Fort Portal to wait until 2030 for City status

Part of Fort Portal town as seen from Rwengoma. Photo by Felix Basiime

BY FELIX BASIIME

& RUTH KATUSABE

Published in Daily Monitor in November 2013

KABAROLE: What was seen earlier as something achievable within 5 years has been pushed to 2030, that is the project: Fort Portal city.

According to the 2013 Five year Development Plan, the new Vision now states as, “To have an Orderly and Liveable Tourist city by year 2030”

The quest for a city status has been delayed by several factors but the biggest of all is the bickering of local leaders of Fort Portal municipality.

Both the mayor Mr Asaba Ruyonga and area MP Alex Ruhunda in 2011 launched a joint campaign with a big quest to transform this town into a city status.

During the campaigns, both Ruhunda and town mayor had a slogan "Nikisoboka Fort Portal kufooka city" meaning that it is possible for Fort Portal to turn into a city. These leaders promised the electorates that this quest was possible in five years but things have changed since and affected the original plan.

Hardly had a year past after the municipal leaders were sworn in, than bickering ensued with councilors fighting both the mayor and his Deputy Margaret Kihika over allowances and other petty issues.

“I abandoned that plan (City status) because my critics have mainly used the media in Fort Portal to tarnish me as a thief, I no longer go out to monitor projects for fear of being stoned by members of the public as I used to do and now development is at a slow pace” Asaba said.

He added, “Do you see the bickering in the 9^th Parliament, we can’t have any tangible developments in the country this term when there is bickering among the leaders, the same with Fort Portal, for development to take place, leaders must unite and jointly do projects, roads and other infrastructure is for all of us”

He added, “Am sure at this pace, Kasese will surpass Fort Portal very soon in terms of developments”

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.

To attain this figure, the leadership of the town cannot announce over radios inviting people to migrate to town, but 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, banks enough space for both residential and business premises.

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 may turn down the request.

However, according to the Acting Deputy Town Clerk, Mr Michael Karwani, expansion is not their strategy at the moment but they are focusing on improving the infrastructure first which will attract people to work and stay in town.

One of these is the modern market under construction at Mpanga market at the Fort Portal-Kampala road junction.

Other things that qualify for 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, the town is being beautified and a modern sports stadium will soon be constructed by the Chinese at Buhinga” Karwani said.

He adds, “Fort Portal-Bundibugyo and Ibanda-Fort Portal roads are being worked on and Fort Portal being the cleanest town in Uganda, with its high tourism potential and oil development, there is no doubt that it will be 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.

Fort Portal Municipality lies at the foot of Rwenzori Mountains, 5050 feet above sea level; it is dotted with more than ten small hills from where one gets a lovely view of Rwenzori Mountains. The municipality is projected to be having a total population of 99,653 persons.

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 316 km from Kampala via Mubende. Accessibility by road is easy as it lies on the Kampala-Kasese highway that is one of the major link routes to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is also the major liable link to the District of Bundibugyo that lies on the border with the DRC. Additionally, it’s linked to the urban centers and the rural areas in its surrounding hinterland by a number of first class roads. This thus makes it an important center of trade and tourism.

It is 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 but of late pot holes are seen on Rukidi III Street. The town has a road network of 146.3km consisting of 47.35km (tarmac), 98.95km (murram). Out of the 47.35km tarmac roads, 10.2 km are trunk section and 37.15 km are Town street roads.

“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” said MP Ruhunda.

The oil prospects along L. Albert shores and the extraction of Pozolana boulders make Fort Portal a busy and economically strong commercial center in the region.

CNOOC that will operate the Ntoroko oil block will set its base in Fort Portal town.

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 Kibale, Semliki Valley, Queen Elizabeth Mount Rwenzori National parks, 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, Hilton and several camp sites.

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.

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.

