feature writing: 3rd place- ismail musa ladu, daily monitor

8/18/2019 Feature writing: 3rd place- Ismail Musa Ladu, Daily Monitor

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14 MONDAY APRIL 13, 2015

special report

Arua Town

comes of age,shakes off itsshackles

H amisi Mugerwa is a Kampa-la-based businessman whomakes more money from Aruathan any other town in the country.

This, however, was not the casewhen he first ventured into busi-ness just slightly over a decade andhalf ago. He says his fortunes startedchanging for the better after sud-denly noticing a change in his clien-tele, many of them coming all the wayfrom West Nile.

Worth noting is that about the sametime, South Sudan signed a peacedeal with the Khartoum governmentbefore gaining full independence fiveyears later. As a result, there was anacute demand for almost everythingin South Sudan.

Given its location and industri-ousness, the responsibility to feedthe South Sudan market fell into thehands of West Nile traders, who nowneeded to increase their stock to fur-nish both the indigenous market aswell as the new one in South Sudan.

Mugerwa, fondly referred to asMambo Yote by his West Nile cus-tomers, seems to allude to the afore-mentioned fact as one of the majorreasons that can explain how hisbusiness grew. Mambo Yote is aKiswahili phrase which refers to aperson with everything/power, andin this case it is being used to empha-

sise Mugerwa’s ability to provide allthe necessary merchandise, includingmattresses, bales of clothes, shoesand even stationery.

Speaking with certainty, he saysto date, his largest orders end up inArua Town; if not, it is brought bytraders that are bound for Arua.

He is now planning to supply con-struction materials to West Nile

with his base being Arua, a dream hehopes to accomplish in the next twomonths. He believes this is a venturethat can fetch him lots of money,considering that Arua also providesa pathway to the lucrative marketsof South Sudan and the DemocraticRepublic of Congo.

Mugerwa’s narration in many waystells the story of what Arua Town hassince become in the grand scheme ofthings—a booming multicultural hubfor both internal and cross-borderbusinesses.

A closer look further reveals that

there are more similarities betweenKampala and Arua Town than thereare differences.

Similarity to KampalaJust like Kampala, Arua Town

is cosmopolitan. Business there isvibrant in the same way it is in Ki-kuubo and Owino market in down-town Kampala. The urban popula-tion is high just like in the Kampalacity, with the majority inhabitants intheir youthful age.

According to the provisional re-sults of the National Population andHousing Census, 2014, Arua Townannual growth rate is at three percent, slightly higher than the one ofKampala at two per cent. Currently,the population of Arua Municipalityis about 62,657 people while the oneof Kampala capital city is 1,516,210people.

And yes, Arua urban dwellershardly sleep, with the slight differ-ence being that in Kampala, the citylife never sleeps whereas in AruaTown activity tends to stop by 5amand then resumes nearly six hourslater—way beyond 10am.

According to security agencies,

There is no doubt, Arua is the business hub of WestNile. Arua, which originated from the word “Aru” looselyinterpreted as prison, has fought off colonial captivity and

is now in a tougher war against poverty. In Part I of thisseries, Ismail Musa Ladu looks at how Arua positioneditself and the gains it has made.

the boom is possible because of im-proved security across the country.

In an interview with the Arua Dis-trict police commander, JonathanMusinguzi, crime such as aggravatedrobbery, murder, assault and bodilyharm is not as prevalent, save formob action and land disputes.

Where it has come fromIt has not always been this way

however. The Mayor of Arua Munici-pality, Mr Charles Asiki, says whentrade increased, thanks to the SouthSudan Comprehensive Peace Agree-ment in 2005, by 2006, Arua Townhad degenerated into a shadow of itsformer self. “This town was covered

in filth—it was stinking,” he says.Even though this claim is corrobo-

rated by Muzamil Musa, a senior citi-zen in Arua, it is worth noting that theperiod between 2006 to date coin-cides with Asiki’s reign as the mayorof Arua who in Muzamil’s opinion,has been the best mayor thus far.

