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Livelihood, Land And Investment

Malnutrition the worst childhood enemy

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“Acute malnutrition may cause other health conditions like low blood sugar, anaemia and diarrhoea, which may cause severe dehydration, skin and visual problems because of lack nutrients,” she says.

One-and-a-half-year-old Tom cannot sit or crawl. He has to be carried or left to lie down. Tom has silky hair and his body is too small for his age.

He looks like a six-month-old. Like Tom, many children in Uganda are malnourished.

According to Hanifa Namusoke, a senior nutritionist at Mwanamugimu Nutrition Unit, Mulago Hospital, malnutrition results from an unbalanced diet, where certain nutrients are; either lacking, in excess, or are in the wrong proportions.

Dr. Elizabeth Kiboneka, the head of the Mwanamugimu Nutrition Unit, says cases of malnutrition in children under the age of five have reportedly increased in the last four years.

“The peak period is usually in the months of June, July and August, with national emergencies declared in Namutumba (2011) and Rwamwanja in Kamwenge district (2012) as a result of the Congolese refugee influx,” she says.

Kiboneka adds that a recent study done at Mulago Hospital’s assessment centre indicates that the cases of children with acute malnutrition stands at 14.5%.

According to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey (2011), 33% of children under the age of five are stunted, an indicator of chronic malnutrition.

Causes

The factors making acute malnutrition persistent in Uganda are basic, with the major ones being inadequate food and lack of food.

“Children are not getting enough food and sometimes when they do, mothers do not know what foods to give them and how to prepare the food,” Namusoke explains.

She adds that food must be cleaned and prepared appropriately so that the nutrients are retained.

Additionally, when a mother is malnourished, the chances of her giving birth to a malnourished baby are high.

Children are also susceptible to malnutrition if they are not breastfed adequately and given enough complementary feeds.

Proper nutrition should start before conception, continue during pregnancy, after birth and throughout breastfeeding alongside complementary feeding.

Namusoke says many Ugandans in rural areas lack safe drinking water, or live in poor sanitary conditions. These lead to infectious diseases like diarrhoea, which may result in severe malnutrition.

She says HIV/AIDS has also contributed to malnutrition. About 15% of children aged below five years admitted to Mwanamugimu have HIV/AIDS.

Complications

Kiboneka says malnutrition has immediate and long-term consequences. The immediate impact is death.

Malnutrition contributes about 50-60% deaths in Ugandan children below five years.

“Acute malnutrition may cause other health conditions like low blood sugar, anaemia and diarrhoea, which may cause severe dehydration, skin and visual problems because of lack nutrients,” she says.

A child may become sickly and suffer other micro-nutrient deficiency complications like lack of iron, resulting in anaemia and eventually death.

“lron is important for proper functioning of the heart and an anaemic heart may not be able to able pump blood,” Kiboneka explains.

She says stunting, which is a long-term effect of malnutrition, slows down the learning process since the child’s brain is fully developed by the age of two years.

Namusoke says children suffering from malnutrition have a compromised immune system, and are 10 times more likely to die of treatable conditions like colds or diarrhoea.

Kiboneka blames malnutrition on the high fertility rate, where mothers bear more children than they can afford to look after.

She encourages exclusive ­breastfeeding for the first six months and good nutrition thereafter where a child is given a variety of solid foods alongside breast milk.

The story was first published on April 22, 2013 

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Livelihood, Land And Investment

Breaking; Lands Minister directs police chief to arrest armed mobs involved in forced and illegal land evictions.

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By Witness Radio team

Uganda’s Lands Minister Judith Nabakooba has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Martins Okoth Ochola to arrest all organized and armed mobs involved in forced and illegal land evictions.

The directive is the second one from the same minister to the police chief in three (3) months due to widespread forced and illegal land evictions in Uganda.

On February 28, 2022, President Yoweri Museveni came out and banned all land evictions in the country that are carried out without the consent of the respective District Security Committees (DSC).

The latest directive was triggered by violent scenes that occurred on the 19th of March 2023 when armed groups of men with graders invaded the St peter’s Church of Uganda’s land in Kibiri and started destroying crops planted on the church land. The armed group whose employer is not yet established claims the church is occupying someone’s land illegally.

In an attempt to stop the unlawful eviction, Church leaders, led by Reverend Maxwell Ssebuggwawo and some faithful tried to intervene but in vain.

According to eyewitnesses, the armed group immediately attacked the Clergyman and other Christians causing severe bodily injuries. In the scuffle, Rev. Maxwell Ssebuggwawo’s vestments were torn by the mob, whom the community believes was being targeted.

In response to the violent attack against the church leader and congregation, the minister observed that many land grabbers have resorted to using organized and armed mobs to evict people from their land. She further describes eviction as illegal and unacceptable since the government has capable security agencies that can effect lawful evictions.

“We have noted incidents where some crooks employ mobs to evict people yet we have security forces that can do this concerning the law. This is wrong. I have therefore directed the IGP to arrest everybody involved in these illegal acts and be brought to book”, the Minister added in an interview with the local media.

