RUKUNGIRI- Residents of Kikongi parish in Bwambara sub county, Rukungiri district have threatened to protest over the dilapidated situation of Ihimbo hot spring neglected by the government. This was revealed today during a community work known as bulungi bwansi at Ihimbo hot spring.
Ihimbo hot springs emerged and has been helping residents with different ailments from the early 1950s but it’s currently in a dire situation.
According to the area parish chairperson William Bahati, it’s so disgusting that the government is leaving behind their natural therapy since others like Kitagata, Mineera have been elevated leaving Ihimbo behind.
Ihimbo hot spring is ranked the second after Sempaya in the country but it’s fading away due to delayed revamping. Arineitwe God the Kikongi parish councilor stressed that the current places of inconvenience were built by Security Minister and the area county legislator Hon. Rtd. Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi Katugugu in 1996 and they are on the verge of collapse.
Arinaitwe added that worst of it, the Uganda forestry Authority has insisted not to authorize the residents to construct a road linking to this hot spring.
Cue in…………Arineitwe on hotspring
Leaders are also concerned that despite lobbying over six million from the Uganda road fund in the 2023/24 financial year for the construction of a road to the hot spring, it hasn’t been put to use due to blockage by NFA.
Cue in…………Leaders’ voxpop
Ihimbo hot springs host people seeking its supernatural healing from Kampala, Bushenyi, Ntungamo, Kanungu, Kasese and other parts of the country. The Rukungiri district natural resource officer Martin Kagaba told our reporter that a team of district officials led by CAO directed Bwambara Sub County to budget for revamping sanitation at the scene.
On the issue of delayed construction of a road to the hot spring, Kagaba stressed that negotiations between forestry and natural resources offices within the district are underway to resolve the matter.