Bugisu Resettlement Audit Flags Potential Shs60bn in Inflated Claims

What the report says

A government verification exercise in Uganda’s Elgon sub-region has flagged major irregularities in beneficiary lists for the Bugisu landslide resettlement programme, according to Nile Post. The review, led by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, began in Namisindwa District on Wednesday, October 21, and has since expanded to Bududa, Bulambuli and Sironko districts. Officials are cross-checking names against National Identification and Registration Authority records and carrying out door-to-door checks to confirm who is actually eligible for the resettlement package.

Nabbanja said preliminary checks showed far fewer qualifying households than had originally been recorded in some districts. The article says about 700 households were verified in Namisindwa compared with 2,016 on the initial list, while in Bududa about 1,100 households were verified against 3,200 registered entries. Based on those differences, the report says inflated entries could amount to roughly Shs61.5 billion in potential spending, close to the article’s broader estimate of nearly Shs60 billion.

Each eligible household is expected to receive Shs18 million to buy land and rebuild in safer areas. Nabbanja said inflated lists could divert limited funds away from families most exposed to landslides, and she also warned that households already helped under previous resettlement efforts should not be counted again. The verification comes amid long-running concerns about how beneficiary lists were compiled and who controlled them.

Nile Post reported that the current cash transfer project targets 12,000 households across Bugisu, while earlier interventions had already resettled about 1,100 households on acquired land. The exercise is meant to establish the final eligible caseload before further payments are made.