Sexually weak men warned as dangerous “manpower” herbs sell on local market
May 9, 2020
Uganda’s COVID-19 Cases Now at 121
May 11, 2020
By George Mangula
The Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection (UPFSP) has advised government to use part of the money the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave to Uganda to fund the fight against Covid-19 and related activities.
The IMF days ago approved US$491.5 million (about sh1.7 trillion) emergency assistance for Uganda under the Rapid Credit Facility.
“The Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection, therefore, recommends that the resources are used to support the Expanding Social Protection (ESP) programme to expedite the COVID-19 social protection interventions.”
In a statement released on May 6, 2020, the money is intended to support health, social protection and macroeconomic stabilization measures, meet the urgent balance-of-payments and fiscal needs arising from the COVID-19 outbreak and catalyze additional support from the international community.
It has been noted that beyond health, the Coronavirus pandemic is already having adverse effects on the social and economic lives of Ugandans and projected to push the already vulnerable populations further into vulnerability and poverty.
“The Ugandan economy is being severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and, in particular, such key sectors as services (tourism), transport, construction, manufacturing and agriculture. The challenging external environment is curtailing remittances and foreign direct investments. The pandemic has also exacerbated the challenges posed by heavy rains in early 2020 and the ongoing locust invasion” reads the statement.
“…The authorities are encouraged to continue to step up social protection programs to cushion the impact on the vulnerable population and to protect health spending allocations over the medium term.”
The ESP programme interventions include; Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) where government working with development partners (DFID and Irish Aid) is committed to ensuring that the Senior Citizens Grants to older persons in old districts- are delivered to them uninterrupted, within the circumstances as they need these grants to build their resilience to the Covid-19 shock, by giving basic items like soap, food, salt to protect themselves.
Further, a revised operational mechanismhas been developed in the interim to ensure that the grants are delivered to older persons but at the same time guidelines issued by President Yoweri Museveni and the Ministry of Health are adhered to, and not compromised for the safety of the older persons, Government staff, the staff of the services providers and without endangering the whole population.
ESP also plan on specific interventions for other vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, children, suspension of contributions towards social security(NSSF) and other business-targeted interventions.
“We call upon the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to come up with a comprehensive response plan considering that funding has been secured for this purpose,” reads UPFSP Communications brief.
