Bundibugyo town council has given Internally Displaced Persons-IDPS a two weeks ultimatum to vacate the town council or risk being pushed. The IDPs were displaced from their homes during the Allied Democratic Forces-ADF rebel insurgency. Most of IDPs are Bumandu, Busaru and Ntandi sub counties. In 2002 when the war ended, some of the IDPs returned to their homes but others remained in the town council.
Last week, Bundibugyo town council started evicting the remaining IDPs but temporarily halted the exercise after the IDPs complained that they were not given ample time to vacate. The authorities argued that the IDPs were living in a squalid condition that could lead to disease outbreak. Uganda Radio Network found three families sharing a single roomed mud and wattle house, without latrines.
The members of the families walk to the district headquarters to answer nature’s call. Despite the poor living conditions and the ultimatum issued by the town authorities, some of the families have vowed not to vacate the place, they call home. Rashid Baluku, who has been at the camp since 1997, says that he has no plans of going back to his village in Kihongo, Busaru Sub County because he is used to the town life.
Baluku, who earns a living by working as a casual laborer in Bundibugyo town says that when he is evicted, he will have no where to stay, because his house was destroyed by the rebels.
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Florence Mbambu, who owns a stall in Bundibugyo market, says that she cannot return to the village because she has no source of income back home. She says that since all her relatives were killed during the insurgency, she has nowhere to go. But Benezeri Mbusa, the Senior Health Inspector Bundibugyo district insists the families have to leave since there is no longer insurgency in their area.
He also says that some of the families which don’t have latrines, deposit human waste in ploythene bags and then dump it on the roads. Mbusa says that they gave the IPDs ample time since last year to vacate the town.
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Robert Mpabaisi, the LC 3 Chairman Bundibugyo town council says that they plan to construct shops on the land. He says that the shops will be rented out and will generate local revenue for the town council.
