Kasese NRM leaders renew demand for split of district

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | NRM leaders in Kasese district are renewing calls for the split of Kasese into four districts.

A section of leaders from Kasese, especially those subscribing to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Party, have been pushing for the split of the district.

In 2010, Kasese district council passed a resolution for the district to be subdivided into three.

The move, however, was met with resistance especially from the FDC members of Parliament; and indeed government struck Kasese from the list of districts to be split.

In 2016, the district council which was FDC dominated revoked the motion to have the district subdivided.

But in a new twist of events, Wilson Mbathulhagho, the Bwesumbu sub-county councillor who also subscribes to the opposition party moved a motion to subdivide the district into four in 2018.

The motion was controversially passed by council in September 2018 but Kasese district chairperson Geoffrey Sibendire Bigogo and five legislators petitioned the local government minister and asked him not to proceed with the split.

Local Government Minister Col Tom Butime said then that government would carry out more consultations before the split of Kasese can be okayed.

Now as leaders in Kasese meet President Yoweri Museveni at Nyakasanga grounds in Kasese town, various NRM leaders are calling on to the president to expedite the split.

Richard Bomera the Bulembia Division councillor says the split of Kasese has been long overdue.

Bomera argued that the president who is in Kasese for an Operation Wealth Creation tour said the wealth created will be in vain if services are not extended nearer to the people.

He argues that the only way to bring services nearer to the people is if  the district is split as per the 2018 council resolution.

Bomera is supported by Fred Police Businge, the NRM district chairperson who says the district is too big to be served by a single administration.

Businge says it is within the interest of creating wealth and more opportunities for the people of Kasese.

He also says the district leadership is failing to supervise and or monitor government programs because the district is too wide.

He believes the president will make an announcement for the subdivision of the district.

But Kasese district chairperson Geoffrey Sibendire Bigogo says the president shouldn’t heed to diversionary demands that will not necessarily transform the lives of the people.

Bigogo says you don’t need districts to deliver services to the people of Kasese.

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