President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has assured landslide survivors that the government will provide them with two acres of land per family and enough money to construct better houses for themselves.
The President, who is in the Bugisu subregion in continuation of his performance assessment tour on the Parish Development Model (PDM), made the assurance yesterday as he paid an impromptu visit to Bunambutye, a government resettlement village in the eastern district of Bulambuli, where the victims of landslides are currently settled.
“I’m sorry to hear what happened to you. The government people came here. I did not come because I had gone to Arusha, but I know the problem. I will buy you some land—two acres per family. The 10 million shillings they’re giving you is a partial payment because we want you to get money to build a small house for yourself and then the two acres and the capital to start with,” President Museveni said.
Last month, over 30 people lost their lives after devastating landslides swept through Kimono Village, Buluganya Sub-County in Bulambuli District, burying over 20 homes.
While addressing the survivors, President Museveni urged them to encourage their relatives still living in the disaster-prone mountainous areas to evacuate, assuring them that the government will find them alternative safe areas to settle.
“We have been telling you that the mountain is not for settlement. It is mainly meant for forests. You can build in the lower level but not in the top there; it’s very dangerous. You tell all the people in the mountain to get out; we shall relocate all of them,” he stated while offering them 20 cows for eating during the festive season.
Landslides in the mountainous areas of Bulambuli and other parts of the Bugisu subregion are recurring natural disasters during periods of heavy rainfall, posing severe risks to the people living in these areas.
