Families whose relatives perished in an accident in Kiryandongo district have tasked the office of the President to expeditiously release the 5 million shillings pledged by President Yoweri Museveni to help them with burial expenses.
President Museveni said on Wednesday after learning about the tragedy said his office would offer assistance to all the bereaved families.
Through his X (formerly Twitter) account, President Museveni on Wednesday condoled with the bereaved families and wished the injured a quick recovery.
Museveni announced that he had directed the State House Comptroller to provide five million shillings to each bereaved family and one million shillings to each injured person. He further cautioned road users to exercise utmost caution to prevent such tragedies.
However, some of the bereaved families who spoke to Uganda Radio Network -URN said they have not yet been contacted by the relevant government authorities on the procedure to access the money while others say, they are not aware of the Presidential pledge but only learnt about it through social media.
They demand that the office of the President should expeditiously release the money to help them with burial expenses.
Ben Yuma from Terego who lost his brother Godfrey Alionzi in the accident said, no one from the office of the president has contacted them about the presidential pledge. He says, he only learnt about the shillings 5 million from social media.
Faisal Menya from Bugiri district who lost a son in the accident calls on the government to expeditiously release the money to help them cater for burial expenses. He equally says no one from state house has contacted his family about how they can get the money.
Halima Musa from Kampala who lost a son in the accident says government should have acted swiftly by profiling the bereaved families to ensure that the money is availed to them timelily to enable them arrange for burial ceremonies of their loved ones.
According to Musa, at the time her son perished in the accident, he was heading to Yumbe district on a business venture.
URN has reliably established that officials from state House and the office of the Prime minister (OPM) on Wednesday rushed to Kiryandongo district and held meetings with security, hospital management and leaders to forge ways of profiling the accident victims so that assistance can be extended to their families.
A security official in Kiryandongo who spoke to URN on condition of anonymity said the deceased and injured persons have already been profiled and sent to state house and office of the prime minister respectively to pave way for the Presidential pledge to be offered to the bereaved families.He says, the families would be thoroughly verified before the money is availed to them.
At least 46 people perished in the accident and 67 others were injured. The accident occurred on Wednesday morning in Kitaleba village near Asilli’s farm in Kiryandongo sub county, Kiryandongo district along the Kampala–Gulu highway.
The crash involved four vehicles: an Isuzu bus (UBF 614X) operated by Nile Star Coaches, a Toyota Surf (CGO 5132AB 07), a Tata lorry (UBK 647C), and another Isuzu bus (UAM 045V) belonging to Planet Company.
Police reports indicate that, the UBF 614X Isuzu bus, traveling from Kampala to Gulu, attempted to overtake the Tata lorry at the scene.
Simultaneously, the UAM 045V Isuzu bus, traveling in the opposite direction, was also attempting to overtake a Toyota Surf. This led to a head-on collision between the two buses during the overtaking maneuvers.
According to police, One of the drivers swerved to avoid a collision, but this resulted in a head-on and side collision, causing a chain reaction. Other vehicles lost control and overturned.
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