During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday the President issued a directive declaring a state of emergency in the flood-hit areas in northern and eastern Uganda. It was the right decision to make. The presidential proclamation declaring the state of emergency is yet to be tabled before parliament for approval. But this is just procedural. The most important step has already been taken.

Under article 110 clauses (3), (5) and 7, the president has 14 days within which to send his presidential proclamation to parliament for debate and subsequent approval. But aware of the magnitude of the problem, the President should act as expeditiously as possible to allow urgent and timely intervention without regard to undue technicalities.

However, the president's decision cannot blind us from the observation that it shouldn't have taken the Cabinet all this long to reach the decision on a national matter of such grave magnitude and urgency. The devastating floods are about a month old now, ravaging every living being in Teso, Karamoja and the north. The floods have already claimed 18 lives and numerous homes and property.

Pictures of stranded people with their belongings, vehicles stuck in the middle of raging waters and officials using boats to evacuate people or take relief supplies, have been running in the media for every concerned authority to appreciate the gravity of the catastrophe. Probably if the Wednesday's Cabinet decision had come at the strike of the floods, the death toll and the number of the displaced people wouldn't have come to that high.

This should act as an eye opener for the government that in future natural calamities of such impact require prompt and right responses at the right time.

With the declaration of the state of emergency, the affected areas can now expect quick national and international intervention for humanitarian assistance. The government can also now draw money from other votes of the national budget and channel it towards humanitarian relief operations so as to mitigate the emergency and or avert it from sliding into a long term tragedy. It's also now easy for humanitarian agencies to appeal for international support for rapid response to the disaster.

What parliament should now do is to demand the presidential proclamation on the disaster to be tabled before the House as soon as possible. Life has no spares and should be preserved while it still lasts.