Ugandans with mobile transactions above Shs 500,000 are not vulnerable, says Nabbanja

Coronavirus outbreak

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has said that those with mobile money transactions above Shs. 500,000 will not qualify for the government Covid-19 cash relief.

On Sunday, Nabbanja unveiled government’s COVID-19 relief plan which involved giving cash tokens to the urban vulnerable.

The plan raised a number of questions, with the public asking how government will determine the haves and have nots.

Speaking shortly after assuming office on Tuesday, Nabbanja has now revealed that the cash relief will only go to those whose mobile money transactions do not exceed Shs. 500,000.

“You can not tell me you’re a vulnerable person, when your phone has been receiving millions of shillings. Even when they bring them on the list, we shall check your phone. If it has been getting Shs. 500,000, we shall cross that one,” Nabbanja said.

Nabbanja said that there are mechanisms of knowing who a vulnerable person is and this will be based on the transactions one has been making on their phone.

While appearing on NBS Morning Breeze on Monday this week. Nabbanja said that the committee was yet to decide on how much the vulnerable were going to receive.

Nabbanja also noted that government will only be considering the vulnerable in urban areas of Kampala and Wakiso and not those in the villages where they can access food.

The newly appointed prime minister urged well off families to help their vulnerable neighbours to pass through this period of lockdown which has left many families with no source of livelihood.

Uganda is currently under a 42 day lockdown that was instituted by President Museveni to curb the surge in Covid-19 infections.

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