Muzamil says before Asiki becamethe mayor of Arua, preventable dis-eases such as cholera, due to uncol-lected garbage in the centre of thetown, were the order of the day.

First forward, there is now an at-tempt to keep the streets clean.Roads under the municipality seemfairly well taken care of, although thetarmacked roads spot rough edges.

Streets such as Dorcus Inzikuru –named after the athlete who endedUganda’s 33-year wait for an athleticsworld title – Rhino Camp Road Street,Adumi road, Transport Street, Hospi-tal Street, Wadrif Street and Weath-erhead Parklane are fairly well takencare of.

There is also something about theinhabitants of Arua. The dwellers’broad smiles are disarming. This iswell demonstrated in a section of

Arua market, the only market plso far, where a customer is showerwith smiles even though he does nspend a coin.

The energy and vibrancy of people is evident in the way they tawork and even laugh. The laughparticularly of excited women

rather shrill and elongated. And thof a happy man is normally deeplittle exaggerated and wide.

And by their very nature trarely mince words. If you are wroyou will be duly told so and shoyou deserve a pat on the back you wswiftly be given your fair share.

Congolese music blasts loud mof the day. Out of every five shin the town, at least two are playiCongolese music, something tseems to serve as a reminder of thistorical connection between ttwo countries.

The night life is busy with sevnight clubs and hangout joints tered across the town.

Casablanca and Oasis 24/7 are crently some of the trendiest nigspots. Both are located in the middof the town. They both generate t

• Arua is about 8-9 hours’ drive, about482km from the capital, Kampala. It islocated to the northwest of the country’scapital city.• In 2001, Yumbe District was carved outof Aringa County of the then Arua District.

• Koboko District was similarly carved out

of Koboko County of the then Arua District.• In 2006, a district comprising thecounties of Maracha and Terego was carvedout of Arua.As of now, Arua comprises the countiesof Ayivu (whose total population is about246,196 people), Vurra (with a population

of 133,640), Madi-Okollo (with a totalpopulation of 138,677 people) and AruaMunicipality (with a population of 62,600people).

Source: Arua District Local Governmentand Ubos provisional results, 2014

FACTS ABOUT ARUA


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Arua Town is growing scatteredly and everybody is looking on

FASTEST GROWING

URBAN CENTRE

Development experts, analysts, gov-ernment technical officials, Arua mu-nicipality leadership, as well as privatesector players Daily Monitor spoke to,all concur that Arua town is not just ex-panding in population numbers but alsomaking strides in terms of economicgrowth and development compared toseveral other towns across the country.

To illustrate the magnitude of thecross-border trade that is orchestrated,largely by the Arua town dwellers, onecan look at the revenue missed as aresult of illicit trade rather than the oneaccrued in legitimate business.

As a result of illicit trade in West Nile,thanks to the Arua traders’ significantinvolvement, the government lossesnearly Shs10b in terms of revenue.

“Rice, cigarettes, polythene bags,spirits, cooking oil, textile and tigerhead battery cells top the list of mostsmuggled items,” according to URA en-forcement report.

The National Population and HousingCensus 2014 provisional results, ranksArua municipality among the 20 largesturban centres in the country on the ac-count of its numerical strength.

According to the 2014 provisionalcensus results, Arua municipality ishome to nearly 63,000 people. A de-cade ago it was home to about 44,000and a decade before that, it was resi-dent for 22,200 people.

Newly-commissioned Uganda Reg-istration Service Bureau (URSB) officein Arua indicates encouraging signs inregards to the number of companiesregistering there.

In an interview with the Arua-basedsenior registration officer, CharlotteThereza Mudoola, it became evidentthat the reason behind having a URSBoffice in Arua and not anywhere else in

the West Nile region is because of themunicipality’s economic vibrancy andstrategic location.

She said in three months of operation,they have registered about 20 compa-nies as many daily make inquiries onhow to go about this procedure.

“Going by what we have seen sincewe opened shop here in November, weanticipate that it is just a matter oftime before we start registering at least10 companies every day, in addition tooffering related mandated services,”Mudoola said.

