By:  Jothan Alinaitwe

BUDUDA

The Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah has flagged off the exercise of relocation of households facing high risk of landslides in the Elgon sub region.

This initiative aims at mitigating the risks created by landslides and ensure the safety of vulnerable communities living in the landslide prone areas in the Elgon sub region.

The government has so far disbursed sh2.76b for the 276 families in Bududa District deemed at high risk of landslides. The money was sent through Post Bank.

The relocation exercise started with government making a cash disbursement of 10 million shillings being sent to individual landslides high risk households on top of the 7m shillings that was earlier on given out by GiveDirectly, a non-governmental organization that partnered with government.

The Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah (2nd left) and State Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hon. Lillian Aber (centre) with local leaders handing over a dummy cheque to Ms. Naluboka Lorna.  Looking on is Hon. Agnes Nandutu (right)

“We want to ensure that these people relocate to safer areas especially those on cliffs and on top of the dangerous places to avoid a re-occurrence of the past incidents where we lost innocent lives,” said Nabbanja.

While launching the exercise on Friday, Nabbanja assured the people of Elgon sub region that the NRM government was committed to save their lives and property.

The Premier tasked the beneficiaries to utilize the money appropriately and they relocate, because there will be no second chance for anyone who will remain behind.

“All households in landslide high risk areas must relocate and give the land to government for reforestation so that we avoid landslides in the region. Whoever fails to vacate shall be forced to,” cautioned Nabbanja.

Nabbanja gave an ultimatum of 3 months for the families to prepare and vacate voluntarily or else other methods shall be applied.

“As government we are tired of coming here to grieve after people are killed by land/mudslides. Those who will fail to voluntarily vacate shall be forced to do so,” cautioned Nabbanja.

She said that the government will support them with transport to relocate to their new places.

The Prime Minister also urged the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development to prioritize allocating funds to the Ministry pf Relief Disaster Preparedness and Refugees to enhance its capacity to promptly respond to natural emergencies across the country.

Lillian Aber, the newly appointed State Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, announced the allocation of 10 billion Shillings from the Finance Ministry to facilitate the resettlement of affected individuals.

Aber emphasized the importance of providing beneficiaries with financial literacy and guidelines to ensure responsible use of funds.

“We shall offer you training in financial literacy to ensure that the money is put to proper use to avoid any eventualities,” said Aber.

She highlighted past instances where beneficiaries misused funds provided for relocation, underscoring the need for accountability and proper use of resources.

She also expressed concern about previous cases where over 4,000 beneficiaries received 7 million Shillings each for relocation but failed to properly use the funds.

In 2021, Eastern Uganda witnessed the displacement of over 3,620 families, predominantly in the Elgon sub-region, due to landslides and other natural disasters.

The government has managed to permanently relocate 250 families in Bulambuli District.

Members of Parliament from Bududa led by Hon. Agnes Nandutu thanked the government for the efforts to save the lives of the people of Mount Elgon.

Nandutu assured government that the affected people are more than ready to relocate to safer places.

Some of the people who received the cash transfer could not hide their joy and thanked government for thinking about them.

“We are more than ready to relocate and we thank government for the support rendered to us,” said Naluboka Lorna one of the beneficiaries.

The government is set to compensate households in the landslides high risk areas to avoid a repeat of the previous years.

The households to benefit are Bududa-2050, Manafwa -900, Namisindwa-500, Sironko-500, Mbale-107, Kapchorwa-133, Bukwo-173, Bulambuli-210 and Kween-254.

End