By KT Reporter
Voters from Butaleja district have asked the NRM Presidential candidate, Yoweri Museveni, to fast-track the construction of the Nabumali-Butaleja road, a project that has been a longstanding promise for over 27 years.
The issue was part of a memorandum read by NRM Chairperson for Butaleja district, Moses Paje, at Museveni’s campaign rally.
Paje said that much as they appreciate the achievements of the NRM government, the President ought to work on the Nabumali-Butaleja road, noting that the road will foster development.
“Butaleja has been a stronghold for President Museveni in the previous elections, we have produced NRM 100%, we just hear those things of independents, opposition from other places, but for us here we vote NRM,” he said.
He said that to preserve the culture of the Banyole, there is an urgent need to gazette the cultural institution.
He asked the president to elevate the recently renovated Busolwe Hospital to a regional referral hospital so as to decongest the Mbale hospital, which currently serves a bigger population.
Muhammad Ramthan Muserengu, the District Kadhi for Butaleja, wants the gazettement of the culture leader to be fast-tracked.
The NRM’s second National Vice Chairperson, Anita Among, said that the issue of the Nabumali-Butaleja road is a big issue to the extent that it has been included in NDPIV.
She said the President had already promised the road, and the contractor has since been procured.Among also noted that the gazettement of the Bunyoke cultural leader is only left with the President’s signature.
President Museveni, in his response, noted that the district is doing well in terms of Health Centers, noting that all the sub-counties have health centers ranging from health center IIIs to district hospitals.
He said that the remaining issues in the district are the two roads of Busolwe, Nangongela to Busolwe, and Nabumali- Butaleja road, noting that the delays are caused by budgeting for too many projects.
“Here, people touch on too many things; the most important things are sometimes skipped. The MPs and the population need to look into this, you ask for too many things and scatter resources,” he said.
He said the roads would have been worked on long ago.
“But now we have gotten money for them, the contractor has already been identified, especially for the Nabumali- Butaleja road. The contractor has already been identified, and it would have already been worked on if it were not for scattering resources,” Museveni noted.
Butaleja has been a stronghold for President Museveni in the previous three elections, but their problems have not been worked on, leaving them in poverty, coupled with poor service delivery despite their support for the ruling government.
Museveni scored highly in the previous elections in Butaleja district, during the 2011 general elections at 72% and 56% in the 2016 and in the 2021 general election, the President got 54%.
The three Butalejja members of Parliament are coming from the National Resistance Movement.
Butaleja residents have waited for close to 30 years for the rehabilitation of the two major roads of Nagongela-Butaleja road and Nabumali-Butaleja-Namutumba road.
Since 1996, President Museveni has every electoral process to rehabilitate these roads in vain.
The 90km Nabumali-Butaleja-Namutumba road project is a long-standing issue in the region, with promises of tarmacking dating back to the 1990s. The road is part of the government’s plan for new road projects to be tarmacked.
A Chinese company, PowerChina International Group Ltd, has been identified to work on the road, pending financial discussions with the Ministry of Finance.
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