Has the Govt forgotten about Karamoja?

By Frederick Womakuyu

WE shall not wait for Karamoja to develop. The rest of the country must move forward at whatever cost,” the Uganda Gazette of 1963 quoted the then president of Uganda, Dr Milton Obote saying. After visiting the region in the 1960s, Obote concluded that it was difficult to develop Karamoja at the same rate with the rest of the country.

Since then, the rest of Uganda has taken this as a joke, but the reality is Karamoja is a region on its knees, struggling like a bull pulling a plough.

Location
Karamoja region comprises the districts of Moroto, Kaabong, Nakapiripirit and Abim, in north-eastern Uganda. The drive to the region involves using over bumpy, dusty roads, with scattered murram.

The roads are narrow and managed by non-governmental organisations, which only open them when they have a programme. As a result, most of the region is remote and many people have no access to essential services.

“When it rains, the road to Karamoja becomes impassable. This means that the residents cannot access services from other areas,” says Moses Ochodo, a teacher at Kangole Girls’ School in Moroto.
Most of Karamoja region is a flat plain with short scattered wood lands set amid arid and bare ground. Karamoja is also mountainous, with Mount Moroto stretching from Iriiri to Moroto town and pointing towards Kaabong and Kotido districts.

Economic activities
The region has sandy soils and very little cultivation is there. The area receives rain once a year and drought is a common occurrence.
A few Karimojong grow drought-resistant crops like sorghum and harvesting is done once a year.

“But because of massive flooding last year and now the prolonged drought, all the sorghum was lost in the fields. The dry spell has been long and people have resorted to eating leaves,” adds Mark Lochieng, the chief administrative officer of Kotido.
“Since the 1960s Karamoja has been experiencing drought every five to 10 years. But from 2000, it became more frequent,” says Rose Eyoru, the programme officer of the World Food Programme in Kotido.

“Many residents of Karamoja are poor and they lack food. About 830,000 people in this region depend on the World Food Programme for food supplies. However, the project will end soon. We need to undertake a massive irrigation project to enable the residents grow food, but it will need a lot of money,” says Eyoru.

Most of the residents are nomadic pastoralists who keep goats and cows. They keep on moving from place to place in search of water and pasture for their animals.
Cattle are the most prized possession of the Karimojong, prompting them to steal from their neighbours and even die in battle. Traditionally, the Karimojong are cattle rustlers often raiding cattle from their colleagues and neighbours like the Pokot and Turkana of Kenya.

“Because of the drought, livestock is dying and residents are facing chronic food shortage triggering off a famine.”
“Governments have ignored the plight of the Karimojong,” says Adir Eliseo, the LC5 councillor of Loleria-Kaabong. “Our region is the least developed. Governments come and go, but Karamoja remains the same. It has become a testing ground for many NGOs.”
Karamoja has neither running water nor electricity.

“Activities that use power depend on a few generators and solar energy. This means that the majority poor are left out,” says Lochieng
He adds that the residents rely on small dams and boreholes for water. “However, the water table has now gone down and most of the dams are dry. The boreholes are either damaged or dry.”

Karamoja insecure
Moving in Karamoja can be risky. There are cattle herders armed with guns who frequently raid cattle from neighbouring districts. They also attack any person or vehicle they find on the way.

“Last year, a priest and two passengers were gunned down by the warriors,” says Getrude Akullo, a field officer for World Food Programme. “That is why whenever we go to the field, we have to be escorted by UPDF soldiers. It is an unsafe region.”
Akullo says to check on the activities of the warriors, the UPDF have mounted a base at the border between Kotido and Kaabong districts.

The UPDF are also engaged in the disarmament programme.
Lochieng says: “Since the UPDF started operating here, insecurity has gone down. Someone can now safely move in open places. However, there are some isolated incidents of insecurity. Cases of cattle rustling have also reduced because the UPDF have stopped the herders from grazing in other districts.”

On our way to Kaabong town, we see cows and goats grazing by the roadside with the warriors hanging around town, probably looking for food. This was never common in the region. “The warriors used to stay in the bush looking after cows and goats. But due to the scarcity of resources and drought, they are now a common sight in towns,” says John Afeu, the secretary for security in Kaabong.

Education performance very low
The region is doing poorly in terms of education. For example, out of the 26 primary schools registered in Kotido, only eight go up to Primary Seven.

“Most of the schools here stop at Primary Five. The majority of the pupils do not study beyond Primary Five. This is because when a child passes to Primary Six, he has to move long distances, sometimes up to 100 miles, to attend school,” says Ambrose Lotukei, the district education officer of Kotido.

“Only 19% of the children in Karamoja between six and 12 years are in school compared to the national average of 83%.”
“In addition, not having enough teachers, poor infrastructure and lack food in schools discourage pupils from attending school,” Lotukei says.
“The situation is made worse by the insecurity and the long distances the pupils have to move to schools.”
“The pupil to teacher ratio is 90:1. We are requesting the Government to lift the ban on the recruitment of teachers. Last year we received two teachers, but we need 85 more teachers,” says Lotukei.

Worst maternal mortality
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics shows that maternal mortality in Karamoja is one of the worst. “It is 750 per 100,000 live births compared to the national average of 435,” says Charles Lubanga, a statistician at the bureau.
The residents also do not have access to medical facilities. “For example, Kotido has only one doctor who doubles as the district director of health services. This means that most of the population has never had access to the services of a doctor.”

Social services
Lochieng says that in 2006, President Yoweri Museveni promised them that a grid would be erected from Lira through Abim to give them electricity.
“Since he made the promise in 2006, we are still waiting. More so, we cannot even develop the roads and extend piped water because our budget is too small. We can only work on feeder roads. So far, 10 roads have been opened with one of them heading to Abim via Kotido and Pader,” he adds.

“However, we need help from the Government to work on the major road from Moroto via Kotido and Kaabong, which is in a poor state.”

Eyoru says it will take the effort of the Government, residents and donors to help the Karimojong out of the food insecurity, poverty and ignorance.