KALANGALA | KAAZI | MALANGA ROAD

KALANGALA - Residents at Kaazi-Malanga landing site have vowed to block tax collectors from accessing their businesses due to the poor state of their road.

The Kaazi-Malanga road is a 4km stretch of Kalangala-Mulabana main road. 

The road is now impassable by cargo cars as Lake Victoria waters cut it off again yet it has been recently maintained at sh13.5m.

The road to Kaazi-Malanga landing site has a 500 meters stretch that runs across the shoreline which had been cut off during the rise of Lake Victoria freshwater in 2019. 

This left the landing site inaccessible without using a boat.

During this time, two children drowned, one expectant mother lost her life and business people lost their properties due to water.

The district council passed a supplementary budget of sh13.5m to raise the stretch above the Lake level which they did in December 2021. Residents contributed sh500,000 to supplement sh13m, stones and marram though they allege that engineers embezzled the money thus doing shoddy work.

Led by their L C 1 chairperson Frank Lukyamuzi, residents allege that the money that was allocated to raise the 500 meters section that runs on the shoreline of Lake was misused by engineers.

"We advised the district engineer on how effective they can raise this stretch but just months after their work, Lake Victoria has cut the road off again. Cargo cars can no longer reach the landing site which has again hiked prices of commodities twice in their area," said Lukyamuzi.

He has further lamented that they suspended paying taxes with immediate effect until the district leaders work on their road.

In February 2022, Apolo Mugume, the Kalangala RDC by then ordered engineer Baliremwa Mukajaaga re-construct the stretch within two weeks though his directive was defied.

The Kalangala Woman MP Hellen Nakimuli promised to fuel the machines to re-construct the stretch again, however, the quotation she received was exaggerated.

"The engineers quoted sh15m for fuel to raise the 500 meters stretch at Kaazi-Malanga road. This is above even the initial prices used to construct their shoddy stretch and I couldn't afford it," said Nakimuli. 

The resident's move to suspend paying tax will see the district losing over sh10m from the landing site.

When contacted, Novat Mukajaanga Baliremwa, the district engineer denied commenting on the allegations of shoddy construction of the stretch.