The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has advised government to initiate dialogue between the warring factions in Karamoja sub-region to end the ongoing insecurity.
According to government, over 400 people have died since the insecurity broke off out in the region while the Karamoja Development Forum counted 600 deaths between 2019 and July 2021.
While delivering his end-of-year message to Ugandans at the party’s head offices, FDC President, Patrick Amuriat, said it’s only through dialogue and social-economic interventions that can bring to an end the long-lasting insecurity in Karamoja.
He noted that the arms disarmament campaigns which have been ongoing for years can’t succeed without engaging warring factions and also showing them another way of survival other than cattle rustling.
Amuriat further urged government to fulfill the 2003 AU Maputo Protocol to address the skyrocketing prices of food.
In the Maputo agreement, governments committed to allocating 10% of the national budgetary resources to agricultural and rural development.
Amuriat noted that Ugandans have suffered from the high cost of living in the concluding month of the year which has been characterized by abnormal food prices and fuel prices.
He said the problem stems from the failure by the ruling government to allocate the 10% international pledge to the agricultural sector to ensure there’s food security in the country.
Meanwhile, Amuriat decried Uganda’s growing debt burden which has resulted in government debt financing, taking the largest portion of the national budget.
The country’s public debt now stands at Shs79 trillion translating into a per capita debt burden of Shs1.8 million.
