A section of legislators led by Milton Muwuma (Kigulu South, NRM) are in advanced stages of tabling a law that seeks to curb food insecurity at the household level.

It is a private member’s bill on food and nutrition. 

"We have been having consultations with different stakeholders. In fact, what is left is for us to go and consult areas with cultural leaders because some time back we used to have granaries. It is these cultural institutions that used to impose on Ugandans at every household but that thing has phased out or died out,” Muwuma announced.

He disclosed this at a press conference on Friday, with the development coming ahead of the World Food Day next Monday.

The Kyegegwa woman MP Flavia Kabahenda (second left) speaking at the press conference on Friday at parliament. (Photo by Edith Namayanja)

Muwuma, who also doubles as the chairperson of the Parliamentary Food Alliance on Food and Nutrition Security, told reporters that if the law sees the light of the day, families shall be required at all times to maintain a repository stocked with threshed grain and legumes. 

He said they would engage monarchs, including Buganda Kingdom's Ronald Muwenda Mutebi, on their stake about the new bill.

'One in four people hungry'

According to Gerald Kato, the national coordinator of Right2Grow, an organization that unifies leading local and global organizations on nutrition, such measures are long overdue given the rising number of starving people locally and globally. 

Right2Grow is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of its policy framework on strengthening civil society to contribute to inclusive and sustainable societies. 

It currently operates in Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali and Bangladesh.

Gerald Kato, the national coordinator of Right2Grow speaking during the press conference. (Photo by Edith Namayanja)

“In July, the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launched a State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report.

By this year alone, we had around 783 million who are going hungry and these numbers are higher in Africa, where they say one in four people are hungry, which is double the average number globally. 

"And over 122 million people went back into hunger from 2019, implying that COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and the issues of climate change have forced more people into the hunger bracket."

Kato roots for eco-friendly and organic farming systems to counter climate change.

Official statistics indicate that last year, 41% of the population in the Karamoja sub-region faced high food insecurity levels, with 428,000 people in crisis.

According to the Uganda Nutrition Action Plan (2020-2025), nutritional adequacy remains a challenge for children aged 6-23 months in Uganda as only 30.3% consume diverse diets and only 15% consume the minimum acceptable diet.

At the time the initiative was rolled out, total losses in productivity attributed to childhood malnutrition were estimated at approximately sh1.2 trillion, which was equivalent to 3.91% of Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009.

Compulsory school feeding

In light of dangers posed by junk and factory-manufactured commodities, Flavia Kabahenda, the Kyegegwa district woman MP, said the legal regime needs to be reviewed.

The Vice chairperson of the Uganda Parliamentary Alliance on Food and Nutrition Security Agnes Linda Auma speaks during the press conference. (Photo by Edith Namayanja)

“We need a review of the Food and Drug Act of 1952, it is obsolete," she said.

"It needs to be reviewed, so the Government needs to wake up. We are eating a lot of things, insecure material and people are putting a lot of drugs in our foods and drinks."

School feeding

All said and done, the MPs also want schools to compulsorily maintain gardens as it was in the past to combat hunger.

However, it remains to be seen how this programme will be enforced when the majority of parents in the country to this day contend that primary and secondary education is totally free. 

“These children do not belong to President Museveni, they are your children, you should up your game by ensuring that you provide food for your children," said Muwuma.

"Government is trying to pay the teachers, and provide scholastic materials but feeding should be our role. So, I am making use of this platform to mobilize, not to listen to anybody even these things of reporting to the resident district commissioners. The RDC is not the father or mother of your children.

“In some of those schools, still they are asking children to bring five kilogrammes of maize grain for a term but even providing five kilogrammes is a nightmare."