An areal view of Fort Portal Municipality. Photo by Felix Basiime.
Bickering
hinders Fort Portal town from gaining city status
BY
FELIX BASIIME
&
DORCUS MURUNGI
[http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1395066/-/item/0/-/131n1mu/-/index.html] April 28
FORT PORTAL: It
is now one year when leaders of Fort Portal municipality launched a big quest
to transform this town into a city status.
During the 2011 campaigns, both the
area MP
Alex Ruhunda and town mayor held joint campaigns with their slogan "Nikisoboka
Fort Portal kufooka city" meaning that it is possible for Fort Portal to
turn into a city. These leaders who were successfully elected also promised
that this quest was possible in five years.
Some of the
criteria for a city status
According
to the Local government Act, a municipality to turn into a city must have a
population of at least 500,000.
There must be facilities, institutions,
developments and the enabling environment that automatically attract people to
work, invest and stay there.
These
are like hospitals, schools, hotels, universities enough space for both
residential and business premises.
Mr
Ambrose Atwoko, the town clerk says, “Further plans include encouraging
private investors so as to startup businesses that can attract a big
population. The town is also trying to encourage church investment services for
instance it has supported the catholic church of Fort Portal diocese to
construct the premises of Centenary bank and all this is aiming at
development Fort Portal municipality into a city”
Area
for expansion is another criterion. Currently Fort Portal has West, East and
South Divisions covering about 27.82 sq
kms. It needs to expand beyond this by annexing some neighboring sub counties
and to do this, the urban authority has to lobby these sub counties, it is not
an automatic process, the law says that sub counties requested must sit and
decide to join the city or not.
Other things that qualify a
municipality to a city status include the services that the private sector
offers to support the growing city and its population.
“Of course for any place to become a
city, you must have a modern market which is being constructed at Mpanga, you
must have a regional referral hospital, Buhinga has improved now, there are
good hotels, 5 star hotels are coming up” Ruhunda says.
He adds, “There must be adequate
power supply, Fort Portal-Bundibugyo and Ibanda-Fort Portal roads are being
worked on and being the cleanest town in Uganda, with the its high tourism
potential and oil development, there is no doubt that Fort Portal is already a
business hub in the region”
What is in place
now
Fort Portal town was founded in 1893
as a garrison for Sir Gerald Portal for a colonial administrative centre.
However, over time it grew in size and population, becoming a Municipal Council
in 1975.
It lies at the foot of Rwenzori
Mountain, 5,050 feet above sea level. According to the 2002 national
census, it had estimated population of about 41,000 but according to the Uganda
Bureau of Statistics, estimated population of the town by 2012 is at 48,000.
Of the 27.82 sq kms, only 4 sq kms
is covered by the central business district and the remaining pieces of land
are used for residential purposes and agriculture related activities.
It is 290 kms from Kampala and a
regional town for Kabarole, Kamwenge, Kasese, Bundibugyo, Kyegegwa, Kyenjojo
and Ntoroko districts. It is the hub of Tooro in terms of business
administrative and private sector transactions.
Most roads
in town are tarmacked and well drained. In
partnership with the World Bank and NEMA, the Municipal authorities have
established a garbage recycling plant at Kitere where a manure processing unit
has been established and plans to use it to produce gas and electricity.
“The oil industry will make Hoima
and Fort Portal towns into cities; I hope that Kamwenge and Kagadi roads are
worked on quickly, that is my conviction” says Ruhunda.
According to figures from the
Petroleum Exploration Department, 2.5 billion barrels of oil have so far been
confirmed from 40 per cent of the entire Albertine Graben.
Part of the oil discovery is in
Ntoroko district, north of Kabarole and following the farm-down between Tullow
Oil and its partners Total and the
Chinese Oil giant CNOOC in February, intensive oil activity is expected in
Hoima, Buliisa and Ntoroko districts as Tullow starts extended well testing and
appraisal drilling in preparation for eventual production.
CNOOC to operate in Ntoroko is already
in Fort Portal town where it will base its operations.
The hinterland of Fort Portal too is
attractive, and has pulled several tourists to the town the reason why the
hotel industry has steadily grown here.
The attractive features include
tracking the chimpanzees in Kibale Forest
National Park and in the Semliki Valley, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Mount Rwenzori National Park, the Rwagimba and Sempaya hot springs, Amabere Ga Nyina
Mwiru near Nyakasura School and several crater lakes.
Good Hotels include: Mountains of
the Moon Hotel (2000) Ltd, Rujuna Hilltop Guesthouse, Palace Motel, Rwenzori
Travelers Inn, Tooro Resort, Ataco Country resort, Kluge’s farm hotel and
camp site, Sunrise International Apartments, Raja Excelsior, Lesuiex Centre,
Riviera, Hotel Cornerstone, Lake Kyaninga Lodge and Hilton among others.
Some of the camp sites include Ndali Lodge,
Kibale primate lodge, Mantana Tented Camp, Crater Valley Kibale (CVK) forest
resort beach, Chimpanzee Forest Guesthouse and Camp Site, Bigodi Wetland
Sanctuary, Rweteera Safari Park and Tourist Camping Center, Rwengo Lakeside
Campsite.