With booming trade following stabil-ity in South Sudan and DR Congo andnot to mention a favourable tradingenvironment in West Nile, commercialactivities are becoming an attractiveoption.

And as result of that, the urbandwellers are not only enjoying them-selves more but are also investing theproceeds they are generating from thetrade in merchandise into real estate,retail shops and shopping arcades.

Thelast10yearshaveseensomanyupmarketcentreserectedin AruaTownincludingDesertBreezeHotel(L)whichhavegiventhetownanewlook.However,inspiteofthis growth,placesliketheMarketLane(R)havenot changedmuchwithtraderssellingtheirwaresonthe walkway.PHOTOBYFELIXWAROM

n the face of it, CharlesAndamalooksquitecom-fortable.Hedoesnotseem

edatall, notevenbythernoonsun.

a secondlook showsthatgh hehas madestridesincomparedto manyof his

heisnow atcrossroads.atesthisfeelingbecauseit

dshimof thingsheshouldonebetterbuthe didnot.ver, hecherishesopportu-hathe grabbed alongtheonsidering that most oferehalfchances.ating hisexperiencedur-

nterviewrecentlyinArua,masaysabouttwo decadesstartedhisworkinglifeasglingcyclist(boda-boda)g goodsbetweenUgandaeDemocratic Republic of(DRC).

mArua,givenitsproximityC, the Congolese nationalme herewithnothingbutetterattitudewould sup-French-speakingcountrysic merchandisesuch assugar,barsof soapand

lt.Occasionally,hewouldgarettesaswell.t oftheseitemshe wouldsupply on credit, or waso deliver themacrosstheder.wouldreturnwith African( kitenge ),whichhewould

he tradersinAruawho inould bringthemto Kam-hereit fetchedfairlygood

n to become a successfulsman,hesaidheenduredainthat notmany wouldegotiatedwithout luckonide. He would work forursthroughouttheweek.

atsbiggestthreat camefrom-smugglingofficersfromdes ofthe borders. They

too willing to pull theagainstsuspectedsmug-howere consideredcom-ieves.Becauseof that,heonstantfearof hislife.

f thatwasnot enough,be-gin themid-1990s whicherun-upto theousterofpresident Mobutu Sesef DR Congo, money wascomeby.He spentdays,

mes weeks labouring for.reached a point where Ihave enough money to

e as most of it was tiedebt.Itwas adifficulttimerybodyas therewasacutegeof moneyduetoinsecu-he time.”ontinued: “Iuncondition-endedtherepaymentpe-my creditorsandagreedidwhenthingsgotbetter,heydid,withsomechoos-

ingtorefundwithinterest.”Armedwithsome cash,partly

thankstotheaccruedinterest,heimpulsivelyventuredinto moneylending.

Andbeforehe knewithe hadgraduated fromboda-boda toataxi,thistimenotjustas ahireddriver,butas anowner.

Despitebeingan imigrant,An-dama grew both in stature andincome.Actuallynotuntilhetellsyouhisstorycan youtellthat heis an emigrant. He speaks thedominant language (Lugbara)fluently and spendsmajorityofhis time in Arua Town than inCongo—hismo therland.

He now employs six peoplewhoare runhis transport (taxi)business in Arua and the othersideofthe border—DRC.

Despitesuch strides, Andemaprefers to conduct his transac-tions informally, believing thatformalisingit will earnhimthewrath of the state, particularlythetaxman.

BiggerproblemCaught up in the same web

is Mary Alezuyo, a shrewd andwittymoneychanger.

She has been doing this foryears now after her husbandwho had been in the businessfor nearly 25 years introducedherintoit bydefaultratherthandesign.

She says: “One morning, myhusband woke up not feelingwellyet hehadan appointmentwith one of his big clients. Hedidn’t want me do this, but Iknewthisclient.AllI didwasgotohisbase—hisworkstationandstartedwork.”

Shecontinues: “ThateveningwhenIreturnedhome,Ideclaredallthe proceedsandsincethen Ibecamepartofthebusiness.”Shesaysshecannowchangeanycur-rencyof whatever amountwithminimumor nohassleat all.

