The business community at Wanseko landing site in Kigwera Sub-county, Buliisa District is crying foul after the overflowing water of Lake Albert continues to submerge their business premises.
Shops, restaurants and a fish market are among the business premises that have been submerged by the rising water propelled by the blowing wind.
Ms Yasmin Majid, a restaurant operator at the landing site says that she is no longer working since her commercial building that habours a restaurant has been flooded by the increasing water level of Lake Albert.
She urges government to intervene since the lake has burst its shores far beyond their expectations.
Mr Anthony Azoora, a businessman in the area says people whose business houses were submerged by the water are currently sleeping under trees since they do not have any place of abode.
He urges the government to ease movement restriction that were imposed to fight off COVID-19 so that the affected people can travel back home.
Mr Azoora reveals that people from West Nile and the Democratic Republic of Congo are now stranded and languishing at Wanseko after their businesses failed due to the flooding lake.
Mr Jasper Tibaijuka, the Wanseko village secretary says that the affected people did not flout any government laws while constructing their houses.
He adds that all the affected followed the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) laws that recommend people to construct their houses 200 metres away from any wetland.
“This time the government will not accuse people of encroaching on the lake. All those who have been affected by the flooding water of the lake strictly followed NEMA’s advice by desisting from constructing their houses near the lake,” says Mr Tibaijuka.
The Kigwera Sub-county Fisheries Officer, Ms Polly Akello, says that there is no business work underway among the affected people who are now renting using the money they had saved.
“Some people have resorted to renting because their houses have been submerged by the water levels that are increasing every time. These are using the money they had saved yet there is no economic activity now going on because their buildings are inundated,” she tells Kazi-njema News website.
The chairperson Buliisa District Disaster Management Committee who is also the Buliisa District Chief Administrative Officer, Mr Nickson Ronnie Agondua, says that relevant higher authorities visited the area for an on spot assessment.
However, these pledged food aid which is yet to be delivered.
“Officials from the Prime Minister’s Office (OPM) visited the landing site and assessed the extent of the destruction by floods and promised food relief to the affected persons. But they were not specific on the time,” he says.
