People on Sunday cross a flooded bridge connecting Lira to Pader and Kitgum districts
By Vision Reporters
Hundreds of students from northern Uganda could not go back to school yesterday due to the floods that had washed away the bridges along Aswa River
Students from Kitgum and Pader were yesterday stuck at the main Aswa Bridge Kitgum Bus Park .
Richard Edigu, a Senior Six student ofKitintale Progressive Secondary School in Kampala
“We are supposed to begin our welcome tests on Tuesday. It may affect our termly performance if we miss them,” said Edigu atAswa Bridge
Piska Laker, 30, an employee of Medicins Sans Frontiers in Gulu, was also stranded on the road as she was trying to take her children back to school in Kitgum.
“I am really stranded here with my children. Let our MPs come and see the bridge for themselves and tell the Government how serious the problem is,” she complained.
Swimmers were charging between sh2,000 and sh5,000 to help stranded people cross the river.
But UPDF 5th Division commander based in Pader, Col. Lucky Kidega, cautioned travellers not to risk crossing the flooded river.
“The water is very fast and has washed away slabs on bridges,” he warned, adding that the army might send two motor boats to get the students across.
Lt. Col. Fearless Obwoya, a UPDF soldier, was almost swept away by the gushing water on Sunday when he attempted to walk across the 1954 bridge.
At least four slabs spanning the bridge had collapsed.
The RDCs of Kitgum and Pader, Nahman Ojwee and Santos Okot Lapolo, appealed to the Government to send a helicopter to airlift the students.
John Komakeck Ogwok, the LC5 chairman of Kitgum, said Government engineers were trying to fix the bridge.
“But that may take time. We have dispatched a team of district engineers to survey the Kitgum-Palabek-Palaro-Gulu road and see if it is possible to divert traffic there,” he said.
Arguments like these, however, could not convince the angry travelers who were stranded at the bridge.
“President Museveni and Parliament must do something urgently about this bridge to help the people of northernUganda
“The Government and the development partners should come to our rescue”, said 40-year old Omony Akena. “The Ministry of Works is hopeless. They are not doing any work, yet they are earning huge salaries.”
Brenda Oloya, 21, asked where their MPs were in their hour of need. “We elected them and they have abandoned us like this. We have been suffering for one week and they are nowhere to be seen.”
Richard Edigu, a Senior Six student of
“We are supposed to begin our welcome tests on Tuesday. It may affect our termly performance if we miss them,” said Edigu at
Piska Laker, 30, an employee of Medicins Sans Frontiers in Gulu, was also stranded on the road as she was trying to take her children back to school in Kitgum.
“I am really stranded here with my children. Let our MPs come and see the bridge for themselves and tell the Government how serious the problem is,” she complained.
Swimmers were charging between sh2,000 and sh5,000 to help stranded people cross the river.
But UPDF 5th Division commander based in Pader, Col. Lucky Kidega, cautioned travellers not to risk crossing the flooded river.
“The water is very fast and has washed away slabs on bridges,” he warned, adding that the army might send two motor boats to get the students across.
Lt. Col. Fearless Obwoya, a UPDF soldier, was almost swept away by the gushing water on Sunday when he attempted to walk across the 1954 bridge.
At least four slabs spanning the bridge had collapsed.
The RDCs of Kitgum and Pader, Nahman Ojwee and Santos Okot Lapolo, appealed to the Government to send a helicopter to airlift the students.
John Komakeck Ogwok, the LC5 chairman of Kitgum, said Government engineers were trying to fix the bridge.
“But that may take time. We have dispatched a team of district engineers to survey the Kitgum-Palabek-Palaro-Gulu road and see if it is possible to divert traffic there,” he said.
Arguments like these, however, could not convince the angry travelers who were stranded at the bridge.
“President Museveni and Parliament must do something urgently about this bridge to help the people of northern
“The Government and the development partners should come to our rescue”, said 40-year old Omony Akena. “The Ministry of Works is hopeless. They are not doing any work, yet they are earning huge salaries.”
Brenda Oloya, 21, asked where their MPs were in their hour of need. “We elected them and they have abandoned us like this. We have been suffering for one week and they are nowhere to be seen.”
(Filed by Geresom Musamali, Dennis Ojwee, Wokorach-Oboi, Chris Ocowun and Justin Moro)
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View BBC Interview with the Ugandan Foreign Minister, Sam Kutesa.
In a HardTalk programme first broadcast on Monday 24th September 2007, Stephen Sackur talks to the Ugandan Foreign Minister, Sam Kutesa.
Click here to watch the interview Central Africa has been hit by devastating floods.
One of the worst affected countries is Uganda.
Tens of thousands of people are now homeless and nearly two million people are dependent on international food aid.
The hardest-hit areas are just now emerging from two decades of civil war.
But how much has the Ugandan government contributed to the plight of its own people?
Allan Little talks to the Foreign Minister of Uganda.
courtesy bbc
courtesy bbc
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Watch the bbc interview with Uganda Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa
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