OMORO – Residents of Koro Abole Village in Koro Subcounty in Omoro district have protested poor road conditions which they say have become a death trap to road users.
The protest which this website witnessed on Tuesday where locals blocked the road, started Monday.
According to the local area leader, the decision to block the road follows an incident where a boda boda rider and a pregnant woman he was carrying fell and sustained serious injuries.
The accident occurred at the wee hour of Monday.
They said, “Lakwatomer-Abole-Abili road is approximately 9kilometers linking Abili, Abole and Lakwatomer and has not been worked on since 2017/2018 FY yet it is the road with much traffic flow.”
Okot Pirus LC1 of Abole Village says the boda boda rider was rushing a yet-to-be-identified pregnant mother to the hospital and fell in the pothole. The boda rider, according to the LC1, broke his arm while the expectant mother broke her leg.
Okot says it’s not the first time people are getting serious injuries on the same spot. He noted that the victims were taken right away to Lacor Hospital for treatment by some youth with motorcycles.
“Yesterday at night, there was a boda boda carrying a pregnant mother and they were riding along this Lakwatomer road, they fell and the boda boda man broke the arm then the pregnant lady broke the leg. They were taken to Lacor but their details were not picked. That is why the community became annoyed to block the road,” Okot revealed.
The road in question is characterized by big potholes, trenches and water logging making it muddy and slippery for users. After the incident, angry youth from the community decided to block the roads by falling bigger trees, digging trenches across the road and planting crops as signs of protest.
According to one Nyero Denis Ocaya, the bad road has become a dumping spot for pig droplets for people living within the community.
“District leaders and technical staff of Omoro local government always pass via here in their vehicle, and sometimes they also get stuck but they have failed to take concern and so youth are very right to block the road until they respond,” Nyero vowed.
Ms. Rose Nyapolo, Councillor Ongako sub county in Omoro district says a total of 87 million shillings was allocated in FY 2017/2018 for the road but it was diverted to other roads. And secondly, no clear accountability was given during the last budget meeting Omoro district council held.
“All the time we (Omoro district councillors) request for accountability, once the district councillor asks for accountability there is war and even my chairman does not want to respond and if they don’t respond, my people will continue to block the road until it is worked on, I swear!” Ms Nyapolo vowed.
When contacted, Omoro District Chairman Douglas Peter Okello Okao said many roads in Omoro district are in bad states right now.
“We have very many roads in sorrow state in Omoro district such as Labora-Laminadera, Loyo Ajonga-Ot Apwoyo-Acet is cut off, Awere-Awali-Wanglobo cut off, Malaba-Wiyat Otonge, Lakwatomer-Yima cut off, and many others. So the challenge of roads is a serious problem Omoro is facing,” Okao stated
He noted that in 2017/2018 FY Omoro Local government allocated money Lakwatomer-Abole-Abili road but the money was diverted to open Otema Public-Angaba-Ongako road basing on the advice of Omoro District Road Committee.
He said in the FY2020/2021, Omoro Local Government has budgeted money for working on the road in question.
