Rural to rural migration cripples service delivery in 'oil rich' Buliisa district

Buliisa district is one of the Albertine Graben areas that sits on rich deposits of oil and gas in the Western Rift Valley.

The sound of trucks and machines fills the air in the lower part of the semi arid district, a sign that oil activities are taking shape each passing day.

Such activities have seen many people flock to Buliisa district for work with others migrating there for various reasons, but mostly, economic ones.

The impact of people migrating is beginning to take its toll on the outskirts of the town council.

The influx of people into the 'oil rich' Buliisa district coupled with the daily rural to rural migration of locals has made it difficult for the local leaders to effectively deliver services.

A few kilometres from the town council are structures that have been abandoned, a sign that the owners could have relocated to other areas, with Buliisa town suspected to be the destination.

Local leaders say the vice has piled pressure on service delivery.

"People affected by the oil and gas projects were compensated and are now migrating to the Buliisa town to take advantage of the good social amenities," said Emmanuel Mwamburu, the Chief Administrative Officer of Buliisa.

He said that malaria cases have reportedly shot up in highly populated areas leading to a shortage of drugs in health centres.

Local leaders are now divided on the way forward with some calling for more funding to top up on the Shs 19 billion budget passed by the district while others disagree with on grounds that money will be mismanaged.

"We need more funding from the central government because the influx of people into our district with oil being the factor is too demanding," Mwamburu said.

Buliisa district speaker Fred Baligambachi said he is worried that more funding will lead to misuse of government funds.

"Most of the funds given to Buliisa district has always been misused. For example the NUSAF 3 money (Northern Uganda Social Action Fund) was misused by the district officials," he said.

However, a few solutions are in the pipeline to address the issue of the crippled service delivery.

According to data collected by Buliisa officials, over 1000 people have migrated to the district over the last year, while others have opted to go to the nearby districts of Hoima and Masindi.