Government starts relocation of Bududa landslide victims to Bulambuli

Bududa. The truck groans and squeaks as it climbs the murram road. Perched on atop, between pieces of furniture and assorted personal effects.
In the vans are men, women and children anxious to reach the promised land.

As perilous as it seems, this journey is a flight to safety. After months in makeshift camps, survivors of recent landslides on the slopes of Mt Elgon in eastern Uganda are finally being relocated to permanent homes in safer areas.

“This is the day we have been waiting for,” said Mr Boaz Mutinye, a landslide survivor and head of Shisambwa Village in Bukalasi Sub-county.

“We will live here happily with no life threats posed by the landslides,” he said.
The relocation began slowly, with 10 households of 60 people moved to Bunambutye in Bulambuli District, where the government, through the Office of the Prime Minister, has built new homes.

A few remain in temporary camps while more than 10,000 are living in their homes, which are at risk of landslides.
About 100 households will be relocated over the next two weeks in the first phase.

Each household will get a two-bedroom house on an acre of land, with another two acres for agriculture.
The move has rescued survivors “from the jaws of death”, says Ms Lydia Nandudu, who lost family members in the most recent landslide in Bukalasi.

“We have been having sleepless nights whenever it rains. We will now sleep without disruptions,” she said, breaking out in a gospel song.
Mr Isaac Mugera, an OPM spokesman, said heavy rain and difficult terrain had delayed the resettlement.

Benefits
The government, he said, will feed the families for a year, long enough for them to grow and harvest their own food.
A health centre has also been built nearby for the communities, although the recent arrivals will have to find places in area schools, as the new term is about to open.
The UPDF’s Engineering Brigade built the houses between December and March.

Some 900 houses will be built at a cost of Shs32 billion on the 2,800-acre piece of land government acquired in 2013 as part of a 10-year resettlement plan.

The plan has not been without challenges: residents attached to their ancestral lands and are reluctant to leave their landslide-prone homes, while disputes remain over the ownership and suitability of some of the resettlement land.

For those lucky enough to get onto the relocation trucks, however, the relatively short journey away from the mountain slopes is a giant leap from danger and a chance to break new ground.

Reallocation
The construction of 101 houses by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Engineering Brigade and police’s construction unit, started on December 15, 2018 and they were completed by March, 2019.

According to the resettlement scheme on the 2,800 acres of land, which the government acquired in 2013, 250 houses will be constructed on Plot 94, which measures 270 acres.
Plot 157, which is 918 acres, will house 650 houses, while Plot 198, measuring 1,688 acres, will be reserved for mechanised agricultural production.

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