Three women die in labor as road situation worsens in Kanungu, Western Uganda

Three women have died during labour at Mpungu Health Centre III in Kanungu district, Western Uganda after being unable to reach a nearby hospital due to poor roads.

Turyaheebwa Rosemary, 25, wife to Byarugaba Emmanuel of Kibingo cell, Muramba parish, Mpungu Sub County died on Tuesday morning (15 November 2011). Health centre staff were unable to operate on Rosemary and had referred her to Bwindi Community Hospital but transportation failed due to the state of the roads, which have been blocked for three weeks.

Two other women, identified only as Scovia and Patricia, died due to avoidable complications last Thursday (10 November) and Monday (7 November) respectively.

The district health officer Rwabahima Florence confirmed the deaths on Tuesday (15 November).

The deaths come two weeks after residents wrote to the Inspector General of Police over the state of the blocked roads between Butogota and Mpungu. Residents had asked for permission to camp at Kanungu district headquarters until the road is worked on.

Frank Byaruhanga, Mpungu sub county councillor, says the sub county, which is neighbored by the Bwindi national park, has been cut off due to the breakdown of just four kilometres of road within the park.

“We cannot afford more women to die. The next to die will be the tourists coming here. We shall demonstrate,” he said.

Mr Byaruhanga says the poor roads have derailed tea production and prevented students from going to school as many transport tea leaves on their heads to tea factories in nearby Kayonza and Kanungu for survival. Residents also face a security risk if attacked from within the forest as no vehicle can access there, while tourism in Bwindi park is at stake.

Being the major tea producing area in the district, tea production is also at risk. Many farmers are resorting to carrying tea leaves on their heads for 72 kilometres to Kanungu while others carry it 20 kilometres to Kayonza tea factory, meaning the leaves are no longer fresh on arrival.

James Musinguzi Garuga, who owns two tea factories in the area, says he will close down business if the roads are not worked on in the near future.

“We are operating at losses daily; a lot of leaves are being wasted. It’s not only in Mpungu sub county but all the roads are in a sorry sate. We send lorries for collection of tea leaves in the morning and they return past midnight when the leaves are spoilt because they are delayed over poor roads and we just dispose of them. We have no alternative but to close down.

“This is not a simple request; we are demanding that the roads be worked on. If they do not work on them we shall close and we all lose. We are not doing business when we are spoiling everything,” Mr Garuga told the Daily Monitor back in August.

With the death of the women in labour, Mr Byaruhanga says more residents have become angry and residents from across the entire sub county are expected to participate in a demonstration. Mpungu is one of the most populous sub counties in the district with more than 30, 0000 adults living there.

However, Kanungu Resident District Commissioner, Ben Bwagi Rullonga, says the roads have been destroyed by the constant rains not by negligence. He said the demonstration is a ‘mere publicity stunt’ because everything is already being done to fix the situation.

“There cannot be a demonstration on simple issues. There is a contractor working on the road. They should know that it’s not the government, it’s the rain that has destroyed everything. They need to be patient,” he said.

John Karakwende, Kigezi Region Road Engineering Section Head, said like many roads taken up from districts by Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), contractors have let them down.

UNRA took more than 800 kilometres of road network from Kanungu district in 2007. The district, formerly one of the best for road maintenance, is now one of the worst and blames UNRA for failing them.

On October 9, the district councilors abandoned Independence cerebrations to demonstrate over the bad road situation but say nothing has been done since despite daily promises from UNRA that it will work on the roads.

Butamanya Vicent, the Mpungu sub county chairperson, said residents should by all means demonstrate if there is nothing proper and consistent being done on the road.