The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kumi, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Residents of Tisai Island in Ongino Sub County in Kumi district are struggling to find food and other essential items due to the Covid-19 lock down. The Island, which hosts more than five thousand people of different tribes, is found on Lake Bisina.
Residents of the Island, mostly fishermen and fishmongers have been deriving their livelihood from fishing activities. They would access food stuffs from Ongino weekly Cattle Market, which was suspended as part of the control measures against the spread of the Covid19 pandemic. Apparently, the islanders are unable to access food and other basic goods like soap, sugar and salt. John Kokas Okwii, a resident of Tisai Island says most of the residents now survive on a single meal a day while others sleep on empty stomachs.
Okwii wonders why government hasn’t considered giving them food relief. He says the prices of the available food on the island have more than doubled and only a few individuals can afford it. John Peter Omongot, the Acera Village LC 1 Chairperson, says the food situation has been worsened by the suspension of fishing activities on the lake. He explains that majority of the people, who have been deriving their livelihood from the lake are now redundant, which has escalated thefts in the area.
According to Omongot, at least four cases of animal thefts like goats, pigs, bulls have been registered in the Island last week. “Whenever any animal disappears from homesteads here, carcasses are found in the shrubs and other bushy places. We have noticed that these people are just hungry thieves who steal to fill their stomachs. On many occasions, they take whatever is manageable at the time and leave the rest”, Omongot said.
Martine Edongot, a resident of Asinge in Tisai parish says he looked for his cow for four days in vain only to find its carcasses hanging on a tree. “It’s now the second time thieves are doing this to me. The first time, they picked my he-goat and the other day, they took away my cow”, he lamented.
Christine Apolot, the Kumi District LC V Chairperson the food situation for the people on Tisai Island is very critical and needs urgent attention. She notes that her office is constrained to render any assistance to the affected people, whom she described as very desperate.
*******
URN
