Uganda distributes emergency coronavirus food supplies

KAMPALA: Uganda began distributing food aid Saturday to up to 1.5 million vulnerable citizens affected by the coronavirus lockdown in the capital Kampala.

Six trucks loaded with bags of maize flour, beans and salt were flagged off from the centre of Kampala by government ministers and sent in convoy less than 10 kilometres (six miles) to Bwaise suburb. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda announced the government would "start providing relief food to the most vulnerable and affected by measures to combat COVID-19," initially targeting 1.5 million people living in and around Kampala.

A few days into a nationwide 14-day lockdown, many Ugandans, who live hand-to-mouth, are struggling to buy food. Sarah Bwanika, a 37-year-old mother of three, was among the first to receive Saturday´s emergency assistance since President Yoweri Museveni announced that food distribution would begin.

"This will last my family two weeks, I hope," Bwanika said, holding bags of flour and beans on the steps of her tiny neighbourhood shop, which she said had seen few customers since the lockdown began. As children played next to open sewers, members of the Local Defence Unit (LDU) -- a uniformed militia under the control of the military -- filed past Bwanika´s shop into densely packed mud-clogged backstreets distributing aid, daubing the homes of recipients with marker pens.

Responsible for enforcing a curfew aimed at stopping social gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, LDUs have earned a reputation for violent extortion while conducting nighttime patrols.

Last week, opposition leaders began their own small-scale relief efforts, prompting Museveni to deride them as "shameless opportunists" and "enemies of Uganda and Africa" for encouraging gatherings which would breach social distancing guidelines. Museveni threatened to charge anyone distributing food outside of government structures with "attempted murder" because they encouraged crowds to form.

During Saturday´s food distribution, a senior government emergency management official conceded the food provided was "a tiny fraction of what is necessary" and expressed concern that the LDU was taking part in the exercise.