Kabale Municipality have petitioned the Kabale RDC accusing the Uganda National Roads Authority – UNRA and Kabale Municipal Council of constructing a drainage channel that pours its water into houses of residence.
The aggrieved residents of Igabiro cell spend nights emptying rainwater from their houses to avoid being washed away by floods of the drainage channel whose course was constructed, through homes along the lower side of Katuna road, a few meters from Kabale town roundabout.
Council Authorities recently started constructing a channel to drain water from the former Kabale Municipal Cemetery which was leveled to accommodate the Mwanjari business center as the council relocated vendors from the older Kabale Central Market which is now under construction.
Construction of the new channel that crosses Kabale Katuna road to Igabiro cell through culverts, was after the traders at Mwanjari Business Centre stormed Kabale Municipality Headquarters demanding for a solution to water that had been flooding their lockups.
Since the beginning of the rainy season, locals in Igabiro cell have been crying for help after the channel caused floods in their homes. The UNRA and Municipal authorities reportedly refused to help to argue that the affected people were compensated during the construction of the Kabale- Katuna road.
74-year-old Robina Kakwangire told this media house that she got married to her husband in Igabiro cell about 50 years ago, and they had never experienced any floods until recently when authorities leveled down the Cemetery to establish Mwanjari business center.
Ms. Kakwangire explained that fear engulfs them whenever the sky turns dark because they always start preparing for sleepless nights due to rainwater that floods their homes after downpours.
Ivan Mwesigwa and Atamba Ebenezer said that in the last two weeks, they had been using basins and hoes to empty flooding water from their houses, adding that the floods had damaged a lot of property, especially electric materials, food, house walls, and ground floors.
The Igabiro Cell LC.1 Chairperson Mujjasi Asanasias said that he had tried engaging the UNRA AND Kabale Municipal authorities, but the last time he talked to them, the Kabale Municipal Mayor Sentaro Byamugisha accused him of not supporting him in previous elections, He also denied reports that the affected people were compensated.
Mayor Sentaro refused to comment on the matter and directed our reporter to UNRA saying that the controversial drainage channel belongs to the roads authority.
On the other hand, UNRA Kabale Branch Station Manager Felix Beinamaryo said that he was approached by the mayor about the construction of the drainage channel, and he approved the construction because the affected people were compensated to remove their buildings and leave the drainage way. However, Mr. Felix could not produce evidence of the alleged compensation saying that he was still searching for the list of compensated people from the UNRA headquarters.
Meanwhile, the Kabale RDC Godfrey Nyakahuma said he had gone to Igabiro cell and personally witnessed the suffering of people affected by floods, and he was planning to hold a meeting between the locals and all concerned authorities to look for a long lasting solution.
