Gov’t speeds up food distribution as hunger-related unrest grows

Too slow? The government has deployed more teams to distribute relief food after complaints from teh public that it may find them starved to death

Local leaders across Wakiso district and some parts of Kampala have become targets of angry attacks and demands for food from residents who say they are starving due to the ongoing lockdown restrictions.

From Makindye Ssabagabo to Seguku, Kajjansi, to Entebbe Municipality, all in Wakiso district, leaders have reportedly been besieged by hungry residents who threatened to abandon their children in their homes for lack of food to feed them. The leaders have told CBS FM they can no longer keep in their houses while hungry.

The anger stems from the failure by the government to deliver on its promise of delivering free food to jobless people during the current Coronavirus lockdown.

President Museveni has repeatedly promised in his recent broadcasts that the government would distribute free food to people who lost income because of the lockdown measures.

The promise of free food to urban vulnerable people was one of the reasons the president said he had decided to extend the lockdown by another 21 days until May 5, 2020.

This extension, however appears to have stretched many people’s means as also seen by attempts by some traders in Kampala who had tried to re-open their shops in defiance of the presidential directives. Some people now say without food, they cannot stay in their homes and starve. They are trying to look for means of survival.

The government promised to distribute free food to affected people in Kampala and Wakiso. This has however been hampered by the slow pace at which the soldiers distributing the food were moving, resulting into delays something that has stoked anger.

In the face of mounting demands, the government says it has dispatched three teams to every division of Kampala to ensure that those that need food get it, before they move to Wakiso.

Government Spokesperson Ofwono Opondo told the Media yesterday that: “Following the readjustment of the different protocols of obtaining food, from yesterday (Thursday) and today, in Kampala, the govt has disbursed three teams in every division, and we hope that should quicken distribution of food and delivery to those most in need.”

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