On top of hydro-electric power supply by Umeme from Jinja, other potential alternative sources of energy in Fort-Portal Municipality include:-Katokoma mini-water falls, Biogas, Solar and Wind

World Bank Grant

The urban authority has lobbed a Shs 2 billion grant every year from the World Bank for city development and out of this they will build modern roads and a Bus park.

“We are going to build modern markets and we encourage Fort Portal people to embrace this venture” said Karwani.

He said the Municipal council is going to lobby the district leadership to give them land at Kyembogo so that they can build an Industrial park.

“With this, we will have expanded Fort Portal in order to be a city by 2030” said Karwani.

He added, “Our town beatification with green belts and it cleanliness have attracted more people to tour around making our hotels busy and we get hotel tax from the visitors”

Karwani said that they want to contact the ministry of Tourism to construct Heritage Park for tourism attraction.

The construction of Fort Portal-Bundibugyo road has attracted more people to acquire land which will boost business.

The vast tea industry in the hinterland has attracted tourists to the town as some of the investors and workers sleep in town hence bringing income.

Some development challenges

Since the coming into force of the 1995 Constitution, an establishment of land law was provided to the effect that land belongs to the people. In essence, this rendered formerly controlling authorities mere agents of planning.

According to the 5 year development plan, the urban authority becomes practically difficult to effectively plan for what they do not control. In this respect, Fort Portal Municipal Council faces it as a challenge to enforce acceptable development standards; consequently, development is in progress amidst unauthorized developments, particularly illegal structures.

Fort Portal receives rainfall almost throughout the year. Such a climatic condition has adverse effects on the road network and drainage development. It has increasingly become expensive to maintain the road network whose rate of deterioration does not match the available resources to finance the damages. The problem is further aggravated by the increase in road traffic through continuous tear and wear.

Heavy trucks to DRC mainly pass through Fort Portal including the over 50 trucks that daily ferry pozzolana to from Fort Portal to Hima cement factory in Kasese district.

       What others say

 

Mr Patrick Bamanyisa

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.

Ms Nyakato Rusoke
It (City status) was just a campaign gimmick, nothing has been done, we don’t have a single public toilet in town, and most buildings in town especially on Laggard Street and Kiboga road are not connected to the sewer line. 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.                               

Kyenjojo pupils abandon class to join lucrative tea industry

Workers at Rusekere Tea Factory in Kijura, Kabarole District prepare tea for processing. Photo by Felix Basiime 

By THEMBO KAHUNGU MISAIRI & FELIX BASIIME

Posted Tuesday, December 3 2013 at 12:50 [http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Kyenjojo-pupils-abandon-class-to-join-lucrative-tea-industry/-/688342/2096842/-/item/0/-/t0u3o9z/-/index.html]

Kyenjojo- As one travels along the snaky Fort Portal-Kyenjojo road, tea plantations paint the road sides green against the vast plains, making the scenery beautiful. In the morning, people of all ages carry baskets on their backs to pick tea.
The tea industry in Kyenjojo is so lucrative that it has so far attracted at least seven factories in the district with vast estates.

One of them, Mabale Tea Factory, is owned by at least 800 peasants following the privatisation of public enterprises in Uganda in the 1990s. The industry has also attracted hundreds of migrant workers from south west Uganda and DR Congo.

Although the business is booming, it is threatening the education sector in the district as elders and authorities are worried at the rate at which children are abandoning school to pick tea.
Recently, a conference was organised by the Kyenjojo Elders’ Forum and NGOs, including Ride Africa, Kabarole Research and Resource Centre, Tooro Development Network among others, to tackle the problem.

According to elders, children under Universal Primary Education are not motivated to stay in school and complete studies thus venturing into other income-generating projects such as tea picking.
“The district ranks among the poorest in the country by the Uganda Bureau of Standards. It lags behind in education and food production since most children at schools pass time while others are working in tea farms and factories,” Mr Rujumba Muhenda, an elder says.

