Centenary Bank staff have donated relief items worth Shs 30 million to the communities of the Karamoja sub-region to help ease the ongoing hunger crisis in the different districts.
According to Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Acute Food Insecurity analysis, 41% of the population in Karamoja (518,000 people) were facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC AFI Phase 3 or above) between March and July 202
"It is quite unfortunate to witness the food shortage crisis that our communities are experiencing amidst other ongoing socio-economic issues like; inflation, climate change, and the Ebola outbreak," said James Katamba Centenary Bank’s Eastern Regional Manager said.
"We ran an internal campaign dubbed 10k for Karamoja where the staff were encouraged to contribute Shs 10,000 , from their pockets and it is from this that we were able to raise Shs 30 million which has been used to procure the tones of food that we are donating today. The food donated today is estimated to feed 600 families and it is our plea to the community leaders to ensure the food gets to the affected families
The Napak Resident District Commissioner, Moses Barasa said Centenary Bank is among the 20 entities that have so far made food contributions during the Karamoja Food crisis.
"As of today, 188 people have died due to hunger in Karamoja, and many more will continue to suffer the same fate if we don’t come together to address this food insecurity issue," Barasa said.
According to a recent update by the World Food Programme, the total number of fatalities in 2022 caused by the current food insecurity crisis in Karamoja is 2,465 with most fatalities being children and mothers.