Africa-Press – Uganda. About 2,000 residents of Murem Parish, Okile Sub-county in Kaberamaido District still find it difficult to access services after floods cut them off when Lake Kyoga burst its shoreline two years ago.
The affected villages, Itoko, Nachebwa and Murem have missed out on services such as Covid-19 vaccination and government facemasks.
Mr Samuel Patrick Ikara, a resident, told Daily Monitor last Friday that they also missed out on indoor residual spraying against mosquitoes.
“The people contracted to spray told us to give them money for hiring motorised boats and risk allowances, which we couldn’t afford,” Mr Ikara said.
He also said traders who had stocked maize in Murem cannot transport it because the boat operators ask for high fares yet the gate prices for the crop are low. A kilogramme of maize costs Shs200. The acting officer-in-charge of Murem Health Centre II, Ms Helen Egau, said she receives 30 cases of malaria on a daily basis from Murem.
She added that the drugs run out before the next phase of delivery, which is after two months.
“The drugs are brought using boats, we are three staff, and when we need to cross to Kaberamaido, we have to pay for the boat services,” Ms Egau said.
The chief administrative officer, Mr John Stephen Kasadha, said they need to buy life jackets for district officials to deliver vaccines and other immunisation kits to the parish.
He added that the district will reach out to Murem when they get the money. The district chairperson, Mr Victor Rex Ekesu, said once the water levels recede, the district will fix the road.
In May last year, the executive director of National Environment Management Authority, Dr Tom Okurut, said the only solution is that people have to stop staying near river banks.
Mr Richard Musota, the manager of Upper Nile Water Management Zone, blamed the rapid rising water levels on human interference on the water bodies.
