The Ministry of Relief, Disaster Preparedness, and Refugees has called for increased funding and timely release of resources to address the growing number of disasters across Uganda.
In a statement presented to Parliament by the State Minister for Disaster, Lilian Aber, she emphasized the need for substantial investment in disaster prevention, recovery, and reconstruction to prevent the recurrence of ongoing disasters.
Aber highlighted that many government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies are struggling to meet the emergency needs of affected populations due to insufficient funding.
As a result, critical services like health, water, and sanitation are inadequately provided to displaced individuals.
“There are many requests for the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to release funds for disaster prevention, mitigation and response but there are no releases,” Aber said, adding that her ministry continues to face an uphill task to access contingency funds to manage disasters.
“We are committed to ensuring full implementation of the mandate of the ministry.
However, our appeal is that Parliament prioritizes funding for disaster preparedness and response. Also, facilitate the expedited access to contingency fund and funding of the Disaster Risk Management Plan,” she added.
Section 26 of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 2015 as amended provides for a contingency fund equivalent to 0.5 percent of the appropriated annual budget to respond to natural disasters.
Recently, the 10-year Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Plan was approved by Cabinet,but its implementation has been impeded by financial shortages ,she added.
Matheniko County Member of Parliament, John Baptist Lokii, said it is disheartening to hear the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees cannot access money from the Contingency Fund account to manage disasters, saying issues of disaster should be prioritized with no red tape.
Arua District Woman Representative, Lilian Paparu, said disaster management should not only be decentralized and districts fully financed to mitigate disasters.
Local Governments collect revenue but when the Ministry of Finance is releasing the Budget Call Circular, they normally do not allocate areas where districts can put money to manage disasters.
Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa said the issues of disaster are majorly hindered by limited resources.“The issue of government prioritizing the disaster fund [Contingency Fund] is extremely critical and Attorney General, I think we shall need to tackle that issue because you see some of us are worried about having redundant clauses in the laws.
She detailed several ongoing disaster situations including Ntoroko District with 3182 households affected by floods, 1210 people to be relocated from Elgon Region to Bulambuli , 163 house holds displaced in Kasese district, 2,515 displaced by floods in Kayunga district,and some parts of west Nile affected by floods.
Additionally Aber noted that approximately 300,000 people across the country representing about 50,000 households have been affected by various disasters and with multiple reports and distress calls coming in from other areas.
