Rukungiri- At about 380 Kilometers from the capital city of Uganda Kampala, one finds Rukungiri a district which was created in 1947 as North Kigezi district before it was renamed Rukungiri in 1980. The district is located in south-western part of the country and it borders Mitooma in the north, Ntungamo in the east, Kabale in the south east, Kanungu in the south and Lake Edward and DR Congo in the west.
The district covers an area of 1524.28 square km with 11 per cent tropical high forests, 5.5 per cent wood land, 2.6 per cent bush land, 21.3 per cent grassland, 52 per cent farmland and 7.4 per cent open water and it has three constituencies of Rujumbura, Rubabo and Rukungiri Municipality.
The district has nine sub-counties and 3 town councils of Nyakishenyi, Nyarushanje, Buyanja, Kebisoni, Bwambara, Bugangari, Ruhinda, Buhunga, Nyakagyeme, Kebisoni, Buyanja and Bikurungu respectively.
The district also has 3 divisions of Southern, Eastern and Western in Rukungiri municipality and 79 parishes, 4 town boards and 827 villages.
Rukungiri is largely inhabited by the Bakiga, Bahororo, Banyabutumbi and other small sub-tribes.
Like any other palace in Uganda, the district is facing a number of challenges though the poor state of roads has been singled out as a key challenge by the district leaders and residents.
Rukungiri District has a total road network of approximately 345.81 KM of these 122.17km of Urban Road Network while 845.07km of Community Access Roads.
According to Dr Elisa Rutahigwa, the chairperson of Roads and Bridges committee Rukungiri district, the poor state of roads in the district is largely attributed to shortage of road equipment.
“The road equipment which we received from the government can’t last longer because of the big size of the district. In short the district is too big to be worked on by one road equipment , unless the district gets another equipment , the state of our roads will not change.’’ Dr Rutahigwa said.
Dr Rutahigwa who is also the Rukungiri municipality Member of Parliament also attributed the sorry state of roads to limited funding from the central government saying that the district is too big therefore it should be added more money to work on the roads.
‘’ The central government should give more money to big districts like Rukungiri to work on their roads because Shs 1 B is not enough to work on roads for such districts. I therefore ask the central government to add us more money for road repairing and maintenance.’’ Dr Rutahigwa added.
Speaking on the same issue, the Rukungiri district lc5 chairperson Mr Geoffery Kyomukama attributed the sorry state of roads in the district to the district’s hilly terrain, which is prone to mudslides during the rainy season.
Our district’s terrain is rocky and hilly and it is also characterized by steep slopes and hills which are prone to mudslides mostly especially during the rainy season. So during rains, our roads are easily washed away and destroyed by ran offs from steeply and hilly landscape but we trying all means to work on district roads since good roads are a key contributors of development.’’
The Rukungiri municipal council mayor Mr Charles Makuru equally, said the lack of funding and limited equipment is frustrating their efforts to rehabilitate roads in the area.
‘’ The roads which are in a sorry state would have been worked upon had it not been the lack of enough road construction equipment adding that the sorry state of the roads has compelled the municipal authorities to write to different institutions for assistance with road construction equipment but all in vain.’’ Mr Makuru said.
The Rukungiri district roads engineer Mr Julius Bagira attributed the poor state of roads in the district to roadside sand miners and users.
‘’ People nowadays execute sand from opposite sides of our roads. This activity greatly weakens roads most especially during rainy seasons and it makes roads easily washed away by runoff. So if our locals can stop this bad habit we can at least have some good roads’’. Mr Bagira.
He also attributed the poor state of roads in the district to limited funding and late release of funds from the central government.
‘’ Our district is too big compared to other districts and what is disappointing is that we receive the same amount of money meant for roads. It is from this point I want to request our members of parliament to lobby for more money and also lobby for road equipment because the one that we have now can no longer manage the district roads since it is old and the district is too big to be worked on by one road equipment ’’ . Mr. Bagira added.
State of Roads in the district.
Rukungiri district has only major tarmac roads and these are Rukungiri- Ntungamo highway which was constructed between 2004 and 2005 and the newly constructed Rukungiri – Kanungu roads which has brought smiles on the faces of Rukungiri and Kanungu people. The other roads marrum and they are in a sorry state.
At the moment, the Rukungiri – Ntungamo highway is being eaten up by potholes which are posing a danger to motorists and other road users.
This road has become a nightmare for heavy traffic at some sections filled with huge potholes in Buyanja – OmuKiragiro, Omukiragiro trading center to Kebisoni town, Kiborogota section, Kahengye section, Nyamunuka section ,Rwashamire section on Ntungamo side among others .
The road also lacks a well-constructed drainage system and is too narrow for big trucks. As a result, trucks have to move slowly, which has compounded poor traffic flow and traffic jams on the highway.
The major marrum roads are Kebisoni, Kisiizi Muhanga road, Rukungiri, Buhunga – Mitooma district , Rukungiri Ruhinda – mitooma district, Rukungiri, Nyakagyeme, Rwerere – Kanungu district , Rukungiri Birara bridge – Kanungu district, Rukungiri- Rubabo brigde among others. All these roads are in a sorry state since they are full of deadly potholes and now non-motorable
