Residents working on the 16.2km road
Residents of Dabani Sub-county in Busia district have resorted to use hand hoes to build 16.2 kilometers-Kms Nangwe, Busumba-Buyengo road which is completely wasted and unusable.
It’s the main road that is supposed to connect Masinya Sub-county through Dabani to Busia town and its maintenance is supposed to be under the district local government.
According to residents, the road has become impassable due to potholes, stagnant water and mads whenever it rains making it slippery and a hot spot for accidents.
They started working on the road last month (April) by using hand hoes, pangas, slashers, among other tools to open drainage channels as well as stones and soil to fix potholes and compact using the old culvert by rolling it on the soil that they pour on the road.
Kennedy Okumu Sibudi, a resident says that they have opted to build the road on daily basis early in morning and have so far worked on almost 1 and a half kilometers, and they hope to finish the road in three months.
Richard Bekahm, another resident says that the road has stayed for several years without being rehabilitated and is now covered up with bushes to the extent that a user cannot see what is coming in front.
He attributed the sorry state of roads in the area due to substandard work by previous constructors.
Lazarus Wabwire, says that they want to use their own labor and local methods to work on the road so that it can be at a certain standard that can at least last for some years.
Jovia Ajambo, a trader selling beans at produce market says that they have shunned using the road due to its sorry state. They are currently using Majanji road which is distant and expensive in terms of transport costs.
Ogola P’ajapian, the acting Busia district engineer applauded the decision by residents and says that they have about 570 kilometres of district roads, 95% of which are in sorry state and they need rehabilitation.
Ogola says that they have a challenge that they always receive little money from the central government that cannot rehabilitate roads and they instead use it, for maintenance of the roads then when it rains the road appears like it was not worked on.
