Bunyoro flood victims cry for government support

Buliisa: Thousands of people who were affected by floods that resulted from the rising water levels of Lake Albert in the Bunyoro subregion are crying for government support.

In 2020, the floods submerged several homes on the shores of Lake Albert in the districts of Kikuube, Hoima, Buliisa, and Kagadi.

More than 10,000 families were displaced by the rising water levels after their homes were submerged. The flood victims then sought refuge in churches, schools, and under the trees, while others erected makeshift structures where they are settling to date.

The government promised to acquire land to resettle the victims, but to date, nothing has been done.

Four years after the calamity, the flood victims are faulting the government for not helping them despite the suffering they have endured since 2020.

Victor Kyomuhendo, a fisherman at the Kaiso landing site in Hoima district, faults the government for abandoning them. He says he has been compelled to reoccupy his house after the water levels were reduced.

Pascal Pithuwa, a fisherman at the Butiaba landing site in Buliisa district, says many fishermen lost properties at the time the floods ravaged their homes, but the government kept a deaf ear to their pleas to have them resettled.

Gloria Tibasiime, a fishmonger and mother of three at the Nsonga landing site in Kikuube district, says that since the floods submerged her home, life has become difficult and her business has greatly been affected.

She wants the government to provide them with cheap and affordable loans to help revamp their businesses.

Fred Lukumu, the Bullisa LCV Chairperson, wonders why the government has up until now kept a deaf ear despite several pleas from area leaders to have the flood victims resettled.

He told URN that, as a result, most of the flood victims have resorted to re-occupying the dilapidated structures following the reduction in water levels in Lake Albert, which he says is dangerous to people’s lives, stating that the victims are risking their lives by re-occupying the weak and dilapidated structures.

In 2021, Robinah Nabbanja, the Prime Minister, assured the flood victims that the government would resettle them. She then explained that the government was profiling all flood-affected people in the Bunyoro subregion and drafting a comprehensive plan for their resettlement.

Nabbanja tasked leaders in the region to work closely with her office to ensure that the resettlement plan is worked on. She then did not specify when and where OPM would resettle the flood victims.

In 2022, Hillary Onek, the Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness, and Refugees, said that the government was yet to acquire land to resettle some of the flood victims in Buliisa.

According to Onek, the government had instructed the ministries for lands, water, and environment to first carry out a comprehensive survey of the affected areas to ascertain the degree of the destruction and come up with appropriate measures on how the victims could be amicably resettled.

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