Covid cash donations  not stolen – Museveni 

President Museveni yesterday flagged off 282 double cabin pick-up vehicles bought using part of the Shs29.6b which government collected from local donors last year to support the Covid-19 response.

The vehicles, which were received by Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala, will be used for surveillance of Covid-19 and other diseases. 

They will be given to district health offices, medical offices in cities, national, regional and  general hospitals, and research centres.
Mr Museveni told government officials at the function that no Covid-19 cash donation was lost because he carefully selected the Covid-19 fund management committee. 

“When I was forming this [Covid-19 fund management] committee, I was careful to select people who are not hungry; people who have the culture of wealth creation, and people of God,” he said. 
“Now Ugandans have seen that the little they have contributed is accounted for here. And these were the ones from the cash. There were another 70 vehicles that were given in kind, those are already in the field and then the other contribution of food and the rest,” he said.

The President’s remarks come amid allegations that some of the money and items donated by Ugandans towards Covid-19 response were misused by government officials charged with managing the funds. 

The Covid-19 fund committee is chaired by Mr Emmanuel Katongole, the executive chairman of Cipla Quality Chemical Industries Ltd.
Other members include Bishop Joshua Lwere of Grace Assembly Church, Ms Dorothy Kisaka, the executive director of Kampala Capital City Authority, and Dr Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health. 
Mr Katongole said by the close of Thursday, a total of Shs69.2b had been donated by Ugandans to beef up the response. 

“Goods in kind took about Shs34.2b and these included the 70 motor vehicles that were commissioned a couple of months back. It also included medical equipment and personal protective equipment and other equipment, including a marine boat that is serving people in the islands,” he said.

“The cash donations were about Shs35b and this money, under the guidance of the President has been used to buy 282 four-wheel-drive double cabin pick-up trucks. After negotiation with management of Toyota Corporation Japan, we were able to achieve a landmark price of $22000 (Shs78.5m) per pick-up truck,” he added.
Local car dealers put the price of a four-wheel-drive Toyota pick-up truck in the open market at about $50,000 (Shs178m). 

A total of Shs23.8b were used to buy the 282 pick-up trucks, and the remaining Shs2.4b will be used for the construction of two border health posts and Shs3.3b for constructing blood banks and these will total Shs29.5 billion, according to information from the government.  
The pick-up vehicles were bought despite suggestions by some lawmakers that the money be spent to buy ambulances to beef up the country emergency healthcare system, which they say was not efficient, especially in the face of Covid-19 pandemic. 
But Dr Atwine yesterday said it was the right decision made to buy pick-up trucks.
 
“All cars are important; both the pick-ups and ambulances. The President told us to buy vehicles for district health teams, and surveillance teams. Ambulances do only one work but these pick-up vehicles can also carry patients,” she said. 
Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, asked the district authorities to make the best use of the vehicles and ensure they are well maintained.

“These vehicles are strictly for use in the medical department. They are deployed to offices of district health officer, the principal medical officers of municipalities, cities and others. They are to be used strictly for surveillance but under the supervision of the CAO and town clerk. They are not for the offices of the CAO or the district chairperson,” she warned.  

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja said due to “bad rumours” that some of the Covid-19 funds were stolen, their second call to Ugandans to support the response by mobilising resources to procure vaccines has not yielded much. She said only about Shs1b has been contributed towards the noble drive.
The country is racing to inoculate at least 7 million people out of the targeted 21.9 million to reopen the economy. 

But so far, only 2 million people have received first dose of the vaccines and another 600,000 have been fully vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health. 
Only about 661,000 doses of 8 million doses of vaccines the country acquired were bought by the government, with the rest got through donations. 

Distribution
1. All districts, one vehicle each (135) 
2. KCCA, one vehicle (1)
3. All municipalities, one vehicle each (31)
4. All cities, one vehicle each (10)
5. All national referral hospitals, one vehicle each (5)
6. All regional referral hospital, one vehicle each (17)
7. All general hospital, one vehicle each (48)
8. Uganda Blood Transfusion Services (8)
9. Central Public Health Laboratory (4)
10. Uganda Virus Research Institute (2)
11. Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Institute (1)
12. Divisions of KCCA one vehicle each (5)
13. Murchison Bay Hospital, Luzira prison (1)
14. Mulago Women Specialised Hospital (1)
15. Covid-19 testing at Entebbe International Airport (3)
16. Surveillance at the border points of entry (4)
17. Emergency response under Ministry of Health (3)
18. Coordination of activities of the Covid-19 incident management team (3)