Jinja has in the past 30 years missed out on having a government university at now Jinja Senior secondary school, the Coca cola plant which was transferred to Namanve and the Chinese hospital was also relocated to Naguru in Kampala. The residents blame such missed opportunities to weak leadership.
Jinja city residents are pushing for the election of development-minded
leaders, if the city can regain its tourism and industrial fame.
Close to 30 years ago, Jinja had tourism attractions like the Bujagali water
falls, white water rafting sites, industries, old architectural buildings like
the Rippon hotel, Amber Court and industries but most of them are
no more. The roads were well constructed with good drainage and signage. Now the
railway and piers for ferries have since gone too.
Over the past three decades, Jinja has missed out on having a government university at
now Jinja Senior Secondary School, the Coca Cola plant was transferred to
Namanve and the Chinese hospital was also relocated to Naguru in Kampala. The
residents blame all these and more missed chances on weak leadership.
Government of Uganda pronounced Jinja a city effective July 2020, but the residents
says without leaders who can plan and implement development ideas, the tourism,
land and industries that employed most people up to the late 1980’s would never
resurface.
Irene Kanyago, a resident of Kyabiirwa village in Budondo sub county Jinja
city says despite Jinja city currently having more than 30 new industries, it requires
strong leaders in political positions to lobby for better workers' welfare in
the mushrooming industries.
Kanyago says that industries in Jinja city are coming up but the residents
and workers are not benefiting as expected.
She says that even with many industries in place, workers are underpaid, so are suppliers and the city hardly stands to benefit in terms of revenues as the Jinja city industrial dream
remains a myth.
\\ Cue in “Jinja being industrial…
Cue out…it will affect us.”//
Ayub Kitamirike, a resident of Kimaka village in Mpummudde is optimistic
that while Jinja is a city, the voters have the mandate to elect leaders who
will lobby for more employment for the youths and curb the drug abuse and crime
rate in Jinja city.
\\ Cue in “nkisubiranti omukuzi gunho…
Cue out …bwebatanbila nabwo babusuula.”//
Dr. Frank Nabwiso, a researcher about Busoga and Jinja says Jinja should emphasize protecting people's land, health, economic prosperity
and reduce unemployment, all of which call for good governance.
//Cue in “so we don’t…
Cue out…rapid population growth.”//
Jinja was one of the most attractive towns in Uganda. It is located in
Eastern Uganda and it is only 80 kilometres from Kampala. It was once
a leading industrial town because of the hydro-electricity power dam along the
Nile. The expulsion of Asians in the late 1970’s by ex-president Idi
Amin Dada marked the beginning of its collapse as the industrial hub of the
country. As the Asians left, the economy crumbled and the Ugandans who replaced
them at the time were too inexperienced to manage the industries.
