Kampala-The Acting Prime Minister of the Adhola Cultural Institution, Thomas Okoth Nyalulu has written to Members of Parliament from Tororo district opposing the move by the district council to divide Tororo County into two.
According to Mr Nyalulu, creating Tororo North and Tororo South would cause disunity and disadvantage some communities in the district.
He further asserts that the move relegate the people of West Budama ‘to beggars on their own ancestral land’.
“On behalf of Tieng Adhola, the Padhola cultural institution, I thank you for the work you are doing in representing our people. We have reliably learnt that government is proposing to add one or more constituencies to Tororo district and in particular to split Tororo County into two.” Mr Nyalulu wrote on May 16, 2015.
He added: “As cultural institution we have no objection to splitting Tororo County into two and creating more sub-counties. However, we have received bitter compliant from our subjects in West Budama that Tororo County, smaller in geographical area and population, would have more (14) sub-counties against (12) sub-counties in West Budama. And more sub-counties means more councilors in the district council making the interests of the people of West Budama seriously compromised and thirdly, people of West Budama would be grossly underrepresented in Parliament.”
Nyalulu says as a cultural institution, they have been promoting unity and harmony among the people of Tororo district, being cognizant of the cosmopolitan nature of the district, and based on the principle that no person or group of persons deserves to be treated unfairly under whatever circumstances.
He however, warns of the likely consequences should the Japadhola from West Budama be ignored.
“Hence the reason for writing to you MPs is to alert you of possible negative outcomes of this inconsideration of the fears of our subjects in West Budama. The subjects are not prepared to just watch when they are being relegated to beggars on their own ancestral land,” he said.
On May 18, 2015, the Minister of Local Government Adolf Mwesige wrote to the district Chairman of Tororo indicating to him that the ministry had received a district council resolution requesting for the creation of Tororo County North and Tororo County South.
However, Mwesige also said that he had dismissed claims by a delegation led by the district Speaker that had told him the council minutes asking for the creation of another county in Tororo had been rescinded.
“Henceforth, it was unanimously agreed that the earlier decision of the council to subdivide Tororo County into Tororo County North and Tororo County South stands however, there was a strong urge from all the leaders to create another county out of the current West Budama County,” Minister Mwesige wrote.
The issue of sub divisions in Tororo is a prickly matter and in June, 2005, a man in Molo sub-county stunned crowds including President Yoweri Museveni who was in the area at the time, when he (the man) ate a rat to demonstrate the community’s desire to get a new district
Facts about Tororo.
Tororo district has two rural counties which include West Budama and Tororo Counties and 15 rural sub-counties and one in town. The Municipality, which forms the third County, has two divisions; Western Division and Eastern Division.
Tororo has a total population of 402,621 with sex ratio of 94.99 for every 100 females. The population growth rate is at 2.7 percent and 90.9 percent of the population lives in the rural area whereas only 9.1 percent live in urban areas.
