Floods wash Kapchorwa ‘clean’
Sep 01, 2003
HELL has broken loose for the people of Chepskunya and Seretiyo villages in Ngenge sub-county, Kapchorwa district because of the floods that has submerged the area.
By Gerald Businge
HELL has broken loose for the people of Chepskunya and Seretiyo villages in Ngenge sub-county, Kapchorwa district because of the floods that has submerged the area.
For William Bukose, 54, a resident of Chepskunya, the saying that water is life couldn’t have been more wrong! Yes, he has been drinking water to live, but for the last three years, it is the same water that has chased him away, four times from a new house.
Although Bukose was among the few courageous people to stay out of the camps in Ngenge where his villagemates are taking refugee from the Karimojong cattle rustlers, water has come with heavier punishments than the gun-wielding Karimojong.
“The situation started getting worse about 15 months ago. The river here flooded and water filled our house. I built another one a 100 metres away. After two months, the water had come. I built another and another until I could no longer stay on that land. I had to move here to the trading centre, and the water has still followed me,†says Bukose.
Every night, the not so religious Bukose has to go down on his knees to pray to God that the marauding floods don’t reach him here at the trading centre.
His prayers bore fruit for him and his extended family for only a short time. In May this year, when it started raining heavily, the water invaded the trading centre forcing people out of their houses. After four weeks, Bukose lost one of his houses and all the family have now moved to the main house when they can still fight the water.
“All our houses are now full of water. Sometimes we have to shift at night when the water becomes unbearable and move to our neighbours’ houses, which are less affected. The people here have learnt to share. But we need help,†Bukose says.
Bukose attributes the floods to flooding rivers, which have been filled with soil. The problem originates from Benet sub-country, almost 30km away, where improper farming methods have caused soil erosion.
Officials here say this is because the land tenure insecurity that the Benet community faces as many await official government resettlement.
And for this, the rivers are spreading mayhem and destroying plants Ngenge plains.
David Mukwana, an official with Actionaid Kapchorwa, who took The New Vision around the places says there are no more fish in the rivers and that people near the rivers are being threatened with eviction and loss of life daily. Soil erosion has resulted in siltation, where water in different rivers has diverted into different directions as it carries soils from the slopes, causing destruction in its wake.
At Atari River, on the Mabale-Moroto road, the muddy water has flooded the environs. The water, which used to flow 12 feet under the bridge has started flowing on top of the bridge.
On the road to Moroto, new rivers of water are now flowing on both sides of the road, at some points making intersecting.
This is the same scenario with Ngenge River on the same road. Many residents at Seretiyo village have abandoned their homes due to the waters.
“The water is attracting lots of mosquitoes and we fear this may result into a cholera outbreak,†says a lady who was drawing the muddy water from the river.
She says the residents can no longer access the two boreholes, which have been submerged in the waters.
The dirty water has become the only resolve for the over 300 families at Seretiyo camp.
“All the latrines have been taken over by the water and we can’t dig new ones since there is too much water underground,†Bukose says.
Other residents are complaining that the water has interfered with their burial grounds and their daily ways of life, making survival difficult.
“People can no longer go to the forests to cut logs for making charcoal which is their main source of income here. They can’t even go to the fields to look for food. We may soon die of hunger,†Bukose who is also the area LC2 Councillor says.
When we go to Siiti River, which borders Kapchorwa and Nakapiripiti districts, the situation is different as the water is flowing in the main stream river only, far below the bridge.
Mukwana says Siiti river, unlike other rivers which are flooding, pass through Benet, and unless the land problem in Benet is solved and more environmentally friendly methods are adopted, the problem could become a disaster. “Actionaid wanted to undertake a conservation programme on the other side (Benet), but we can’t do it unless the land question is resolved,†Mukwana says.
The problem is always worse when it rains as normally happens in this tropical area. It is feared that soon, the beautiful green perched Kapchorwa could become bare rocks. Also, due to the silting, all the soils may soon come down here to the plains.
“This is due to the fact that Benet is about 99% steep slope and nobody is paying attention to ensure proper land use due to uncertainty of land tenure.
The brown water streams flowing from this region tell the story,†reads a Benet memorandum.
Even the Benet Resettlement consultative Committee acknowledges that land degradation through soil erosion in Benet is the worst in the country.
Locals claim that as a result of tenure uncertainty and restrictions by laws governing management of National parks, civil society organisations and the local government have been reluctant to help out or sensitisation in this area.
“Since the area hadn’t been gazetted until 1993, people here continued to plough the land undeterred. Now there is too much degradation and given the terrain, erosion has been the order of the day,†says William Cheptegei, a Benet leader.
