KYANZUKI RESIDENTS INNOVATE ALTERNATIVE ROAD

Once an admirable residential area, Kyanzuki Township in Bulembia division, Kasese Municipality is now a hard to reach area. Many people wonder how a township can be hard to reach and live but this is a
reality following the flash floods that did not only take the lives of 8 people, also washed away houses and bridges.
With 19 bridges damaged across the district when all the major rivers took to the center of madness. Nyamwamba River became the master of all as it damaged whatever it came across in its valley said to have been neglected for decades.
It was May 1, 2013 when the River burst its banks that had been weakened by aggressive human activity. With the destruction of Kilembe Mines Hospital and other developments in the valley, it also took away Kyanzuki Bridge that connects a residential area of hundreds of homes to the entire Kasese Municipality.
Kyanzuki an area that boasts of Kilembe secondary school-Kasese’s highly populated with an enrolment of about 1500 students, Kyanzuki primary school with over 700 pupils, Masule primary school and the
Park Trekkers a tourist guiding company. All these institutions have now been cut off from life because the only bridge to Kyanzuki is no more. Neither can one detect that there used to be a bridge.
A business woman in Kyanzuki who identified herself as Rachael Basimire now treks the nearby hills for about 5kms to reach Bulembia town ship where she jumps on a boda boda motorcycle to Mawa market in Kasese town to buy food stuff and palm oil for sale in the Kyanzuki market.
During the golden time, it used to take Ms. Basimire Shs. 1500 on a boda boda to reach Kyanzuki but currently to get those to carry the merchandise through the hills needs about Shs. 10000.
“There is no way people in Kyanzuki will avoid hard life so long as there remains to be no bridge. You see me passing through these hills to access Kasese town. But how will I come back with the food that I
am going to buy from Mawa market? Definitely I will have to increase the price for the Matooke and palm oil”. Ms. Basimire said on Saturday.
However, the Bakonzo have a saying that “Akathayihambirira sikalhwa Omwiya” meaning that a chick that does not toil hard does not hutch from the egg. Hundreds of men from Kyanzuki and the neighboring areas that have been benefiting from the cut off road hutched a plan at the weekend to open an alternative road that can be used only for motorcycles and pedestrians to move in and out of Kyanzuki.
This takes courage by men, local leaders and the Kasese Municipality MP James Mbahimba to get hoes, spades and other hand machinery to dig through the rocky Bunyandiku hills opening up a road that will link the area to the Kilembe mines fields where life can start from.
It takes another courageous journalist to reach the hill which the men are bisecting to make what had looked impossible possible. Walking from Katiri Bridge in Bulembia where all vehicles stop from these
days, is a 1hour walk to reach the men-young and old doing a communal work to reload life to their town.
One man identified as Baridi does not want me to take a photo of them digging the road before I also dig part but he is shouted at by the rest saying “this is a journalist coming to show our plight to the
rest of the world, he is doing his work now”. These men together with their leaders and the MP cannot stop working. They shout whenever a big stone is uprooted and rolled over downhill to the Kilembe Mines compressor area. What damage it causes there is none of their concern.
Mr. Headmon Mwanguhya one of the mobilizers said that the suffering people are going through in Kyanzuki is the reason they are forced to participate in the digging out on alternative road. He describes the life in Kyanzuki as “unbearable” because the trend of business has taken another twist.
Mr. Mwanguhya breaks down the prices of commodities in Kyanzuki after the collapse of the bridge. A match box is at Shs 200 from shs 100; a kilogram of sugar that has been at 3500 is at 5000, a candle wax of 200 is at 500 because the electricity is no more. This is the same to other commodities.
“So, we are here digging the new road to make sure motorcycles can reach Kyanzuki with hope that traders can reduce on the biting prices of goods. All traders are with us here on this work because the
consequences of the floods affect us all”. Mr. Mwanguhya said.
The area MP James Mbahimba rests his elbow on the hoe holder when his turn to talk comes. He says that if Kyanzuki continues to be cut off up to June, then the school life there will be a gone case.
“My prayer is that together with these hardworking and cooperative men, we chat a way that can take our students and teachers back to Kyanzuki especially Kilembe secondary school when the second term
opens late this month”. Mr. Mbahimba said.
According to the MP there are dozens of civil servants who have been residing in the comfort weather of Kyanzuki who need to go to work and may be shift their families from there but no way.
Although many other places in Kasese district were affected by the floods with about 1000 people in three settlement camps, other people forgetting about the location of their houses, life has become
  unwarrantedin Kyanzuki parish where whoever wants to move out quickly would need to borrow the angels’ wings to do so.  END

TRANSPORT PARALYSED AS MUBUKU BRIDGE IN KASESE COLLAPSES.

