Ugandan minister says people who die of hunger are 'idiots', faces backlash

A Ugandan minister has courted controversy for calling those who have died of hunger in the African country"idiots".Henry Okello Oryem, the state minister for foreign affairs made the tone-deaf comment.

Oryem argued that people should utilise Uganda's favourable climate and fertile land by growing food for themselves.

"It's only an idiot, a real idiot, that can die of hunger in Uganda,"Oryem 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, you till your land, you plant the seeds, you maintain your plantation, surely, how do you fail then to get food?"

The comments sparked outrage immediately, withMoses Aleper, a legislator for Chekwii County attacking Oryem for his insensitivity.

"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, we definitely fail to get food. And normally people definitely get famine and eventually hunger strikes," he told BBC.

Notably, Oryem's comments came days after Ugandan PresidentYoweri Museveni addressed the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) delegates and said thedisturbing images depicting death from starvation in the country did not accurately portray the overall situation across the African continent.

“When you are out there, you may get stereotypes that we have no food, but we are dying from food here.Those images you see are not representative of all of Africa," saidMuseveni.

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Uganda's hunger statistics

According to a report published by the Uganda Human Rights Commission, over 2,200 people died in the northeast region ofthe country in 2022 due to starvation and related illnesses.

As per the 2022 Global Hunger Index, food insecurity in Uganda is classified as “serious". Malnutrition is widespread in the country as 29 per cent of children under the age of five are stunted while 53 per cent are anaemic.

A report by theUnited Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) states thatadolescent girls and women in Uganda struggle to access nutritious diets, and poor nutrition is passed down through generations

(With inputs from agencies)