As years went by, she pro-gressedas herhusbandthrived;thanksinparttotherandomin-vestmenttheyhave sinceunder-taken in retail shops, re-exportbusiness andreal estateamongothers.

Whiletellingherstory,itisevi-dentthatherdesiretosucceedisstrongalthoughit appearsthatshedoesn’thavea focusedstrat-egyinformingherdecisions.Herhusband,itappears,isalso avic-timof somewhat successfulbutuncoordinated business.

Thenthereis alsoPaul Asega.ButunlikeAlezuyoandAndama,hehasno idea whereto getthenext meal. Hebasicallylivesoffthemercyofthe street.

Thethree scenarios involvingthelivesof Asega,Alezuyo andAndama, in many ways, exem-plifythe storyof contemporaryAruaTownandits people.

e second part of the series, Ismail Musa Laduat the uncoordinated growth of Arua Town andconsequences this might lead to.

WednesdayIn the final part of the series tomorrow, we l

at what needs to be done to improve the situation in the town in order to make maximum gaArua

>>SERIES

According to International Alerts survey, presentedby Dr Robert Senath Esuruku, during the national

reconciliation conference recently, Arua, Gulu, Lira andSoroti are booming, but as spectators.The research showed that there is limited access

to economic opportunities while at the same timeagricultural products do not fetch a lot of money andyet they are labour intensive. This is worsened by thefact that the people in West Nile and northern Ugandahave limited skills, importantly perhaps they are out-competed by those who have connections and areexposed.

Politically connected show

CLUTTERED GROWTHThe bad news, however, is that the

kind of exponential growth is disor-ganised and therefore, underminesboth the short and long-term struc-tured development that Arua Towndeserves.

“Arua Town is growing randomly.One morning when we wake up wewill find ourselves living in a big slumcalled Arua city,” the Mayor of Arua,Charles Asiki, says.

“Construction is happening rapidly.Good houses are mushrooming, butthey’re all being done without adheringto the required plans.”

The mayor blames such chaoticgrowth and development on the at-titudes of the people of West Nile’smost progressive district who stillthink they live in times where rules andregulation meant nothing.

Importantly perhaps, the resourcesavailed for the development of themunicipality, for lack of better word, islaughable.

With Shs11.5b revenue, most ofwhich takes care of civil servants sala-ries and wages, what is left is barelyenough for even a good kilometre ofroad.

Alex Ojera, the senior land manage-ment officer, Gulu District, says the

shambolic growth of Arua municipalityis a disease that is not unique to theWest Nile town. He argues that, justlike elsewhere in the country, the prob-lem is unwillingness by the authority toenforce the law.

And for that, the landlords, who aremotivated by profits have been left torun the show, explaining the currentmess, not just in Arua Municipality butacross the urban areas in the country.

“We are now caught up in a situa-tion where land in the urban areas is

privately-owned, meaning the ownersof the land can do what they wantas the authorities watch helplessly. Ithink we need to define our land tenuresystem more clearly,” Mr Ojera said inan interview.Throwaway therosy figures…

Plainly speaking, the glowing figuressuggesting Arua municipality growth,according to Arua Municipal CouncilTown Clerk, Francis Byabagambi, doesnot tell the whole story.

First, he says, Arua has the smallestmunicipality in the whole country interms of coverage.

The services that the 10 squarekilometres town renders are consumedby residents far beyond the municipal jurisdiction. In other words, accordingto Byabagambi, it is difficult to tell thestory of Arua Town unless this contextis properly captured.

He adds that it is too easy for peoplefrom the neighbouring countries—South Sudan and DR Congo, to ac-quire land in Arua, mostly around themunicipality, and put up structureswithout minding urban physical plans.

The same people can as and whenenter the country and set up businesswithout the permission from the localauthority.

According to Uganda RevenueAuthority and Uganda National Bu-reau of Standards surveillance report,

Uganda’s border points remains themost porous, due to lack of enoughmanpower. And as a result, it is normalto beat the understaffed surveillanceteam and just walk through undes-ignated (panya roads/short cuts)untouched.

