By Dadson A Musa

Bo district itself is a swampy area and has a vast expanse of inland valley swamps. This has ensured all- year- round of food cultivation but that seems to be affected right now. In an attempt to have houses constructed in the middle of the town or at strategic locations in town there is massive earth movement and backfilling of inland valley swamps( IVS). These IVS have been places that ensure year-round cultivation of crops through crop rotation. And in a way they have contributed to feed salone to some extent. In times like these when the flagship program of the government is feed salone, the inland valley swamps are rapidly been lost due to the lawlessness of few, well placed individuals in society. This is a double jeopardy as it is not only creating environmental problem, but it is also blocking a source of food production in the district in particular and the country as a whole. Bo has experienced flooding during the recent past years all due to the backfilling of these swamps which had blocked waterways, distorted nature and caused discomfort especially during rainy season. Those who are involved in this activity are the rich and well connected.

I put it to an officer working at the Environment Protection Agency whose reply was ” we have done our best to put an end to this but it keeps happening so we want the media to help us with this fight.” He spoke like someone who is supposed to be in charge but who is almost giving up on the fight to save our inland valley swamps. Also, another officer from the ministry of agriculuriculture when asked about the impact of the backfilling of these swamps admitted that ” food production is obviously affected by it as there is no longer enough swamps to on year round.” Yet the environmental laws are very clear about the prohibition in backfilling swamps and putting structures.  An engineer has also observed that for the time being, it seems to work but in the long term it is not going to hold as ” one cannot defy nature.” This is something that government has played lip service to as at some point they put a stop it but after sometime the backfilling and the construction continues. It is observed that Bo is not the only district affected but this is a nation- wide problem. We have experienced mudslides, collapse of buildings, flooding and unusual rainfall or extreme heats and no one seems to pay attention.

Copyright –Published in Expo Times News on Monday, 9th February 2026 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)