More than 1500 residents of Mpenja Sub County in Gomba District are at risk of contracting diseases due to the lack of safe drinking water, the LC 3 Chairperson, Johnbosco Segirinya has warned. The most affected are mainly residents of Buwaguzi, Kanziira, Maseruka, Ngeribalya, Lwanga, Kikoko, and Mpogo villages.
Currently, the people in these villages fetch water from unprotected ponds and pools. Some of the residents say that they have to trek long distances in search of water, which affects their daily activities.
Salongo Eriyasafu Ssetala, a resident of Buwanguzi Village, says that the situation in their sub-county is not good at all and appeals for help to save their lives. He says that every year, he incurs huge expenses to treat waterborne diseases.
John Bosco Ssemaganda, another resident, says that the dry spell has cost them a lot and made them lose hope. He said that no one in their village can afford white clothes due to the lack of clean water to wash them. The sub-county LC III Chairperson, Johnbosco Ssegirinya, says that the available safe water in the seven villages has turned out to be very costly for the residents.
A 20-liter jerrycan of water costs between Shillings 1000 and 2000, which he said is very costly for the majority of the residents with low incomes. He appealed to the government to come to the rescue of the residents who are sharing water sources with animals.
According to Ssegirinya, Mpenja has 8 parishes with 44 villages but 90 percent of the people have no access to safe water.
Away from the water crisis, Ssegirinya also lamented the worsening living standards in the area due to rising commodity prices coupled with the government’s failure to deliver social services to the people. According to the Ssegirinya, there is a need for government intervention for the people in Mpenja Sub County who are mainly subsistence farmers and were affected by the dry spell. Davis Bigumbabisa Sserutanga, the Mpenja sub-County LC V councilor, says that the dry spell has affected them greatly.
He appealed to sympathizers to come to their rescue by providing water facilities to save them from sicknesses emanating from poor hygiene. Gomba District LC V chairperson Godfrey Kiviiri admitted that access to clean safe water remains a challenge due to low budget allocations for the sub-sector. He said that although they have a borehole in each and every village, most of them are non-functional due to the lowering of the water table while others developed mechanical problems.
Gomba officials say the district has 928 domestic water points, which serve 154,994 people. Of these 141,805 people live in rural areas. However, 323 water points have been non-functional for the past 5 years.
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