By: Ismael Kasooha

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has asked people in Bunyoro sub-region and the rest of the country to make use of newly constructed and upgraded roads across the country to  increase their household incomes.

The president was on 25th January 2022 commissioning two oil roads in Bunyoro that have been tarmacked by the government of Uganda using funding from the African Development Bank (ADB).

The roads that were commissioned are the 111km Hoima-Kigorobya-Butiaba-Buliisa-Wanseko that cost sh630b and the 235km Kigumba-Bulima-Hoima-Kabwoya road which cost sh241bn.

The commissioning of the roads was part of the highlights of the events to mark 36 years since the NRM Government came to power in 1986.

After commissioning the roads the president met leaders from Bunyoro region including religious leaders at Bwikya Muslim primary school.

Robinah Nabbanja, the Prime Minister thanked President Yoweri Museveni for the good and wise leadership he has provided to the country over the last 36 years and for prioritising development of infrastructure.

“Before the National Resistance Movement government came to power Bunyoro did not have any tarmac roads but now the entire region is connected by all-weather roads,” said Nabbanja.

Nabbanja said that the NRM government has played its role by ensuring that there is an enabling environment for the people to make money and prosper.

“If we remain poor we should not blame this government because it has played its role by ensuring that there is an enabling environment,” said Nabbanja.

Matia Kasaija, the Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development asked the people of Bunyoro to increase production and productivity if they are to benefit from the infrastructure development in the region.

“We have the international airport at Kabaale on top of the roads but if we don’t increase production and productivity we may only look at the roads and start gossiping,” said Kasaija.

He said that the government has injected a lot of money in the region that is the reason development is at a faster rate.

Fred Byamukama, the State Minister for Works in charge of Transport, asked the president to now resort to solving the long standing land conflicts in the region that might derail the transformation process.

“Now that the region is connected by a good road network, we appeal to the government to resolve the land ownership problem that has haunted the people in the region for quite some time,” said Byamukama.

Augustine Behe-the Country representative ADB said that the objective of these roads is to help the people especially the farmers access the market and also facilitate the oil development process.

“We want the people in the region to access markets to increase their household incomes for economic transformation,” said Behe.

President Museveni said that there had been a delay in improving the road network because of lack of funds but now the economy is doing better.

“We took a while to work on these roads just because we didn’t have funds but now our economy has improved and that is why we are now progressing with infrastructural development,” said Museveni.

The president said that more roads will be worked on such as the Muhorro-Ndaiga road, Kakumiro-Nkooko-Ntweetwe-Kiboga and Karuguza-Hapuyo-Kyegegwa-Mpara-Kabagore-Burunga-Kazo roads.

The president asked leaders to mobilise the ‘wanainchi’ to shift from subsistence agriculture to commercial farming as a way of improving household incomes. END