KARAMOJA – District officials in Karamoja region have revealed plans to distance themselves from the monitoring of locusts claiming they are not facilitated.
Several Agricultural officials who spoke to PML Daily on Sunday, March 1 on condition of anonymity said ever since the locusts entered in Uganda they have been running up and down with dry throat without even single coin for buying bottle of water.
They said the whole exercise and the resources is being managed by Kampala team sidling other technical teams on the ground.
“It’s better to let the team from Kampala that is facilitated continue with the monitoring of locusts because they are doing things alone,” he said.
Another high profile source in Moroto district local government said the communities should have the right people to be trained on how to fight locusts but they have not been included.
“These people from the ministry have been overusing us day and night giving us a lot of tasks about the locusts but they have never given or bought for us water,” source revealed.
The government last week released Shs16b as a contingency fund to prevent the spread of invasion of desert locusts in Uganda.
The deadly locusts entered into Uganda through western Kenya to Amudat and north Kenya to Moroto.
Now the locusts have left Karamoja flying to the areas of Teso, Acholi, Lango and Bugisu region.
Mr Hendy Bagiire, the State Minister for Agriculture said the ministry team was working with the team from the district adding that they were supposed to be facilitated.
“Am going to find out from the team because we are supposed to work together with the district team and they are supposed to take some water while in the field,” he said.