Kabale City and the ongoing conversation: How do I see it?

Alexander Kyokwijuka wrote this.

We have noted with concern the ongoing talk about Kabale City being no more and the continuous statements by one of the ministers from Kigezi in the media. We feel obligated to comment on the subject.

I wish to remind us that Kabale City was proposed and approved among other cities across the country. The question of whether the city will be there is, therefore, an outdated and unnecessary one. Kabale City only awaits operationalization, which is anticipated to take effect in 2025. This is the official position of the government. And until we have any other official communication from the right channels of government, we should go by this.

The statements being made by the Minister and MP of Rubanda East are only political and meant to cover up the jerrymandering being facilitated by some of them. Such talks are also meant to divert key players who are actually working to prepare Kabale and Kigezi for Kabale City.

The argument that Kabale doesn’t have tourism sites and therefore doesn’t qualify to be a city (read “tourism city”) is too weak and lame to be true. It also shows either a lack of information or misinformation on the part of those promoting such an argument.

Let me share a few facts:

  1. Kabale City is supposed to be a strategic city serving all six districts that make up Greater Kigezi.
  2. Kigezi is home to the deepest and most beautiful lake in Uganda—Lake Bunyonyi (found in Kabale District).
  3. Kigezi is home to more than half of the international gorilla population. More than half of the gorillas that exist in the world are actually found in Kigezi.
  4. Kigezi harbors tourism sites like Mgahinga, the mountain ranges in Kisoro, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, and the weather itself, among others.
  5. Thus, the formation of Kabale City is about Kigezi rather than the current Kabale Municipality.

We as the people of Kigezi should therefore be making efforts to actually facilitate the operationalization of the city instead of leaving this noble work to the people who are now clearly fighting the same development for their own selfish reasons.

Bottom line: The people of Kabale and Kigezi need the city, and they need it like yesterday. We surely need the development.

Alexander Kyokwijuka is the Ndorwa East MP hopeful.