Political Influence and Creation of New Political Cities in Uganda: Challenges Facing Newly Created Cities in Uganda, the Case of Mbarara City

Global statistics show that more people will move to cities and urban centers in the next forty years than in the entire span of human history, and therefore building cities become a critical response to this social and economic boom as it can help break ground for innovation and employment. The future of the world's urbanization will be in Africa. The continents urban population will almost triple in the coming 35 years with more than 1.3 billion Africans living in cities by 2050 (21% of the world's urban population (UNDESA, 2014). This implies a steep increase in demand for urban housing infrastructure and services on top of existing back logs. Governments in many African countries have so far been unable to strictly address the fore mentioned matters and have therefore shifted from providing to an enabling approach with the state encouraging private sector investments in urban housing, infrastructure and services. New private investments in housing and urban development are increasingly reaching Africa: foreign and domestic companies are investing in Africa urban property (Bhan, 2014; De Boeck, 2014); Grant, 2015; Murray, 2015; Watson 2013). The study analyzed these current and predicted trends of urbanization and assess whether created cities are prepared enough to handle these rapid city expansion challenges. The operationalization of the newly created cities in Uganda is stirring bitter controversies as leaders of mother districts decline to support the new entities. In April 2020, the Uganda government elevated seven municipalities to city status in a phased process that will see more towns become cities. The new cities which came into force in July 2020 are Arua, Gulu, Mbale, Jinja, Masaka, Mbarara and Fort Portal (Ministry of Local Government, 2019). The new cities were created as a result of protracted clamors by leaders and communities, in anticipation of so many benefits that strategically come along with the new status of urbanization. To achieve the dr