By Solomon Hamala
NAMAYINGO
Parents in the Eastern district of Namayingo have raised a red flag on increasing cases of rape and defilement of their daughters as they walk long distances in search of clean drinking water.
Speaking to eastnews.co.ug yesterday 3rd March 2021, the LC One Chairman Siabona village, Banda Sub County in Namayingo district, Geoffrey Barasa said men are taking advantage of the young girls who have to walk for over 10 kilometers to the shores of Lake Victoria for water.
“Some of our girls are being defiled while others are raped in the process of traveling long distances to fetch water,” he said.
The water sources have largely dried up as a result of the long dry spell.
Residents now have to walk 10 kilometers or share water with animals in unprotected water sources.
One of the residents, John Wanyama said locals are at high risk of contracting diseases like cholera because of sharing water with animals.
Wanyama accuses local leaders of failing to address the perennial problem of lack of clean drinking water.
The LC 3 Chairman Banda Sub County, Robert Oundo said all the 8 boreholes in the Sub County have dried up due to the dry spell.
Oundo said the problem is likely to get out of hand if the dry spell persists to April.
The Chairman LC 5 Namayingo, Ronald Sanya said most boreholes in the district had broken down because of poor supervision but user communities.
He however, expressed optimism that the situation will be reversed this year following the allocation of more funds in the budget towards drilling of more boreholes.
