Government has budgeted to spend Shs304.5 billion in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. Out of the total budget, Health will get the largest share, followed by Security and Disaster management.
Others that will benefit from the budget are the local governments, Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) and Information Communication Technology (ICT) ministry.
According to the proposed budget, the health sector will take Shs82.6b followed by Security at Shs81.5b. Disaster management support to the vulnerable people takes Shs59.4b, while local government will take Shs36.1b. KCCA exclusive support to the vulnerable has been allocated Shs30b while ICT sector will take Shs14b.
Under security, Uganda police takes the biggest chunk amounting to Shs41.3b, followed by Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces taking Shs32.4b.
Prisons takes Shs3.5b, Internal Security Organisation takes Shs1.9b, External Security Organisation has Shs490m while Citizenship and Immigration takes Shs1.9b.
According to the budget document, the security forces are expected to deploy a significant number of personnel who will be involved in surveillance, case detection, case management and enforcement of control measures in the wider population.
“A total of Shs81.498 billion was recommended,” part of the document reads.
The document also says under the local government sector, it was noted that the district task forces had been established and will be headed by the Resident District Commissioners while the district secretariat will be housed at the district health department.
The taskforces are further divided into sub-committees including case management, surveillance, health promotion and resource mobilisation.
Under the support to the vulnerable groups, procurement of maize flour will take Shs30b, while beans will take Shs24b. UPDF distribution logistics will take Shs4.3b and Shs1b will go to the Office of the Prime Minister for operation.
The budget proposal also indicates that KCCA is expected to be the most affected area by COVID-19, both in terms of scale of infection and intervention.
“KCCA is involved in surveillance, case detection, case management, capacity building of its staff and enforcement of control measures in the wider Kampala population. A total of Shs30.181 billion was recommended. This excludes resources required to support the vulnerable which are accommodated under the allocations to disaster management,” the document said.
According to the proposal, Shs1.5 billion will be spent on enforcing presidential directives, Shs182b in capacity building of KCCA staff, Shs3.3 billion on risk communication and social mobilisation, and Shs4.2b will be spent on the coordination and preparedness.
Vulnerability profiling and mapping within Kampala will take Shs214 million, water and sanitation takes Shs3.4b while the biggest chunk of the funds amounting to Shs17.5b will be used for response and case management.
While addressing a press conference yesterday, Dr Ruth Jane Aceng, the Minister of Health, said government had already released Shs157 billion for the emergency response. She, however, did not offer a breakdown of how the funds are being spent. She also did not explain whether the funds already released are part of the Shs304b.
Some of the activities under ICT include setting up of national communication taskforce that will cost Shs1b, compiling and printing of all presidential directives and Ministry of Health guidelines and sending messaging across all radio stations to sensitise the public, among others.
Uganda also has 44 cases of people who have tested positive to coronavirus.
Allocation
Health -Shs82b
Security -Shs81b
Disaster -Shs59b
Local govt -Shs36b
KCCA -Shs30b
ICT -Shs14b