[UAH] NRM cares!!! that is what development is all about

Bukwo's poor roads cripple businesses

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During the rainy season, vehicles get stuck at Kapchorwa-Suam road. Sometimes traders use donkeys to transport produce. PHOTO BY EDGAR BATTE. 

By Edgar R. Batte & Allan Chekwech

Posted  Wednesday, June 26   2013 at  01:00

IN SUMMARY

Agriculture, tourism and investment in Bukwo District have been hampered by poor roads in the area, despite the government's commitment to repair them.

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Counting losses.

By 
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
bukwo.

If it will not be muddy, slippery and scary, then the journey will be a dusty and tiresome affair. That is what the road from Kapchorwa District to Suam in Bukwo District will be like the next time you may consider travelling there – at least for now.
Snaking 77km from Bukwo's mother district Kapchorwa in eastern Uganda, the Kapchorwa – Suam road, terrible as it is, has condemned Bukwo to isolation because of its inaccessibility.

For a moment, while on the road on the rainy season, you might not be sure whether the car will sway off the road or not; let alone reach your destination. The journey to Bukwo from Kapchorwa that should take ideally one-and-half hours, takes at least five hours and on a very bad day, it may take 24 hours.

Other motorists spend nights in their cars. The road will not give way to your four-wheel-drive car. It can send it rolling down the hills and it might as well crush and kill you.

The road might have affected Bukwo residents directly, but it could also have affected the rest of Uganda indirectly – and painfully. Why? Well, to answer that question, you may want to learn about the area's agricultural and tourism potential.

The district agriculture officer, Mr Francis Epido, says the district alone produces 60,000 metric tonnes of maize, 25,000 metric tonnes of beans and 6,400 tonnes of wheat and barley every year. However, these crops never make it to the market, thus a major food basket shut out due to impassable roads.

Ms Joweriah Cherukut, a farmer in Bukwo, says when the roads are bad, they use donkeys as an alternative. However, the animals cannot travel long distances and at the same time carry little produce.

Kongasis MP Neslon Sabila says residents have resorted to selling their produce to the Kenyan market, which is a disservice to Ugandans. He adds that a kilogramme of unprocessed wheat costs Shs800 yet processed wheat would be sold at more than Shs3,000.

Mr Emmanuel Siya, a resident of Bukwo, says a better road would help many unemployed youth explore opportunities. "Government has delayed the tarmacking of the road. Being a link to Kenya, it would increase trade and provide more employment opportunities. The area is a food basket and efforts made on the road will improve the economy," he says.

On a recent visit to the district, First Lady Janet Museveni commended residents for working hard and growing enough food amid the infrastructural challenges and limited capital.

The First Lady, like the Bukwo LC5 boss, Mr Wilson Salimo Manjara, was optimistic that the district will be able to construct many roads using the Road Unit it recently received. However, that would just be handling the craft of the problem – the root of the bad road starts from outside Kapchorwa.

The former Kongasis MP, Mr Johnson Bartile Toskin, says he is disappointed that the road, which should be a priority, has been ignored although promises keep streaming in. The district, with an estimated population of 83,000 people as of 2012, also has a very low investment attraction capacity.

Mr Sabila says financial institutions are shy on investing in the area because of its inaccessibility, an issue Mr Solomon Ssonko, the chief administrative officer, echoes. "Many investors have come here and promised to come back. We waited for them but they never returned and we understood why. They could not stand the state of our bad roads," Mr Ssonko says.

So who cares if banks do not invest in Bukwo? Wait, the pain is piercing; all civil servants, including poorly paid teachers and police officers, have to travel 77 kilometres to Kapchorwa to access bank services.

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