The poor naming of the Kyenjojo-Hoima-Kigumba road in the 2012/2013 financial year budget speech is raising concern among Hoima residents.
The road scheduled for tarmac this financial year was read as Kyenjojo-Kabwoya in Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka’s budget speech on Thursday afternoon.
Although they were excited about government’s priorities on roads, education and agriculture, the residents say the poor naming of the region’s major road could end up costing Bunyoro part of the project.
Jonan Mukooto, a photographer in Hoima town, says being the second time this mistake is being made; he is worried that the road could only be worked on from Kyenjojo to Kabwoya. In President Museveni’s State of the Nation address a week ago, the same road was reflected as Kyenjojo-Kabwoya.
Mukooto says Kyenjojo-Kabwoya is a distance far less than the Kyenjojo-Hoima-Kigumba road that government has since promised the Banyoro. He wants government to correct the mistake.
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Nasser Rwaigwera, a Councilor in Hoima Municipality asks why the mistake has not been corrected after the president made the same in his State of the Nation address on June 7.
During his address as if in doubt of what was indicated as Kyenjojo- Kabwoya road instead of Kyenjojo-Hoima-Kigumba road, president Museveni asked Members of Parliament to clarify on whether Kabwoya was in any way near Kigumba, where the road is slated to stop.
Rwaigwera has asked MPs from Bunyoro to quickly follow up and correct the mistake before the budget implementation begins.
Kabwoya is just about 25 kilometers from Hoima town on the Hoima -Fort Portal road and about 100 kilometers from Kyenjojo town. Kyenjojo-Kabwoya as shown in the budget is almost a half of the known Kyenjojo-Hoima-Kigumba road which should be in the budget. The road stretch from Kyenjojo to Kigumba in Masindi district is over 200 kilometers.
During his address, the president disclosed that the African Development Bank had promised funding for the road construction.
Tophace Kaahwa Byagira, however, the Hoima Woman Member of Parliament allays residents’ fears maintaining that the road is Kyenjojo-Hoima-Kigumba as it has always been promised. Kaahwa says the mistake in the budget and in Museveni’s speech was a typing error which will be corrected soon.
She says the Bunyoro Parliamentary Caucus was to sit on Friday to deliberate on such concerns.
Bunyoro has since clamored for the road which residents say would help link the north, Midwestern and Western parts of Uganda. For the last two financial years government has pledged to tarmac the road.
