The Minister of State for Karamoja Affairs, Agnes Nandutu has scoffed at the National Unity Platform(NUP), saying the party’s initiative to donate food relief to the starving people of Karamoja was just for cheap popularity.
She explained that the government does things systematically, adding that by the time NUP sent food relief in the region, there was already food in Karamoja.
"NUP can't even do 0.00% of what we did in Karamoja. There is no longer a crisis in Karamoja because we are now in charge. We have a strategic plan to ensure that there is food security in the region," she said during NBS Face Off show on Sunday evening.
Nandutu said that at the moment families in Karamoja have gotten enough food and the relief given to them is a short-term remedy which was aimed at preventing death.
Nandutu said that the reports of deaths in Karamoja have been exaggerated, saying they have been on the ground and the number of people who have died of hunger in the region is not big. She however did not reveal the figures.
"Some people are killed by diseases, and others by cattle rustling. A few have been taken by the famine but not in the exaggerated way the media portrays it,” she said.
The latest data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) indicates that all nine districts in Karamoja are experiencing a food insecurity crisis.
The most affected districts are Kaabong, Kotido, Moroto and Nabilatuk.