Heavy tracks traveling from Kampala to Kasese and vice versa have been affected in the latest diversion of the route as experts try to save Mubuku bridge in Kasese from collapsing.

After three consecutive water overflows in the Kasese main rivers in one week, Mubuku Bridge on River Mubuku on the Kasese-Fort Portal road developed cracks forcing disaster management officials to order that trucks loaded with lagged beyond five tones cross no more.

Kasese’s main Rivers of Mubuku, Rwimi, Nyamwamba and Nyamugasane again flood for the third time in a week. Two people died on Monday after being swept away by the Rwimi River that separates Kasese and Kabarole districts.

The National Coordinator of the emergency operations in the Office of the Prime Minister Maj. Gen. Julius Oketta confirmed the development that a quick assessment on the bridge indicated that only light vehicles can cross as ways of rectifying the problem are being sought.

He said that police has been instructed to divert the heavy trucks at Busega round about not to take the Fort-Portal road but instead go through Mbarara as the best alternative.

The same has been done at the Kasese Round-about to stop heavy trucks from the Democratic Republic of Congo not to use the Kasese-Fort Portal road.

This means, there could be a big effect on the Lubiriha market at the border with DRC since most of the trucks bringing merchandise and goods from Kampala and Mombasa might have been blocked on the way heading to Kasese.

Gen. Oketta however, said that a robust and coordinated response operation started on Tuesday morning to try save Mubuku Bridge with bags of sand being heaped on the sides so that the pavement is not washed away in the next floods.

 Meanwhile, heavy machinery is being applied to make a road diversion for opening the Buhunga road that will work as the only alternative to access Kilembe Township following the collapse of the Katiri Bridge on one side.

The Mayor Kasese Municipality Mr. Godfrey Kabbyanga said that the collapse of the bridge was hindering plans to restore electricity line to the Kilembe Mines tunnels that need power to pump water from the undergrounds.

Currently, engineers from Kilembe Mines and Umeme are working around the clock to fix the electricity line that was cut off during the Wednesday floods.

END

FOUR PEOPLE DIE, HOUSE HOLDS DISPLACED AS FLOODING HITS KASESE

Hundreds of Households in Kasese municipality have been displaced following the floods that resulted from River Nyamwamba that burst all its banks on Wednesday morning.

What was reported as the usual over flooding of the River that have taken lives of many people every rainy season turned into an incident that cannot be recalled by people who have lived in Kasese town over time.

Most of the affected places are almost the whole of Nyamwamba and Bulembia divisions that are crossed by the River Nyamwamba. The areas affected most include Kilembe valley, Acholi Quarters, Kizungu, Nyakasanga, Base Camp, Kanyangeya and Kamuliquizi.

Due the problem, the traffic was affected along the Kasese-Fort Portal road whereby there was no vehicle entering Kasese town from Fort Portal and vice versa after the water cut of the road at Nyakasanga about 200 meters from the Kasese airfield.

Hundreds of people were stranded on either side of the road including Kasese woman MP Ms. Winfred Kiiza who was returning to the constituency from Kampala. Police took control of the situation by blocking vehicles from risking the water.

Unconfirmed reports from Kilembe valley indicated that the former procurement Officer of Kasese district Mr. Paddy Karusu and another man should have died a house that collapsed when they were trying to rescue shop goods in Kanyaruboga area.

The District councilor for Kilembe sub-county Mr. Emmanual Kaghuma says that water hit the house in which Mr. Karusu was operating a retail shop along the Kasese-Kilembe road which collapsed immediately and nobody could access the house several houses after the incident.

“The people who were near the house say Karusu and another man said to be a teacher an Nganki primary school were trying to rescue the good from his shop when floods overpowered his house which collapsed on them there and then. Chances of survival are very minimal” Mr. Kaghuma said.

The heavy down pour that also destructed the Kasese district Labour Day celebrations in Hima town council has forced most of the downstream rivers to over flood right away from the Rwenzori Mountains to the lakes.

