Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee has challenged the government to shift Karamoja’s food response from relief supplies to sustainable agricultural production, warning that decades of food aid have not solved recurring hunger.
The committee, chaired by Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, questioned why government has continued relying on emergency food distribution instead of investing sufficiently in irrigation, water infrastructure and food production.
Dodoth East County MP Peter Paak asked: “For how long will NRM government continue to feed Karamoja? For 40 years, you have been feeding Karamoja.”
Relief Minister Sam Engola agreed that food aid alone cannot end the crisis, saying relief food “will never be enough” to break Karamoja’s long-running hunger cycle.
Engola said government should prioritise dams, irrigation systems, water infrastructure and grain silos to allow communities to produce and store food, particularly as rainfall patterns remain unreliable.
He said government will use the balance from the Shs45 billion allocated for the emergency food response to purchase seeds, including sorghum and other sustaining crops, ahead of the rains.
The exchange puts renewed focus on the gap between short-term relief and long-term resilience, with MPs pressing government to turn emergency spending into investments that can reduce Karamoja’s dependence on food assistance.
