MUKONO — The streets of Bamutakudde Village in Kyampisi Sub-county were illuminated by nightfall for the first time on Sunday, following the installation of its first 12 solar streetlights. Local Council I (LC1) Chairman Solomon Serwanjja officially commissioned the project, marking a significant milestone for local safety and evening commerce.
The solar streetlights were acquired through a partnership with Genevat Solutions, which provided the equipment at a 50% discount alongside a flexible one-year payment plan. For local shopkeepers and residents, the impact was immediate. Brightly lit streets have extended trading hours past sunset and provided safer commutes for residents walking home after dark.
“Our goal is 50 lights so that every single corner of Bamutakudde is lit,” Serwanjja stated, calling for additional partners to help fund the remaining 38 units.
Serwanjja, an award-winning investigative journalist, assumed the LC1 seat for Mukono North Constituency in October 2026. Running as an independent candidate, he won the July election by a single vote (106 to 105). Since taking office, his administration has bypassed traditional top-down government funding in favor of community mobilization and targeted private partnerships.
Key grass-roots initiatives implemented over the last month include:
Residents pooled resources to source local murram for critical road repairs, earning endorsement from the Mukono District leadership.
The community secured a metric ton of maize seed from Uganda Prisons, 96 hoes from the Ministry of Agriculture, and hundreds of local chicks paired with poultry management training to boost household incomes.
The village opened a new community park, initiated weekly cleanup drives, and established a partnership with Muteesa I Royal University to offer localized vocational training in plumbing, electrical work, and tiling.
The administration’s next priority is addressing clean water scarcity. Plans are currently underway with Salam Charity to drill new boreholes in the village.
Amid widespread budget constraints facing local councils across Uganda, Bamutakudde’s self-reliance model offers a practical blueprint for rural development driven by direct community participation.
Solomon Serwanja is an award-winning Ugandan investigative journalist, media executive, and local community leader. He serves as the Executive Director of the African Institute for Investigative Journalism (AIIJ). In July 2026, he expanded his civic role into grassroots politics by getting elected as the Local Council 1 (LC1) Chairperson for Bamutakudde village.
Serwanjja has over 15 years of experience in broadcast and investigative journalism across East Africa.
He spent six years as a prominent news anchor and senior investigative reporter, anchoring the prime-time NBS Live @9 bulletin and hosting the Hard Questions Show before stepping away from full-time anchoring in 2021. He still makes appearances, such as hosting the NBS Media Roundtable
He previously built his profile working with other major networks, including Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), NTV Uganda, and KTN News in Nairobi.
He co-produced the hard-hitting 2019 BBC Africa Eye exposé “Stealing from the Sick,” which uncovered the theft and illegal sale of government-funded medicines in Uganda, directly sparking parliamentary debate
BBC World News Komla Dumor Award (2019): He won this highly prestigious continental award, allowing him to train and work as a producer with the BBC headquarters in London.
ACME Journalist of the Year (2017): Awarded by the African Centre for Media Excellence.
He is a multi-award-winning reporter with accolades spanning the Uganda Gender Media Awards, the Bbale Francis Best Male News Anchor Award, and the CEHURD Excellence Award.
Through the African Institute for Investigative Journalism, Serwanjja focuses on capacity building, training thousands of journalists across the continent to execute impactful accountability reporting.
He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism and Communication from Makerere University and is a PhD candidate in media studies and journalism at Uganda Christian University.
In mid-2026, running as an independent candidate, Serwanjja won a tightly contested election to become the LC1 Chairperson of Bamutakudde Village by a razor-thin margin. He has focused on using his network, advocacy background, and resource mobilization skills to upgrade grassroots governance. His local initiatives include campaigns to fix village roads, fast-track National ID distribution, register households to the national electricity grid, and collaborate with skilling programs to provide vocational training for local youth
