This week, this newspaper reported on the mudslides in Kween and Bukwo districts that cost nine lives. The devastating mudslides were triggered by a downpour overnight on Wednesday that swept through villages, leaving several injured and hundreds of families displaced.
In Kaptanga Village, Tuikat Sub-county, Kween District, the landslide buried three homes in a span of moments, killing six people, including five from a single family.
In Bukwo, another landslide in Chepkubortin Village, Nyalit Parish, Chesower Sub-county, killed three more and left several others hospitalised. The displaced families are now homeless, with many sheltering under makeshift structures.
‘We appeal for immediate assistance like rescue operations, relief supplies, medical aid and compensation for lost crops and livestock,’ Mr David Mande Kapcheronge, the LC5 councillor for Tuikat Sub-county, said, adding that there is a need for urgent relocation of families in high-risk areas.
Sadly, the Kween and Bukwo tragedy is not merely an unfortunate natural event; it is a failure of foresight and implementation. These untimely deaths are a painful reminder that the communities on the mountain slopes are living on a time bomb.
While the immediate priority must be swift relief and rescue operations, providing food, medical aid, and shelter to the displaced people, the greater obligation by the government is to finally address the root causes and end the cycle of disaster and temporary relief.
The Kween and Bukwo disasters highlight the gap between policy and reality. The government’s cash transfer programme, launched in 2024 to accelerate the relocation of vulnerable households, was a positive step.
However, the fact remains that a critical mass of at-risk communities, including the 254 households slated for relocation in Kween, have yet to benefit. The government must treat the relocation of families from these mountain slopes not as a long-term development project, but as an urgent humanitarian necessity.
Also, stakeholders must develop a long-term environmental restoration strategy for the region. Experts have consistently warned that deforestation, poor land management, and unchecked settlement intensify nature’s wrath.
Experts have also called for supporting initiatives that promote terracing, digging trenches, and the planting of indigenous trees as measures proven to stabilise the soil. The communities living in the Mt Elgon area should be educated to address soil erosion and poor land management, which contribute to landslides.
We owe the victims of Kween and Bukwo, and the other areas that are constantly affected by landslides, more than just grief. We owe them an end to the repeated, avoidable tragedies. It is time for the government to step up, move mountains, and finally get the most vulnerable communities off the mountain slopes.