At least four hundred families which were affected by floods in Teso South from late last year have received relief food from the national government. The families mostly from Aremit and Asing’e locations received bags of rice and cooking oil each. Addressing the media while issuing the relief food at Machakus secondary school, Teso South sub county commissioner Willy Cheboi said the families were well vetted and the situation on the ground assessed before the relief food was sent to the ground, “The families receiving the relief food today are the genuine ones which were hit by floods for a period of six months. We assessed the damage on the ground and came up with a list of the real affected people before the government sent the aid.”
The floods which have caused great damage to the locals including sweeping away their houses, crops and livestock in homes are caused by rivers Malakisi and Ang’olol which usually burst their banks and overflow to homesteads and farms. The government’s efforts to build dams at Kocholia in Teso North to control flow of water has faced resistance from locals who are not ready to give up their land at a price.
Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa who played a major role in securing financial support from World bank towards the project while he was Water CS, has severally appealed to the Teso community to accept the project to take off, “This project is for your own good. It will help control floods in lower parts of the county including Teso South, Nambale, Samia and Budalang’i sub counties.”
The CS added that apart from controlling floods, the dams would help provide clean water to thousand of residents as well as the water being used for irrigation by farmers, “People in this area will be able to carry out irrigation in their farms to boost farming and also get clean piped water in their homes.” Teso North and Teso South sub counties perennially experience water scarcity despite having adequate rainfall.
