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By Idarus Pajobo Moyo The business community along the Arua–Nebbi road, particularly in Kuluva Parish, Vurra Sub-county in Arua District, have voiced serious grievances over the worsening condition of the road. The traders highlight that the dilapidated road h
By Idarus Pajobo
Moyo
The business community along the Arua–Nebbi road, particularly in Kuluva Parish, Vurra Sub-county in Arua District, have voiced serious grievances over the worsening condition of the road.
The traders highlight that the dilapidated road has severely impacted commerce, citing increased cases of theft, robbery, and accidents that hinder smooth trade in the area.
When our team visited the community, Lekuru Joyce, a vendor at Kuluva Trading Centre, shared her deep frustration, explaining that the damaged road has significantly driven up transportation costs, which is hurting her business.
“It is so sad, if you have a lot of supplies to transport, prices go higher, drivers first ask where are the items taken and where will they pass? Which answers intern determine prices, if your money is little they can choose not to transport because they themselves are also at a risk,” Said Lekuru.
Likewise, Asuru Faiza, a vendor at Kuluva Market, lamented that in many instances, goods are stolen from the impassable sections of the road—resulting in financial losses, particularly for the women traders in the market.
“As we observe while transporting, there are thieves and sometimes in the night these thieves loot items from vehicles as the speeds are low due to the bad roads,“ Asuru echoed.
When we engaged the Boda Boda operators in Kuluva, Malunga Nickwell, a rider, revealed that the appalling road conditions have left them exposed to frequent robberies and motorcycle thefts including accidents.
“As a bodaboda rider, I feel a big pity to myself and my colleagues, I ride my own motorcycle and get money but I am forced to stop earlier because if I ride at night, I can easily meet robbers but what pains me is government officials even use this road but they cannot repair, they even cannot come and find out how it is with us here,” said, Malunga.
On the same issue, Asindu Geofrey, another rider, warned that if the government fails to take swift action to address the road crisis, they may withdraw their support for the NRM government in the upcoming elections.
“We have supported the government but honestly, if the government does not think about us, we shall not vote NRM again, we shall give our votes to NUP,” Asindu threatened.
In reaction to these concerns, Hon. Atima Lee Buti Jackson, the Member of Parliament for Arua central, responded with the following remarks, “I raised issues about this road twice, in the parliament, the ministry of works and transport was directed to allocate funds for its repair, and I also raised it in the coccus, this is direct to President Museveni he directed the ministry of finance to look for money and fix the road, especially from Madi Okolo to Kuluva which has caused a lot of accidents and robberies,” Hon, Atima Lee explained.
The Arua–Nebbi road has long been a point of concern in the West Nile sub-region. Originally constructed between 2001 and 2006 with financial support from the International Development Association (IDA), the road’s current state is alarming and in urgent need of intervention.