Government through the ministries of Agriculture, Finance, Internal affairs, Security, defence among others, is looking for money to undertake preventive efforts after a threat of locusts’ invasion hit the country.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda assured the public that government is undertaking the matter seriously.
He added that different agencies of government have been instructed to prevent and handle the invasion. Uganda is also in contact with their Kenyan counterparts to explore ways of jointly addressing the disaster.
The Prime Minister says he convened a meeting with officers from the aforementioned ministries to come up with a roadmap to prevent the invasion.
“Representatives from the Desert Locusts Control Organization also attended the meeting. I informed the meeting that the matter of locusts was also discussed in the Cabinet meeting on Monday. The meeting on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Agriculture to quickly submit to the Ministry of finance, a comprehensive list of requirements for preventing the invasion, including facilities for aerial spraying, for funding” the Prime Minister’s statement reads.
According to Dr. Rugunda, experts at the meeting warned that an invasion would wreak havoc by destroying crops and vegetation, and causing famine, hence the need to act urgently.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of East African Community Affairs has been tasked to urgently linkup with counterparts in Kenya to explore avenues of supporting Kenya’s efforts to contain and destroy the locusts.
An inter-ministerial technical committee chaired by Ministry of Agriculture with support from Office of the Prime Minister was set up and tasked to meet and act every day and keep the country informed of developments.
According to reports coming from neighboring Kenya, the locusts have invaded the Samburu and Turkana areas which are close to the boarder with Uganda.
