By Sarah Achen Kibisi.
Bududa landslide victims want government to prioritize the construction of housing structures for the remaining 289 households and the completion of the 114 houses. It should be remembered that in March 2010, landslides destroyed Namatse village, Bududa District leaving more than 50 people dead and scores displaced. Government afterwards, relocated the victims in Kiryandongo District as a humanitarian intervention. According to the petition to Parliament, the victims said that out of 603 housing structures that government promised to construct for them, only 289 have been constructed. They added that out of that number, 114 are incomplete without windows, doors, water tanks and pit latrines.The petition was presented by Kiryandongo District Woman Representative, Hon. Helen Kahunde during the plenary sitting.“On 12 December 2018, Parliament adopted the report of the Committee on Presidential Affairs on the solutions of resettlement of landslide victims in the Elgon sub-region and resolved that government steps up interventions in developing the necessary infrastructure in Kiryandongo,” read the petition in part. The petitioners added that the resolution stated that programmes intended by the Office of the Prime Minister for resettled victims be mainstreamed in the local government structures of Kiryandongo District.“The same resolution has not been implemented nor has an action taken or been filed in Parliament,” read the petition.The petitioners also urged government to issue land titles to those resettled in Kiryandongo as pledged, granting them legal ownership on the land.“They face insecurity and hostility from host communities with whom they contest ownership of land especially due to the fact that the government did not issue them with land titles upon resettlement,” Kahunde added. Speaker, Anita Among referred the petition to the Minister for Disaster Preparedness, directing that a report should be presented within two weeks.In another development, Pre-Primary Teacher’s Training Institutions Association Uganda (PPTTIA) also want government to introduce a policy to formally regulate the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).In a petition presented by Napak District Woman Member of Parliament, Hon. Faith Nakut, members of the PPTTIA noted that the current National Teacher’s Policy does not cater for the regulation of ECCE, adding that this frustrates stakeholders in the sub sector.Speaker Among also referred the petition to the Committee on Education and Sports for further scrutiny and asked that a report be presented within 45 days■
