Famine hits Teso, Acholi regions
Apr 13, 2011
PREGNANT mothers in Teso and Acholi regions have resorted to eating termites and leaves for survival, due to acute shortage of food, Parliament heard on Tuesday.
By Milton Olupot and B. Namboozo
PREGNANT mothers in Teso and Acholi regions have resorted to eating termites and leaves for survival, due to acute shortage of food, Parliament heard on Tuesday.
Soroti Woman MP Alice Alaso stunned the House when she said some people in the north and eastern regions had started eating rats owing to the acute lack of food.
“In Teso, we are suffering, we are hungry and I believe there is enough money in the Government coffers to salvage us,†she said amidst, murmurs of ‘shame’, ‘shame’, and ‘shame’, especially from the opposition politicians.
Refugees and disaster preparedness minister Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere caused uproar when he demanded that Alaso gives the numbers and names of women who were feeding on termites.
Several MPs, angered by the minister’s statement, demanded that the Speaker, Edward Ssekandi, pronounces Kabwegyere out of order because of what they called insensitive statements from him.
Ssekandi, however, did not heed to their call and simply asked the minister to find food for the people.
The Government chief whip, Daudi Migereko, calmed the legislators, saying the Government was already handling the matter.
“As we talk, there is a team on the ground in Teso and Kayunga. We are receiving a report this week and we shall ensure that the problem is dealt with,†he said.
Earlier on, the Pallisa MP, Louis Opange, reported a disaster that had befallen parts of his constituency after a hailstorm battered the areas destroying crops and houses.
He said a school in Kameke with about 900 pupils and another in Agule with over 1,000 pupils had their roofs blown off.
Opange said hundreds of families were stranded without shelter and food.
He blamed the ministry of disaster preparedness of failure to assist the people.
PREGNANT mothers in Teso and Acholi regions have resorted to eating termites and leaves for survival, due to acute shortage of food, Parliament heard on Tuesday.
Soroti Woman MP Alice Alaso stunned the House when she said some people in the north and eastern regions had started eating rats owing to the acute lack of food.
“In Teso, we are suffering, we are hungry and I believe there is enough money in the Government coffers to salvage us,†she said amidst, murmurs of ‘shame’, ‘shame’, and ‘shame’, especially from the opposition politicians.
Refugees and disaster preparedness minister Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere caused uproar when he demanded that Alaso gives the numbers and names of women who were feeding on termites.
Several MPs, angered by the minister’s statement, demanded that the Speaker, Edward Ssekandi, pronounces Kabwegyere out of order because of what they called insensitive statements from him.
Ssekandi, however, did not heed to their call and simply asked the minister to find food for the people.
The Government chief whip, Daudi Migereko, calmed the legislators, saying the Government was already handling the matter.
“As we talk, there is a team on the ground in Teso and Kayunga. We are receiving a report this week and we shall ensure that the problem is dealt with,†he said.
Earlier on, the Pallisa MP, Louis Opange, reported a disaster that had befallen parts of his constituency after a hailstorm battered the areas destroying crops and houses.
He said a school in Kameke with about 900 pupils and another in Agule with over 1,000 pupils had their roofs blown off.
Opange said hundreds of families were stranded without shelter and food.
He blamed the ministry of disaster preparedness of failure to assist the people.