108 starve to death in Moroto district

Oct 12, 2008

A total of 108 people have died of starvation in Moroto district since January, the district authorities have said.

By Daniel Edyegu

A total of 108 people have died of starvation in Moroto district since January, the district authorities have said.

Speaking during the 46th Independence Day celebrations at Moroto Boma Grounds on Thursday, the municipality mayor, Joseph Lomilo, said 41 people died in the town suburbs in September.

The district chairman, Peter Ken Lochap, said 67 people died in the villages.
Lomilo said 17 people died of hunger at Nakapeliane, 12 in Kampswahili, seven in Katamitemo and five in Kakoliye suburbs.

He noted that the children and the elderly were the most affected.

“People from the rural areas flock to town expecting to enjoy better amenities only to starve to death. Rather than sell the firewood, the women have now resorted to exchanging it for dregs of butia (a local sorghum brew) to survive on,” Lomilo said.

He said the World Food Programme (WFP) last distributed food in the municipality in June.

Lochap said the WFP had not distributed food to the parishes of Lia, Lokoreto, Tepeth and Lekuwas since last year.

According to the WFP, about 700,000 people need food relief in Karamoja sub- region. The food agency attributed the starvation to the long dry spell that preceded last year’s floods, a population explosion, environmental degradation and chronic insecurity.

The Government recently earmarked sh3b to fight hunger in Karamoja and other districts hit by last year’s floods.
Lochap said Moroto had received sh900m and a tractor to boost food production.

“It’s so painful to loose such a big number of people to a preventable catastrophe. Rather than continue lamenting about the famine, we should organise our people to start farming under the National Agricultural Advisory Services. We can no longer depend on cattle alone for survival,” he said.

The resident district commissioner, Nahaman Ojwee, said many people had died from a combination of hunger and drinking alcohol.

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