Africa-Press – Uganda. Sections of the Cabinet of ministers are at the centre of a storm that has been brewing at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) amid allegations of diversion and distribution to non-intended beneficiaries of several relief items, including iron sheets which had been procured to support the disbarment exercise in the Karamoja sub-region.
Others are under scrutiny for irregularly accessing iron sheets meant for distribution to vulnerable communities in the same region.
Most of the ministers who are accused of having irregularly accessed the iron sheets have since come out to acknowledge receipt of the same. Whereas the minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness could not commit himself on the source of the iron sheets that his Cabinet colleagues claim to have distributed to their constituents, his colleagues have since come out to say that they applied for the iron sheets through the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness. That is not indicative of the kind of cohesiveness that President Museveni told Ugandans about when he unveiled this Cabinet in 2021.
Besides raising questions about cohesion, the Karamoja iron sheets controversy has elicited serious debate about the manner in which government operates and manages information. The controversy is perhaps the biggest testimony of the extent of the communication gap that exists between the government and citizenry.
The OPM, like most government departments, has a communications person whose responsibility it is to clear the air when controversies such as this one arises, yet it was not until Friday that it released a statement that attempted to give details about how many iron sheets had been distributed to each region and with what funds. Why did it take OPM so long to clear the air?
This controversy has brought to the fore the urgent need to re-examine the way the government works. It is about time government developed systems that are not only proactive, but also equipped to respond to controversies and scandals in real time.
Above all, it is about time government moved to put in place systems that emphasise equality of all citizens, especially when it comes to responses and management to disasters.
Cabinet ministers are never subjected to the requirement to apply for relief items through the village, sub-county or district disaster preparedness committees. That explains why they dominate the list of those who are accused of having irregularly accessed the controversial iron sheets. The double standards must stop.
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