The Kasese Pupu Crisis
NWSC's Charles Mushabe Shows the Police what Pupu can Do to the environment
*Bishop, Residents Grab Land @ Sewerage Disposable Site
*Group Uses Feaces To Make Bricks To Build Permanent Houses
*Kilembe, Mubuku, Margerita Land Taken As Dysentery Grows
By Tony Kizito.
Kasese municipality is in a pupu-scare after some residents refused to vacate the town’s sewerage disposable site located at Kikonjo-Railway in Kasese town.
Business Link visited the site and discovered that the group that includes a bishop called Nzerebende under his organisation Fiphai-Uganda, have grabbed the 0.725acre land that is supposed to hold lagoons for managing the town’s sewerage system. They have set-up and are building more permanent structures.
NWSC and the municipal authorities are battling the over 57 homes that have grabbed the said land and have divided it into 31 plots amongst themselves. They now want the municipal authorities to dish them between Shs5m – Shs6m as re-compensation to leave the land that they grabbed.
The group has also started using the decayed feaces in the old sewerage lagoons to make bricks. They use the water in the current disposable site to build and do other activities.
Due to some pressure from NWSC officials and district authorities, the group has increased the rate at which they are setting up those structures by day and night.
It is buying time to continue more encroachment on the sewerage site land and building more structures by taking the municipal authorities and NWSC to court after loosing assistance from the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC).
UHRC had advised them to vacate the area. UHRC told them to try the courts of law to solve their land grabbing problem if they were not satisfied by its decision.
The place has been invaded by flies and managing the area is hard for NWSC officials because of the rowdy residents.
When we told the Kikonjo – railway LC chairperson, Bwambale Kikoma about the situation of his residents eating feaces, he said: “They are not eating feaces, they are just fighting for survival.”
Kikoma added that the town authorities gave people the land in question way back in 1996 and that they had proper documentation to have right to it. He added that they had been paying premium to the authorities for the said land.
“All we want is for these people to be compensated. They are ready to leave”, said Bwambale.
Pupu Crisis
The Kasese Town Council health inspector, Louis Muhwezi recently revealed that the lack of a proper sewerage system in town has caused residents to suffer from water-borne diseases like dysentery and cholera.
He said in 2007, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC)
did a feasibility study in the town but had no funds to set up the system.
He revealed that after a feasibility study, NWSC promised to lobby
for funds for the project but up to now, they were failing to fulfill their promise due to unavoidable circumstances like the matter of land grabbing hitting the area.
The Kasese District LC5 chairman, Rev. Canon Julius Kithaghenda then, said the lives of the people of Kasese town were at a risk due to lack of a sewerage system.
During rainy seasons Kasese town is hit by floods due to its location
at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains.
Last year, between March and June, Kasese was hit by cholera,
which left six people dead and over 300 hospitalised and this included Bp Nzerebende (Fiphai Uganda) who is still up to now refusing to leave the set sewerage site despite his God-sent survival.
Land Grabbing
As land grabbing becomes the order of the day with the recent one being Lubigi, Kasese is one of the most affected areas where people grab any land they wish to have without any rule of law or intervention. In most cases, the land in question has always ended up being taken over by the grabbers either from service providers or particular individuals.
Kasese Minicipal Deputy Town Clerk, Mukobi Seleverio described the Kasese land system as a ‘Grab, Share and Sell’ system.
He said that residents just grab land the way they want and are ready to die fighting to save the land that they have grabbed from either way.
Mukobi said: “If start talking about the land problem, you may either be burnt or chopped into pieces. They may way-lay you. One time we tried to demolish structures that those people at the NWSC site were putting up. On an afternoon, as the council was doing its duties, we recognised over 200 people, sneeking in with sticks and pangas towards our offices. We went to the armoury got guns positioned ourselves. We warned to shoot any of them if they moved ahead. We were going to die “
“People here have grabbed Kilembe mines land, Mubuku scheme land has been taken, Margerita hills land is gone, our over 400acres industrial land has also been taken but now we are fighting to save the NWSC land because it concerns all of us, both the land grabbers and the other legal people. Its a health factor. We pray the environment minister intervenes”, said Mukobi.
NWSC Speaks
Kasese Town water supplies Manager, Charles Mushabe said that the problem has persisted for long and is a hinderance to great service delivery.
He said: “We want the Minister for Water and Environment Hon. Maria Mutagamba and the Lands Ministry to help us on this matter. We just want to do our job. If people die because of improper sewerage disposal, we may be the target.”
Mushabe said that lagoons are natural and if set up, will have trees surrounding the area with a proper road to the place as a good lagoon bed would be.
He added that his staff are leaving in fear because of those residents. “They are threatening our lives and families. Kasese is a difficult place especially with issues related with land but we have to deliver”, said Mushabe.
We (this writer) went to the site guarded by police but we recognised that four of the pits had already been re-filled with soil.
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