John Kokas Okwii, aresident in Tisai Island says most of the residents now survive on a single meal while 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.
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.
Mark Okello
Freelancer