Col (rtd) Tom Butime, another elder, believes that children will continue to drop out of school unless all stakeholders ensure that quality education is provided.
He says parents have carelessly left their responsibilities to the government as far as education is concerned.

“Most homes do not provide food to their children and they will always starve while in class for the afternoon lessons. At this level, they are not expected to concentrate on what the teachers teach them. So, the first blame goes to the parent before a finger is pointed at the teacher,” Col Butime says.

According to stakeholders, the problem is worsened by the fact that some parents allow their children to stay at home to provide domestic labour.

Elders have now proposed enactment of by-laws to compel the parents to send their children both girls and boys to school.

“There should be punishments for parents denying their children a chance to benefit from universal education,” Mr Muhenda observes.

According to this year’s district education department report, there are more than 300 primary schools of which 120 are private. But it is the public schools that have been hit most with the drop outs and poor performance.

A survey carried out by Community Based Monitors in several schools in the district in 2009 found that Rwentuha Primary Schooli in Bugaki Sub-county had 166 spupils absent out of the 889 pupils while in Makerere Primary School, Butiiti Sub-County 243 pupils were absent out of 685.

The survey also found that due to ohigh poverty levels in the district, parents have forced their children to do casual labour and pick tea to earn a living.

The Resident District Commissioner, Mr John Rex Achilla, says men have resorted to alcoholism which affects domestic income since they can no longer support their families.

According to the district education officer, Ms Gertrude Tibakanya, lack of enough teachers has also led to poor performance.

“Teachers are not enough in schools which makes it a problem, especially in villages where accommodation and transport costs have led to absconding. A teacher is appointed here in Kyenjojo but decides to move to Kabarole District for another job,” Ms Tibakanya says.

The government introduced a Prosperity For All programme under Naads in 2010 urging farmers in Kyenjojo to use modern farming methods and fight household poverty.

It remains to be seen whether they will stick to the initiative in order to realise long-lasting results.

Research findings

Drop-outs: According to a research conducted in September by Human Rights And Democracy Link Africa, an NGO operating in the Rwenzori sub-region, Kyenjojo has high enrolment rates at Primary One but completion at Primary Seven drops as children progress.
 
Challenges: High absenteeism rates in most rural based primary schools were attributed to parents’ negligence, absence of lunch among others.
A source, who worked in the tea factories in the Tooro region, said: “Most parents in the region do not have the courage and culture to encourage their children to pursue education to the end. This situation, coupled with the poverty levels, forces young children to work in the tea factories and tea estates just for survival.”

Fort Portal: Where cleanliness is everybody’s responsibility

UPDF soldiers join residents in cleaning Fort Portal Town recently. Organising routine cleaning exercises which involve everybody has helped the town maintain a high standard of cleanliness. Phoyo by Francis Tusiime   

http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Fort-Portal--Where-cleanliness-is-everybody-s/-/688342/2064274/-/egewdi/-/index.html

By  FELIX BASIIME Posted  Friday, November 8   2013 at  02:00

KABAROLE- Ms Joan Omuhereza owns a boutique along Balya Road in Fort Portal Town. She has been running this business for more than four years. Ms Omuhereza and her family stay behind the shop and both her workplace and home produce garbage daily.
I asked her whether she believes that Fort Portal is the cleanest town in Uganda and what factors form her position.

“It is us the residents who are clean. We create and manage our waste. Batooro are naturally clean. I don’t need authorities to tell me to manage my garbage. Every morning I clean my home and shop and take the garbage to the bin but not on the streets or trenches,” Ms Omuhereza says.
Mr Steven Mugume, a boda boda operator at Balya Road stage, agrees with her.

“One day, a cakes’ vendor ate sugarcane from the Mayor’s Gardens and attempted to leave the place unclean. We pulled him back to clean his mess. This is how we discipline people who dump rubbish in town even if they are our passengers,” Mr Mugume, said.

What Ms Omuhereza and Mr Mugume are doing is part of the culture and attitude that has made Fort Portal the cleanest town in Uganda.

