THE Prime Minister’s Office has deployed an emergency team in Bududa to persuade people who have forcefully resettled in the landslide-affected areas to vacate before another calamity befalls them.
The team is comprises about 130 UPDF army personnel under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Julius Oketta, the director of emergency relief co-ordination and evacuation in the Office of the Prime Minister.
This comes on the heel of reports that thousands of families had ignored warnings of a possible disaster and were resettling in Nametsi, one of the areas which were severely devastated by the landslides which covered three villages and claimed hundreds of lives a year ago.
“The majority of people who were affected in last year’s landslide have gone back to where the landslides were but we are persuading them to leave the place before another catastrophe occurs” state minister for Northern Uganda David Wakikona told Sunday Vision.
He said he had met the families and tried to convince them that it was risky to stay in Nametsi during a rainy season but it seemed to be a hard task as many claimed they would rather die while there than move into any camp.
Wakikona said many of the persons resettling in Nametsi had moved from Bulucheke camp, where they had been resettled because they wanted to take advantage of the ongoing rains to begin planting their crops.
Others claim that it’s hard for them to stay far away from their traditional places.
He said “Tradition seems to govern them more than anything else. Some body will tell you I was born here, I grew up here, my parents are buried here, and so I would rather die here.” Wakikona added.
Last year Government moved over 600 families of the Bududa landslide survivors and resettled them at Panyomoli in Kiryandongo district.
Each family was allocated two-and-a-half acres of land and sh250, 000 as start-up cash. But many others rejected the move and opted to return to the risky Nametsi area.
Wakikona said the emergency team is tasked to talk to them and convince them on the need to move to safer places because there is enough evidence that another landslide may be imminent as cracks in one of the hills overlooking Nametsi village are widening.
The hill which is home to at least a thousand people developed a larger fracture caused by continued torrential rains.
He says if the ongoing efforts fail to yield results, Prime Ministers office will forcefully evacuate them.
Published on: Saturday, 2nd April, 2011
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