As we fight Covid 19 we should not just celebrate our success story. We should take note of our weaknesses and keep on learning, relearning and unlearning, while building on the strengths we have accumulated.
It is important that we keep alert to what other countries are doing that would add value to our own fight against Covid 19 and ignore what would add no value to our success story.
We should, for example, ask: what is it that South Africa or Namibia have done to reduce the negative impacts of Covid 19 on both citizens and noncitizens and keep their quality of life uncompromised?
We should not forget that our traditional/common diseases: malaria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, dysentery and measles etcetera, cancer, hunger and malnutrition are still killing a lot of our people. We have an opportunity in crisis to develop an integrated approach to disease control amidst the Covid 19 challenge. And, as I said before, we have an opportunity in crisis to establish state-of-the art hospitals that can treat all classes of people: the poor, the rich, the rulers, the ruled, the powerless and the powerful, now that no one can go abroad for treatment. Self-reliance and self-sufficiency in crisis should be the rule rather than the exception.
Covid 19 is an opportunity in crisis to test the degree of sociality of of the National Social Security Fund and the various pension schemes operative in the country. We are in a situation now which demands a timely review of the laws govern the social security fund and the guidelines that govern each of the pension schemes so that beneficiaries can benefit to whatever extent during the Covid 19 crisis. Government is incapable of meeting the demands of the beneficiaries, but if given some of their NSSF savings, or their pensions, they can go a long way to take care of their needs themselves.
In the case of Makerere University, there are people who retired from the institution’s service in 2009, but have not got their pensions. Many are in the rural areas, some are in towns. Most of them can no longer meet their social and economic needs as their money is held up by Te University for so many years without proper explanation. Corona Virus, which has no love for the elderly, is rejoicing because some, if not all of these beneficiaries are ready victims. They are people who worked honestly for Uganda and Ugandans, and never suspected that their former employer would be so uncaring. It will be shameful if among those who succumb to hunger and malnutrition are these Ugandans.
Lastly, we should not manage the negative impacts of Covid 19 as if the urban and the rural are completely separate from each other. Without Covid 19 there has always cyclic migration between the urban and the rural, with many people in the rural areas depending on the urban people for sustenance of their livelihoods. Many urban people stay and work in towns and city during weak days and stream to the rural areas during the weekends. Now that there is lockdown of the country, including sources of income for almost all people in towns and the City of Kampala, many rural people are suffering from hunger and malnutrition because they are not getting support from the urban people. It is worse in Busoga subregion where landuse has changed in favour of sugarcane production and disfavour of food production. Unfortunately, Government believes that since the rural people are closer to the land, they produce food, have enough food and need no food support. The truth is that more than ever before the rural people need food support from their Government. The earlier the better.
