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Dokolo flood victims ask govt for fast relief
What you need to know:
- Official statistics from Dokolo District show that a total of 15,152 households were affected by the said floods, and are living in dire conditions.
David Ogwang, a 40-year-old resident of Akwate A village, Kachung Western Ward in Dokolo District, sits as he thoughtfully looks into an empty space in front of him.
Ogwang, a father of five is among thousands of flood victims whose homesteads, farmlands, and properties were submerged by the rising water levels of Lake Kwania.
Ogwang lost his six-acre piece of land to the floods and with that he also lost his source of livelihood.
“Farming has been my sole source of livelihood. I had grown maize, beans and cassava but the water came and took it all, including my home,” a visibly sad Ogwang told Monitor.
Ogwang had to leave his farmland, a piece of land on which he had lived for several years, to start a new life in a rented two-roomed house.
He says he is struggling to sustain his family on a piece of land for which he pays Shs100, 000 annually for farming.
"The room I rent now cannot accommodate all my family members including my grandchildren who I am looking after. Often I am forced to request some of my neighbors for extra spaces to host my visitors,” he told Monitor in an interview on Wednesday.
Ogwang has now ventured into fishing, which he says has come with an extra risk because of harassment by the fisheries officials and the army.
“Once in a while when I go fishing, that’s when I can raise money through the sale of the fish to pay school fees for my children and pay their medical bills when they fall sick.”
“But raising money through fishing activities is also not easy since we are arrested by the fisheries protection unit over carrying out illegal fishing and this puts our lives at risk. But because of survival, we are forced not to bid by laws,” he explains.
Like Ogwang, across the Lango sub region, the rising water levels have displaced many thousands with similar tales.
“If some well- wishers provide us with food relief it’s not always sustainable because you would find that the 30 kilograms of beans and 20 kgs of posho only lasts for a week,” Mr Moses Odur, the Lc1 chairperson of Akwate A village, Kachung Western ward in Dokolo Town Council reacted as he accused government for “neglecting residents.”
“Most of the school going children both at primary and secondary level are unable to further their studies since their parents can no longer raise money to pay for their tuition as their farming dependent parents can't raise Money,” he observed.
‘Increased crime’
According to him, high levels of poverty among the community members, have already increased insecurity, prostitution and domestic violence in the area, with unemployed youth resorting to robbing people on the way.
“Some young girls are being forced to marry at younger ages because they have nowhere to stay, the one single house given to their parents cannot be shared by them as grown up girls cannot sleep in the same roof with their parents,” he said.
Odur denounced government for not responding adequately to the ongoing floods which has left over 15,000 households’ homeless since the beginning of the rainy season.
“When you’re being accommodated in someone’s residence, you are forced to not speak anything as you are required to be obedient because if you do so, the owner of the home can decide to chase you away hence leaving you homeless,” he added.
Official statistics from Dokolo District show that a total of 15, 152 households were affected by the said floods, and are living in dire conditions.
These include 5,357 in Agwata Town Council, 4,350 in Kwera sub-county, 2,400 in Adeknino sub-county, 1,220 in Agwata sub-county, 955 in Okwongodul, and 870 in Adok sub-county.