Witness Radio in the recent past has documented incidents where organized and armed mobs are participating in violent land evictions.  For instance, a recent eviction of a 99-year-old Hellena Namazzi in Numugongo in Kira Municipality in Wakiso district by Sema Properties boss, Ssemakula Sulait, another ugly case involved a violent eviction of over 2000 people off 328.1 hectares by one Moses Karangwa and Abid Alam in Kassanda district among others.

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Livelihood, Land And Investment

Over 500 Kapapi families in Hoima district remain stranded after the district security committee fails to resettle them back on their land as directed by the minister.

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By Witness Radio team.

Hundreds of families, violently evicted from their land in Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties in Hoima district are still pondering their next moves as efforts to return to their grabbed land remain ambiguous.

The directive came after Hoima district police and private guards from Magnum, a private security company raided people’s homes in Waaki North, Kapapi Central, Waaki South, Runga, and Kiryatete villages in Kapapi and Kiganja sub-counties, Hoima district on 10th of February 2023 at 1:00 am.

The violent scenes left hundreds of children with scores of injuries, houses were torched, and property worth billions was destroyed.  The animals such as goats, sheep, and cows were butchered and others were looted.

On 22nd of February 2023, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Honorable Judith Nabakooba while addressing a meeting in Rukola village Kapapi sub-county, Hoima district directed the security committee to return the victim villagers back to their land.

She considered the eviction unlawful since it was conducted at night and without a court order.

In that meeting, area leaders, Hoima district police and Hoima Resident District commissioner, Mr. Rogers Mbabazi, Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Mr. Michael Kyakashari were in attendance.

The victim community accuses a group of people including Ndahura Gafayo, Aston Muhwezi, David Mpora, Monica Rwashadika, Agaba, and Wilber Kiiza of being responsible for the land grab.

The grabbed land is situated at the shores of Lake Albert adjacent to the Kabaale parish in Buseruka Sub-county where the greenfield oil refinery is to be established. In April 2018, the government selected the Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium (AGRC) as the private sector investment to finance, develop, construct, and operate the Greenfield oil Refinery estimated to cost $4b.

According to the Witness Radio research team, ever since the directive was made instead, there’s increased human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, detentions and threats, and intimidation against victims of residents encamped at Rwenyana Church to vacate.

The evictees report that after the minister’s directive, three community members include; Mbombo Steven, and Kalongo Steven have been arrested, charged, and remanded to Hoima government prison.

“Our families encamping at church and waiting to be resettled back as directed by the Minister are facing further threats and intimidation to go away. They say they don’t want us at the church. Some of us are currently in hiding for fear of arbitrary arrests or kidnaps.” A community member who preferred to be called Enos due to fear of retaliation told Witness Radio.

He further added that the community is living at the mercy of God, with no food, or shelter, and predicted an uncertain future for their children since they are not attending school.

“Families are scattered in different centers while others continue to live with their relatives. However essential services such as shelter, food, health services, and education for their children remain a challenge. These people found us on land and started claiming ownership of this land. Imagine when we went for a search at a land registry, we found out that they only have a title of 2 acres but everyone knows we have been on this land for over 30 years. We have people who were born on this land.” He added.

Witness Radio contacted Mr. Rogers Mbabazi, Hoima Resident District Commissioner who heads the district security committee, to understand how far the committee had gone with the implementation of the minister’s directive. He instead referred us to his Deputy Mr. Michael Kyakashari.

Mr. Michael Kyakashari, when asked about the status of the directive, told our reporter that he did not have an answer for him before he hung up.

“I don’t have an answer for you” He repeatedly said.

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Livelihood, Land And Investment

State House Anti-Corruption Unit nets a surveyor implicated in Mubende district land-grabs

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Mr. Mafumu Paul and his accomplices at police after their arrest.

By Witness Radio Team,

The State House Anti-corruption Unit has arrested an alleged landgrabber in Mubende district whose evictions have rendered masses homeless.

Mr. Mafumu Paul, a Mubende based surveyor is accused of using police and conniving with some officials in the Lands ministry to issue forged titles that have been instrumental in illegal land evictions in the districts of Mubende, Kiboga and Kyankwanzi.

The alleged land grabber has been arrested alongside two of his farm workers who include Ssenyondo Ronald and Sseruyange Ben.

The arrest follows complaints of grave human rights abuses to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit and the minister for lands housing and urban development. In response, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, the Hon. Judith Nabakooba Nalule, visited the families whose crops were sprayed with chemicals by Mafumu’s workers. She later requested the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to intervene and investigate circumstances under which forged certificate of land titles are issued and used to forcefully evict local communities off their land. She further directed the Mubende Police to oversee the arrest of the Mufumu.

He has been implicated in instigating unlawful arrests, beating people, denying communities to access clean water sources, razing-down people’s houses and gardens, fly-grazing, and spraying their crops with chemicals in order to evict them from their land.

In one of the recent cases, on the 14th of January 2023, violence was meted out on the residents in Nalyankanja village, Kyenda Town Council in Mubende district. Mafumu is said to have ordered his workers to spray their crops, an act they believe has escalated hunger in their area. The crops sprayed with chemicals included: sweet potatoes, pineapples, coffee, bananas, and Cassava.

According to Witness Radio research, Mafumu has been accused of violently evicting over 17 families since 2018 from their land measuring approximately 248 acres.

The alleged land grabber and his accomplices are currently being detained at Mubende Police.

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