[Ugnet] Death in the IDP Camps (comment follows)

The First Deputy Prime Minister Lt Gen Moses Ali is an angry man. Ali, who is also the minister for disaster preparedness, has castigated a report by the ministry of health and other international agencies that established that 1,000 die on average every week in the camps for internally displaced persons, the so-called IDPs.

The deputy premier blamed the media - the politicians' usual punching bag - for the 'exaggerating' the number.

Interestingly, Gen Ali, who is the minister directly responsible, did not give the correct figure.

While censuring another ministry for 'exaggerating' the gravity of the situation, the man who should have the latest figures on his fingertips decided to simply oppose without throwing more light.

So is the correct figure 999 casualties, 555 or one person dying per week? A responsible minister should give the facts before openly eroding public confidence in a colleague's ministry.

If every time there is a problem all government leaders can do is to blame the messenger (media), the people will stop listening.

That will be unfortunate for leaders should usually be able to command the audience of the people.

Government should desist from the temptation of treating the people in IDP camps as mere statistics. If the ministry of health and its collaborating agencies got the figure slightly wrong, that does not remove the problem that people are dying unnecessarily in the north. Even if it is one person and one thousand persons dying per week, still that is one death too many because it is a result of a man made calamity.

As long as people live in congested camps, they will always fall prey to communicable diseases.

As long as they continue being dehumanized, stress levels will be high and domestic violence - or is it camp violence, -will occur. Dehumanisation also leads to depression and suppressed immunity levels.

Bacause the situation is desperate, we should not engage General Ali in lengthy debates. What is needed is action.

The children in the camps need to know when they will be able to lead a normal life of school and play like Gen Ali's children, and not live in perpetual fear of violent death.

Those persons who campaigned to become leaders owe the country a solution to the decimation of the population in the camps.

Castigating the press for reporting an actual problem will not lead us anywhere.

Now that is a good editorial..keep it up! The dictatorship should address the issue at hand.

1000 people dying in one week, is way way to much. Imagine if this was happening in one of those Countries in the Western Europe, I can asuure you Museveni's regime would have long ceased to exist. The people would have demanded the head of "Ministers" like the so called "Minster" of "Disaster preparedness, Moses Ali, who appreantly is never prepared for disaster ! "Health" minister Mr. Jim Mwezi's head too would be damanded as well as that of the Area MP's were the distatser in Northern Uganda is taking place. ...But then this is Uganda were people simply die en-mass ..and nobody cares as long as the so called leaders are driving pegero's In Kampala..eating moto moto at the watering hole..all along growing pot belly stomach ( speaking pot belly stomach of Movement "Kuyegaring" did you people see Mutala's stomach while leading the so called match in Busenyi!??? surely that is a fundamenta l change beyond any comparison!!!) ..meanwhile in northern Uganda people have to scavenge for food to afford one decent meal in days!!! Ugandans , we can not and must not allow the stature quo in Uganda This movement eating at the expense of the people of Uganda must stop!!!

Matek

[Ugnet] Death in the IDP Camps (comment follows)

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