In Kilembe, two bridges that connect the nearby villages to Kilembe town have been washed away while the bridge that connects Kyalhumba to Kisinga sub-county has also collapsed.

The management of Kilembe hospital reportedly discharged all the patients that were admitted to hospital after it was also flooded even in the wards. An eye witness says, the patients with their care givers were seen climbing uphills to the nearby villages to get out of the fateful valley.

Daily Monitor could not verify the reports since none of the administrators at the hospital was available by press time. However, eye witnesses saw the staff quarters at Kilembe Hospital having been flooded with one of the medical workers who climbed a tree stranded until 5pm when he was rescued from the river.

The electricity power in the whole of Kasese town was cut off following the floods that raided peoples’ houses posing a risk of a fire outbreak.

One of the people, whose houses have collapsed Mr. Geofrey Kamalha of Saluti B village in Kasese town, says he found when there was nothing to save from the building because everything had been taken away by the water.

“ I was not there when the house collapsed and there was nobody else because we had all gone to work. This house is a big loss to me because their no way I can renovate as everything is down. This is a big loss”.

END

KASESE CHIEF MAGISTRATE REMANDS 18 MURDER SUSPECTS TO MUBUKU PRISON

The Kasese Chief Magistrate Ms Agatonica Mbabazi has remanded 18 people to Mubuku government prison until May 3, on charges of murder.

The group was arrested during a recent operation carried out by security agencies in, ponmdwe-Lubiriha town council, Karambi and Nyakiyumba sub-counties.

The operation codenamed CLEAR UCHAFU was commanded by the Kasese district chairman Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo following waves of armed robberies and murder of business people in areas near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The suspects include, Police Constable Mr. Joshua Muhindo, Swalleh Muhindo, Amza Salimboko, Ali Kato ,Watsema Moses, Saturday Pedson, Bwambale Solomon, Kamba;e Malekani, Masika ANIFA, Muhindo Harriet and Musinguzi Deo.

Others are, Mugabe Aggrey Mugarura, Kombi Kasyakulu Kapuru, Thembo Milio, Masereka Rabson, Kibaya Vincent,  Masereka Joseph, Kaija Muthende Godfrey and Bwambale Francis.

The suspects were paraded before the Chief Magistrate on Friday and charged with five counts of Murder, stealing with a gun, attempted murder, possession of illegal fire arms and possession of illegal ammunitions.

Prosecution alleges that on March 27, 2013 while at Kamasasa village in Karambi sub-county, the group shot dead Julius Kisembo Bafera a coffee dealer, injured his wife before stealing Shillings 18M from his home.

Meanwhile, Swalleh Muhindo, Amza Salimboko, Moses Watsema and Ali Kato have been charged separately with the murder of the late Mughongo Saturday at Kinyamaseke town board on January 3^rd.

However, the Chief Magistrate said did not allow the suspects to take people on both accounts and charges because her court does not have the jurisdiction to hear capital offenses. She remanded them to Mubuku government prison until May 3.

The Chief Magistrate also ordered for the medical examinations of all the suspects  who complained to have been tortured during arrest and in police custody.

The Magistrate then ordered the prison officials to make sure all suspects complaining of torture are examined and those sick treated and have a report back to court on May 3.

The commander of the Operation “clear Uchafu” Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo said that he was happy with the step taken by court adding that it is good for the law to take its course on suspects of any nature.

Lt. Col. Mawa said that more of the suspects still at large are being pursued until they are apprehended and handed over to court for trial.   END.

33 REMANDED FOR IDLE AND DISIORDERLY IN KASESE

The Grade Two Magistrate Court sitting at Kisinga on Thursday has remanded thirty three people to Nyabirongo prison until Monday.

The suspects who appeared before the Grade Two Magistrate Mr. Didas were rounded up last night at Kinyamaseke town board as part of the ongoing operation codenamed “CLEAR UCHAFU”.

This operation was led by the Kasese district chairman Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo in conjunction with police.

Court heard that the suspected charged with Idle and disorderly were netted in a disco at Kinyamaseke town board at about 4 am on Thursday morning.

19 of them pleaded guilty to the charges as the rest denied them.

The Magistrate remanded all of them until Monday when the sentence and trial will be held respectively.

Speaking to Kasese Guide Radio shortly after court, the District Chairman Lt. Col. Mawa Muhindo said more will be arrested to ensure a society free from criminals.

He said that such people who stay in bars until down are likely to be aiding the rampant theft of live stock.

END