President Museveni has told the people of Obongi that they will soon receive electricity as he pays one of the debts he has for the district.
“We have two debts with Obongi, and one is electricity. Money has been secured to bring electricity to Obongi. We are going to use a World Bank loan to do this,”he said.
“Obongi is the only district in Uganda together with Buvuma that don’t have electricity. Money has been secured and I want to tell you we are going to bring electricity to Obongi. We are going to use a world bank loan to do this.”
The NRM presidential candidate was on Friday campaigning in Onbogi, in West Nile.
He said granting Obongi a district status in 2019 to break away from Moyo was aimed at stopping the isolation it was facing.
Museveni said the isolation had started many years back, even before he came to power.
“I was here in 1979 and it is when I started knowing the problems of Obongi. When I came into government, I was aware of the problem of isolation of Obongi. We gave you a district deliberately because of geography and isolation.”
Another debt
Museveni said another debt that he is set to pay is working on the road network in Obongi.
He also listed key road projects earmarked for upgrading, including the 132-kilometre Noko–Obongi–Adjumani–Owafa–Lubala–Kurikiringa road, and another route linking Goli–Panyimur–Pakwach–Rhinocamp–Obongi.
“All these roads will be worked on, and Obongi will no longer be isolated,” he said.
The president highlighted ongoing or planned tarmacking projects such as the Manibe–Jule road, Nebbi–Goli–Paidha–Zombo–Vura road, and the Laropi–Moyo road all meant to develop West Nile.
“When the NRM came into government, the tarmac road ended at Karuma on that side and Gulu on this side. Now tarmac has reached Koboko and Oraba, and from Gulu to Atiak, Adjumani to Laropi, Moyo—soon we shall link Adjumani and Obongi to these roads,” he said.
He however took a swipe at district engineers who fail to maintain murram roads using the equipment provided to each district by government.
“Even if the road is not tarmacked, it should be maintained in good condition and passable. In the West Nile, we have two government stations in Arua and Moyo, with all the necessary road equipment—graders, rollers, bulldozers, tippers. You wonder why the roads remain impassable. If somebody is sleeping, I’m going to wake them up,” he said.
Museveni noted that out of six sub-counties in the district, one has a Health Centre IV, three have Health Centre IIIs, while two have none.
He pledged to fill the gap by upgrading Obongi Health Centre IV to a General Hospital and upgrading Indilinga HCII (in Aliba) and Lomunga HCII (in Gimara) to HCIIIs.
“We are going to solve that by building health centre IIIs and a district hospital,” Museveni said.
He however urged the population to get involved in wealth creation, noting that despite development, poverty will remain if households are not involved in creating wealth.
