Moroto, Uganda — A section of leaders in Karamoja has expressed concern in a three-page letter addressed to Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), urging him to take action against the Ministry of Water engineers responsible for the construction of the Shs 6 billion Kobebe Dam.
The letter, the first of its kind from the Karimojong leaders, highlights their frustration over the ongoing drying of the dam, which has reached alarming levels.
Kobebe Dam, the second-largest dam in Moroto District, Karamoja region, is at risk of completely drying up if the current drought persists.
A visit by this reporter to the dam, located 49 kilometers north of Moroto town, revealed pastoralists watering their livestock in a state of panic.
The Shs 6.7 billion dam was constructed by the Ministry of Water and Environment in 2010, when Janet Museveni was Minister for Karamoja Affairs. The dam has a capacity of 2.6 billion liters and serves over five million livestock daily. However, the dam is now under severe stress due to thousands of animals from both Uganda and Kenya.
Recent repairs of water traps by teams from the Ministry of Water have all failed, leaving only one trap operational for thousands of animals.
Experts are now questioning whether the dam’s problems are due to poor planning by the engineers at the time or substandard workmanship, as the dam dries up almost every year despite expectations that it would remain full during the dry season.
In their letter, the leaders called on Gen Muhoozi to summon the engineers responsible for the construction and, where possible, hold them accountable through arrest and prosecution.
Speaking to the media, the leaders, including LCV Nabilatuk Mr. Paul Lokol, urged the CDF to visit Karamoja and inspect government-funded projects that have yielded little results.
“Our hopes as Karimojong now rest on CDF Muhoozi to clean up corruption in this region, where government officials have treated it as their fattening ground,” Lokol said.
The drying of the dam has shocked many locals, especially pastoralists, who said they had never experienced such a situation before.
“To us, the pastoralists, we expected this dam to retain water throughout the dry season for our animals until the rains return, but this is not the case with Kobebe Dam,” said Logit, a pastoralist.
Logit added that ever since the dam’s construction in 2010, it had never dried out completely—a situation he suspects may have contributed to the current water shortage.
Local leaders, however, expressed confidence that their letter to the CDF will prompt decisive action.
“We want him to also look into the stalled Shs 14 billion Nakonyen Dam by the Ministry of Agriculture,” Lokol added.
