Kampala: Habitat for Humanity Uganda (HFHU) in partnership with Buganda Kingdom have started building decent homes for the vulnerable Ugandans living in the 18 counties of the kingdom.
In August 2018, HFHU signed a MoU with the Buganda Kingdom which served as a framework agreement for the cooperation between the two partners to offer among others affordable housing, clean energy and water as well as conserve the environment through climate change mitigation approach in the counties of the kingdom.
Last year, the two partners kicked off a five-year ‘Decent living campaign’ which aims at improving the lives of vulnerable families through improved decent shelter, hygiene and sanitation, access to safe water and improved livelihoods. The first decent home under this campaign was built in Katabi, in Busiro county. It was officially handed over to Abubakar Ssentongo by the Kabaka of Buganda Ronald Muwenda Mutebi during his 26th coronation in July 2019.
Now, HFHU and the kingdom have again embarked on setting up more decent homes for the Kabaka subjects in Mawokota county in Mpigi district. By the end of December this year, two houses will be completed and ready for use by recipients. Currently, both houses are on foundation stage.
One of the beneficiaries, Josephine Nabwegamu, resident of Nabitete village, Luwala parish says she cannot thank Buganda Kingdom and HFHU enough for thinking about an old woman like her by giving her a free nice house. Nabwegamu who stays with her two grandchildren says she was identified and selected for the project by the Mawokoto county chief Kayima Gabriel Kabonge.
Diana Mpande, an official at HFHU says they decided to work with Buganda in order to improve the well-being of the people in the kingdom. She says by this time, they would have built more houses but they were affected by the negative impacts of Covid-19. “Our campaign relies on well wishers and corporate organisations and with the outbreak of Covid-19, they were all affected in terms of funds. So what we do now we assess the vulnerable families and we keep the records. When funds come in we go back and build decent homes for them,” says Mpande.
Kabonge, the Mawokota County Chief asserts that when Kabaka Mutebi appointed him and his deputies to the positions, they started to visit all residents (house to house) in the county so it was easy for his team to identify the vulnerable Kabaka subjects who needed to benefit from the campaign.
The homes built by HFHU come with a ventilated pit latrine, shower stall and a 3,000 liter water tank. On the other hand, the Buganda Kingdom Minister for Lands, agriculture, trade, cooperatives and community service (Bulungibwansi) Owek. Mariam Nkalubo Mayanja lauded HFHU for making the campaign goals achievable.
Owek Nkalubo says they plan to build 10 decent houses each year in different counties of the kingdom. “Its now two years of partnership with HFHU. We started with Busiro and now we are in Mawokota. We focus on the vulnerable people who need help in terms of housing. And for a person to benefit from this campaign, he/she must possess a piece of land with its legal documents,” she reveals.
“We call upon all capable people who can join us in this important project to step in so that we can achieve more success.”
