By Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi
MASAKA. Last Thursday October 13th was an important day in Masaka city, when a Shs. 16.6 billion project of rehabilitation and reconstruction of Masaka Recreation Ground was launched.
The ceremony was presided over by the Leader of Opposition in Parliament who is also the Member of Parliament for Nnyendo Mukungwe Division Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba. He was flanked by Kimaanya Kabonera MP Dr. Abed Bwanika and Masaka City Woman MP Mrs. Juliet Kakande. There were also other MPs from Masaka and Kalungu districts representing the rest from Greater Masaka.
The host was Masaka City Mayor Florence Namayanja and her political and technical team at city and divisional levels. The RCC Masaka city Ronald Katende Kinene , with his deputy in charge of Kimaanya Kabonera Division, Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi, represented President Yoweri Museveni and the Central Government of Uganda.
The project had been lobbied by the three Masaka city MPs all belonging to NUP, and one of them being a Leader of Opposition in Parliament was an additional advantage. However, they found the Government business led by Prime Minister Robbinah Nabbanja and the Ministry of Finance and planning that is headed Matia Kasaija , where one of his state Ministers , Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo , who is in charge of Micro Finance, is a son of Masaka soils, very listening and bought the deal and thus its funding.
According to Masaka Mayor, Florence Namayanja, the dream came from Masaka City Council and backed by the MPs. Masaka City Councilors and their technical team led by City Clerk Godfrey Bemanyisa, should also be commended for that. The challenge now is implementation.
Had, both the three NUP MPs from Masaka city and their counterpart in NRM remained in an election partisan mood, the project would have remained a remote dream. However, being learners from Ecclesiastes, where there is time for everything, all MPs from both parties behaved as Ugandans and Ugandan representatives regardless of party affiliation.
The two year project will run through next 2023/2024 and its end, Masaka Recreation Ground will be a sports complex, God willing at a level of Str. Mary’s Kitende or FUGA Lugazi, supplementing if not competing with Nelson complex Namboole.
In the words of Mathias Mpuuga, soon Uganda will lobby for hosting CECAFA cup, that is East, Central and Southern Africa, and later CAF, the Africa Cup of Nations, and now that Nakivubo Memorial War Stadium is still under rehabilitation, Masaka Recreation Ground, will be one of the international play grounds that will supplement Nelson Mandela National Stadium Namboole.
Kimaanya Kabonera MP Abed Bwanika, said that now that the Masaka Recreation Ground has kicked off, then next one should be Bulando and the City Clerk nodded in affirmation. According to Bwanika, Bulando is larger in size as its land has not yet been encroached like that of the Recreation Ground, and they can supplement one another for even training not only football but also other sports like athletics and boxing. Kimaanya Kabonera Mayor whispered me, that there is also Gayaaza, as Recreation and Bulando are in Nyendo Mukungwe Division.
Mathias Mpuuga promised to personally supplement Masaka City Council in funding activities at Nnyendo Ground, which is also worth for rehabilitations, and which now Buganda teams including Buddu team that will fight to defend its championship in Masaza cup, can pitch camp.
Masaka City Woman MP Juliet Kakande, RCC, Mayor and City Clerk emphasized that Masaka is not only a regional capital for Greater South Buganda as a sub region, but also for Buganda as the Kabaka’s call for a regional city was the last voice before Government and parliament rescheduled it on the first list.
What is happening in Masaka city where we have a loyal opposition (from Westminster, an opposition that is loyal to the King as an alternative government) different from an anti-establishment like LRA under Joseph Kony or ADF under Jamil Mukulu, leaders pull together for the good of the country and the citizens, and it should be a lesson to some of our leaders especially who frequent call for anarchy and terrorism as if they are sure of surviving such violent and bloody process.
NRM Government achievements in Greater Masaka are visible. Two modern markets have been constructed at Nnyendo and Central Market, rods under USMID program are constructed and reconstructed, Nnyendo-Villa Maria-Ssembabule-Kanoni-Mpigi road and Nyendo-Bukakata road were completed, source of piped water is being shifted from muddy Nabajjuzi stream to Bukakkata on shores of Lake Victoria for domestic use and irrigation, rural electrification is going on, the oil pipeline and road from Hoima to Tanga in Tanzania, will be passing through the districts of Ssembabule, Lengo, Kyotera, among others, Kikuubo Street in the city center is under rehabilitation, Masaka S.SS. and St.Henry’s College Kitovu are among the well funded government aided first class schools, and industrial skilling technical institute under the Presidential initiative which will train young people in Greater Masaka free of charge under a Presidential Initiative, is near completion. This is in addition to poverty alleviation programs like Emyoga and Parish Development Model.
President Yoweri Museveni and NRM deserve another term, 2021-2026, to accomplish all that, at least for transitional purposes to borrow a phrase from a DP President General and now Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Chairman Norbert Mao.
Do you want to share a story, comment or opinion regarding this story or others, Email us at newsdayuganda@gmail.com Tel/WhatsApp........0726054858
Discussion about this post