Kasese flood victims cry out over delays

The Kasese flood victims have critised government over delay to resettle them. The locals say it is the role of government to respond to disasters.

Since 2013, Kasese has been experiencing natural calamities such as floods and landslides, which has left scores dead, and several displaced. Kasese currently has more than 1,000 flood victims.

Ms Rehema Aryama, the general Secretary for Muhokya camp, yesterday told Daily Monitor that when they were taken to the camp on December 15,  last year they were convinced they would be resettled in three months.

“My children have been asking me since last year when we intend to leave the camp for a better home and as a parent, this question keeps traumatising me. My request to concerned authorities is to expedite the resettlement process as was their earlier commitment,” Ms Aryema said.

Ms Gevina Kabugho, another victim, said the makeshifts are in a poor state, adding that they are risking their lives.
“My appeal is that the concerned authorities should speed up the process of resettlement to enable us get a safe place because life here in the camp is becoming unbearable,” she said.

The assistant District engineer in-charge of civil works, Mr David Rujumba, said more than 17 bridges worth Shs17 billion were destroyed last year.

Mr Rujumba said the district needs a supplementary budget of Shs58 billion to reconstruct and repair the bridges.
“We notified all the concerned ministries about our demand to fix damaged bridges and the district is still waiting for the response from government to address these challenges,” he said.

In August last year, eight people died due to floods and landslides.
Three people from Bwesumbu Sub-county and five others died in Kasenyi village, Kithoma Parish in Buhuhira Sub-county, Busongora North.

This was after floods hit the district on May 7, 10 and 22 when five major rivers including Nyamwamba, Rwimi, Mubuku, and Nyamugasani burst their banks destroying property, including Kilembe hospital that has not been refurbished to date.

Properties that have not been repaired include Kyanjuki, Nyakalengejo and Kyanya bridges connecting in Ibanda-Kyanya Town Council.

Other bridges are Lhubiriha, which connects Uganda to DR Congo in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Town Council and Kinyayobyo, which connects Karusandara to Hima Town Council.

Some of the schools that were also swept away include Kisabu, Bikone, Bulembia, Road barrier primary schools and Kilembe SS.

 So far, government has only intervened to shift Kilembe hospital to Kasese social service hall that is owned by the Catholic Church pending it’s renovation.

Efforts
The Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) has been doing spot desilting of River Nyamwamba but their effort is also being hampered by the re-occurrence of floods.

The Ministry of Water and Environment last year planted bamboo trees on the upper parts of River Nyamwamba and they have been washed away.

In June, President Museveni promised to resettle displaced people, but asked leaders to look for suitable land that can be bought by government.

Help
Government’s immediate response to the displaced people in Kasese over  the years has been providing relief food and other non-relief food items from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The recent relief items were delivered in July during Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja’s visit.

The items included 40,000kgs of posho, 20,000kgs of beans, 2,000kgs of sugar, 2,000 tapelines, 1,350 jerrycans, 1,000 basins, 100 cartons of laundry soap , 1,000 mosquito nets , 100 blankets  and 100 mats

The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by the disaster Minister, Mr Hilary Onek, promised that government will expedite the process of resettling displaced people.

She visited Kilembe and Muhokya internally displaced camps and said government was in the final stages of resettling displaced people.

“The government is going to buy land to resettle displaced people, but the report I got about the numbers of the affected persons is different from what is on ground. We shall do verification before resettling people because we want only affected people to be resettled,” she said.

Vice President Jessica Alupo last Wednesday while in Kasese said some of the areas that were affected by floods were worked on. She directed the Ministry of Works and Unra to fix some of the bridges.

Ms Alupo said government was looking for funds to construct the affected schools.

Ntoroko
In Ntoroko, more than 10,000 people were displaced by floods due to rising water levels from Lake Albert.
The affected are in the sub-counties of Kanara and Kanara.
Recently, Ms Nabbbanja said government is also in final stages to see that the affected people are resettled.

Progress made
The Kasese District chairperson, Mr Eliphazi Muhindi Bukombi, last week told Daily Monitor that they identified seven people with pieces of land for sale which the government can buy to resettle people.

He said his office was notified that relief funds were released. He, however, declined to disclose how much.
Mr Bukombi said his office has been directed by the OPM to start the verification exercise.

“We don’t know how much, but what I  know is that government has secured money to buy land so that we can resettle our people,” he said.