Elegu traders want Shs20b for property lost to floods

The business community at Elego Town Council in Amuru District has asked government for a Shs20b compensation for property lost due to perennial flooding in the area.

Heavy rain in Gulu and Amuru districts always causes River Unyama to burst its banks, leading to flooding.

Mr Francis Bongomin, the trade information desk officer at Uganda National Cross Border Traders Association, on Monday said businesses worth Shs30b have been affected by floods and fire outbreaks in the area for the last seven years.

He said the number of registered traders in the area reduced from 14,000 in 2013 to only 7,000 currently due to the impact of the disaster, adding that the Shs20b is justifiable.

“We petition the government to compensate us because promises of diverting the floods have been sung since 2016 and we feel this is deliberate to leave us in this state,” Mr Bongomin said.

Ms Agnes Birungi, one of the affected traders, said she lost 15 bags of tomatoes worth Shs3m when floods struck last month.
Ms Birungi, also the chairperson of Elego Traders Savings and Credit Cooperatives, said there are about 380 members whose businesses have been devastated.

“Government must consider our plight; currently, more than 300 of the members of the cooperative whose businesses were affected are stranded and cannot return to their homes,” Ms Birungi said.
“We saw this area as a good business opportunity but now members are struggling to survive after they lost everything to the floods,” she said.

Ms Lucy Akello, the Amuru Woman MP, urged government to speed up the process of widening the river bank.
“The plans to widen and restore River Unyama banks have been there for many years and we wonder why the government cannot act yet  people continue to suffer,” Ms Akello said.

Mr Kassim Akule, Lorikowo, the West Village chairman, accused government of failing to put in place water management plan for the river.
In 2017, traders association at the border town claimed that they lost goods worth Shs3 billion to the floods. 
The floods have also displaced thousands of residents.

According to local authorities, the town has a population of more than 6,000 residents, who are demanding  to quickly build a dam on River Unyama near Elegu to divert the water.

Relocation plans
Amuru authorities have acquired land at Bibiya where they are asking residents and traders to relocate as the government finalises plans to  expand the river banks. At the weekend, the traders petitioned the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, seeking solutions to their concerns. Mr Mpuuga and his team had visited the border point on a fact-finding mission on the security situation at the Uganda - South Sudan border. He told the traders that their concerns would soon be tabled before Parliament.

Additional reporting by SIMON WOKORACH

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