Why Uganda has East Africa’s highest number of natural disaster IDPs
By Dicta Asiimwe
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According to the [International Displacement Unit], Uganda has East Africa’s highest number of people who live as internal refugees due to natural disasters. Next is South Sudan with 75,000 people displaced by disaster, while Kenya comes in third with 35,000.
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After the 2010 landslide in Bududa District, which left 365 people dead and close to 10,000 displaced, Uganda relocated some 600 people to government-owned land in Kiryandongo District in the midwestern part of the country.
But this effort was abandoned by the government, because of what Musa Echweru, Junior Minister for Disaster Preparedness, says were mistakes in implementation.
The mistakes, according to Mr Echweru, included the decision by government to contract the private sector in the construction of houses, a venture that was later found to be too expensive.
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The current plans by the Prime Minister’s office mean that the government will only afford to relocate people displaced before 2018, since the numbers provided by the International Displacement Unit are for the period up to December 31, 2017.
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