Posted on June, 01 2022

 State Minister for Water, Hon Aisha Sekindi planting a ceremonial tree at the banks of R. Nyamwamba

This was during the monitoring visit led by State Minister of water, Hon Aisha Sekindi who was accompanied by the technical team from the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) and National Forestry Authority (NFA). Other stakeholders included; the Kasese district local government officials, other implementing agencies on the same river and the officials from the Rwenzururu Kingdom.

While giving his remarks, Okidi thanked WWF for demonstrating high level experience in designing and executing interventions that will provide long standing solution to the notorious floods of River Nyamwamba that government has struggled with since time immemorial.

“As government, we are so grateful for the works done so far and we believe that if all communities fully and actively participate in implementing the designed soil and water conservation interventions, the floods shall be controlled in future which shall be our success,” he said.
 Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water and environment, Alfred Okot Okidi demonstrate proper tree planting as he planted on the Nyamwamba River bank

WWF Uganda Country Director, David Duli told the officials that the ongoing response to control flooding of River Nyamwamba only covers 5% of the total catchment and most of the work is on an emergency basis.

According to him, there is a need for the government to inject more resources and scale up the restoration process of River Nyamwamba to cover the whole catchment area.

“There is need for a holistic integrated planning for all rivers originating from the Rwenzori mountains if flooding and its effects are to be dealt with permanently. We need to roll out mass campaigns to cover all the bare hills and encourage communities to voluntarily conserve the environment,” he said.
Joseph Kule Muranga, the Prime minister of Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu-OBR and Kasese LCV chairperson, Eliphazi Muhindi also asked the government to extend these interventions along the whole catchment area. They said that similar interventions have failed in the past because they were only concentrated on a small part of a single river.

Evelyne Mugume, the Kasese Municipal Environment Officer says that 25kms of the river bank have so far been restored. She is pleased that the community has been supportive and is participating in some of the interventions when called upon.

The government through the Ministry of Water and Environment secured funding from the World Bank to implement integrated water management and development projects in different water management zones of Uganda.