Members of Parliament from the Elgon region were in the districts of Bududa and Bulambuli visiting the areas that had been affected by landslides which displaced people and destroyed property. The MPs were also gathering views from the victims in regards to government's plans for permanent relocation which they intended to present before parliament. The MPs were generally in favor of plans for relocating the vulnerable communities but they wanted more say in how the relocation would be managed. They argued that for the last 11 years, the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Disaster Preparedness have been telling lies to the public that they bought land to which they intended to relocate the landslide victims but to date, nobody has been taken to visit the land. “The land purported to have been procured for the Internally Displaced Persons from Bududa in Bulambuli and in Bunambutye was ox of thoughts. You are aware that such land has encumbrances. One of the encumbrances that the land has is that the absentee landlords that are claiming the land have already filed a Court Suit in the Court of Judicature." Said, John Baptist Nambeshe – Manjiya County MP. “The challenge we have is that, where are these people going? Of currently and temporarily they are settling with their relatives and friends in safer places but the question of permanent resettlement by the government has been so slow.” Said, Justine Khainza – Bududa District Woman MP. “So we want to organize and we go to Bunambutye, look at the land; some people say it is full of water, we don’t know and then come back.” Said, Rose Mutonyi – Bubulo West MP.
However, John Baptist Nambeshe the Manjiya County MP on the other hands wanted the government to create more urban centers in the affected districts to accommodate the displaced without necessarily relocating them. “The compensation bit of it is about all the affected be given money after of course, a government valuer has valued and then they are given cash to relocate themselves and find where they can procure land and resettle themselves.” Said, John Baptist Nambeshe – Manjiya County MP. “They are not ready to move because they like their place, they like this place because of the favorable conditions that they are always in.”
The State Minister for Disaster Preparedness Musa Ecweru revealed that several people had been relocated to Kiryandongo district but according to some locals in Bududa, Kiryandongo was no longer suitable for them. "Those who went to Kiryandongo, most of them have come back complaining that Kiryandongo is very hot and Bulambuli the place is flooding. So there is no difference in leaving this place going to Bulambuli." Musa Ecweru also revealed that landslides and other disasters were happening in different parts of the country and that it was extremely difficult to relocate all the affected people. “Initially when we were beginning to talk about relocation, we were only talking of communities of Mount Elgon. But now in Bundibugyo, there are people who are visited by landslides, in Lubanda I had to go and bury one time about 11 people who died as a consequence of a flood. So we can’t relocate all the Banyakigezi, we must just find a way of managing those hills in such a way that it is sustainably exploited without being harmful to the communities. So we will only remove and identify those that are extremely in what we call high-risk areas.” Said, Musa Ecweru – State Minister for Disaster Preparedness. Currently, landslide victims in Bududa district are staying in schools, churches, and public buildings. The eroding soil has also gone ahead to affect road transport in the area which has further made life in the area very difficult.
