Residents Padlock Kiru Town Council Offices Over Poor Roads

By Mike Ogwang &Jennifer Acheng

Angry residents have locked out of office the Kiru town council officials in Abim district over the poor state of roads at Kiru town council.

The residents are particularly angry with the road that leads to Aywee west and connects locals to different villages is currently which is said to be impassible, rendering school children and some community members unable to cross and access the needed services from the center.

The locals say their continuous plea for the town council officials to work on the road proved fruitless, since nothing has so far been done, leaving them frustrated

On Tuesday this week, a group of angry residents led by Walter Otoo the Aywee west LC1 Chairperson together with Sam Nick Otoo, councilor representing Kalakala parish stormed the town council offices with padlocks, sealing off David Ochan the town clerk’s office and that of the town council mayor Jimmy Kato Odong

Sam Nick Opio says the town-council executive council allocated funds worth 4million shillings for the rehabilitation of the said road, but the authorities have since failed to release the money, amidst community outcry. He notes that as a show of protest, they will keep the affected offices closed until their issues are resolved

Jimmy Kato Odong, the Kiru town council mayor in an interview with Etoil A Karamoja confirmed the development saying they are currently unable to perform their duties.

He attributes the delay in the release of the 4Million road fund, to the bureaucracies at the district finance department, further calling for calm among locals as they work tirelessly to handle the issue. He however, says they have notified the police together with other district officials, to have the issue sorted.

Efforts to get a comment from the Kiru town council town clerk David Ochan were futile since his known phone line was unavailable by press time

This development comes just weeks after locals from the same area took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction about the current deplorable state of roads in their area