By Mulengera Reporters
Eng Hillary Onek the minister charged with coordinating government response to natural disasters (like the latest Bududa mudslide) has offered to resign his position and return home in Lamwo district in Acholi and rear ducks. Onek, who had just survived being lynched by angry Bududa families and their leaders, said he is tired of being part of a cabinet that is indifferent towards people’s plight. He said for so many years he has been raising the Bududa issues in cabinet meetings only to repeatedly be ignored as if his sector doesn’t matter. He was speaking at Bukalasi Sub County headquarters in Bududa district during the Friday community meeting during which the local residents denounced NRM government while praising Bobi Wine’s People Power Movement to which two of their MPs Justine Khainza & JB Nambeshe (both of NRM) already subscribe. The two MPs also famously voted against changing the Constitution last year scrapping age limit. Leaders like Khainza & LC5 Chairman Wilson Watira spoke and charged the crowd to tackle government officials who dare bring condolences because the mudslide-prone areas have been ignored for too long. This set the audience hostility against Onek.
In his speech, the wealthy man from Lamwo said he was finally resigning should government continue refusing to release the more than Shs50bn that is urgently required to comprehensively secure the Bududa populace by relocating them to safer parts of Uganda. “I’m a technical man who always tells the truth. I’m going to resign my ministerial position in protest because we (as a disaster docket) aren’t being supported,” Onek said admitting that political will to help the Bududa victims is clearly lacking. He said for the last so many years he has spoken to everybody concerned (including his superiors in government) to ensure the relocation of Bududa people is prioritized but he has always been ignored. He also claimed there was too much corruption in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) which is the reason all his efforts haven’t yielded. “I’m equally disappointed. I should resign and go to stay in my birth place in Lamwo.” He said despite money being released in big sums, the plan to acquire 2,800 acres of land in Bulambuli district has never been completed because of corruption in the OPM. The land is in Mbulamutye Sub County and the plan started in 2003 immediately after a similar disaster. It emerged from the Onek Friday meeting that Shs8bn meant to fulfill the Bulambuli resettlement plan was squandered whereby the OPM officials purchased land in a wetland besides paying someone who wasn’t the rightful owner of the land. The crowd became even emotionally more charged when Onek seemed to be powerless and many criticized him openly wondering what he was continuing to be minister for when he is clearly so powerless. Watira & Khainza assured the miserable man from Lamwo of their people’s readiness to act very violently towards government officials who ignore the district and only wait to bring condolences each time a similar disaster occurs. The latest disaster resulted from heavy rain and left hundreds of people (including Summe Junior Academy pupils) unaccounted for. In 2015, Makerere scientists warned that cracks stretching 40kms had developed on Mt. Elgon meaning a powerful mudslide was impending. They recommended urgent relocation of the population which never happened. Earlier in 2010 Bududa faced another disaster which killed close to 400 people. There was another one in 2011 in Bulambuli claiming lives too. Sironko is another Elgon district which has suffered previously. For comments, call, text or WhatsApp us on 0703164755.
