Local leaders in Kasese district are angry with the government for delaying to split the district, two years after the district council approved the plan.
In 2010, Kasese district council unanimously approved the plan to split the district into three. The district councilors argued that the split would enable the local people access health and education facilities.
According to the council resolution, once split, it would consist of Ruwenzori district, Bwera district and Kasese.
The district council then wrote to Adolf Mwesige, the Minister of Local Government about the decision of the council. Since then, however, the district leaders are still waiting for a decision to be made. They are now accusing the Minister of Local Government of frustrating the move.
Mustapha Kikusa, a resident of Kasese municipality, says that they have waited for long and wants the district to be split because there is only one hospital which is accessed by people living in Bwera, at the Uganda-DR Congo border.
Kikusa says that once the district is split, more hospitals will be constructed in the new districts.
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Statistics at the district planner’s office show that the district has a population of 790,000 people. The district also has 26 sub counties.
John Kigonde, the district councilor for Muhokya Sub County, says that Minister Mwesige should explain to the people of Kasese why the split has been delayed. He says that Mwesige was invited last month to attend the district council meeting and talk about the progress, but he failed to turn up.
Kigonde also says that the government should split Kasese like it did to the greater Bushenyi, which was split into Rubirizi, Mitooma, Sheema, Bushenyi and Buhweju districts in 2010.
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Kule Kiryango, an NRM party mobiliser, says that if the district isn’t split, they will not vote for any NRM party candidate, who will contest in the by-elections for the Kasese Woman parliamentary seat.
Kiryango says that next week, he will lead a delegation of leaders and some residents to meet President Yoweri Museveni and the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga and.
But in a telephone interview, Minister Adolf Mwesige denied frustrating the people of Kasese.
Mwesige says that he has to first seek the opinion of Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere of Rwenzururu Kingdom about the split. He says that he wrote to Mumbere but he hasn’t received any response from him.
Mwesige says that it is after Mumbere’s views, that he will present the council resolutions to cabinet.
Uganda now has 112 districts up from 56 over a decade ago.
