{UAH} The History of Mbarara Town

Mbarara town was an administrative center for the western region around 1900 and since then, it has slowly grown into a a City today. It derives its name from the local tall green grass locally known as "Emburara" that covered the whole area back in the 80s and 90s. The word "Emburara" was poorly pronounced as Mbarara by the White colonial masters and that's how the town got it's official name.

Real commercial growth began with the arrival of Asians in the 1950's and became active by 1957. This led to the declaration of Mbarara a township authority under the British colonial administration.

In 1974, it was elevated to a municipality. All the while, it had been the home of Southwestern colonial administration at Booma Hill, next to the King of Ankole, who had his palace 'Mugaba' at Kamukuzi hill.

The town started at the current Rwebikoona market on Mbarara –Bushenyi/Kasese road before shifting to the present location two miles away.
It was a humble beginning. Indians put up makeshift shops using iron sheets. These were later converted into permanent shops.

Trends in Growth
The growth of the town has not come easy as it was greatly destroyed by the liberation wars of 1972, 1979 and 1985. Most of the buildings and other infrastructure were destroyed during the 1979 liberation war.

This hampered development and growth for some time. However, now it has reached the stage of taking off as city due to rapid development, strategic geographical location and political stability enjoyed in largely the bigger part of the country in the last 22 years.

Mbarara as a business Hub.
Mbarara today acts as a business hub for the Western part of the country. The Western districts include; Kasese, Kabale, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Ibanda, and many others. It also works as a gateway to the Great Lakes region which include; Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Democratic Rep of Congo.

Most of the buildings that were destroyed during the liberation wars have since been replaced and new ones have also come up to make the town beautiful and vibrant with major malls in the town such as; Amazon, Easy View, London Arcade, City Light, Adit, Mbarara City Mall, Kirimi, GBK, La Plaza and De Posh.

Some of these shopping malls house all sorts of business ventures from retail to whole sale both for local and international traders. These give Mbarara town a leverage for longevity, not to mention the availability of stable electricity distribution, market population, land for expansion, institutions of Higher Learning like Universities and Schools that enhance the technical know-how for labour and Entrepreneurship, religious institutions, Hotels and readily available utilities like water.

Population and People
Mbarara is now a mixture of nationalities ranging from Ugandans, Rwandese, Indians, Asians, Chinese, Arabs and Somalis. The 2011 population estimate by UBOS assumes Mbarara's population at 83,700 people settling in the town which is built on hilly areas separated by short small and generally shallow valleys and also lies on an elevated basin forming the East African rift valley.

Mbarara city is made up of two divisions: Mbarara Southern Division which sits at Nyamitanga and Mbarara North Division which sits at Kakiika. The two city divisions are made up of six former divisions that include; Biharwe, Kakiika, Kamukuzi, Nyamitanga, Nyakayojo and Kakooba.

The residential areas were in the pre- independence times segregated. However, residential areas today flourish in many principalities of the town which include; Kisenyi, Ruharo, Lugazi, Nkonkonjeru, Kiyanja, Ntare, Kakyeka, Andrews' and other outskirts of the steadily growing town.

Industries in Mbarara
The proximity of River Rwizi has cultivated a back-borne for the establishment of large and small scale businesses due to the fringe benefits they enjoy both as a raw material for beverage industries and also a source of irrigation water for the tree planting and nursery bed businesses.

Apart from having the highest number of milk processing plants in Uganda, Mbarara has other industries that contribute greatly to the supply and revenue generation over time. These include Mbarara Coca-Cola plant, Mbarara Nile Breweries Plant, Mbarara Steel Plant, GBK Dairy Products Limited, Pearl Dairy Farms Limited, Paramount Dairies Limited ,Kazaire Herbal bottling industry plus many other Fruit and Juice Processing industries, Furniture, Carpentry and joinery industries, and Textile and cloth knitting industries.

There is also cropping of construction related companies, and about over eight FM radio stations which Include; Radio West, Crooze FM, Endigito Radio, Top Radio, Grace Radio, Vision Radio and Radio Maria. Mbarara also has one Television Station, TV West. All this has made Mbarara an investment destination

Religion and Social life
Christianity remains the most dominant religion in the area. Mbarara hosts the Headquarters of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese at Nyamitanga and Mbarara Anglican diocese of the Church of Uganda at St. James' Cathedral, Ruharo. Other churches inclining to the Christian denomination include Pentecostal churches which lie in almost every corner of the City with the most dominant being Daystar Cathedral.

There are other prominent Churches in Mbarara including All- Saints Church, Uganda Martyrs' Parish Church, Kiswahili full Gospel church, to mention but a few.

On the other hand, people that are not of the Christian Faith also attend prayers at their respective places of worship, for example; Mbarara Muslim Community Mosque along the Kakoba Road, and the Hindu Temple on Mbaguta Street next to the former Horizon Coaches Bus Park.

Commercial business
Apart from the many shopping malls and supermarkets, Mbarara boasts of about 20 commercial banking institutions that range from Micro-finance institutions like Pride-Micro Finance to International Banks like Stanbic Bank, Barclays Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank. Other Banks are; Equity Bank, Centenary Rural Development Bank, Crane Bank, DFCU Bank, Diamond Trust Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and a lot more. In addition to these are commercial centers like Mbarara Central Market, Marckanishing and the Rwebikoona Markets.

Shopping in Mbarara can be done at Day to Day Shopping center and Dubai shopping Center for both interior designs, furniture and other basic products.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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