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Lake Victoria submerges Katoogo slum in Ggaba
Forced out. A number of people have been forced out of their homes due to flooding. PHOTO BY GABRIEL BUULE
Bridget Nekesa, together with her children, live near the National water gate in Ggaba, Kampala.
They are carrying some luggage and from the look of things, they are fleeing the flooded ares in Katoogo, Ggaba.
Actually, she tells me: “We are relocating to a friend’s place.”
Just like Nekesa, many people in Katoogo, a slum on the shores of Lake Victoria in Ggaba, have sought refuge in neighboring areas as they flee from water that has immersed a number of homes in the area.
“Many people are trapped and they have no were to go. And with no public transport, even those who would go to villages, are still trapped,” Nekesa says. It is evident that most of the houses in Katoogo were built in a gazeted wetland.
For Nekesa, she says, her husband acquired the space on which their one-roomed house sits, from a local leader at Shs500,000. They had to fill some of the land with soil and gravel before building.
Kamadha Kakooza, the Katoogo Village, chairperson, says at least 500 families have already left the place and hundreds, which have been rendered homeless, have been accommodated in other peoples’ homes that are yet to be invaded by the overflowing water.
“When the water levels started rising, those who could, chose to vacate the area. Some [who have nowhere to go] remained. What we did was to talk to those who are yet to be affected to at least accommodate those affected for some time,” he says.
Kakooza says the village, which houses more than 6,000 people, is at risk and from the look of things, cholera and hunger are the immediate threats.
Half of the village, he says, has been submerged by overflowing water from Lake Victoria that has been eating into the inland every day.
“Most of the people here are low income earners; we house tax drivers, cyclists, fishermen and market vendors mostly whose income is threatened by the current situation in the country,”
Kakooza says, noting that even schools have been submerged and the village is only lucky pupils were sent home due to Covid-19.
However, residents have pointed fingers at some structures that they say have closed off the water catchment areas in the wetland.
Health concerns
Kakooza says the village, that is estimated to be on 0.551 square kilometres, depends on at least 57 toilets, many of which have already been submerged.
“Sewage has mixed up with water in the area,” he says, noting this is a serious health risk that government must handle urgently.
Yunis Ateenyi, a resident in the area, says the stagnant water has become a breeding point for mosquitoes and the risk of malaria is so high.
Life worsened by Covid-19 lockdown
Pius Mulinde, a boda boda cyclist and a resident in Katoogo, says life has become worse with the lockdown.
His source of livelihood was cut off with the lockdown, and he says, just like others in the area, he has not seen the support government promised Ugandans.
“When we contact area leaders, they say the President stopped them from extending relief to the people,” he says.
Lives Lost
Already, it is reported, Joseph Kiwanuka, a boda boda cyclist, drowned when water entered his house in the night.
Although Kakooza cannot confirm whether Kiwanuka was killed by water, he says, the deceased and another victim, who he does not reveal, could have been electrocuted.
Warned
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Environment warned people who had encroached on wetlands around Lake Victoria to vacate because the lake had reportedly curved out after bursting the shoreline.
It is projected that water levels will rise but will eventually drop due to construction of hydropower dams on River Nile.
Apparently, most villages, land sites and beaches around Lake Victoria have been submerged.
