COVID-19 Lockdown: NRM Fears Looming Riots Over Food

By Henry Mulindwa

Fears of a possible chaotic situation in the country as a result of extended lockdown have started gaining weight within the hearts of some of the top NRM honchos.

The Second Opinion can exclusively report that within the ruling establishment, some members feel that the gains so far registered by government in respect of the fight against COVID-19 are likely to be lost unless the issue of social order has been addressed.

Of particular concern is the issue of lack of food by many families and yet even those that got it at first have started agitating for more because the lockdown was extended for almost another month.

This has since mounted pressure on several key party leaders across the country with many of them getting requests for food from several families on a daily basis. 

“People are asking for food but we also don’t have it. The pressure is too much. You don’t know how many calls we get everyday” sources said.

Speaking strictly on condition of anonymity, a senior party official stated that for the first time in the last 30 years, the government has been able to unite Ugandans with all of them speaking the same language.

“People have listened. They have acted as advised. They have been patient enough and endured the first lockdown days. However, the food distribution will put cracks on this unity towards lockdown” top sources revealed.

The sources go on thus “Once there’s a crack (defiance), there’s going to be a security crackdown and that will bring chaos. The president handled the first lockdown well. He kept Ugandans  united. The challenge now lies in how he’s going to sustain this latest lockdown when people are sleeping on empty stomachs.”

The president on Tuesday this week announced another 21 days of compulsory sit home as government continues to study the Corona situation.

So far, Uganda has registered a total of 55 cases of COVID-19 but 20 of these have since recovered and discharged leaving 35 on bed.

While other countries like Kenya and Tanzania have registered some deaths, Uganda is yet to register any; thanks to the guidance given by government. S

ecurity at first handled it with a stick approach leaving many people with injuries until the president guided against beating people who violate curfew guidelines.

Several soldiers and cops have since been netted.

The party sources warned that keeping people on empty stomachs may not last and that the earlier government delivers food to people the better in order to save the situation.

“You can tell people to stay home, they will listen. But the question is, what are they feeding on? Dealing with an hungry person is not easy. People will resort to other means to get food. The families are demanding and you can’t expect someone to look on when his family is dying of hunger” the sources said.

This statement comes at a time when police has already warned that the lockdown has seen a surge in number of domestic violence cases.

This, according to police is as a result of idleness among couples coupled with failure to provide for the family.The government recently embarked on distributing food to ‘needy’ families in Kampala and Wakiso.

In Kampala alone, government targeted about 1.5m homes but by yesterday according to KCCA state minister Benny Bugembe Namugwanya, only about 100000 homes had been handled representing a figure of less than 10 percent.

The distribution has also had a setback after it emerged that the food being distributed is rotten especially beans.

This, on top of massive corruption in the award of contracts has since caused the arrest of four top officials in the office of the prime minister including the permanent secretary Guwatudde Kintu Christine. 

On the other hand, political players mainly parliamentarians have not supported fully this cause of distributing food to a few.

Led by speaker Kadaga, the members even passed a motion asking government to halt the hitherto intended food distribution on grounds that it was selective and yet the lockdown was imposed on the whole country.

The members demanded government to also give food to everyone but the president said the food was only for urban poor not villagers.

In the ensuing tag of war between parliament and the executive, the MPs have since been given a controversial Shs20m purportedly to fight COVID-19.This has since generated public uproar calling it betrayal on the side of legislators.

It has been warned that the cash bonanza to MPs will among other things cause a freeze in donations towards COVID-19 fight, will demoralize COVID 19 Health Staff and above all, it there’s a likely risk of undermining Presidential guidlines.

“The population will cease to attach any importance to the President’s guideline because its now in contradiction with the spirit with which the President delivered the guidance” a source says.

However, whereas some MPs like Robert Kyagulanyi Bobi Wine and Zzaake Butebo have since rejected this money, other members like Oyet Simon (Nwoya) feel the money is timely because their people are in dire need of supplies.

“I am eagerly waiting for this money..I am going to buy soap and salt for my people because that is what is lacking badly. The public is aware that we’re receiving shs20m. How we deliver it is what will determine how gets support” he says.