Kole South Member of Parliament, Boniface Okot, has delivered over 16,000kg of relief food from the Office of the Prime Minister to residents of Akalo town council in Kole Constituency.

The residents were affected by severe hailstorms that hit the area on July 24 as a result of heavy rain, leaving over eight cells affected.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament in August this year, Kole South MP Okot raised the incident as “a matter of national importance” and urged the government to consider the affected families with relief food.

He emphasised that each family should be supported with at least some maize and posho due to the effects of the heavy hailstorms, which affected many households in Akalo town council where crops such as cassava, maize, beans, and soybeans were completely destroyed.

According to MP Okot, the affected cells in Akalo include Aliri, Bar Ibuu, Akura, Okut, Obele, Iwalo Imalo, and others. All experienced hailstorms that caused serious destruction of food crops.

Immediately, a team at the district wrote a report relating to the incident, which was submitted to his office as a leader, prompting him to raise the matter on the floor of Parliament to get a solution from the Office of the Prime Minister.

After MP Okot raised the issue, the Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister, Davis Mwenyi, responded to MP Okot on September 10 regarding the incident, which caused damage to crops and loss of property.

In his letter, he addressed the above mentioned relief for the severely food-insecure households, where about 11,000kgs of maize were provided together with 5,000kgs, bringing a total of over 16,000kgs of food relief that was released to support the affected families.

On September 26 at Akalo town council, while distributing the food relief to the affected families, MP Okot also warned the beneficiaries against selling the food for drinking, which may lead to domestic issues.

He also promised to continue making follow ups to ensure that more food relief is provided.

One of the beneficiaries who lost her crops due to this incident, Margret Washington from Adeyeda Cell, appreciated MP Okot Boniface for lobbying for thousands of kilograms of food relief for his people.

“I have lost maize, beans, sunflower, and cassava,” she said. She stated that this is their first time in the history of the people of Kole South to start benefiting from government programs since Kole South was established through the effort of their area Member of Parliament.

Tonny Okello, LC1 chairperson of Adeyda Cell in Western Ward, Akalo town council, appreciated MP Okot for the lobbying capacity that he demonstrated before Parliament to ensure that at least some food relief was allocated to the affected households that were hit badly by the serious hailstorms, which caused a lot of damage to crops and loss of property.

The chairperson also encouraged other leaders to copy Okot’s legacy by improving service delivery to the locals.

Ayo Nixon, Akalo town council NRM chairperson, said, “By receiving this as a leader, we are so excited about what Okot is doing by pushing the issues that touch the local community directly on the floor of Parliament, and then within a short notice, government comes in and intervenes on the matter.”

Ayo noted that in the past, the people of Kole South were not heard on the floor of Parliament—for example, when hailstorms damaged farmers’ crops or drought and flooding affected farmers’ crops.

“We believe that before the next coming election, Kole South will be on the map of this country,” he said.

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Stephen Lokope, urged the affected households to collaborate with their leaders from the grassroots to higher levels to ensure that no one is left out.

Also read: Kole South voters say they’ve ‘lost touch and trust’ since voting for Boniface Okot

The CAO appealed to LC1 chairpersons to always liaise with district leaders whenever such incidents occur, so that the district can write a report and seek further intervention from the government through their elected leaders.

Finally, he appreciated MP Okot for raising these issues in Parliament and for following up until the government released the relief for the affected households.