Bulambuli landslides: Dozens resettled as hope of finding missing locals fades

When this publication visited the site at the weekend, hundreds of tents were erected next to each other and one big one was erected in the compound of Bunambutye Primary School.
Although our reporters were barred by security personnel from taking pictures and visiting the tents, they found mothers carrying their babies in the tents while some children were seen playing outside the tents. 

Some survivors expressed gratitude to God for being alive and the government for resettling them. However, some expressed fears that they may never see their relatives who are missing because they could have died in the landslides.

Mr Daniel Mayira from Buluganya Sub-county, said: “Most of our residents have come to the camp for safety, but their hearts are still not stable, thinking of our relatives who are still missing. We are in pain.”
Ms Faheera Mpalanyi, the Bulambuli Resident District Commissioner (RDC), said one of the two excavators brought to aid in the search, unfortunately, broke down last Friday.
“... one is still active and the army and the locals are in a joint effort doing all it takes to have the bodies removed from rubbles,”she said at the weekend.
Ms Mpalanyi said 60 households with more than 2,800 members have been relocated and resettled at Bunambutye Resettlement Camp .
“We have managed to recover 31 bodies as of December 7, and according to what we have on record, we have hundreds still missing,” she said, adding that they have enough tents to accommodate all survivors.
Mr Robert Namasanda, a survivor and a resident of Simu Sub-county, said some people still trapped underground have were covered by big stones during the landslides.

“It was the worst experience I have ever witnessed in life. The stones that came from up [the hills] were big and heavy and even if officials bring excavators, I don’t think they will get anyone alive or recover bodies of those who have died,”he said.
Mr Francis Mugoya, another survivor from Bugibole Sub-county in Bulambuli District, called on the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to include all people in affected areas as they plan to compensate them so that they relocate to safer places.

“The government should not wait for people who are in those areas to get problems before they compensate them,”he said.
The topography of Bulambuli and other districts in Bugisu Sub-region, combined with extreme weather events, have led to more frequent rains and other climate-related issues.
For instance, most of the sub-counties in the upper Bulambuli District such as Buginyanya, Bulegeni, Masila, Bugibole, and Bulago face landslides, whereas sub-counties in the lower area grapple with flash floods.

Mr Richard Mugoya, another survivor from Soti Sub-county, said in every area of upper Bulambuli, there are cracks, indicating the likelihood of landslides occurring in the district.
“We relocated to this camp because the conditions up there don’t favour our lives but again here, we are likely to suffer illnesses related to poor hygiene and lack of clean water,” he said.
Mr Mugoya also revealed that many people who lost relatives are still waiting for the OPM to fulfil its Shs5m compensation pledge per dead person.

Mr Martin Masanga, a resident of Simu Sub-county, said although the government has also promised to give them land, they don’t have money to construct houses.
“Most of the residents supported the idea of relocating from those areas but most of us don't have money to build houses,”he said.

The government used to build houses for landslide survivors but the idea was stopped after it proved too slow and expensive.
Under the new strategy of cash transfers that Cabinet approved and adopted in 2022, the victims are supposed to be given money to relocate and build their own houses.

Last year in April, Give Directly, a nongovernment organisation, gave each household living in high-risk areas in the districts of Bududa, Manafwa, and Namsindwa with Shs7m for resettlement. The government also added the identified beneficiaries Shs10m in April this year.

About 4,113 households in the districts of Elgon were approved by the government to benefit under the cash transfer strategy, with Bududa taking a big share of 1,993, Manafwa (894), Namisindwa (418), Sironko (455), Mbale (107), Kapchorwa (133), Bukwo (173), Bulambuli (210) and Kween (254).
However, the Bulambuli District chairperson, Ms Annet Nandudu,
told this publication that all the locals living in the upper part of the district are prone to landslides but were not considered for resettlement.

“No one in Bulambuli has ever received Shs7m. The government makes pledges but it never fulfils them. People were given yellow cards but they never relocated. Every year landslides occur, the ministers come and make statements and go away, nothing changes,” she said, reiterating what she pointed out last month about the resettlement and relocation programmes.
The government has been resettling households at high risk of landslides in Bugisu Sub-region since the 2010 Nametsi landslide disaster where more than 100 lives were lost.

The survivors of the 2010 landslides were relocated to government land in Kiryandongo District but later in 2019, the government procured land for resettlement in Bulambuli District, which is within Bugisu Sub-region.
Close to 300 families, comprising more than 5,000 people have so far been resettled.
Ms Nandudu also appealed to the government to speed up the process of allocating resettled landslide victims land at Bunambutye site.
“The process should be fast-tracked because there is a problem of congestion and cases of teenage pregnancies may rise,”she said.
Meanwhile, some well-wishers, including Mr Emma Walyaula, who represented the Mulembe Nation, an association of Bamasaba in the diaspora, delivered relief items to the survivors at the weekend.

“The government should find a permanent solution for all people in the risk zones in Bugisu rather than compensating them when they are in trouble,”Mr Walyaula said.

Mr Steven Masiga,the spokesperson of Bamasaba Cultural Institution, said the government needs to partner with the institution to, among others, convince people living in high-risk areas to relocate before disaster strikes again.

“We also expect the government to write off the Parish Development Model and Emyooga loans that were given to the Bulambuli landslide survivors,” he said, adding that the land that is being left behind by the survivors should be given to the cultural institution for safe keeping on behalf of the Bamasaba.

During her visit to the landslide sites last Friday, the Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabbanja, asked the people living in disaster-prone areas to vacate to safer places as they wait for the government to compensate them and also to provide relief assistance.
“The displaced people should be allowed to temporarily resettle in safer places in Bunambutye to avoid loss of more lives as they wait for the government to work on their compensation,”Ms Nabbanja said.