The chairperson of the Agriculture committee Janet Grace Okori-moe says that they are taking interest in the locust funding, and also want to find out the extent at which the locusts could have caused damage.
Members of Parliament on the Committee on Agriculture want the
government to account for funds spent in the fight against locusts.
Uganda has spent more than 267 billion shillings in loans and donations to
fight locusts that ravaged some parts of East and Central Africa and some areas
in Uganda.
Although the government said that the locusts that arrived in Uganda were not
harmful and that a more destructive swarm of locusts are expected, it
has continued borrowing money and receiving donations.
On 30th June, the Ministry of Finance notified Parliament of an intention to
borrow 14.8 billion shillings to fight locusts, however, the matter has not yet
been finalized.
With the largest amount of the funding coming as a loan of 180 billion
shillings from the World Bank, the chairperson of the Agriculture committee
Janet Grace Okori-moe says that they are taking interest in the locust funding,
and also want to find out the extent at which the locusts could have caused damage.
She says as the committee, they had planned to visit districts affected
by the locust invasion and make an assessment, but it was affected by the lockdown.
//Cue in: “Maybe they are…
Cue out:…not established that”//
When contacted, the Minister for Agriculture Vincent Ssempijja said that
the experts still indicate that Uganda has big potential to be invaded by
locusts. Ssempijja, however, said this was not the final position, as they were
still holding discussions with experts.
In addition to the 180 billion shillings from the World Bank, Uganda
received 41 Billion from the European Union, 11 Billion from the Government of
Russia, 9.6 billion from Germany, 3.7 billion from the Africa Solidarity Trust
fund, 490 million from United States Agency for International Development
(USAID), while some 22 Billion shillings was injected by Government of Uganda.
Other donations were received in the form of equipment and chemicals from
China, while others came through Agencies like Food and Agricultural
Organisation (FAO) among others.
Alex Otto
Freelancer