Rukiga District, now in its eighth year since its formal creation on July 1, 2017, has been the focus of my reflections during our celebration of Uganda’s 63 years of independence. Rukiga, the place that has been my primary home in Uganda since I was a toddler, was one of the six counties of Kigyezi during the colonial and early post-colonial years. Its physical size shrank when its two sub-counties of Nyakishenyi and Nyarushanje were hived off to form Rubabo in 1980, which then became part of Rukungiri District. Our two lost sub-counties deprived us of a significant population of talented people, and productive land and water resources. Our loss was Rujumbura’s gain, for the latter, which had been another county of Kigyezi, would soon become Rukungiri District, founded on priceless transfer of intellectual and entrepreneurial capital that had made Rukiga County one of the best endowed in earlier years.
The loss of Nyakishenyi and Nyarushanje sub-counties was not very bothersome when Kigyezi was a single district. It became important once the balkanization of Uganda into tiny, mostly non-viable districts began in earnest. Tiny Rukiga, with a surface area of 426.3 square kilometres, covers only 0.2 percent of Uganda. One can walk from its northern to southern borders in just 10 to 12 hours, and cross from the west to the east in less than six hours. Rukiga District’s population of 132,255 lived in 29,495 households in 2024. The National Population and Housing Census last year showed a high unemployment rate and many youth not in employment, education, or training. The district’s socio-economic status was found wanting in measures such as improved water and sanitation; use of clean, non-polluting energy for lighting and cooking; and non-subsistence economic activities.
Fewer than 5,000 Banyarukiga had health insurance policies. There was a high burden of mental health, with 10,913 (8.2 percent) reporting psychological distress. Fewer than 5,000 people had access to the internet, a tool that is no longer optional in this era of rapid social, information, communication, and overall economic transformation. Whereas superficial improvements have occurred, such a proliferation of beautiful ‘permanent’ houses, boda boda transportation, and numbers of primary and secondary schools, contemporary Rukiga remains far behind where it ought to have been. One is not surprised by this situation. Like many Ugandan districts, Rukiga came into being without a detailed district-specific development plan. Granting district status to Rukiga was a political decision, not an economic one.
Furthermore, the district lacked an economic and taxation base upon which it would build and sustain its development programme. In the eight years since we celebrated the birth of Rukiga District, we have depended almost entirely on limited funds from the central government treasury. A significant chunk of that money has been spent on the administration of what is essentially Rukiga County, notwithstanding its more romantic designation of a ‘district.’ Interestingly, most district administrators do not live in Mparo, the location of the district headquarters. Many live in Kabaare, and others live in their rural homes a fair distance from their place or work. The road to the district headquarters remains very dusty and rugged in the dry season. It is a muddy, treacherous, pot-holed affair that is no match for what it was like during its colonial and early postcolonial life. Just last week, an elderly woman nearly died when she attempted to wade through a water-filled patch on a bridge not far from the district headquarters.
Simple maintenance of that bridge’s drainage culverts would have prevented such risks. Without changing the current way of doing things, the dependence on Kampala for small amounts to run the district and to fund a few social services like education and healthcare will likely continue for many years. The district administrators and other politicians will be paid their salaries, but most citizens of Rukiga will continue to struggle on the periphery of Uganda’s much praised economic progress. What measures should the people of Rukiga consider pursuing to achieve transformative growth and development? First, Rukiga can only be developed by the people of the district. The government in Kampala has a very limited budget that it has elected to transfer to the districts. Complaining about the unfairness of that practice is unlikely to alter the government’s attitude towards districts like Rukiga that are assumed to be politically inconsequential.
So, Banyarukiga should roll up their collective sleeves, think and plan together, and embark on achievable development projects in their home area. We have done a marvellous job of investing in Kampala, other Ugandan towns and foreign lands. We need to do likewise in the homeland that gave us the foundation upon which we have built our lives in the big towns and cities that we presently call home. It is critically important that we come up with a focused, actionable plan before we proceed with a collective development programme. I strongly believe that the single most important development project that Rukiga needs is construction of all-weather (tarmac) roads. All else will fall in place. None of this absolves the current ruler and his government of their obligation to remember Rukiga District as being part of Uganda.
The current presidential and parliamentary campaigns offer Banyarukiga opportunities to engage the politicians in serious conversations about our district’s sorry state. I urge everyone to take off their partisan colours, wear white as the symbolic colour of our shared district, and peacefully but firmly demand written commitment by the president and his political opponents to ensure that tarmacking Rukiga District’s roads is included in the 2026-2027 national budget. However, even as we work with the rulers and our representatives to try to obtain government funding for all-weather roads, we must invest our intellectual, financial, and human resources into an organised, collective, and cooperative agenda for building Rukiga without waiting for external assistance.
To do so demands that we maintain peace and practice politics of tolerance in our district. Political opponents must not be seen as enemies. They should be considered allies that simply have different perspectives on solutions for our common problems. Our problems in Rukiga affect us together, regardless of our party colours, religious beliefs, or other superficial cleavages. The solutions to those problems need collective action, not continued complaints, and certainly not more empty promises by politicians. Citizens should reject such recycled promises, and insist on written commitments.