By CHRISTOPHER KAYUMBA

More by this Author

A sad recurrent phenomenon in East Africa is the death of citizens at the hands of vagaries of nature like heavy rain and drought.

It seems like when our people aren’t being killed by war as is happening in South Sudan, they are killed by heavy rains or hunger caused by drought.

Even as you read this, we are once again counting our dead across the region. For as The EastAfrican reported on May 4, “Hundreds dead as floods wreak havoc in East Africa.”

In Kenya, 120 people have died so far and thousands displaced while in Tanzania 14 people were killed on April 17 by floods in Dar es Salaam. In Rwanda, at least 215 people were killed by floods as of May 10, according to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs.

In Burundi, at least six people died as of March 16 and thousands displaced. Uganda has reported similar devastation as a result of floods.

Preventable disasters

Sadly, while rains are now a major problem, just last year, drought had caused hunger leading to the death of many while leaving others malnourished. This cycle of drought then heavy rains has become the norm in the region.

So, what does this phenomenon teach us and how can it be resolved so that our people stop dying from preventable “disasters”?

In general, these deaths tell us that despite scientific discoveries and our investment in understanding weather patterns, we are yet to tame nature. Instead, as it were before the advent of science, when nature wishes us well, we live in peace and enjoy life. When nature isn’t happy, it makes us miserable.

And as believers would say, while we East Africans have managed to fill our land with descendants as God commanded Adam and Eve in Genesis, we haven’t been able to “conquer” it as the Lord ordered.

This failure to conquer nature is an indictment not only on our abilities and capacity to plan ahead, but also our scientific knowledge and institutions.

So why haven’t we been able to conquer nature despite investment in science and institutions that are supposed to predict weather and provide useful information to policymakers in charge of managing disasters?

For example, there is the Rwanda Meteorology Agency, which is supposed to give scientific information about weather and weather patterns.

In fact, this agency states that its “Strongest asset is the attitude to perfection and… being the centre of excellence in Rwanda in giving weather and climate information.”

Blame it on poor planning

So, if Rwanda has an agency like this and has a ministry in charge of disaster management besides institutions like the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority, Rwanda Housing Authority and the Ministry of Infrastructure, why are floods still killing our people?

Indeed, why is hunger still a recurrent problem despite having a Ministry of Agriculture and the Rwanda Agricultural Board?

Of course, the common answer given by officials to explain away these deaths is climate change.

However, while, effects of climate change are real, the bigger problem lies with our human capacity to plan, organise, and implement preventive measures.

In Rwanda’s case, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Disaster Management Olivier Kayumba acknowledged as much at a recent talk-show in Kigali.

Asked whether the aforementioned deaths could have been avoided, Kayumba, in an honest fashion responded that while climate change has had its effect, “Yes, the deaths could have been avoided.”

For instance, he said that indeed it was known prior to the deaths that more than 40,000 families live in high risk areas — such as on steep hills and valleys, but little was done to ensure they vacated those areas.

In addition, even with some of the roads and bridges washed away, with proper planning and investment in better road construction, the damage could have been avoid.

In short then, the main reason vagaries of nature still kill our people largely relate to our poor planning and investing in preventive measures rather than climate change as some claim.

Christopher Kayumba, PhD. Senior Lecturer, School of Journalism and Communication, UR; Lead consultant, MGC Consult International Ltd. E-mail: [email protected]; twitter account: @Ckayumba Website:www.mgcconsult.com