MPs ask for money to join the fight in Covid-19

As the government is pacing and working around the clock in a bid to contain coronavirus, Members of Parliament have expressed concern on why they are being ‘sidelined’ in the fight against the pandemic that has since become a puzzle globally.

During a special plenary session on Thursday where government tabled a proposal to Parliament to borrow $100m from the World Bank for the health sector to help in the fight against the deadly pandemic, the lawmakers wondered why they are not mentioned anywhere in the fight against the pandemic.

The matter was raised by Mr Latif Sebaggala, the Kawempe Division North MP on floor of Parliament.

“We have seen allocations to Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), chairpersons and other leaders so that they can fight coronavirus but I haven’t seen any budget for MPs because they are also very vital in as far as fighting coronavirus is concerned,” Mr Sebaggala said, receiving thunderous applauses from his colleagues.

“MPs are also leaders. The president never even talked about us and yet we go to our people to sensitize them and teach them the best way we can on how they can do away with coronavirus,” a seemingly puzzled Sebaggala added.

The loan request presented by the finance ministry is in addition to the supplementary request of Shs304b which was also tabled this week for the same purpose and is still under scrutiny before the Parliamentary budget committee.

The total number of confirmed cases in Uganda as of April 2, 2020 is t 44.

Meanwhile, as the House debated on a statement presented by the Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda on government’s actions in the fight against Covid-19, more concerns were raised as MPs on how government can efficiently support the population.

Mr Richard Oseku Oriebo, Kibale County MP, said government could instead distribute seeds and other faming inputs along food relief, stating that government should have a long term plan beyond the pandemic.

Mr Sebaggala also proposed that government could instead consider using mobile money services as a quick and accessible strategy of distributing relief to the people.

“When you look at the way we are going to distribute food, I agree Madam Speaker that the best method is to use mobile money,” he said.