By KT Reporter
Heavy rains paralyzed road transport in Luwero District on Friday, leaving National Resistance Movement (NRM) leaders stranded on their way to a rally for President Yoweri Museveni. NRM leaders in Luwero District, led by Agnes Kirabo, the party candidate for the District Woman Member of Parliament seat, organized a campaign rally in support of President Museveni.
The rally, dubbed “Buganda for Museveni,” took place at Zirobwe Town Council, attracting ministers, members of parliament, and supporters from across the district. However, the NRM flagbearers and supporters struggled to reach the venue after floods cut off main roads leading to the site.
The most affected routes included the Kampala–Gulu highway, which was blocked in Wobulenzi Town, and the Wobulenzi–Zirobwe road, cut off at Kasenene Village, among other roads. Pascal Imarach, LC 3 Chairperson of Zirobwe Town Council, said they mobilized hundreds of supporters to attend the rally, but the turnout was lower than expected due to the floods.
Gaddafi Nasur, the NRM candidate for the Katikamu North MP seat, said a journey that normally takes one hour took him nearly four hours due to blocked roads. Nasur was forced to take a longer route and condemned district leadership for failing to rehabilitate the roads despite receiving a one-billion-shilling grant. Agnes Kirabo also challenged the district to account for the grant if they had failed to fix the roads.
Haruna Kasolo, NRM Vice Chairperson for the Buganda region, told supporters that the NRM government had provided funds, and any poor service delivery should be blamed on current local leaders.
Ruth Nankabirwa, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, said Luwero residents would continue blaming each other if they failed to vote for NRM leaders in the upcoming elections. She argued that service delivery had worsened under opposition leadership. However, LC 5 Chairperson Erastus Kibirango (NUP) countered that opposition leaders had previously advocated for tarmacking the Wobulenzi–Zirobwe road to improve access but received no support.
Kibirango said the major affected roads fall under the Ministry of Works and Transport and should be blamed rather than the district. “I think the NRM candidates should join us in reminding the President to fulfill pledges to upgrade the roads to prevent flooding, rather than blaming me. The one-billion-shilling grant cannot fix such a major section of the roads,” Kibirango said.
He added that the district had appealed to President Museveni for a second road unit to manage the extensive network, but the request was ignored. Brenda Nabukenya, the Luwero District Woman MP, said the current district leadership had occupied positions for fewer years than the NRM government and had not prevented poor road maintenance.
Luwero District has a road network of over 1,360 kilometers, with 628 kilometers maintained by the district, 164.51 kilometers by urban councils, and 567.3 kilometers by sub-counties. Currently, a large portion of the network is impassable due to flooding.
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