Re-echoing the underfunding prob-lem, Byabagambi says maintaining thecleanliness of the town, taking care ofroads and other facilities has been astruggle even with the Shs400m ofrevenue collected locally annually.

Being a multi-cultural society withsome difficult and arrogant business-men who do not want to respectauthority due to their political connec-tions, is no easy task to go about.

This is further complicated byshortage in manpower and the erraticgrowth manifested in uncoordinated,mushrooming buildings.

According to Joel Aita, an engineerand a consultant, matters have notbeen helped by the investment of Aruaboys who after years of informal busi-nesses, with the majority profiting outof magendo (smuggling), reinvestingthe proceeds in real estate, but doingso without following urban planningplans.

There are different versions ex-plaining the emergence of Arua boys.However, what is not being contestedis that the emergence of Arua boysstarted shaping in the 1970s andproperly established itself in the1980s. By the 1990s, although it hadbecome a force to contend with, dueto the wealth they had accumulated,largely through smuggling of fuel andscarce basic commodities then suchas sugar, soap and cooking oil, it alsomarked the end of an era.

In an interview with AmbassadorHarold Acemah, it emerged that thisgroup of West Nile “boys” wouldsmuggle fuel (petrol and diesel) fromthe present DR Congo and sell it inArua. It was not long before beer andeven gold was added on the list ofsmuggled goods into the country. This,according to Acemah was smuggledthrough “panya” routes as theyavoided customs points as much aspossible.

By the late 1980s, they had grownso rich that they were thought to bepolitically dangerous.

“After 1986, most of them (Arua

boys also known as OPEwere suspected of fundiand that was the beginndisbandment,”Acemah stinued: “Those who werwere later released aftershowed they were innoc

Speaking about the eof Arua Park, located onbetween Ben Kiwanukastreets in Kampala, unlikappears to allude to the brainchild of the Arua bAcemah thinks different

He said: “The smuggwas sold in Arua and noalthough the emergencestarted in about the sam1970s.”

He continued: “Arua after commercial vehiclebuses from Arua, namelSyndicate, A.B Wadriff oand Sabena Bus companbetween the Ben Kiwanliam street. And that is hevolved.”

Importantly, the genefounders of Arua boys, aKaku son of Kefa LangaMvara, are no more. PrePark has become a multboth formal and informabeing conducted there. Wmained unchanged is this a meeting point for Wmunity and the central pbound buses.

ARUA BOYS’ PHENOMENON

MORE FACTS ABOUT ARUA

•Thedistrictcoversa totalareaof slightlymorethan3,000square kilometresofwhichnearly90percentisgoodforfarming(arable).•Fromitsinception,over 100yearsago,WestNilewasa multi-ethnicdistrictconsistingoffourethnicgroups -Lugbara,Alur,Madiand Kakwa.•TheCongo/Ugandaboundarypartitions

theAlurand LugbaratribSudan/UgandaboundaryKakwaandMadi tribes.•WhenUgandaachieved1962,therewereonly 18theConstitution,with mocarvedoutof ethnicgrouBukedi,KigeziandWestmulti-ethnic—and still,r


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14 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015

special report

PLANS TO STABILISEPOWER IN ARUA TOWN

BY ISMAIL MUSA LADU

[email protected]

A rua Town is on its way to be-coming one huge shanty urbancentre. This became obviousafter several engagements with boththe government and independentplanning and development experts.

Lack of enforcement of exist-ing laws, the growing population,strategic location and the clutteredstructures, resulting from the money

accrued from cross-border trade,including illicit trade, have all beenidentified as reasons behind the cos-mopolitan town turning into a slum.

But the good news is that thismessy development can be arrested.Plans

According to the chief executiveof Joadah Consults, Joel Aita, whosecompany is one of the contractors inthe country and beyond, the enforcersof the law need to start implement-

ing structural plans while bearing inmind that Arua Town is developingoutwards rather than inwards.

