Pastors launch Shs10b fundraising drive to save Karimojong from hunger
Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Church shows off one of the tractors he believes can open up land in Karamoja to plant food crops to save Karamoja from the recurrence of hunger in future. PHOTO | STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- The Pastor also said that Ugandans should pray to God to spare them from the natural disasters like floods that hit and killed people recently in Mbale and Kasese districts.
Rubaga Miracle Centre, says they are spearheading a fundraising drive among Born Again Churches in the country, to raise about Shs10 billion towards feeding people in Karamoja and cultivating for them food crops.
Speaking at the launch Thursday, Pastor Robert Kayanja, the senior pastor at the Church said they need Shs3.5 billion to purchase 10 tractors to plough and plant a square mile of food crops for each of the nine districts in Karamoja and Shs5.5 billion to purchase seeds and open the land. The rest of the money will be used to train LCs about community policy and ensure food security within the communities.
“Some areas of Karamoja have no hope for food. The planting season is on, we want Karimojong to start growing its own food, so that we can drive hunger out of the region,” he said.
He explained that the ploughing and planting exercise will take them nine weeks because they will be spending a week in each district and they intend to start the exercise in October when all the resources have been mobilized.
The Pastor also said that Ugandans should pray to God to spare them from the natural disasters like floods that hit and killed people recently in Mbale and Kasese districts.
He said last year, God gave Ugandans a lot of water that filled lakes and rivers but the water disappeared without Ugandans doing anything about it, calling it laziness.
On Wednesday while unveiling the International University of East Africa as the venue for the upcoming East African Food security symposium and expo scheduled for 14th to 16th next month, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija who represented Rebecca Kadaga, the First deputy prime minister and Minister for East African Corporation, attributed the current hunger in Karamoja, to lack of mechanisms to trap the water that runs through the area, saying it is a fertile area affected by water runoff.
Pastor Kayanja said by 3pm Thursday, they had collected Shs200 million and he was confident that by the end of September, they would have gathered Shs10 billion.
