L. Kyoga flood victims face permanent displacement

The persistent floods that have battered communities in the Lake Kyoga Basin, depriving them of their livelihoods, are seasonal in nature. 

However, a new buffer zone re-demarcation plan will likely displace an estimated 6,000 families permanently across the more than 100 kilometer lake basin area in Nakasongola District.

With only two days left until the deadline of December 31, 2024 for residents to vacate some of the areas mapped out as part of the new Lake Kyoga buffer zone, environmentalists and district authorities are linking the phenomenon of water levels eating into Nakasongola’s mainland to climate change. The risks of flood waters submerging the new buffer zone areas have not been ruled out. 

While the re-demarcation plan calls for evacuation within a radius of 200 meters from the current low water mark to safeguard the catchment areas, dissenting voices alleging lack of compensation for loss of land are poking holes into the process.

Ezera Ssensalire owns an estimated five-acre titled land in Zengebe village, Lwanpanga sub-county. He is still puzzled about the six-month vacation notice that was issued in June 2024.

“While is true that the government has the duty to establish the buffer zones of water bodies, my piece of land is subject to compensation since it was acquired outside the then Lake Kyoga buffer zone and titled by an official government entity. My efforts to seek compensation have not yielded any fruit,” he says.

Ssensalire is among the hundreds claiming to own land that was legally acquired but was served the vacation notice. In Lwampanga Town Council more than 300 families are supposed to vacate land for the new buffer zone. At least 35 families claim to possess land titles while others have land purchase agreements.

“The district authorities and the central government are yet to present to us a relocation plan. We have no money to buy new land for relocation. We need compensation for loss of land because many of us have legal documents as proof ownership. We cannot leave without compensation,” Musa Gawaaya, a resident of Lwampanga Town Council tells this publication.

While the sight of more than 20 commercial and residential buildings partly submerged by flood water could be a good reason to seek safer settlement areas, hundreds of permanent buildings and gardens have also been marked for demolition since they now fall within the new Lake Kyoga buffer zone.

Last month, Jamila Naluyimba, the LC3 chairperson of Lwampanga Town Council, told this reporter that there is nothing much the town council can do to help the residents.

“We have no direct answers to the many questions posed by the affected residents. Even Lwampanga Town Council offices fall within the new buffer zone, so we will also be evicted. Houses, gardens, churches and schools will have to relocate. Our challenge is where to relocate to since the government is yet to come out with a clear plan,” she said.

Naluyimba added that district authorities had planned to allocate land to the affected families in Kyalubanga forest reserve but have since faced several legal challenges.

Why a new buffer zone

Charles Andama, Nakasongola District’s environment officer, reveals that the Ministry of Water and Environment, the National Environment Management Authority, and the district’s Natural Resources Department are undertaking the new buffer zone demarcation exercise.

“The effects of climate change are real in Nakasongola District. The Lake Kyoga buffer zone is being redrawn from the new low water mark because the old buffer zone was submerged by the floods. This is for the safe y of the population and to safeguard the catchment areas from further encroachment by humans,” he says.

Lake Kyoga, a swampy and shallow lake covering an estimated 1,700 square kilometers, is at the centre of the fresh buffer zone boundary demarcation. District leaders say that while the affected population was given up to six months to voluntarily relocate to safer areas, the relocation plan is yet to materialise for a bigger percentage of the affected residents.

In an interview last month, Sam Cheptoris, the Minister for Water and Environment, said water body buffer zones are strategic areas purposely set up for the protection of the water resource and the safety of the communities that live near the respective water bodies.

“I believe that the case of setting buffer zones for Lake Kyoga is within the environment rules that set over 100 meters from the low water point of the lake. The increased water inflow into the lake could be the reason for the flooding. The government has to secure lives and protect the resource,” he said at the time.

While Cheptoris says the frequency with which Lake Kyoga floods its banks could be as a result of climate change, Eng Edward Zeblon Kabasa from the same ministry explains that water bodies are subject to expansion depending on the capacity of water inflow from different tributary rivers and streams.

“This is what is happening in areas where the former buffer zone of Lake Kyoga got submerged and is now part of the lake water. The government has had to embark on the demarcation of a new buffer zone using measurements prescribed in the environment guidelines. The distance is 200 meters from the low water point of the lake,” he explains.

Floods, the unending burden Since April 2019, an estimated 12,000 families have been directly affected by the lake’s flooding. This has led to displacement and destruction of property. Andama says unlike the flooding of River Kafu and River Ssezibwa, the Lake Kyoga floods have been persistent over a number of years.

“Nakasongola district experienced one of its biggest flood challenges between 2021 and 2023. While the floods are often seasonal, with the water receding within two to three months from the time of flooding, the 2021 floods which affected about 35 villages lasted for more than 18 months. About 5,000 families were displaced,” he narrates.

According to Sam Kigula, the LC5 chairperson of the district, the floods damaged roads and submerged schools, churches, and health centres, among other public infrastructure.

“Efforts to try and address the cause of the frequent floods and relocation plans for victim floods have been slow. While we welcome the current re-demarcation process, I fear that it will create a landless group of people who have vacated their former settlements. We are yet to receive the relocation plan from the government,” Kigula says.

The most affected sub-counties where floods have persisted are the likely victims of the new buffer zone re-demarcation exercise. These include, Nabiswera, Kalungi, Nakitoma, Lwampanga, Wabinyonyi and Lwampanga Town Council. The affected sub-counties are home to 25 landing sites across the more than 100km Lake Kyoga shoreline. 

Saleh Kamba, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), has appealed for calm, while calling on the affected residents to move to safer areas.

“Floods are disastrous and have continued to cause havoc in parts of the district. We should address the matters to the relevant government departments as we shift to safer areas. We do not want to risk lives and property anymore,” he says.

Lake Kyoga is shared by more than 15 Districts in the central, east, and north eastern parts of the country. While the flash floods are more pronounced in Nakasongola District, several of the other districts sharing the lake basin also experience the flood-related challenges.

Flash flood statistics

Between 2021 and 2022, an estimated 5,300 families were displaced by the flash floods from Lake Kyoga. Several of the displaced families sought refuge at school compounds and churches in areas that had not experienced the floods.

In May 2024, the flash floods cut off 24 villages and displaced 320 families. The floods also submerged several public infrastructure. At the time, the Uganda Red Cross Society and the government supplied tents and food rations to affected families.

Conservationists and environmentalists believe frequent flash floods from the different water bodies are linked to human-induced climate change.

Johnson Beebwa Ssemanda, a conservationist, says Lake Kyoga like other water bodies has experienced unregulated human activity that has destroyed the water catchment areas. 

“The papyrus vegetation that forms more than 80 percent of the water catchment zone of Lake Kyoga has been destroyed. The catchment areas are now covered with crop fields. You cannot control floods after clearing and destroying the water catchment areas,” he says.

He advises that water body buffer zones should be jealously guarded from encroachment, to allow them to regenerate naturally or through tree planting.

[email protected]