The death of a resident in a crocodile attack has renewed concerns over access to safe water in Kitagwenda County, with the area’s Member of Parliament, Robert Mugabe, pressing the government to explain when a long-proposed water supply scheme will be implemented.
Mugabe told Parliament that communities in the area continue to face severe water shortages, forcing some residents to rely on unsafe water sources shared with wildlife.
The MP said a resident was killed by a crocodile while fetching water from Lake George last week, highlighting what he described as the potentially fatal consequences of inadequate access to safe and reliable water.
He urged the government to give a clear implementation timeline for a proposed water supply scheme that would draw water from River Mpanga.
The scheme, he said, could provide an alternative source of clean and safer water for communities in the water-stressed parts of Kitagwenda. Mugabe said seven sub-counties require urgent intervention to address persistent water shortages, arguing that access to safe water should not depend on residents having to travel to dangerous sources.
The crocodile attack has added urgency to the issue, turning what might otherwise be regarded as an infrastructure and service-delivery concern into a matter of public safety.
A wider infrastructure problem
Kitagwenda, in western Uganda, has several major water bodies and rivers, including Lake George and River Mpanga. The district was created in 2019 after being separated from Kamwenge District.
Despite the availability of natural water resources, access to treated and readily available water remains a challenge for some rural communities.
Mugabe’s latest intervention follows previous concerns he has raised about infrastructure and government service delivery in the constituency.
He has also previously raised the condition of the Kyambura road, a key route linking communities in the wider Kitagwenda area. Public reports of his earlier submission have focused on the need for government attention to roads serving the constituency, including the Kyambura route.
The Kyambura-Kasese corridor is among the roads connecting Kitagwenda with neighbouring areas, underlining the broader infrastructure challenges facing the district. Mugabe’s central question is now when the River Mpanga water project will move from proposal to implementation.
The government has yet to provide, in the material available for this report, a detailed timetable for construction, financing or commissioning of the scheme. For residents who depend on distant or potentially dangerous water sources, however, the issue is immediate.
The MP’s intervention also places the water shortage within a wider debate about rural service delivery: whether communities with abundant natural water resources can be provided with infrastructure capable of making that water safe and accessible.
The crocodile death has brought that gap into sharp focus.
Mugabe is calling for the government to move beyond plans and provide a firm timeline for the River Mpanga scheme, saying communities should not have to risk their lives to obtain water.
