KAMULI DISTRICT TRAVEL INFORMATION

Kamuli district is located in southeastern Uganda.
It lies at average altitude of 1083m above sea level and extends from latitude 00- 56’ N /330-05’ E to longitude 01- 20 N /330- 20’ E.
Kamuli covers an area of 4,348km2 of which 3332km2 is land and 1016km2 (23%) is water.

POPULATION

The total population is 712, 079{2002 census} projected to be 856,563 by 2005; 346,847 males and 365,232 females.
The annual growth rate is 5.1%. Kamuli has a population density of 236 persons per Km2.

Kamuli district is a multi cultural society (owing to its history of various decentralized communities) that breeds with a fast developing district. This is a multi-ethnic community, with the predominant ethnic group being the Basoga with 76% followed by the Itesot at 3.9% and the Banyoro-Bagungu with 1.8%.The Basoga people who inhabit it are warm and welcoming with a success record in trade and farming. The district is covered with a mixture of forest remnant and Savannah wood land. The predominantly language spoken in Kamuli is Lusoga, a little Luganda and English. Kamuli’s peace and serene has favoured social and economic development.

CLIMATE AND VEGETATION

The predominant vegetation cover in the district is the forest/ savannah type of mosaic consisting of a mixture of forest remnants and savannah trees with grass and shrubs. Much of it is secondary vegetation that has succeeded the original forest cover as a result of farming, fuel harvesting and other forms of land use.

The district experiences a bimodal type of rainfall with peaks in March – June as well as August – November. The annual average rainfall is 1350 mm, while the monthly mean is 75 mm to 100 mm.
Kamuli is a warm district with average annual temperature range in most areas of 190 C – 250C. Temperatures are a little higher in the south.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND INVESTMENTS

The major form of trade in the district is retail. The major centers of trade are Kamuli Town Council and Kaliro Town Board, which is also to be upgraded to a town council status.

Fishing is a major economic activity in the waters of L. Kyoga and River Nile. This would be a big potential for revenue area for the district but there is still a lot of mismanagement. The fishermen entirely depend on fishing with no alternative income generation projects. This has caused temptations and use of unscrupulous methods of fishing such as use of undersized nets and smuggling accelerating the depletion of the fish resource. This is a threat to tomorrow.

Most livestock kept in the district are the local breeds. There are very few cross breeds on some of the fenced farms. There have been annual sporadic out breaks of livestock and crop diseases. These could not fully be contained due to under funding of the disease control programmes. Livestock Statistics can be seen below;
Cattle are 160,000 heads, Goats total to 148,000, fenced farms are up to 140, Zero grazing units number to 150.

Upland rice has been selected as the strategic enterprise for development in the whole district under the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme. Production is predominantly small scale and subsistence with the hand hoe as the dominant tool and no modern farming skills/ technology used such as irrigation.
The commercial aspect of farming has only been introduced through the NAADS programme which is one year old now in the district.

INFRUSTRUCTURE

Railway and water transport are not significant in the district. The main railway line was the one popularly known as the Namasagali line linking Bugogo to Kampala and Mombassa port but, it is no longer in use following the decline in cotton production.

WATER SUPPLY
Kamuli largely depends on boreholes as the main source of reliable water. The areas around Lake Kyoga in the North and Northeast fetch from those sources. These include parts of the sub-counties of Kagulu, Kidera, Nkondo, Namwiwa and Buyende. The district currently has water supply coverage of approximately 49.6%. Kamuli Town Council is supplied with piped water from the valley tank at Namalemba, 4 kms from town and 3 production boreholes just outside the council boundaries. The district currently has water supply coverage of approximately 49.6%.

The Government of Uganda has been the main actor in the sub-sector through conditional grants or Poverty Action Fund, though some NGOs such as Plan International and Christian Children Fund (CCF) supplied some sources.

Kamuli Town Council is supplied with piped water from the valley tank at Namalemba, 4 kms from town and 3 production boreholes just outside the council boundaries.
The Eastern Centers Water and Sanitation project finalized the piped water network for Kamuli Town Council and Kaliro Town Council. 94.5% of the water points installed are functional.
A mechanism of sustaining the operation and maintenance of the water sources in Kamuli has been put in place with water committees in charge.

The district is ably serviced by MTN, Celtel Uganda and Uganda telecom telephone companies which have improved communication.

Postal services are also available by Posta Uganda and private courier companies in the towns of Kalilo and Kamuli.

Kamuli district is served with a 24 hour hydro electricity supply all year round.

HEALTH

Immunization coverage stands at 82.4% of all the children in the district. Rehabilitative Health – Provision of wheel chairs and clutches to people with disability has been done support by the Norwegian Government (NORAD) through the Ministry of Health.

Immunization coverage stands at 82.4% of all the children in the district…
Rehabilitative Health – Provision of wheel chairs and clutches to people with disability has been done support by the Norwegian Government (NORAD) through the Ministry of Health

1 Government Hospital of (100 beds)
3 Health Centre IVs of Kidera, Bumanya and Namwendwa plus Nankandulo
10 Health Centre IIIs (at Sub County

Nankandulo Health Centre IV has been completed With Local Government Development Plan (LGDP). Nawankofu Health Centre II in Namasagali Sub County is complete and has structures and equipped under the Spanish Loan programme.

Programmes are in place to prevent the spread and in order to minimize the negative effects HIV/AIDS has had on the people of Iganga. These include;

Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) for HIV/AIDS
Health Education especially for adolescents in and out of school.
Treatment of STDs and other HIV Opportunistic infections.
Community Led HIV/Aids Initiative CHAIs programme – 127 sub projects funded.
Another 279 projects are to be funded soon.

Author: Sandra Nans