Kasese girl slips off makeshift bridge and drowns
Sep 30, 2014
A pupil at Musasa Primary School in Kyondo sub-county, Kasese district slipped from a makeshift bridge on River Nyaghasana and drowned.
By John Nzinjah
KASESE - A pupil at Musasa Primary School in Kyondo sub-county, Kasese district slipped from a makeshift bridge on River Nyaghasana and drowned.
Christine Kabugho, 12, fell off the bridge as she was going to buy exercise books from Kyarumba trading centre in Kyarumba sub-county on Friday.
The improvised bridge was made using pieces of wood.
The victim was the daughter of Emmanuel Kisara a fishmonger in Musasa village, Kyondo sub-county who is ruing sending the girl to purchase the stationery.
“I regret why I did not buy the books myself. My daughter would not have died,” he lamented at the burial of the young girl the day after the incident.
The original bridge had been washed away in May last year when Kasese was hit by floods after several rivers burst their banks, damaging the road network and other infrastructure.
Eight people were killed during the floods.
At the time, two villages – Kanyaruboga and Kilembe Hospital nurses village in Bulembia – were also ravaged by the floods.
The effects are still being felt to date.
“Expectant mothers, especially the complicated cases, have lost their babies due to the long distance to hospital after the bridge was washed away,” said Yekonia Mbahimba the Kyarumba sub-county LC3 chairperson.
He said the situation was worsened by more floods in May this year when the temporary bridge that had been fabricated by the residents to enable vehicles cross, was also swept away.
An official in the Kasese district local government, who preferred anonymity, said the Ministry of Works would soon construct the bridge.
“Don’t quote me because I don’t want the people of Kyarumba to pin me if the bridge is not made as promised by the ministry,” he told New Vision on phone.