Parliament’s joint Public Accounts Committee (Central and Local Government) has learnt that Government spent Shs2.8Bn in the distribution of Covid relief to the vulnerable persons affected by the lockdown.
The revelation came during an interface between Ministry of Finance that was represented by Henry Musasizi, State Minister for Finance General Duties during an investigation into distribution of Shs53Bn in Covid relief by Ministry of Gender and Office of Prime Minister.
Martin Ojara, Chairperson Local Government Accounts Committee asked Musasizi to clarify on the figure submitted by the Ministry of Finance on whether the distribution of relief aid cost Shs2.8Bn as stated in the documents.
According to the documents submitted to Parliament by Ministry of Finance, Shs53.5Bn was released in Covid relief and of this, Shs2.854Bn was spent on administration costs like charges on mobile money transfers, while Shs50.645Bn went to the Ministry of Gender account in Post Bank.
However, Musasizi asked the Committee to verify the information and respond to parliament.
The joint Committee also tasked the Ministry of Finance to explain why Kampala Metropolitan area including Mukono and Wakiso were left out of Covid relief, with MPs questioning what informed the decision to only give money to people in Kampala yet some people in the two districts working in Kampala had their lives disrupted by the second lockdown.
Medard Ssegoona (Busiro East) noted that the cabinet decision talked of distributing money to people in Kampala metropolitan areas but the ministry only catered for those in Kampala city which led to vulnerable people in the metropolitan area to miss out on the relief.
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