The decision by Minister Mary Goretti Kitutu to take some iron sheets for herself and allocate others to her Cabinet colleagues has served to rekindle a long time demand by the Karimojong, that a minister for Karamoja should be one of their own.

Bokora County MP John Bosco Ngoya argues that Karamoja Parliamentary Group (KPG) feels that no Karimojong would steal resources meant for the vulnerable people of Karamoja.

Ngoya says if the President cannot get a Karimojong to head the ministry, at least one of the persons in the docket should be from Karamoja and should have some context about the region.

On the other hand, Ben Baatom, the Dodoth West MP who is also the secretary of KPG, says the few occasions when people from Karamoja have been given a chance to serve Karamoja are testimony that issues of Karamoja are best driven by the Karimojong.

Members of KPG had made their feelings and beliefs known during an interface they had with president Museveni long before June 2021 when he unveiled his Cabinet.

The demand is, however, not peculiar to Karamoja. Other regions too have been making muffled noises aimed at drawing the appointing authority’s attention to the need for the political heads of those affirmative action ministries to be from the regions for which the ministries are formed.

Meanwhile, Lawmakers on the Presidential Affairs committee are expected to have arrived today in Karamoja to unearth more information in regard to the mismanagement of relief items meant for vulnerable people in the sub-region.

Among the districts the team intends to visit include Nakapiripirit, Moroto, Kotido and Napak where most of the mismanagement accusations were raised.