Buliisa flood victims ask govt to expedite resettlement process

M ore than 30,000 people, who were displaced by floods in Buliisa District in 2020 have asked the government to expedite their resettlement process.

The affected community said they are living in dire conditions, a year after being relocated to camps.
Ms Obotha Kayeny, who was displaced from Katala Landing Site, said she is being evicted from the land where she had settled temporarily.

“I used to depend on fishing for livelihood, but now I don’t have a reliable source of income. All my properties were submerged ,”  Ms Kayenyi said last week.

She said the land owners in the camps cannot allow them to construct permanent houses and yet their makeshift structures are at the verge of collapse.

Those who were displaced live in Kisimo, Kityanga and Kitahura villages.

The most affected are from Wanseko, Katanga, Masaka landing sites in Kigwera Sub-county and Kawaibanda, Butiaba, Boma, Kigangaizi, Tugombili and Walukuba.

Others are Bugoigo, Kamagongoro, Kigungu, Serule, Piida, Waisoki, Triangle and Magali in Butiaba Sub-county, Kabolwa and Kigoya landing sites in Buliisa Sub-county.
Mr Kiiza Kadilo, another flood victim,  raised fears of a possible cholera outbreak.

“A good Samaritan built two pit-latrines for us but they are full and there are more than 800 people in the camp, people now ease themselves in nearby bushes, which is risky,” he said.

Mr Kadilo asked the government to first construct more pit-latrines.
He also said they pay Shs20,000 as rent to the land owners monthly but added that some have started rejecting the money, demanding that they leave.

Those who have failed to secure land have reportedly returned to the flooded landing sites.
The chairman of Kisimo Village, Mr William Busobozi, said more than 600 people are in his area.

He said many residents have no source of livelihood since they were depending on fishing.

“These people don’t own land in my village, they are living there temporarily. I want the government to first consider resettling them permanently,” he said.

The town clerk of Buliisa Town Council, Mr Godfrey Businge, said they recently acquired a piece of land near the landing site where they are planning to build a pit-latrine.

“We have acquired land and soon we shall start constructing permanent toilets,” he said.
Mr Businge said the OPM is still looking for land to relocate the flood victims.

Their preferred alternative

The displaced communities have been asking government to de-gazette part of Maseege forest reserve and Bugungu Wildlife Conservation area near Murchison Falls National Park for resettlement. They have been receiving relief food items from the Office of the Prime Minister with a recent donation in August last year.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, met some of the flood victims at Butiaba and Wanseko landing sites in Buliisa and told them that the government would soon find land to resettle them.

She said the government at that time was profiling all flood-affected persons in the district and drafting a comprehensive plan for their resettlement.