Hunger in Otuke: Leaders to collect 25,000kg of relief food
OTUKE-Leaders of Otuke district are to mobilise relief food and planting materials to be distributed to poor households after two people in Okwongo Town council reportedly died due to hunger that has hit both the Northern and Northeastern parts of Uganda as a result of a prolonged dry spell.
The group headed by businessman Geoffrey Okwir Gunya, the leaders intend to distribute 15,000 kilogrammes of posho, 10,000 kilogrammes of beans and 5,000 kilogrammes of assorted planting materials.
The food will be distributed to all the sub-counties in the district, which include Adwari, Orum, Otuke Town Council, Ogor, Alango, Okwang, Olilim, Ogwete and Barjobi.
Two people have reportedly died of hunger in Acoke and Owangokado villages in Okwongo Town Council. The victims according to the district LC5 chairperson Francis Obola were identified as Pilda Mary Okii and Joana Akello, both elderly persons.
An assessment conducted by Lira NGO Forum indicates that approximately 40,000 people in the district are in need of relief food after a prolonged dry spell, which failed crops such as maize, millet, sorghum and beans in the first season.
Moses Otim, a mobiliser said people are at risk of dying as a result of looming famine and they could not wait for the Office of the Prime minister to intervene to arrest the alarming situation.
“We cannot wait for the government because the situation is almost going out of hand,” Otim said urging the people in the Lango Sub-region to contribute to the course,” he said.
Because of the unreliable rainfall which led to prolonged a dry spell and subsequently food crisis, the district is badly hit by a shortage of food.
“If the Office of the Prime Minister does not intervene soon with relief food for the vulnerable, especially the elderly, children and people on HIV drugs, the situation will be worse,” Abola said recently.
Two months ago, the district chief administrative officer, Akileng Simon Peter asked the government to rescue people with food aid.
He said the district experienced unreliable rainfall punctuated with drought, floods, hailstorms and invasion of desert locusts which caused insufficient agricultural production.
“The purpose of this letter is to inform you of this misfortune and more importantly to request for your immediate intervention to rescue the people of Otuke,” he said.
Otim dispelled the assertion by Otuke East MP, Julius Acon that they were mobilising relief aid to gain political capital for 2026.
https://thecooperator.news/biting-hunger-charity-donates-food-aid-to-napak-families/
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