And Mary Asujo
A section of lawmakers from Acholi and Lango Parliamentary Group, are demanding that government should provide an update to on Ugandans on the status of Karuma bridge, in one week.
On May 6, the government re-redirected traffic flow at the Karuma Bridge crossing after engineers identified defects on the 61-year-old major infrastructure that they said needed urgent intervention.
The bridge, vital for connecting Kampala to northern Uganda, West Nile, DR Congo via Goli and South Sudan, was closed to all lorries, trailers and buses for three months.
Led by Kilak South MP, Gilbert Olanya while addressing journalists in a press conference said that security personnel are taking advantage of the situation to extort money from travelers and business people.
“Businesses have gone down and several businesses are closing. The prices of commodities are increasing. It’s our prayer that government listens to us so that people go back to their normal life,” said Olanya.
Nwoya district woman MP, Judith Peace Achan said that its now two months since the temporal closure of the bridge and people are grappling with high cost of transport in northern Uganda.
“We want government to update the country on when they will start work on the bridge because people travelling in buses are being charged high fares,” she added.
Northern Region Youth MP. Boniface Okot reminded government that northern Uganda is part of Uganda with a total of 8m people.
“What baffles me is that we have to demand or organize press conferences for our people to access public good. It was Uganda national Roads Authority (UNRA) who made the commitment that it would take three months to reconstruct Karuma. Northern Uganda is needs urgent infrastructure projects and bridges,” he said.
Lira district woman MP, Linda Auma noted that as leaders from northern Uganda, it’s prudent to inform Ugandans on what is happening at Karuma, adding that extortion of money from people who are using the bridge is alarming.
“This is putting the lives of travelers at risk as the cost of doing business is becoming difficult. The continues closer is affecting the livelihoods of the people, “he noted. Auma called for a speedy update on the status and plans on the re-construction saying that the negative effects will go down to the local person.
Kitgum Municipality MP, Denis Onekalit pointed out that they pray that the closure is not due to conspiracy.
The bridge was closed on May 23 till to date, nothing has been done it looks like we are in post mortem and we wonder if the people are being considered,” noted Onekalit.
All drivers of trailers, lorries and trucks – except buses – are currently using Kafu-Masindi, branch off on the left to use Hoima-Biiso-Buliisa-Paraa road, to connect to Pakwach or Gulu via Olwiyo and vice versa.