Opposition skeptical about govt’s Covid-19 relief cash promise

By Juliet Nalwooga

Opposition Chief Whip in the 11th Parliament, John Baptist Nambeshe has expressed doubts on whether the government will deliver mobile money cash token as announced by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.

The government resolved to use mobile money services to deliver cash handouts to the vulnerable urban poor whose daily incomes have been affected by the second Covid-19 lockdown to avoid delays and other challenges experienced with the distribution of food relief during the first lockdown.

Information about the list of eligible beneficiaries and the actual amounts to be given out is yet to be released by officials from the Office of the Prime Minister and the ministry of gender, labour and social development.

However, Nambeshe says the government has,  since last year in March when the first Covid-19 case was reported, made a lot of promises that are yet to be fulfilled.

The government in April last year during the first lockdown distributed food to the urban poor, majorly in the Kampala Metropolitan area, but a number of eligible people said they didn’t get it.

Written by Noelyn Nassuuna