Karamojong beggars living in Kampala are appealing for assistance from government to improve on their living conditions which they say are pathetic.

The Karamojongs who live in Katenda zone in katwe Two parish behind clock tower police post said that government has neglected them.

Karamojong girls

They say that they come to Kampala to look for what to eat but also end up going hungry.

Chairperson of Karamojong Community Development, Andrew Lomunye says he heads 40,000 Karamojong women, men, children, girls and boys some of them women are widows who need assistance for food and shelter.

He said they sleep on streets and others in slum areas in temporary structures covered with polyether materials and pay the land lords 40,000 shillings per month.

He adds that they are poor , starving and to get food they have to pick beans and maize seeds falling down when vehicles carrying them are offloading in kisenyi and owino market.

They asked government to give them small capital to enable them have small businesses to push on their life.

The karamojong men and boys found in katwe were making Rat traps which they sell at 700 shillings only and they say rattraps are not on demand to sustain their lives.

The Karamojong some times get help from NGOs which give them food and clothes but their main challenge is how to get medical services when are sick.

The Executive Director Health care Foundation Uganda Dickson Magembe said that Karamojongs need assistance in terms of sanitation and food in the area where they live.

Magembe said that due to poor living conditions the Karamojong girls resort to prostitution.

The chairperson of the Uganda parliamentary Forum for children Rebecca Lukwago asked government to help the street children like Karamojong to benefit from government development programmes like prosperity for All to fight poverty which force most of them onto the streets.

The member of parliament for moroto county who is also the member of the Uganda parliamentary Forum for children Benson Obua Ogwal attributed the increase of street children to family breakdown and increasing poverty in rural areas.

The minister for Youth and children Affairs Ronald Kibule has pledged to remove street children from streets in most towns in the country and he said that children will be off the streets and taken to schools under the UPE programme and vocational schools.

The Karamoja region is mostly a semi-arid plain with harsh climate and low annual rainfall and the area has (7) districts:Abim District,Amudat District,Kaabong District,Kotido District,Moroto District,Nakapiripirit Districtand Napak District.

BY Isaac Senabulya