Story by Osuta Yusuf.
Maracha District.
30-12-2025.
The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) which is the legally constituted security organ to guard and protect the people, properties and sovereignty of Uganda, have rehabilitated a total of 9 Boreholes and shallow wells at the tune of 15m Shs in 7 Sub-counties out of the 19 Sub-counties in Maracha District through a service dubbed under the Theme of “QUICK IMPACT PROJECT” directly financed by the UPDF, ahead of preparation for the celebration of their next year's 2026 Tarehe Sita anniversary.
The UPDF Tarehe Sita is an annual public holiday and event that takes place on every 6th of February, the date when the then Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) party now turned as National Resistance Army / Movement (NRA / M) headed by Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who was the UPM party's Presidential candidate, claimed the first general election held on 10-December-1980 in the political history of Uganda, was rigged by the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) Party government and he decided with 26 other soldiers, to wage a guerilla war on 6-February-1981 and 5 years later succeeded on 26-January-1986 in overthrowing the UPC party government whose President was by Dr Apollo Milton Obote (RIP).
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) report of 2024, Maracha district has a total of 934 domestic water points serving the ever-growing population, of which, 210 are non-functional functional water points.
Ajio Nesta, a village health team (VHT) member in Obica village, Kamaka Parish in Oluffe Sub-county noted that, the lack of access to safe water after the borehole broke down, has made some people in the area to suffer from Typhoid because of drinking contaminated stream waters, as the situation has also forced many of them as women to walk for more than 2 kilometers to go and fetch water from streams and other neighboring water points in the Sub-county.
She also acknowledged an increase in domestic violence amongst the women in the area who sometimes quarrel and fight while scrambling to fetch water in more than 2Km water points in the neighborhood.
Following complains in the community where the inadequacy of clean safe water for consumption had generated quarrels, fights amongst women and domestic violence in some families because some husbands suspect their wives of cheating because they take so many hours in the evening when they go and fetch water or when they leave home very early by 5AM to go and fetch water, the deputy resident district commissioner for Maracha District, Koliba Monica Kotevu who headed the district security committee in monitoring the project, expressed joy to the UPDF institution for coming up with such an initiative to address the challenge of water scarcity in some of the areas, which would at the end avert domestic violence.
Senior pump mechanic in Maracha District local government, Athama Morris who was the technical person assigned to be in charge of the assessment and repairment of the non-functional boreholes in the district stated that, some of the boreholes he assessed actually had faults to do with inadequate pipes or worn-out rubbers and other apparatus that were installed inside the boreholes.
“When I was tasked by the UPDF through the office of the RDC to go and identify faulty boreholes that could still be repaired for consumption in Sub-counties with challenge in access to safe water, I discovered some of the boreholes have inadequate pipes during the time they were sunk and installed, henceforth making the pipes to hang in the air worst enough during dry seasons like this”, Eng Athama explained as he assured the public that, if taken care of, these boreholes he has repaired would take like 10 years to function before another repair service is done on them.
In Apadri Cell, Ovujo Town Council where the UPDF has rehabilitated a Shallow Well under the ‘Quick Impact Project’, Hon Buatre Philliam Dada, the LC3 Chairperson for the area who decried the low budget they often receive from the District, thanked the Uganda Peoples Defense Force (UPDF) army for coming into their rescue where the budgets had limited them in rehabilitating such water sources in the Town council.
Candiru Alice, a mother in Kamaka parish blamed faultiness of Boreholes, on some rowdy youths who often on the nights of discos, move to break the padlocks of Boreholes in order to drink water on the drugs they have consumed. She suggested for tall rails (steel metals) to be built around such boreholes if the government authorities are to minimize or stop deliberate dismantling of boreholes by unruly or stubborn youths in the district.
A senior UPDF officer deployed to be in charge of mobilization and security in Maracha District ahead of the 15-1-2026 general election, Lt. Col. Matua Kreys David whom the Army assigned to supervise rehabilitation of the boreholes in the district, explained that, this Quick Impact Project funded by the UPDF Army, falls under one of the core roles and values of the then National Resistance Army (NRA) turned NRM which took over power in 1986.
“This coming year 2026 as the country is going to celebrate the 45th UPDF Tarehe Sita anniversary, we need to project to the people the values the Army stands for”, Lt. Col. Matua, a Russian-trained military tank expert stated as he affirms that, part of the peace and security they as UPDF are focusing on is to ensure a healthy community because a population that is healthy and at peace can be able to work and feed themselves and develop through Socio-economic transformation initiatives under the NRM Party government led by Chief-in-Command Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who is also the President of the Republic of Uganda.
Just like the speed of the UPDF Engineering Brigade, the water rehabilitation project whose money 15m Shs was released to the responsible office in Maracha District in the middle of November 2025, has taken the district security committee (DSC) only one month to implement and complete it.
This initiative from the UPDF, is likely to boost the percentage of access to water coverage in Maracha District after it had dropped from 80% to 72% in the last financial year 2023 / 2024.
Stay tuned.
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