He spoke of Nile Eco City, some-thing the Mayor of Arua Municipal-ity, Charles Asiki, earlier alluded toas the ultimate bargain for the cos-mopolitan town.

“Nile Eco City is the kind of a citythat is purposely planned with properdefinitions for everything withoutcompromising the environment. Inother words, environment and devel-opment will co-exist,” Aita said.

He added: “What Arua needs aredefinitions for everything. For ex-ample, there should be a defined

street for commercial units, the sameshould apply for institutions—all in-frastructures must be clearly definedand allocated specific places.”

If implemented, the Nile Eco Cityproject will cost $3m (about Shs8.8b).Part of the project requirement, ifcompleted, is that when one buys aplot in the municipality, he or she willin essence be expected to conform toan agreed design and colours plannedfor that location.

And should you not agree with thepre-planned technical designs andrequirement, there will be no deal.

Also, irregular power supply for a

progressive town like Arua slowed the economic growth of municipality.

This is well demonstrated by story of Yakub Abiriga, a youthmechanic in Arua.

Abiriga believes his potentiaterribly under-utilised, considerinthat half of the time he is idle, thanto the regular power outages.

He spends so much on powehis small generator, a problem this being compounded by the pricefuel.

He said he is growing impati

and could consider ditching his cu

In the final part of Arua series, we look at some solutions that couldstem random growth and ensure that Arua town is helped to meet itspotential.

Arua: What themunicipality can doto become a city

The government studies estimates that nomore than 15 per cent of the population has ac-cess to electricity. Arua Town, either by default

or design, happens to be one of the townships inthe country suffering from acute power short-age.

Already Arua Town is benefiting from theRural Electrification Agency (REA) project whichprovides mainly off-grid energy solutions to themunicipality. However, this has not at all provedsufficient.

To sort out the problem, the government plansto have Arua Town connected to the nationalpower grid, a move a cross-section of critics,private sector leadership and industry analysts,applaud. However, for years this pledge hasturned out to be just that— lip service, but thegovernment continues to say it is committed tosolving the power problem in Arua and West Nilein general.

Access to electricity remains limited due to apower system that cannot produce enough en-ergy and a national grid that is poorly maintainedand does not reach very far geographically.

As a result, urban and rural poor householdsmostly depend on kerosene fuel and wick can-dles for energy and lighting.

Use of alternative energy is the other avenuebeing encouraged. The United Nations CapitalDevelopment Fund (UNCDF) 2013 report, statesthat for the government to achieve its ambitiousgoal of increasing reliance on renewable energysources to 61 per cent by 2017, it will requiresome big changes and commitments. UNCDF isa capital investment agency for the world’s 48least developed countries, among them Uganda.It provides the necessary funding for thesecountries to make use of alternative power.

Through its Power Generation Program,the government aims to increase the amountof electricity the country generates and thatpeople can access through a range of technolo-gies, including those that use biomass, biogas,hydropower, cogeneration, solar, wind, peat and

geothermal. Most of the new electricity will beprovided using hydro, biomass and geothermaltechnologies, according to the report.


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Left: An aerialview of Arua Townshowing Inzikuru

Street, Adumi andRhino Camp Road. Above: An artisticimpression of theproposed Nile EcoCity.Bottom left:Engineers at the3.5 MW Nyagakpower house inPaidha, ZomboDistrict have beenworking to ensurethere is amplepower supply inWest Nile. Thepower house wasfunded by the AgaKhan.PHOTOS BY FELIX

WARMOM AND CLEMENT

ALUMA

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015

Daily M onitor www.monitor.co.ug

It will take probably decades forArua Municipality, also referred to asArua Town, to become a city unlessthe Nile Eco City plan becomes a

reality.Some of the preconditions for acity status according to the Min-istry of Lands, Housing and UrbanPlanning, include; capacity to meetthe cost of service delivery, enough

water sources, having a master planin place and having a population ofnot less than half a million, require-ments, save for the population bit,

considering the high growth rate,other preconditions will take morethan wishful thinking to have themin place.

The city, if approved, specificallythe Nile Eco City, will require no

less than $3m (about Shs8.8b) toactualise it.

