{"id":632,"date":"2026-07-20T12:33:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/?p=632"},"modified":"2026-07-20T12:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T12:33:57","slug":"prime-minister-nabbanja-has-launched-karamoja-food-relief-as-hunger-crisis-claims-19-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/prime-minister-nabbanja-has-launched-karamoja-food-relief-as-hunger-crisis-claims-19-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Nabbanja Has Launched Karamoja Food Relief as Hunger Crisis Claims 19 Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The government’s Karamoja food relief programme is now underway after Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja officially launched the emergency distribution of food to vulnerable households following reports that at least 19 people had died from hunger in the sub-region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intervention, according to government, was ordered by President Yoweri Museveni as concerns grew over worsening food insecurity caused by prolonged drought across Karamoja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials say the emergency response is intended to provide immediate support while efforts continue to address the wider humanitarian situation affecting thousands of households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food distribution follows months of poor crop production linked to prolonged drought, leaving many communities struggling to access adequate food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the relief operation began, local authorities had reported at least 19 hunger-related deaths, with children and older persons among those said to be most affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Government says the emergency response was initiated through the Office of the Prime Minister after receiving reports about the worsening situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the programme, government plans to distribute 9 million kilogrammes of food over the next two months across the nine districts of Karamoja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials say deliveries will be made directly to parishes rather than sub-counties in an effort to speed up distribution and reduce transport challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each beneficiary household is expected to receive 20 kilogrammes of maize flour, commonly known as posho, together with 10 kilogrammes of beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nabbanja also instructed district leaders to personally supervise the exercise and warned that any diversion of relief supplies would not be tolerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prime Minister said: “This relief response was a directive from the President.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also explained why government opted to source the food through the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC), the commercial arm of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The private suppliers were charging us exorbitant prices. NEC is supplying the food at a relatively cheaper price.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on accountability during the operation, Nabbanja said: “All leaders in the districts of Karamoja must take up this responsibility and ensure the food reaches the very vulnerable.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: “There will be no tolerance for the diversion of relief items. Anyone found responsible will be dealt with.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While welcoming the rapid response, government officials acknowledged that emergency food distribution alone cannot resolve recurring food insecurity in Karamoja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Sam Engola credited cooperation between government agencies for enabling the intervention to be organised quickly. “The teamwork has enabled us to deliver this intervention within three days.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engola also urged government to invest in long-term food security measures. “We should think about constructing large dams for irrigation and silos for food storage so that we can sustainably address food insecurity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Minister for Karamoja Affairs Esther Anyakun welcomed the intervention and thanked the government and the Office of the Prime Minister for responding to the humanitarian emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, NEC Executive Director Maj Gen James Mugira said supporting the programme is consistent with the UPDF’s role in national development and noted that all food supplied under the operation was produced on UPDF farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is our mandate as the UPDF to support government in every way possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as distribution begins, some leaders in Karamoja have expressed concern that the planned food ration may only provide temporary relief because of the size of many households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moroto District Vice Chairperson Stephane Adupa Namer said: “The planned quantity cannot last a week because of the large size of households in Karamoja. Some men have four or more wives and many dependants. In such cases, the food may last only three days.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Lomongin, the LC I Chairperson of Nachuka Village, shared similar concerns. “The food will only last us three days\u2014just three days.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some local leaders have also proposed the establishment of community feeding centres to provide more consistent support for elderly people, children and other vulnerable residents, although no decision on that proposal has been announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government has confirmed that the Karamoja food relief <\/strong>programme will continue over the next two months, with food expected to reach vulnerable households across all nine districts of the sub-region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials have not announced the total number of beneficiaries, whether further emergency food distributions will follow after the current programme, or whether proposals for community feeding centres and expanded irrigation infrastructure will be implemented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government’s Karamoja food relief programme is now underway after Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja officially launched the emergency distribution of food to vulnerable households following reports that at least 19 people had died from hunger in the sub-region. The intervention, according to government, was ordered by President Yoweri Museveni as concerns grew over worsening food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[70],"class_list":{"0":"post-632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"tag-karamoja"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635,"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions\/635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monkey.ug\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}