Minister’s ‘only idiots die of hunger’ comment sparks outrage in Uganda

January 26, 2024

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Minister’s ‘only idiots die of hunger’ comment sparks outrage in Uganda

Ugandan foreign affairs minister, Henry Oryem’s comment calling those who have died of hunger in his country idiots has sparked outrage.

Oryem had said that the country’s favourable climate and fertile land should push Ugandans to grow food for themselves.

“It’s only an idiot, a real idiot, that can die of hunger in Uganda,” the state minister for foreign affairs told the NTV Uganda television channel.

“If you work hard, there is land in Uganda. The climate is right in spite [of] climate change. If you make a double effort to make sure that you go out in the morning, till your land, you plant the seeds; you maintain your plantation, surely, how do you fail then to get food?”

The minister’s comments have sparked outrage as legislators fume.

Moses Aleper, a legislator for Chekwii County, which is part of the affected Karamoja region, told the BBC that Mr Oryem’s views were “not right” and “unfortunate coming from a minister who knows what goes on in this country”.

“I’m from one of the most productive parts of Karamoja, where there is adequate rain, and we produce food.

“But in situations where the weather fails us, the weather vagaries set in, and we definitely fail to get food. And normally, people get famine and eventually, hunger strikes,” he said.

Mr Aleper also said that hunger in the region is often caused by “other issues beyond even human control”, such as how the climate changes.

Prominent Ugandan author and journalist, Charles Onyango-Obbo also hit out at Mr Oryem, saying that the minister failed to grasp “that hunger in a country like Uganda is a distribution/market problem”.

Meanwhile, official data on the current food situation in Karamoja is unavailable, but the region often experiences hunger during dry seasons due to its semi-arid climatic conditions.

In 2022, more than 2,200 people died of starvation and related illnesses in north-east Uganda, a report by an official human rights body said