It will also be a continuous pro-cess depending on growing popula-

tion and the purchasing power ofinhabitants.But if that money is available,

between five and seven years shouldbe enough to transform Arua into amodern city.

WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO GET CITY STATUS

nt employment to take up trade.When asked what kind of trade heuld venture in, he pauses, smilesd says, “I will take stuff to Juba.

pare parts of vehicles are in demandere.”This is just one scenario of whatute shortage of power can causea population of which more than alf is of youthful age.The other situation, which is nor-ally swept under the carpet becausedoes not sound political correct, ise fact that these youth could bered into crime or any other subver-ve activity as long as they remainproductive yet they are of age.

The solution here, according toarold Acemah, a political scientist,nsultant and a retired diplomat,for the government to massively

vest in power as well as safe waterthe whole of Arua.In support of Acemah, Aita arguesat with just 3.5 Megawatts of powerom West Nile Rural Electrificationompany Limited (WENRECO), thereere slight growths of small process-g factories already, arguing thatth more supply of power or betterll connecting Arua Town to the na-

onal power grid, within years theunicipality will be the centre notst for trade but industries as well.He says: “If Arua can get 100mega-

atts, I can assure you there will beuble shift as people here will neverto sleep—this town is in desperate

need of industrialisation, structuredcommercial building, but that willnot happen if connection to the gridis not done.”

Technocrats weigh inWithout sufficient facilities like

power and water which is largelydrawn from rudimentary boreholesand wells, let alone cashing in com-mercial agriculture and value addi-tion, the perceived growth will crum-ble within minutes, according GideonBadagawa, the executive director ofPrivate Sector Foundation Uganda(PSFU).

He argues that once DR Congo andSouth Sudan regain their footing andare able to import the merchandisebeing supplied to them, Ugandansinvolved in this business will be ren-dered useless.

According to Badagawa, this kindof trade (re-export trade) is not sus-tainable and so traders in Arua arebetter off taking to value additionand commercial agriculture beforethey are frozen out of business.

Realising that the services offeredat the municipality is enjoyed beyondthe boundaries of Arua town, theArua Municipal Council Town Clerk,Francis Byabagambi says that a pro-posal has been put to the Ministry ofLand, Housing and Urban Develop-ment to have the areas feeding offthe municipality services, includedas part of the town council.

ImplicationsThis means that the counties of

Aivu Adumi, Aivu Aroi, Aivu Ayi-vuni, Aivu Dadamu, Aivu Manibe,Aivu Oluko, Aivu Pajulu and part ofMvara, will become part of the met-ropolitan Arua, confirming Aita’s ar-gument that the development of themunicipality is outwards rather thaninwards.

Should this fall through, Byabag-ambi will technically oversee anexpanded town, currently less than10 square kilometres, growing to amuch bigger jurisdiction of nearly500 square km.

Not until then, according to Bya-bagambi, will the accurate growthof Arua town be put into proper con-

text.

Before the 2010 Physical PlanningAct was passed and signed into lawin 2011, effectively repealing the 1964Town and Country Planning, it washard for the urban planning authori-ties to bring to order developmentoutside its jurisdiction.

But now all that is possible, due toPhysical Planning law that rendersthe entire country a planning area.

The National Planning Author-ity (NPA) official in charge of urbanplanning, Emmanuel Ongora, said theauthority should make use of this leg-islation to create sanity in the urbanand surrounding areas that could de-velop into future municipal towns.

Under the old Act, the obligationto obtain development permission in

order to develop structures for land

use was restricted to developmentsin urban areas.

The new law compels anybodycarrying out development to getauthority from a physical planningcommittee at the district, urban andlocal levels before embarking on theconstruction of the facility.

The question, however is, does theauthority have what it takes to callthose decisions, even with the law ontheir side?

If yes, Arua town could be trans-formed from shambolic metropolitantown into a Nile Eco City, where ev-erything is nearly ideal.

And if the answer is no, then Aruatown is paving its way into a regionalslum.

feature writing: 3rd place- ismail musa ladu, daily monitor

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