By Richard Mbayo
A concerned citizen of Pearl of Africa may have several questions that require to be addressed by fellow citizens of the land.
Education, Health, Agriculture, Industrial sectors are some of the key drivers of the economy for Developing Economies but Uganda’s National Budget allocation for those sectors are regularly mismanaged yet every financial year Parliament approves the budget but Ugandans rarely receive those services as meant to be but security budget allocation is always well spent in buying ammunition, guns, teargas, police patrol vehicles yet some districts lack functioning ambulance if available, the patients are responsible for fuelling those ambulances.
In the recent past, teargas is even availed in upcountry districts where there is no electricity, poor health facilities but the state ensures teargas is in stock while medicine in health centres runs out.
The fire outbreak at Ivory tower Makerere showed the nakedness of the State in the security sector when police weren’t in a position to stop the fire from destroying the administration building of Uganda’s most prestigious university. Instead the public watched in disbelief as the police fire brigade called into action a 1980s fire truck that could not start. Staff had to conduct emergency repair on the vehicle as a fire ravaged the ivory tower.
There are silences from the state that leave any citizen puzzled and wondering if the state cares? When the funds meant to procure face masks for the poor ordinary citizen are mismanaged, there is a loud silence.
There is an equal amount of silence when it was uncovered that funds meant to procure radios to ensure students access Education from home as a way of fighting COVID-19 were mismanaged. The company given the contract had only 4 radio samples out of 9 million radios they were meant to produce and those 4 were delivered from China via DHL. Ministry of Education is headed by the First lady of the land.
There is the outrage of the food distribution that was promised to residents of Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono. The food meant for the 1.5million most vulnerable, when it reached the few it did, was of such poor quality beans, posho and milk that it was sometimes inedible. Billions were spent on this initiative: lost. Silence.
Why is that the State is capable of distributing Party T-shirts but the same State couldn’t ensure distribution of masks? Does this mean that Party T-shirts are affordable than masks or they are more effective than masks in fighting COVID-19 as wherever the Party flagbearer visits, he leaves a particular district painted with his party colours?
Richard Mbayo is a fair-minded citizen!
Twitter @RichardMbayo
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