Families queued for maize flour and beans in Uganda’s drought-hit Karamoja sub-region on Saturday, as the government expanded emergency food deliveries to communities struggling after months of failed harvests.
Footage shows Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Minister Sam Engola overseeing distributions in Moroto and Napak, as residents line up to collect rations.
“You have seen those two old people now. If we are not giving that old man food within five days, the man was going to die. They were really suffering,” Engola said. “Tomorrow, we have enough food. We are going to supply everywhere […] So nobody is going to die here. The president said he doesn’t want to read in the newspaper or on television that somebody has died.”
Major General Wilberforce Sserunkuma said that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces help to secure food stores and coordinate deliveries.
“Let us coordinate together right from the delivery of the food at the stores of the district so that the officer in charge knows what is in the store, what is guarding it, and who will come to pick the food for distribution,” he said.
Local leaders welcomed the aid but warned that food handouts alone would not end Karamoja’s recurring crises. Napak District Chairperson John Paul Kodet said emergency aid must be matched by long-term investment in water and farming.
“We need the government to excavate and construct dams for us […] If we capture this water and retain it here, people will be using it for agriculture, for irrigation,” he said.
He also called for short-season crops and support to change farming practices.
“The government should give the short-term crops… And of course, the issue of mindset development is very key. If we invest a lot in that as well, this region will change,” Kodet added.
The government plans to distribute more than 9.4 million kilograms of maize flour and beans to 313,987 households across 480 parishes in Karamoja’s nine districts.
The Office of the Prime Minister is coordinating the operation with the National Enterprise Corporation, the UPDF, Uganda Prisons Service, police and local authorities.
Source: Viory
