The closed Kibati road in Hoima municipality has been reopened triggering mixed reactions among residents.
The road was blocked about two weeks ago by a group of residents protesting its poor state. They dug holes in the middle of it and planted banana suckers rendering the road out of use.
But on Monday this week, Juma Zaidi Asiimwe, the Chairman Kiryatete Lower, mobilized for community works to reseal the potholes and open up drainage channels on the road. The road has now been reopened to normal traffic flow.
Chairman Asiimwe told journalists on Wednesday that the road is a public utility that should not be out of use for so long.
He explained that as a local leader he could not allow the road to remain blocked thus mobilizing for community works to reopen it.
This followed the municipal council’s failure to readily respond as Mayor Grace Mary Mugasa only called for calm saying the Local Government has a program to rehabilitate all roads in the municipality.
She revealed, however, that this is being done in phases due to resource constraints.
But the re-opening of the road has triggered mixed reactions among residents and other local leaders in Kiryatete.
Chairman Peter Mayanja of the neighboring Kiryatete East says re-opening the road is a green light to the municipality to continue its laxity to rehabilitate it.
Mayanja says the road should have remained closed for as long as it would take the municipal council to work on it.
Grace Asiimwe, a produce store operator along the road, welcomes the move saying the road’s poor state has always inconvenienced the loading and offloading of her produce as vehicles could not easily access her store.
The produce dealer says blocking the road was not a solution.
Most roads in Hoima Municipality are dilapidated and residents have always held demonstrations to protest failure by the Municipal Council to address the problem.
Some of the 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 planting banana suckers for one week to protest its poor state.
