The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Bundibugyo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Members of Parliament from Bundibugyo district have tasked the government to transfer all Congolese asylum seekers to other designated refugee settlement camps in the country. The asylum seekers are running away from conflicts in their home country.
According to legislators, the camp where they are now is congested with 2,680 persons recorded from 81 households. They argue that the camp is posing a serious health risk to both the internal and external population after 126 persons tested positive for COVID-19.
Bughendera County MP Acrobert Moses Kiiza says that the camp was designed to accommodate only 1,000 people but this number has kept on growing, and warned of serious disease outbreaks if it is not decongested.
Similarly, Bwamba County MP Richard Gafabusa calls on the government through the Office of the Prime Minister to quickly respond to the increasing numbers in the camp adding that anymore delays to decongest the camp exposes the population to a much bigger challenge including crime and disease.
In an earlier interview with URN, the Bundibugyo district chairman Robert Tibakunirwa asked the government to put up more structures in the camp.
State Minister for Disaster Preparedness Esther Anyakun says the first assignment of the government was to mobilise all the asylum seekers from the community into the camp and hopes that the numbers will come down after a screening exercise.
Anyakun however says it is not possible to move the group into other places amidst the current restrictions.
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