Museveni sends Mbabazi to Bududa over landslides

By Apollo Mubiru and Paul Watala

President Yoweri Museveni has sent Prime Minister  Amama Mbabazi to Bududa landslides scene to assess the situation.

Presenting a ministerial statement to Parliament Wednesday afternoon, relief and disaster preparedness minister Steve Mallinga conveyed Government's condolence to those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy.

The minister told the House chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga that Government decided not put the victims in camps but asked them to live with relatives to avert cholera outbreak. He said cabinet sub committee chaired  by the third deputy Premier Gen. Moses Ali has been instituted.

Government has delivered ten tons of maize flour and 500 kilograms of beans to the Bududa land slide victims.

State minister for relief and disaster Musa Ecweru said the items were procured by the Office of the Prime Minister.  

Uganda Red Cross also conveyed 2 trailers of non-food items including tents, blankets, cups, plates and basins among other items.  

However, the distribution of relief items is delayed after both Government and Red Cross officials accuse local leaders of inflating the figure of the victims.

Meanwhile, hopes of recovering more survivors from the scene of tragic landslides that swept Bumalugala parish in Bulucheke sub county, Bududa district, have waned.

A combined team of local residents and volunteers from the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) worked tirelessly Tuesday without recovering any human bodies.