By Barrister Peter Magomu Mashate
In March 2010, Bugisu subregion and particularly Bududa district, experienced the deadliest landslides that left nearly 400 people dead.
It was quiet a challenging situation for us as a people as villages struggled with barehands, shovels and hoes to dig up their neighbors believed to be buried under the mud.
The macabre news kept circulating internationally for example the minister reported, “The latest report I have is that 80 bodies have been pulled out. About 300 people are feared buried by the landslide and the landslides are expected to continue as the rains intensify in the region” explained Hon. Tarsis Kabwegyere, the minister for disaster preparedness and refugees at the time while talking to Al Jazeera.
I remember an account by locals suggesting that in one of the trading centres, there were about 100-150 people when mud struck and covered all of them, leaving only eight survivors.
The situation was indeed a challenging one. People lost lives, animals lost lives and livelihoods were lost. Imagine no income, no what.
Infrastructure was gone. No roads, no nothing. Even government earth moving equipment couldn’t readily access the affected sites because of impassable roads. Everything came to a standstill.
However, over the years, the situation has gradually improved.
Reports of mass deaths have drastically reduced or disappeared with only a few incidents.
This therefore, points to one thing. Proper planning and political will be those in the positions of responsibility.
I remember when she had just been appointed the Prime Minister. Rt Hon Robinah Nabbanja faced a similar situation in Kasese where floods had caused devastations among communities. Her office went to deliver relief items to the victims only for her to discover that the blankets were of poor quality.
Money wasted, time wasted. She refused to handover those items. This shows the seriousness she attached to the situation and the suffering of the people. Besides, she was the one heading the Office of the Prime Minister.
This means any slight mistake in the procurement, it was bound to affect her as an individual.
Regarding, Bugisu landslide, it was under her tenure as the Prime Minister that government is now being felt fully on the ground. Several pictures of her travelling on bodaboda to reach the disaster-prone sites have been seen and to us from this subregion, it proves that she cares about the Omuntu wa wansi (local person).
I have read in the recent press reports that the Office of the Prime Minister is providing a one-off resettlement payment of UGX 18 million per eligible household to facilitate the relocation of all those in landslide prone areas.
This is something we needed from day one. Whereas I may have issues with the figure being given out, the idea is a noble one. Leaving our people live in compromising situations is more dangerous yet giving them something to look for alternative places to settle in and continue with their livelihoods is a welcome move.
Their children need steady education, medical care and the rest of other amenities.
Handling the landslide issue holistically was therefore the best option for Nabbanja. I salute her and H.E President Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for this conscious effort.
Allocation of UGX 62 billion to resettle about 13000 people is a great idea in the right direct and any questions of sufficiecy can be handled under a separate cover.
What needs to be done is to ensure no amount is stolen. Let this budget serve the purpose. We don’t want it to end up in the Public Accounts Committee or IGG’s office as it was the case with the iron sheets for Karamoja which OPM handled and ended up PAC, IGG and eventually court. Bugisu this time has it’s eyes widely open.
The writer is: An administrative, Human Rights and Constitutional barrister-at- Law, Lincoln’s Inn of Court London, United Kingdom.
