KAMPALA – The government has announced new measures aimed at speeding up the process of food distribution to the vulnerable communities during the COVID 19 lockdown.
In the distribution exercise which started over 10 days ago, government has only covered Kawempe Division and parts of Central Division in Kampala, leaving those in other parts of Kampala and Wakiso districts frustrated.
On Wednesday, April 15, State minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees Musa Ecweru said while the door to door delivery approach being used is responsible for the delay, they have appointed more officials and staff to distribute the food simultaneously in different areas.
He added that each National Taskforce member will now take charge of each area and oversee the distribution exercise.
Ecweru revealed that so far, 28,384 households (91,940 people) have been served.
He also revealed that sme of the areas covered so far include; Bwaise 1, 2 and 3, Kawempe 1, Mengo-Kisenyi, Katwe 1, Mbuya 1, Nakulabye and Kisenyi 1 Central.
Ecweru added that the shortage of beans has also affected the distribution exercise.
On Tuesday, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) team leader, Col Felix Abucha, who is overseeing the distribution, said that they had temporarily halted food distribution due to lack of beans.
On Wednesday, Ecweru revealed that the first supplier [Aponye company] was stopped from supplying more beans because of quality issues and that the government got a new supplier he didn’t disclose.
Minister for Kampala Betty Amongi said: “There have been a number of questions on the food distribution especially on why we are starting from Kampala and Wakiso. We want to thank the president for clarifying that the beneficiaries are those who can’t work due to the measures in place.
There were consignments which were supplied which we would have served over the Easter period successfully. However, when it reached the store and we examined it, we felt that it wasn’t fit for human consumption.”