The town has good drainage systems that you can hardly see water running or stagnant on the streets during rainy seasons.

“That pearl they talk about in Uganda is Kabarole because of our geographical location, good climate and fertile soils,” Ms Esther Kabarokole Abwooli, a business woman in town, said.

Historically, Kabarole District was the headquarters of Tooro Kingdom which comprised of the present-day Kasese, Bundibugyo, Ntoroko, Kamwenge, Kyenjojo, and Kyegegwa districts.

The British colonial rulers also established their fort here, led by Sir Gerald Portal hence the assumption of the name Fort Portal.

Sir Portal was a British special commissioner for Uganda and his statue still stands along Kyembambe Road.

Being named after Sir Portal is another reason why most residents feel they have to conserve Fort Portal’s beauty.

The batooro call it “tawuni y’omujungu” loosely translated as the whiteman’s town.

Authorities input
South Division that covers the biggest part of the town has a project called “beautification of the town”. Each year it spends more than Shs121m of its budget on it.

The division chairperson, Mr Herbert Mugisa Adyeri, says: “As division leadership, we have prioritised collection of garbage, street sweeping and employed more casual labourers to clean the parks, the streets, trading centres, trenches as well as pick the litter every day.”

He adds: “We have two contractors; one in charge of garbage collection and sweeping and another for open spaces and road verges.”

Each year, the urban authority seeks partnerships from companies like Regal paints to paint the pavements and zebra crossings in town.
Planting of flowers and trees is routinely done that even the newly tarmacked Bwamba Road has already been covered.

“And now we have embarked on Fort Portal-Kasese road and all roads leading out of Fort Portal Town,” Mr Mugisa said.

“We have also lobbied the National Forest Authority (NFA) to give us all species of trees that can beautify the town. They have already given us 500 royal palm trees which we have planted at the entrance of Rwenzori Diocese and Fort Portal Diocese,” Mr Mugisa says.
The urban authorities are also promoting private-public partnerships where they have involved institutions like Kabarole Hospital to maintain the green belt along Fort Portal-Kasese road.
“This arrangement has helped us to reduce the cost of labour as individuals get involved in beautifying the the town,” Mr Mugisa reasoned.
Residents’ attitude
Some leaders believe that the residents’ attitude has played a big role in making the town the cleanest in the country. Fort Portal Municipality MP Alex Ruhunda says the people have adopted a culture of cleanliness which is typical of Batooro.
He also says the mayor deserves the biggest credit for spearheading the cleaning of the town through effective garbage management and enforcement of paving the spaces on buildings connecting to the roads.
“There is no way a town can be clean without its residents being clean,” reasons Mr Mugisa, adding, “Even if you put by-laws and enforce them you waste your time if the people are themselves not clean. In fact when you find a polythene bag or an empty water bottle dumped on the streets, then know a visitor has possibly thrown it there.”
Mr Mugisa reveals that the urban authority has engaged the taxi operators to have dustbins so that passengers don’t dump their rubbish anyhow.
“We have enforced that no shop will get licenced without a dustbin,” he adds.
The church and UPDF have also joined the campaign to keep Fort Portal town clean.
“Keeping a town clean is not a one-man work, but a collective effort,” Bishop Reuben Kisembo of Rwenzori Diocese said recently after participating in a town clean up exercise.
The mayor, Mr Edison Asaba Ruyonga, says in partnership with the World Bank and Nema, the municipal authorities have established a garbage recycling plant at Kitere village.
About Fort Portal
Fort Portal Municipality lies at the foot of Mount Rwenzori, 5,050 feet above sea level. The municipality had a population of 48, 000 persons by 2012, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. It is comprised of three Divisions; East, West and South covering 27.82 sq kms of which the central business district is 4sq km. It is the only place in Uganda whose main town and district have different names. The town is Fort Portal and the district is Kabarole loosely translated as “let them see”.
fbasiime@ug.nationmedia.com