By KT Reporter
Resident District Commissioners across the Karamoja subregion have challenged leaders to mobilise the communities to begin farming to address food insecurity.
This was raised during the closing of the three-day retreat on capacity building workshop for all the Resident District Commissioners, Deputy Resident District Commissioners, District Internal Security Officers, Assistant Resident District Commissioners, RISO and Technical Officers across the sub-region held at Mt Moroto hotel in Moroto district.
The commissioners challenged local politicians to mobilise the communities to embrace agriculture as the sole pathway out of food insecurity. They warned politicians against misleading the communities with their incentives, but instead encouraged them to use the available rains to plant crops.
Kyeyune Ssenyonjo, the Resident District Commissioner for Nabila,tuk said that the region is currently receiving moderate rainfall and communities should consider cultivating food.
Ssenyonjo said that there is a need to massively mobilize the communities to use the available rains to grow food to support their families instead of waiting for handouts from well-wishers. He reiterated that this is the only opportunity the community has to grow their food when the rain is still present.
Ssenyonjo challenged the local politicians to encourage people to embark on agriculture during their political rallies. He also urged politicians who intend to help people to buy agricultural inputs instead of giving handouts.
Jaspher Okoo, the Assistant Resident District Commissioners for Abim also warned communities to desist from the practice of selling food immediately after harvest, which exposes them to insecurity. He said that trucks have been moving around villages buying produce at a cheaper price that they restore and bring back for the people of Karamoja to buy expensively.
Okoo also observed that the Parish Development Model money has been mismanaged and has not served its intended purpose. He blamed the Community Development Officers for failing to guide the beneficiaries and changing their mindset on financial management.
‘’The biggest challenge we have with PDM is that our CDOS is not doing their role of taking these people through before they receive the money. We just realised that the money has been disbursed when people are not guided on how best they can utilise this money. So the area of mental health and mindset change should be emphasised in this region if we are to go far,’’ Okoo explained.
The commissioners also raised concerns about why the people in the Karamoja sub-region have remained trapped in poverty despite government interventions.
Charles Ichogor, the Kotido Resident District Commissioner, noted that a lot of money and resources have been injected into the region, but very little impact is realised due to the lack of political will to support intervention.
He also highlighted that Emyooga has been mismanaged, and the effort to recover has been hindered because there is no political will.
Dr. Dan Ssekiboobo Senior Presidential Advisor on Research challenged the district commissioners to identify the reasons and possible solutions to escalating poverty among the households in Karamoja.
Ssekibooba said that the RDCs should work together with the DISOs to remove any hindrances in service delivery like poor accountability, unclear systems and corruption.
He urged them to always report any shortcomings to the higher authorities and remain focused on fulfilling their mandate.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) reported the poverty rate in the Karamoja region to be estimatedat 74.2%, compared to a significant increase from the previous estimate of 65% during their 2023/24 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS)-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
