74% of Ugandans believe Covid funds have been stolen by ‘powerful people’
74% of Ugandans believe the Covid-19 funds and relief aid will not reach them because it will be stolen by ‘powerful people’ popularly christened as the ‘mafia’. Also, 3/4 (three quarters) of the Ugandans do not trust government’s ability to effectively handle the Covid-19 funds while the overwhelming majority, 81 per cent actually believe the low quality of health care in the country is simply a result of corruption.
These are findings of the government’s own Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos). The Ubos survey supported by the World Bank has found that three-quarters of the Ugandans do not trust that government’s distribution channels for Covid-19 relief will to get to them. The people surveyed expressed fear that money for Covid-19 response will be stolen anyway and would never get to the intended beneficiaries. Recently, ministry of Health permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine one of those accused on social media of stealing the Covid funds, when asked about for accountability of the Covid funds by journalists, urged Ugandans to wait for the auditor general’s report. The AG reports are usually published after a financial year.
Ubos and the World Bank carried out a second survey on the effects of the pandemic on Ugandans between July and August, following the first one done in May and June. The survey featuring about 2,400 respondents was carried from around the country and was aimed at informing the policy makers on how to handle the pandemic and the post-pandemic effects. 4 out of 5 people (81 per cent) of those surveyed agreed that corruption had lowered the quality of medical supplies and care.
In April, after the first Covid-19 cases were recorded in Uganda, many private and corporate Ugandans donated money, food, cars and other items to help the government handle the outbreak, and by the end of May, at least Shs 29 billion had been received by the National Covid-19 Response Fund.
The government launched a food distribution campaign amidst calls by some sections of leaders, for the government to instead distribute cash to needy Ugandans. The US government through its embassy in Kampala offered to give what they called the most vulnerable Ugandans Shs 100,000 per month for three months, but this was called off last week when the donors pulled out after the responsible NGO, Give Directly, went under political and security scrutiny by the NGO Bureau.Government accused Give Directly of being used to funnel in money to fund the opposition. Yet according to the survey, more than 20% of households had to borrow irrespective of whether they were living in urban or rural areas. Households from the Eastern (36%) and Central (27%) regions were more likely to borrow money with those in Western (8%) region registering the least incidences.
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Meanwhile, almost half of those interviewed, in the Uganda High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19 (UHFPS) said they were finding it hard to access essential prevention and control items like soap, medicines and medical care while 1 in 10 people would have wanted to see a doctor, but could not afford.
And on maintaining guidelines like washing hands and wearing masks, there was a major concern that many are not bothered about this, with most culprits being those with less formal education, according to Ubos senior statistician, Henry Mubiru, who led the survey. About 80% wash hands all or most of the times after being in public, while 66% wear masks in public. Many Ugandans are also reluctant to go for testing even when they have signs and symptoms that may be related to Covid-19, according to the study. Mubiru says that many people presented with a fever, but this hardly made them seek a Covid-19 test despite being one of the first major signs, while most of those who went to test, suffered signs like breathing problems and muscle pain.
