Uganda's Foreign Affairs Minister, Henry Okello Oryem, has provoked outrage by labeling those dying of starvation on Kenya's western border as fools.

On Wednesday, Oryem was interviewed by Ugandan television station NTV and asked about the country's starvation condition.

PHOTO | COURTESY Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Henry Okello Oryem

“Only an idiot, a real idiot, can die of hunger in Uganda. Those are idiots because there is enough food in Uganda. If you work hard, there is land in Uganda, the climate is right despite climate change,” the minister responded.

“If you make an effort to go out in the morning to till your land, plant your seed and maintain your plantation, surely, how then can you fail to get food?”

PHOTO | COURTESY Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Henry Okello Oryem

WATCH: "The people dying of hunger in Uganda are idiots because there is enough food, land and the right climate," says Henry Okello Oryem, the State Minister of Foreign Affairs. #MonitorUpdates via @ntvuganda. pic.twitter.com/l2IuuCSMRp


According to Uganda's National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), eight million people suffer from 'chronic hunger,' with the northern area being the most affected.

Since 2022, local media has reported thousands of deaths from famine in the region.

PHOTO | COURTESY Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Henry Okello Oryem

According to the Daily Monitor newspaper, the Ugandan Human Rights Commission stated last year that 2,000 people died of hunger and malnutrition in the northeastern province of Karamoja.

Some social media users quickly chastised Oryem for his views, calling them arrogant and inconsiderate.