Residents of Apaa in Amuru district have asked government for relief food saying they face starvation since for much of last year they did not farm their lands due to land conflicts in the area.
The residents made the appeal last week during a visit to the area by Major General Julius, the emergency and disaster coordinator in the office of the Prime Minister.
The residents say they are experiencing a scarcity of food because for much of last year they lived in fear of being evicted from their land.
Apaa is at the centre of a conflict that pits investors and the government on side, and the residents on the other. Last year elderly women undressed in front of two government ministers who had visited the area to protest what they called the grabbing of their land. The government says the land in question is public land while the locals say it’s their land.
Oryema Charles, 78, told Oketta the conflicts over land in Apaa prevented them from tilling their land.
“In April 2015, we had running battles with the Police and the UPDF because they had camped here and again in September they came back and were trying to forcefully open the border which caused a lot of chaos and crops destruction here so we need government to give us relief items and seeds to plan since we have nothing, “Oryema said.
Oryema added that food prices in the local market in Apaa had sharply risen making it unaffordable by locals.
‘‘We do not work in offices here. It is going to be very difficult for us in Apaa if government neglects us because we have nothing to rely on,’’ said Aber Margaret, 45.
In his response, Major Gen Oketta who is also an army MP told the community to register all the household in Apaa and involve the sub county chief in the process who will in turn inform the Chief Administrative officer who then can write to the Permanent Secretary OPM office so that the technical people [from OPM] can evaluate the situation in Apaa.
Oketta promised to give the locals maize seeds under operation wealth creation.
