Prime
Masaka’s grasshoppers and journey to bypass Lwera
Author: Angella Nampewo. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- It has taken the river breaking its banks for us to wake up.
There are things we take for granted, such as getting around in one’s own country. You imagine you will wake up in the morning, get into a car and head off in whichever direction. We have had a few scares, such as the annual cracking of the Lwera section on Masaka-Mbarara highway at Christmastime as people are travelling for holiday celebrations.
However, none of that has been nearly as threatening as the fury of Katonga River on Thursday when the river asserted itself, cutting off traffic to and from Masaka, Mbarara and beyond.
We should not have been surprised really, because the river has given sufficient warning on several occasions before this recent breakdown. However, in the typical we-shall-get-to it-in-our-own-time mentality of our authorities, we did not do much when the road cracked before. Some road crews went by, did some patching up and went home. Well, as with the Kampala potholes, seeing is believing. It has taken the river breaking its banks for us to wake up and restart discussions on the activities in the Lwera wetland.
As the experts figure out what they are going to do about the broken road, besides waiting for the river to recede, I had some idle thoughts about possible travel plans in the direction of Masaka but also the dilemma of regular travellers, farmers, transporters and others who are now staring down a route at least 50kms longer than usual.
Due to my dislike for congested roads, sometimes I prefer to take the long way around. Thus, I have often chosen to travel via Kayunga to Jinja and other cities in the east. The first time I used the route, I felt every extra kilometre. However, with regular use, I started to appreciate the fringe benefits. If you had the luxury of fuel or are specifically headed that way, Kayunga Road is mostly a good ride through picturesque, serene countryside dotted with small roadside markets selling garden-fresh produce.
However, this rainy season has raised new worries about my favourite long route. To enter Kayunga, you have to cross Sezibwa River, in similar fashion to the famed Lwera that Bannamasaka brag about crossing. The river volume I have observed at Sezibwa is building up to flood levels. We live in what has been described as a well-watered country. Nearly a fifth of Uganda’s total area is covered in water. Our engineering is obviously lagging behind in building roads and other infrastructure to factor in nature’s test of strength.
When Lwera broke open, naturally, I thought about all the public transportation, goods trucks and individual motorists heading out for the weekend, who would have to be rerouted. However, my idle mind got stuck on the people in Masaka’s grasshopper-catching and transportation chain. This May, grasshoppers were relatively more expensive than usual even before Lwera cracked open. Imagine what the ordinary folk running small, fragile businesses are going through. Any semblance of profits that one imagined they would make on a bag of grasshoppers is promptly wiped out by the additional cost in fuel and wear and tear of an alternative route.
As we pray over the receding section of road in Lwera, keeping fingers crossed for a quicker response than we have seen with Kampala’s widening crater lakes and potholes, the hope is that our other rivers will stay firmly within their banks—a vain hope seeing as there is no indication the skies are done unleashing their watery vengeance on our poorly maintained roads and bridges.
Angella Nampewo is a writer, editor and communications consultant
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