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Transport in Kapelebyong is worsening following the washing away of 15 bridges linking sub-counties, parishes and villages in the district.

In some area, people have resorted to using boats to cross from one place to another. The district authorities are now worried that if the rains continue unabated, the census enumeration start on Friday, May 10, 2024 will be affected.

Bridges linking the sub-counties of Acinga, Okungur and Acowa were washed away by floods. People who want access Achinga must use boats,” district chairperson Francis Akorikin told New Vision Online on Wednesday.

The Obalanga-Orungo and Okungur-Airabet roads have also been cut off as people have to use boats,” Akorikin said.

Achinga sub county census supervisor Peter Alobai in the boat and being helped by village boys.

He noted that the situation may negatively impact the enumerators in accessing the affected places.

“Since the exercise is going to take 10 days, we hope that the rains subside to enable the census team to visit all the villages,” Akorikin added.

“We have already informed the officials from Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) to provide rain courts and gumboots for their workers to avoid damage to their equipment.

UBOS speaks out

However, Geresom Alfred Musamali, the census publicity and advocacy advisor at UBOS, said that their budget could not allow them procure the gumboots, umbrellas and rain courts.

“We recruited enumerators from every village and the issues of places being cut off may not affect so much because each enumerator shall be required to move within their village without necessarily crossing other sub-counties,” Musamali said.

Kapelebyong has approximately 120,000 people but the census will establish the right data once it is conducted.

“The exercise is important for us because we estimate the district to have a population of over 160,000 people but UBOS gave us a figure of 120,000. Once our census is carried out well, we shall get reason for demanding for more services,” Akorikin said.

According to the rainfall outlook of May, enhanced rainfall is expected over most parts of northern and Teso regions of the country.

With that rainfall outlook, the districts of Kapelebyong, Amuria, Katakwi, Serere and Bukedea that are always prone to flooding are expected to face it rough.

Already water logging has started affecting crops in Bukedea and Serere with more cases expected in the days to come.