Africa-Press – Uganda. Landslide victims resettled at Bunambutye camp in Bunambutye Sub-county, Bulambuli District have decried the shortage of piped water for the past three weeks.The chairperson of the victims, Mr Wilson Nathan Wanasolo, on Tuesday told Daily Monitor that women and children now trek about 3km to access clean water in the neighbouring sub-counties.
“It started with irregular water supply until three weeks ago when the taps finally dried up,” he said.Mr Wanasolo said they buy a 20-litre jerrycan of water at Shs500 from Buwala Village in Bumufuni Sub-county. “Government should help us and drill at least six boreholes in this camp to address the water issue,” he said.About 241 families, comprising more than 4,000 people from different landslide prone-districts in Bugisu Sub-region, have been resettled at the site. The first batch was resettled in May, 2019 and another in February 2020.
However, Mr Fabian Wamai, one of the victims, said they were promised a presidential pledge of Shs100,000 for each household every month which should be fulfilled to help them meet some needs. “If given this money, we can support our families, especially during these hard times brought about by Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. The victims made the remarks during an event held to promote hygiene and sanitation organised by the Office of the Prime Minister [OPM] at the camp on Tuesday.
The event held under the theme, “home improvement and beneficiary sensitisation on hygiene and sanitation” included training on kitchen area, house and latrine management and maintenance, among others. Responding to the issues raised by the victims, Mr Raymond Karungi, the disaster preparedness officer in the OPM, in his response to the issues raised by the victims, said: “We are working with the concerned departments to see that all issues are handled.”
The Bulambuli chief administrative officer [CAO], Mr Leonard Tumusime, said some of the issues are being handled by relevant ministries and departments. “I am aware of these concerns and I have taken the initiative to notify the concerned ministries to respond.
What I know is they will be addressed,” Mr Tumusime said. Mr Emmanuel Okecho, also a disaster preparedness officer, explained that the home improvement campaign was aimed at enhancing the capacity of communities to adopt Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) standards. “The campaign is a sanitation improvement initiative aimed at making the resettled victims adopt to acceptable standards,” he said.
