Six-year-old child still missing week after Kasese mudslides

At least one six-year-old child was still missing by Sunday afternoon, a week after mudslides killed 16 people in Kasese District.  

Mr Moses Muhumba, father of the missing primary one pupil, Salvin Muhindo, said: “I lost a wife and three of my five children plus three children of my sister during the disaster. We retrieved their bodies but one is still missing.”

“Our request to the government is that they bring an excavator to search for the missing boy so that he can be given a decent burial in case he died,” he told Monitor.

Mr Muhumba adds that his surviving family members are now homelessly helpless but in a camp.

Since last week, locals from Kasika Trading center have been searching for Muhindo's body but all in vain.

Last week, information minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi said government had started assessment of people affected by floods with plans to relocate residents in mountainous flood-prone areas.

“We want to see that all people in hilly areas at gradients of 30 degrees and above shift to areas that are less risky,” he said.

Shs5million

President Museveni early last week donated Shs5million to families that lost people during the incident while those hospitalized received at least Shs1million.

On Wednesday, Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party donated relief items to flood-affected families.

 “The disaster in Kasese district happens every year but government has not taken steps to plan for these people,” observed NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya.

Government responded by directing people to relocate even as the Office of the Prime Minister last week donated an assortment of relief items to the victims- including 10,000kilograms of maize flour, 5,000 kilograms of beans and 200 tents.