The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Pader, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | More than 2,000 kilograms of posho that were supposed to be distributed to selected vulnerable people in Pader district are rotting away.
The relief food was donated in April last year to support selected categories of people who were hit hard by the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown instituted by the government.
The district Covid-19 taskforce had identified boda boda riders, elderly persons, and poor households among other beneficiaries. The posho was donated by well-wishers and stakeholders in the district.
However, Pader district chairperson Rtd Col. Fearless Oyat Obwoya disclosed that a year later after the relief food was donated, the task force members failed to distribute the food to the intended beneficiaries.
Obwoya says it’s shocking that several kilograms of posho meant to be consumed by hungry people were left to rot away in the district health store.
“The whole posho is now rotten and it’s even still there occupying our store now causing some bad smell in the store,” he says.
Obwoya has ordered the immediate disposal of the rotten posho from the store since they can’t be consumed.
Fearless Kilama Wodacholi, Pader town council mayor says the negligence demands some punitive actions against those who failed to distribute the relief food to the vulnerable community members.
Dusman Okee, the Pader Resident District Commissioner who also doubles as the chairperson Covid-19 task force says his office wasn’t informed about the bags of posho that were still being kept in the store.
Some residents however have blamed the Covid-19 taskforce officials for hoarding food from locals who at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic had nothing to eat.
Aldo Ayoo, a boda boda operator and resident of Pader town council says he is surprised to learn that the posho meant to be given out by last year wasn’t distributed and has since gotten rotten.
Ayoo says those who were in charge of the distribution should be held accountable or fined.
David Oneka, another boda boda rider says they went through untold sufferings during the Covid-19 lockdown last year despite the presence of food. He equally prayed that those who left the food to rot should face the law.
Pader district last had Covid-19 patients at its isolation facility in Kilak Corner Technical Institute on December 5, 2020 from where more than 50 covid-19 patients received treatment.
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