NUP donates relief food to Karamoja
National Unity Platform party leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine (2nd right), together with other party officials hand over relief food to Mr Patrick Achen (2nd left), the youth councillor for Abim District, in Kamwokya, Kampala on July 13, 2022. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
- Located in the north eastern Uganda, the semi-arid area is one of the poorest regions in Uganda. The latest data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) indicates that all nine districts in Karamoja are classified in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis).
Opposition party National Unity Platform (NUP) yesterday donated relief food to Karamoja Sub-region.
The leader of NUP, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, handed over the foodstuffs that include 2.5 tonnes of beans and 2.5 tonnes of maize flour to the leaders from the sub-region at the party head office in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb.
READ: Hunger claims children in forgotten corner of Uganda
During the flag-off ceremony, Bobi Wine warned security personnel against interfering with the process of giving relief aid to the people who are affected by hunger and drought.
“We know there is a lot of deployment in this region and we hope that the security [personnel] will allow the people to get help from their leaders other than trying to fight them,” he said.
Govt intervention
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabbanja, told MPs in a meeting that a consignment of 200 metric tonnes of relief food had been dispatched from the prime minister’s office to Karamoja. She said distribution of relief food had been halted in other areas of the country to focus on Karamoja.
“This question of hunger crisis in Karamoja was discussed in Cabinet and the Finance ministry was tasked to urgently provide Shs135b to procure food relief for three months, including seeds for planting,” Ms Nabanja said in a statement.
“The meeting agreed on short, medium and long-term strategies of addressing persistent hunger in the [sub] region,” she said.
Last month, media reports indicated that hundreds of people had died due to starvation.
Located in the north eastern Uganda, the semi-arid area is one of the poorest regions in Uganda. The latest data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) indicates that all nine districts in Karamoja are classified in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis).
About 41 percent of the population or 518,000 people found themselves facing high levels of acute food insecurity between March and July.
The most affected districts are Kaabong, Kotido, Moroto and Nabilatuk.
