Government through the engineering brigade of the UPDF is set to build low cost housing units for the disaster affected residents of Bududa in an exercise expected to kick off next week.
This follows the release of shs10billion for the resettlement of the first batch of 900 families to Bulambuli, the commissioner of disaster preparedness Owor has said.
“We are beginning the construction in two weeks’ time with the UPDF engineering brigade. Within three months we shall have the first phase of 300 houses ready and move the first lot of people,” Owor said.
He added: “We already have the first Shs10b which has been released and the balance of the Shs22b for this first phase is available. There is no challenge now, 2,000 UPDF builders are moving on with the ground work”.
Meanwhile, John Baptist Nambeshe an area MP continues to discourage officials and residents against the exercise, claiming the relocation is not safe as it will not better lives of affected people.
“Places like Bulambuli which we have now known that have encumbrances, absentee landlords, people are hostile and the animosity is building by the day, it is not safe yet OPM is hell bent,” Nambeshe said.
A few days ago, a section of locals stripped naked protesting the way in which government was conducting process and insisting the land was theirs but bought without consent.
Nambeshe now claims that the essence of bringing in UPDF is to scare away the rightful owners of the land.
“But will UPDF remain their to avail maximum protection to the IDPs who will be relocated from Bududa? Don’t you think this will be recipe for disaster? wondered.
However, Owor says that people who demonstrated in Bulambuli are just mere opportunists trying to position themselves for self-aggrandizement.
“Whenever government is investing somewhere, people rush there and try to position themselves to benefit. In this case they didn’t know where government land is, they rushed and started building on the Bugisu Cooperative Union land, when they saw us elsewhere, they were shocked,” Owor said.