Monday, June 9, 2014

MOROTO, WE NEED TO TRY HSGs, OR CONTINUE STATIC FOREVER!

Moroto Municipality.  A thing or two persistently keeps dragging the growth of this principal Karimojong capital backward despite her pedigree.  
For starters; Moroto, Mbale, Arua, Jinja, Soroti, Lira and Gulu were created at about the same period and should ideally be at the same development path. Now as it stands, we can’t believe it because even smaller towns; Mbarara, Fortportal, Masindi, Mubende, Hoima, Luwero, Busia including other ‘microscopic’ trading centers around the Country have come and proceeded far away from our Moroto.
Grotesquely (boy, run for your dictionary), the factors causing this social economic immobility in development are quite easy to fix. In my view, there is need for a Kagame type leadership to ensure a breakthrough. Well, am not saying this should be Rwanda. It remains Uganda. However, a fashionable person wouldn’t hesitate to ask; what the hell is the problem with Moroto? Who is not doing his/her role? It’s Just quite crazy guys.
Today, this heroes’ day, I clutched on such a haunting walk traversing some central streets in Moroto’s liveliest center –Camp Swahili. Plainly speaking, the town still suffers terrible filth despite budget allocations by government and development NGOs in the health and hygiene sector.
Should we say that the funds are wrongly used? I couldn’t agree with a colleague whose observation last year showed that even an international NGO had intervened in a non-realistic fashion. Someone had taken a photo of a dumping pit created by an NGO in an attempt to rid the Municipality of garbage.
It looked really bad because the rubbish was full to beyond capacity and garbage was all over a radius of 10 meters and more from the ‘development innovation’ point. Today, I agree fully with my friend. The dumping pits are now officially swallowed off. You won’t see them again, but instead today, even a blind man can fully visualize that all the ‘innovation points’ have become potential disease breeding areas in the Municipality.
Guess what? If I were in charge of making things change in this town, I would ask all hygiene/sanitation project implementers to direct funds on vehicles and fuel for fetching garbage out of the town. Honestly, we can’t have a dumping ground within the town and near people’s residents! Anyhow, am no engineer but technocrats should advice and give our town a good image.
More useless thing is the presence of ‘human dung’ in several points of this very important town. Terrible and unbearable spots include Labour-line area after hotel D’Andrias. I would give the owners of that new structure opposite the Market an ultimatum. They either complete the structures immediately and allow business or pay security guards to stop members from dumping ‘dung’ all over the place.
Other terrible places are Nakapelimen, Katamukono and Campshaili Chini near Kakoliye Primary school. During Taria sita, I sympathized with Museveni’s soldiers. The UPDF tried their best to fish out smelly garbage out of this town but boy, feaces is not a good thing. I would equally use the military to deal with the unfortunate members the military way. Can’t the army succeed in this disarmament deal too?
The Municipality should alternatively write a Project proposal for the recruitment, training and deployment of hygiene security guards (HSG). Trust me; donors like UNICEF can release funds for such. HSGs would be tasked with identifying and arresting all those who litter or defecate within the town. A strict by-law in place would also see to it that such culprits are arrested, tried and taken to prison. Boy, wouldn’t this be the only way, we might easily redeem our town from the current grime impression?
What should pain civilized men is the fact that free public toilets exist in town! An extreme case is one I witnessed in 2010. It was in Namijimij village, four kilometers outside Moroto Municipality. Friend, the LC1 of that village had turned a public toilet into his office and store; meanwhile members fenced the “office and store” with feaces of all structures. I strongly believe that there is something we can do in order to change this. Can we seek regional advice from Paul Kagame of East Africa’s smartest country -Rwanda? Over to you people who are in the things!

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