It is raining heavily but where are the scientists?

A professional journalist is often told one key thing before he heads out: “Get the story.” This is what many think of as they embark on their jobs. To get the story and if it is too risky they leave the story because they are often told “no story is worth your life.” However, I was recently moved by the sight of a journalist throwing these rules to the wind. I was watching a news video posted on YouTube by NTV Uganda showing the damage caused by the floods in Kasese district. The floods had washed away sections of the road after a river burst its banks. One old lady was trapped in her house and the person narrating said that the NTV correspondent for the region led a team to her house, convinced her to leave and actually carried the woman on his back and waded through the water to a safe place. Such a journalist deserves a hero’s medal, I think. Away from the journalist, the rains have pounded various areas of East Africa and left many displaced as well as claiming some lives. The Kasese story dominated Ugandan news space especially after a bridge was damaged, cutting off traffic to major tourism spots. In Rwanda the rains pounded the earth and at the end of the day the Kigali-Musanze road became impassable as a section of the road was washed away. The landslides compelled travellers to use an alternative route as members of the Rwanda Defence Forces did their best to fix the road. Things were not any better in Kenya. Footage of flooded areas was aired on TV and as expected it was not a big story since floods have become the norm in Kenya every time it rains. A regular viewer of Citizen TV will point to the lady who is always trapped by the water and is now famous for her “Tunaomba serikali itusaidie” cry every year when her area floods. Kenya provides an interesting case for us because almost every year there are floods and famine. If indeed this is an annual trend, how come we are never prepared for it? What does it take to have scientists telling us before that the rains are coming and so people in certain areas should move before it is too late? Let us look at Uganda now. When it is dry, power shortages are blamed on decreasing water levels. But even when the rains come, there is no significant increase in power supply. As if that is not strange enough, the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness always seems unprepared. Maybe it is time they changed its name to Ministry of Disaster Waiting. Last year when floods cut off the Nyabugogo area, the next day officers from RDF were deployed to remove the silt and widen the Nyabugogo stream. They did a good job and soon road users were back on the road. However, at the beginning of this year, the same place flooded and a small car was washed away, killing its occupants. Last week’s news that part of the Kigali-Musanze road had been washed away was soon followed by the good news that RDF personnel had taken up the matter and created an alternative route to be used during the period of reconstruction. Much as I would like to commend the army for always coming in to save the situation, I think it is time we asked ourselves some tough questions. Where are all the scientists that go through our schools? How come we do not have people who can forewarn us about some of these tragedies? I am sure every country in East Africa has a meteorology department that should be able to inform us more correctly that heavy rains are on the way. When Kenya was preparing for a general election, almost every day a political analyst would appear on TV to predict and analyse possible outcomes of the election and, as we saw, some of them, like Mutahi Ngunyi, were not so far off the mark. My question therefore is that how come before a rainy season we do not see scientists on TV analysing weather patterns and warning us about which areas will be affected and how people should conduct themselves in order to stay alive? Living in Rwanda, a country with more hills than one can count, the thought of floods and those living in low areas is always a worrying one. Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81