Fellow Ugandans,
Today, even as we pray for God's mercy, I want to insist that it is okay to pray and we need God to intervene. However, we all know that Government did not think through the process of this lockdown. It is a repeat of the previous lockdown without any outcomes in mind.
What is very concerning in this moment is that there are people in this country, in the outskirts of the suburbs of Kampala, Jinja, Mukono, Buikwe, and all those Ugandans who survive on menial jobs, from hand to mouth - these people are having a hard time. Government is pretending and acting oblivious of the challenges people are facing.
Ordinary Ugandans are on the verge of starvation. This starvation presents more danger than Covid itself. Even if one goes into isolation, stays home, washed their hands etc., if you have no food to eat, you cannot hide from hunger. Children, mothers, patients are on the verge of starvation. For a Government that has watched its medical services get run down, massive unemployment worsening, and over the years depended on a boda boda economy, this hypocrisy is very disturbing and infuriating. I am calling on Government tonight; we are ready to pray and we have been praying BUT we need food. Ugandans need food urgently. The money donations are good but you do not even know who has a phone, or the oldest persons deep in the villages and whether or not they have a phone. Are we now going to wait to for people to register phones they do not have? Government is using this as an excuse to delay intervention. As the Alliance for National Transformation, we are of the view that mobile money is a good and quick option but the process must be transparent. What is the criteria guiding the selection of these vulnerable people per village?
Surely, the idea, as suggested by the current Honorable Prime Minster, that anyone who has ever received UGX 500,000 does not qualify is a problematic criteria to follow. We believe that priority should be given to lactating mothers, households with terminally ill caregivers, child headed households, households of people with disabilities, etc. The urge the Government to empower the LCs to lead the process of developing a list of vulnerable people in their areas, across the country. Intervention is needed urgently because it is getting too late, and people are having a difficult time. We call on Government to act, rather than wait for people to register their phone numbers, the urgent need is food. Otherwise, this lockdown too will be a complete failure just as the first one, and lead to more deaths caused by hunger and Covid. My thoughts are with everyone. People First, A New Future.