Residents in Hoima town have expressed concern over failure by the Municipal Council to address the problem of poor roads.
The residents say although the roads have not been the best especially those with marrum, the problem has been aggravated by the current rainy season.
Godfrey Katwesige, a produce dealer at Kasemiire road, says the large potholes in the road have always turned away motorists especially when it rains and this affects his customer turn up.
Katwesige says despite the inconvenience the problem is causing, it’s about five months now and the municipal council has not come to work on the road.
The produce dealer explains that they have been mobilizing themselves to re-open the blocked drainage channels but are now fed up and want the municipal authorities to come in.
Katwesige threatens to mobilize fellow road users to block the road in protest. Kasemiire is not the only poor road arousing residents’ anger. At Bujumbura road connecting Main Street and Butiaba roads, rain has washed away marrum leaving the culverts bare.
Kaahwa Megga, who uses the road every morning, says he has been forced to temporarily park his car after it was recently damaged by a bare culvert.
Kaahwa also fears that the road’s poor state and its narrowness could result into accidents and demands that the problem should be urgently checked.
Other roads in sorry state are Bunyoro Kitara road and Fort Portal road in the town’s central business area. Last year, residents blocked Bunyoro Kitara road by panting banana suckers for one week to protest its poor state.
Local leaders too appear to be feeling the problem.
Last week during the municipal council meeting, councilors tasked the mayor Grace Mary Mugasa to explain the poor state of roads in town.
The Mayor, however, pushed the blame onto the engineering department accusing them of having spent the over 100 million shillings road emergency fund.
Without providing an immediate solution, the mayor said that although the money was earmarked to work on roads in sorry state, little is seen on ground despite the money being spent.
Bonny Kiiza, the municipal engineer could not easily comment on the matter as he was out of office by the time of filing this report.
