Daniel Lotyang, a youth representative in Longaroi sub-county said the dispute started when councillors started moving around villages to assess the hunger situation and lobbying support from well-wishers. But the sub-county chief objected to their approach saying that it was undermining his office.
A row has erupted at Longaroi sub-county, Kotido district over who should lobby for food support and distribution to the hunger-stricken families.
Area councillors said that they were warned by Moses Lomuria, the sub-county chairperson, to stop lobbying for food support for vulnerable families because that is an indirect way of fighting his office.
Daniel Lotyang, a youth representative in Longaroi sub-county said the dispute started when councillors started moving around villages to assess the hunger situation and lobbying support from well-wishers. But the sub-county chief objected to their approach saying that it was undermining his office.
Lotyang says that they were trained from the district as para-social workers and later given smartphones to collect data about the most affected households. The data was to be used in mobilising support for persons who are currently starving.
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Sabina Nakwang, a councillor representing Nakwalet parish told URN that they have also been banned from accessing the office of the sub-county chairperson and instructed to work under trees. URN also learnt that the accused sub-county chairperson has also warned the LCI chairpersons against sharing information concerning hunger-stricken people.
Peter Lochan, the LCI chairperson in Narubela village, says he has been warned against disseminating information about persons affected by hunger and never to receive any food support from non-government actors. Lochan says they are now living under fear because they no longer have the freedom to exercise their duties as per community demands.
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Meanwhile, David Modo, a resident of Narubela village noted that the bad leadership of the sub-county is causing the local community to suffer locally because they are blocked from service deliveries. Modo added that the leadership at the sub-county level has been engulfed in fights as leaders struggle for offices.
He said the current hunger situation has torn the leadership apart and some local leaders are taking the situation as an advantage for their campaigns.
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However, Moses Lomuria, the LCIII chairperson of Longaroi sub-county faulted councillors for lack of coordination in their effort to lobby for food support for the affected families.
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Longaroi sub-county has 32 villages and four parishes.
