Karuma Bridge Closure Causing More Misery for West Nile Bus Passengers

ARUA. The closure of Karuma bridge is causing more misery for bus passengers and owners in the West Nile sub-region.

The suffering is as a result of diverting all buses from Murchison Falls National Park to Buliisa via Wanseko, Biso and then Masindi before proceeding to Kampala and vice versa.

This is after Gen. Katumba Wamala, the Minister of Works and Transport, directed that effective September 23, 2024, Karuma bridge will be closed to all traffic for three months to pave way for its rehabilitation.

The directive also forced the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) officials to stop all buses plying the Northern route from traveling through Murchison Falls National Park which was the alternative road being used by the buses when Karuma bridge was temporarily closed for the last three months.

See the UWA GUIDELINES FOR TRANSITING THROUGH MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK

But the first experience of using the Buliisa – Masindi Road left passengers, drivers and bus owners especially from West Nile crying due to the long route which is characterized by bad roads.

“The road through Murchison Falls National Park is nearer compared to the road we used today. We passed via Kinyara – some shortcuts, the roads are bad and as a result, I arrived very tired. I don’t understand how people are going to move through that road because it is really not comfortable,” Azira Aseru, a bus passenger said on arrival to Arua on Monday, September 23, 2024.

Aseru appealed to the government to allow buses to continue traveling through the Murchison Falls National Park in order to save passengers from the suffering they have been subjected to.

Benson Oguta, the Nile Star bus driver shared the same experience, saying that the road they have been diverted to via Buliisa is very far and bad.

He noted that from Masindi to Biso, there are more diversions made through forests, farms and people’s homes.

“Those roads they are using for transporting sugarcane are the roads we are using now. You will find that other sections of the road are not finished and for that reason, they are diverting us through those sugarcane roads which are narrow. If you meet a trailer, it will force you to park until it passes and when it rains, the roads are slippery. The road can’t be enough for two vehicles,” Oguta explained.

He added that: “Even right now, I have broken almost four bus springs because of the bad road on the first day. Imagine from Kampala, I left at 6:30am and I have just eaten here in Arua because there is no restaurant on that route. All my body was shaking on the way and I couldn’t even drive well. Everyone was tired and also hungry because you can’t buy anything on the way.”

Oguta said it took them four hours from Masindi to Pakwach which is very abnormal. He said this has prolonged the travel hours to 12 from Kampala to Arua and vice versa compared to the 9 hours they used to spend while traveling through Murchison Falls National Park.

Oguta feared that if the government doesn’t consider taking them back to the normal route through the Murchison Falls National Park, the Buliisa road is going to break their buses and also cause dangerous accidents in the near future.

“Vehicles are likely to crash on that road because there are sharp corners on the marram road which is equally slippery. In case of any accident or breakdown on that road, there is no other rescue. Maybe rescue may come after 8 hours either from Arua or Kampala and yet people have nothing to eat,” Oguta said.

Abdullatif Juma Atiku, the Manager of Nile Star Bus Company Arua branch, said the challenges expressed by their drivers and other bus crews including the passengers on the state of Buliisa-Masindi Road will obviously cost management a lot of money in terms of repairs and fuel.

“You can see that one side of the stabilizers of this bus which has just arrived from Kampala has got damaged and even the shock absorbers have got damaged, the springs are also damaged and there are some cracks from in front and that is why you can see, they have tied them using a rope – meaning that after this, we are taking the bus for metal fabrication. And the fuel consumption, I’m sure, is going to go up and all these are unplanned expenses on us,” Atiku said.

He observed that they are going to take this experience for three days and humbly request their customers to bear with them in case of any changes in fares that may arise as a result of the challenge.

Wise Amin, the Human Resource Manager of Nile Star Bus Company, said the bus has virtually come empty because you can’t get passengers coming to Arua in between Masindi and Buliisa.

He equally said the situation is going to affect the operations of the bus because it is burning fuel for nothing, adding that with the mechanical faults realized on the road, the buses can’t make a return journey thus another loss on the company.

However, when contacted over the concerns, Bashir Hangi, the UWA Spokesperson, said: “All motorists would like us to do so unfortunately, we have to balance interests; we have to minimize on the footprint of heavy traffic in the park, road kills and create an environment for tourism activities to continue with minimum disruptions.”