Moses Mwanga, the Benet councillor, says this is ironical because when the people were brought together in a confined area it was to stop the wanton destruction of the environment, but due to tenure insecurity, and lack of sensitisation, this did not work.
HELL has broken loose for the people of Chepskunya and Seretiyo villages in Ngenge sub-county, Kapchorwa district because of the floods that has submerged the area.
For William Bukose, 54, a resident of Chepskunya, the saying that water is life couldn’t have been more wrong! Yes, he has been drinking water to live, but for the last three years, it is the same water that has chased him away, four times from a new house.
Although Bukose was among the few courageous people to stay out of the camps in Ngenge where his villagemates are taking refugee from the Karimojong cattle rustlers, water has come with heavier punishments than the gun-wielding Karimojong.
“The situation started getting worse about 15 months ago. The river here flooded and water filled our house. I built another one a 100 metres away. After two months, the water had come. I built another and another until I could no longer stay on that land. I had to move here to the trading centre, and the water has still followed me,†says Bukose.
Every night, the not so religious Bukose has to go down on his knees to pray to God that the marauding floods don’t reach him here at the trading centre.
His prayers bore fruit for him and his extended family for only a short time. In May this year, when it started raining heavily, the water invaded the trading centre forcing people out of their houses. After four weeks, Bukose lost one of his houses and all the family have now moved to the main house when they can still fight the water.
“All our houses are now full of water. Sometimes we have to shift at night when the water becomes unbearable and move to our neighbours’ houses, which are less affected. The people here have learnt to share. But we need help,†Bukose says.
Bukose attributes the floods to flooding rivers, which have been filled with soil. The problem originates from Benet sub-country, almost 30km away, where improper farming methods have caused soil erosion.
Officials here say this is because the land tenure insecurity that the Benet community faces as many await official government resettlement.
And for this, the rivers are spreading mayhem and destroying plants Ngenge plains.
David Mukwana, an official with Actionaid Kapchorwa, who took The New Vision around the places says there are no more fish in the rivers and that people near the rivers are being threatened with eviction and loss of life daily. Soil erosion has resulted in siltation, where water in different rivers has diverted into different directions as it carries soils from the slopes, causing destruction in its wake.
At Atari River, on the Mabale-Moroto road, the muddy water has flooded the environs. The water, which used to flow 12 feet under the bridge has started flowing on top of the bridge.
On the road to Moroto, new rivers of water are now flowing on both sides of the road, at some points making intersecting.
This is the same scenario with Ngenge River on the same road. Many residents at Seretiyo village have abandoned their homes due to the waters.
“The water is attracting lots of mosquitoes and we fear this may result into a cholera outbreak,†says a lady who was drawing the muddy water from the river.
She says the residents can no longer access the two boreholes, which have been submerged in the waters.
The dirty water has become the only resolve for the over 300 families at Seretiyo camp.
“All the latrines have been taken over by the water and we can’t dig new ones since there is too much water underground,†Bukose says.
Other residents are complaining that the water has interfered with their burial grounds and their daily ways of life, making survival difficult.
“People can no longer go to the forests to cut logs for making charcoal which is their main source of income here. They can’t even go to the fields to look for food. We may soon die of hunger,†Bukose who is also the area LC2 Councillor says.
When we go to Siiti River, which borders Kapchorwa and Nakapiripiti districts, the situation is different as the water is flowing in the main stream river only, far below the bridge.
Mukwana says Siiti river, unlike other rivers which are flooding, pass through Benet, and unless the land problem in Benet is solved and more environmentally friendly methods are adopted, the problem could become a disaster. “Actionaid wanted to undertake a conservation programme on the other side (Benet), but we can’t do it unless the land question is resolved,†Mukwana says.
The problem is always worse when it rains as normally happens in this tropical area. It is feared that soon, the beautiful green perched Kapchorwa could become bare rocks. Also, due to the silting, all the soils may soon come down here to the plains.
“This is due to the fact that Benet is about 99% steep slope and nobody is paying attention to ensure proper land use due to uncertainty of land tenure.
The brown water streams flowing from this region tell the story,†reads a Benet memorandum.
Even the Benet Resettlement consultative Committee acknowledges that land degradation through soil erosion in Benet is the worst in the country.
Locals claim that as a result of tenure uncertainty and restrictions by laws governing management of National parks, civil society organisations and the local government have been reluctant to help out or sensitisation in this area.
“Since the area hadn’t been gazetted until 1993, people here continued to plough the land undeterred. Now there is too much degradation and given the terrain, erosion has been the order of the day,†says William Cheptegei, a Benet leader.
Moses Mwanga, the Benet councillor, says this is ironical because when the people were brought together in a confined area it was to stop the wanton destruction of the environment, but due to tenure insecurity, and lack of sensitisation, this did not work.