For hanging out, the night life bubbles
at Club Ecstasy on Bwamba road and at Africana where most people hang out for nyama
choma, take away, drinks, music and watching soccer. On most weekends,
folks hang out at Gardens Restaurant where most musicians perform.
What has been done so far
“For expansion, we wrote to the
Ministry of Local government to impress it upon the district council, but we
are also lobbying some councilors” says Mr Ambrose Atwoko, the town clerk.
He adds, “We have set up various
programs within a five year development plan and am quite sure that Fort Portal
municipality will soon project into a city”.
In this plan, the authorities are
focusing on putting of marram in some roads, opening new roads and even
tarmacking others.
“You know it is well known in Uganda
that Fort Portal town ranks among the cleanest so we as leaders have embarked
on serious cleanness, there has been a monthly allocation of Shs 15 million
which is meant to ensure cleanliness” Atwoko adds.
The whole town has dust bins and trucks
collect the garbage. Infrastructural development is being emphasized in the
town and with the help of government; Fort Portal has helped some schools to construct
new buildings at Buhinga primary, Kyebambe Girls SS, Nyakagongo primary and Ngombe
primary.
Fort
Portal is also a beneficiary of the country’s bigger project of upgrading the major markets. The
government project; Markets and Agricultural Trade Improvement Project – I
(MATIP-I) involves re-constructing 21 markets. Works at Fort Portal’s Mpanga
market are under way.
Fort Portal Municipal Council
authorities have prioritized physical planning exercise in the next five years.
This planning will provide for road location, schools and health facilities,
open spaces, play grounds, commercial centres and residential neighborhoods.
Target will be put on 6 wards that
have not been planned for in the recent past.
The council intends to hire a
consultant to design a strategic plan for the next 15 years to show the road
map of a city status.
“We want to hire an expert in physical
planning to help our technical team in planning for a city” says Ruhunda.
The challenges
There
is potential and endowments that would turn Fort Portal into a city like
minerals (Oil and Pozzolana) but despite all these, the leaders burning quest for
a city in the next 5 years will remain a dream or on paper if the ongoing infighting
among town councilors is anything to go by.
It is one year down the road since
the urban authority political wing was sworn in but infighting has ruled till
now which has affected development to some extent.
It started as a simple allowances bickering
between councilors on one side and the mayor and his deputy on the other side
but has since grown into a full cold war.
On
August 25, 2011, town mayor Mr Edison Asaba Ruyonga and his deputy, Ms Margaret
Kihika stormed out of the council session in protest after council maintained
their earlier position to reduce the mayor’s emoluments from Shs 2.8 million as
proposed by the Executive to Shs 2 million per month.
Ruyonga and his deputy, Ms Kihika had
in July 2011 dragged Fort Portal municipal council to court accusing it of
reducing their allowances and emoluments.
This was after councilors in a June 27 council session
reasoned that the allowances received by the two officials are higher compared
to other municipalities in the country yet service delivery was still poor.
Since then, the two parties have
never compromised. “Whatever idea I table in council, it is trashed by
councilors, so for me I dropped the idea to push for a city status” Ruyonga sadly
told this paper.
But
Kabarole woman MP, Victoria Businge Rusoke challenges the Fort Portal municipal
council to end their conflicts and focus on service delivery and develop the
town.
She
observes that the conflicts between the councilors and the two mayors have
retarded development and denied people service delivery since they are always
embroiled in a tag of war.
“These
conflicts are diverting us from our work and focus of service delivery; you are
not doing what you are supposed to do to the people. We need to cooperate,
respect each other and serve the people accordingly” Rusoke told the municipal
council session last year.
What
other residents say
“I think it was a campaign slogan (City status) like
any other. Starting with Obama's "Yes We Can" yes we can what??!!!,
even Jacob Zuma of South Africa promised south Africans 500,000 jobs during his
election campaign and.......the list can go on and on!!!!! Briefly, all
politicians are liars” Mr Patrick Bamanyisa said.
“It (City status) can be achieved but you can’t get
it or achieve it as one person it is collective, both leaders and local
population, you also need to be one as leaders, no corruption, but now there is
nothing besides fighting small political wars at the moment” said Crouch Haliri.
He adds, “But see what is happening now they are playing cat and mouse games, all these guys (Ruyonga and Ruhunda) had during the campaigns was just empty talk, they completely had no plans to transform the town, they just had political excitement and lacked focus, okay tell me it’s about a year down the road, people who were promising a city in 5 yrs, what plans do they have put in place? Or what have they done so far to show we are headed for a city in the next 5 years, zero!!!”
Kaliba adds, “Those two guys are just confused fellows who do not know what Fort Portal's priority is. They had better concentrate on how to raise house hold income, better health, infrastructure and improved education in the town”
Ms Nyakato Rusoke says, “It (City status) was just a campaign gimmick, nothing has been done, we don’t have a single public toilet in town, most buildings in town especially on Lugrad street and Kiboga road are not connected to the sewer line”
Nyakato adds, “There are no street lights because Fort Portal municipal council failed to pay Umeme bills and the people of Fort Portal will not benefit from the quarrels of the mayor and his councilors, for us we want work not fights”
END
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