The deputy speaker of parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, has said the government is committed to transforming the Karamoja sub-region into a reliable food-producing region to ensure food security.
He added that President Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni are so concerned about the food inadequacy in the region that they have yet to hold a meeting with all the MPs from the region to further discuss food security through irrigation and mechanised agriculture.
The deputy speaker made this revelation on Sunday, February 12, 2023, while presiding over the consecration of Rev. Canon Simon Akol Aisu as the second Anglican Bishop of North Karamoja Diocese, where he represented the president.
“Your grace, instead of us bringing food to Karamoja, there is a potential for Karamoja to feed the whole of the country and the region as well; therefore, we just need to boost the region’s potential,” he said.
He further said that they cannot leave Karamoja to depend on nature for survival, stating that the government has already discussed means including irrigation schemes to roll the region into a basket of food.
He also informed the congregants that the government is against the moral decadence of the west and that they are not ready to flank them to promote homosexuality.
“You have provided leadership; we have supplied the west with raw materials for their development, but now we need to supply them with a moral raw material.” We are under pressure to make laws that are against the order of nature. To that end, I assure you, we will not bow to pressure,” he said.
Tayebwa assured the church that the government will always stand with them for better or worse, stating that they should work with the government for the betterment of the region.
He officially announced that the president had donated a brand new SUV car to the newly enthroned bishop to enable him to travel in and out of the diocese in order to fulfil his evangelization calling.