Uganda: Government urged on lasting solution for disasters

Parliament has implored government to find lasting solutions to recurrent disasters, citing River Nyamwamba in Kasese District which is said to flood at least three times a year.

Legislators said it was unbecoming that every year the country experiences devastating effects of floods which could be averted.

“It has become common that every month of May, June and October, River Nyamwamba bursts its banks and leaves very many people dead and property destroyed. It is not happening in Kasese alone but Rwenzori sub-region, because districts like Ntoroko, Bundibugyo, Kabarole and Bunyangabu are also affected,” said Hon. Florence Kabugho (FDC, Kasese District Woman Representative).

Kabugho raised this as a matter of national importance during the plenary sitting chaired by Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa on Wednesday, 18 September 2024.

She said the recent floods on 07 September 2024 caused damage, that left Kasese residents questioning if government still cares for them.

“The floods have killed people, destroyed houses and swept away merchandise, leaving the business community suffering. We know government has released money to desilt that river but we are not seeing what that money is being used for, the people of Kasese think that government has neglected them,” said Kabugho.

Kabugho prayed that government sends technocrats to Kasese to find out the lasting solutions to the floods. whose seasons are known but continue to affect the population.

Pakwach District Woman Representative, Hon. Jane Avur, said her people are not any different from those in Kasese following the flooding of the River Nile banks which has curtailed education.

“The River Nile has burst its banks and as a result, pupils in Pakwach are unable to access schools. Teachers have also rebelled because they cannot continue to use the small canoes, they are asking for motorised boats from the Office of the Prime Minister,” Avur said.

Cognisant that primary seven pupils are yet to sit for the national exams, Avur called on the Office of the Prime Minister to urgently respond.

Hon. Gilbert Olanya (FDC, Kilak South County) said the season of floods in Elegu, Amuru District is known to the ministry in charge of disasters and asked for the progress of the permanent solutions government promised his people.

The Minister of State, Office of the Prime Minister (Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees), Hon. Lillian Aber, said her ministry is working with United Nations agencies to establish a long-term mitigation plan for disasters that happen in Kasese, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo districts. She added that her ministry had already sanctioned relief food for Kasese residents affected by the River Nyamwamba floods.

The Minister of State for Water and Environment (Environment), Hon. Beatrice Anywar, talked of an inter-ministerial committee chaired by the Prime Minister which has been charged with the responsibility to respond to the Kasese floods.

“The committee is already holding meetings since last week. There are some directives raised by the President that the committee is incorporating. In the meantime, there can be interventions such as clean water which is needed by our people,” Anywar said.

The Deputy Speaker revealed that his office receives complaints about disasters on a weekly basis and proposed that since seasons for most of the disasters are known, there should be a solid solution.

Tayebwa went on to direct the Minister of Relief and Disaster Preparedness to table a comprehensive report detailing government’s preparedness to mitigate disasters on 25 September 2024.

“I am receiving nearly every week issues of disasters and the answers we get are the same. We request the minister to bring a report on how prepared they are to mitigate disasters. Right now I do not think Hon. Rwemulikya can be here because of what is happening in Ntoroko,” Tayebwa said.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.