A government minister in Uganda is in trouble for calling the people who died of hunger in his country “idiots”.
Many people think that Henry Okello Oryem’s comments are insensitive.
In 2022, a report from a human rights group said that over 2,200 people in north-east Uganda died because they did not have enough to eat.
But Oryem said that because Uganda has good weather and rich soil, people should be able to grow their own food.
“The state minister for foreign affairs told NTV Uganda that only a very foolish person would die because they don’t have enough food in Uganda. ”
“If you work hard, you can own land in Uganda. ” The weather is still good even though the climate is changing. If you work hard in the morning to plant and take care of your crops, then you will definitely have food to eat.
The report from the Uganda Human Rights Commission, which was created by the government, said that in addition to causing the death of many people, the lack of food in the north-east has left almost 500,000 people very hungry.
The minister’s words have made a lot of people very angry.
Moses Aleper, a leader in Chekwii county in the affected Karamoja region, told the media that Mr Oryem’s opinions were not correct and unfortunate, especially coming from a minister who should know what’s happening in the country.
“I come from a place in Karamoja that has lots of rain and we grow a lot of food. ” When the weather is bad, we might not be able to find food. Most people experience famine and hunger sooner or later.
Mr Aleper also said that people in the area often go hungry because of things like the climate changing, which are out of human control.
Popular Ugandan writer and journalist Charles Onyango-Obbo also criticized Mr. Oryem, saying that the minister doesn’t understand that hunger in Uganda is caused by problems with distributing food.
We don’t have official information about the food situation in Karamoja right now, but it usually has not enough food during dry seasons because the weather is very dry there.