As the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) meets its untimely demise, Museveni’s iron grip on every corner of this country tightens once more. The passage of the Uganda National Roads Authority (Repeal) Bill is just another blatant show of Museveni’s power, a scheme to centralize control under his failing regime. Those 305 Members of Parliament who allowed this travesty to pass are nothing but sycophants, eagerly lining up to please their master while Uganda’s infrastructure and economy are shoved down the drain.
The dismantling of UNRA is not about “streamlining functions” or “cutting costs” as claimed. Let’s not pretend this is a move for Uganda’s financial wellbeing—this is about control and keeping a stranglehold on the nation’s wealth. By transferring UNRA’s responsibilities to the Ministry of Works and Transport, Museveni is not only robbing an independent entity of its mandate but is allowing his government cronies to access the trillions in contracts and loans tied to road construction. This isn’t reform; it’s looting under the guise of governance.
Gen. Katumba Wamala, the Works and Transport Minister, can peddle all the empty promises he wants about UNRA staff being “validated” and the ministry absorbing its duties at a “lower cost.” The truth is, UNRA was formed for a reason. It was supposed to function independently to ensure transparency, efficiency, and accountability in road management and infrastructure development. Now, that thin layer of independence has been torn away, and these critical functions are being lumped into a ministry already overburdened and tangled in bureaucratic red tape. Who will suffer the consequences? The Ugandan taxpayer, whose hard-earned money will be used to fund Museveni’s growing list of “projects,” half of which never see the light of day.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Physical Infrastructure Committee’s so-called “three-year transition period” to absorb UNRA’s operations is little more than a band-aid on a gaping wound. With Shs9 trillion in ongoing projects and loans binding UNRA, this hasty transfer is a recipe for disaster. But does Museveni care? Hardly. All that matters to him is his grip on every resource, ensuring that his loyalists have their hands in Uganda’s coffers. Museveni’s grand “solution” is to throw projects into chaos, putting critical roadworks at risk, and using Uganda’s roads as another pawn in his game of control.
We must also ask ourselves: what becomes of the Uganda Road Fund? Now set to be dissolved as well, it’s clear that Museveni’s government wants to drain every last independent resource Uganda has. Dissolving this fund and transferring its functions to the Works Ministry won’t streamline anything. It will simply mean that the roads, vital to Uganda’s development, are at the mercy of a corrupt and ineffective government.
This move is an unmistakable signal that Museveni’s regime is ready to undermine every institution that dares to operate outside its direct control. The dissolution of UNRA is not just an administrative change; it’s another calculated blow to Uganda’s autonomy and its future. Museveni doesn’t care how many livelihoods are trampled, how many projects are stalled, or how many billions of shillings are wasted. As long as he remains the ultimate beneficiary, Ugandans will continue to suffer under this corrupt and oppressive regime.
The sad reality is that Uganda’s infrastructure, much like its democracy, has been hijacked by a despot who cares nothing for the people and everything for his own power.
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