Warning: Trying to access array offset on value of type bool in /usr/www/users/urnnet/a/story.php on line 43 Pader Covid-19 Taskforce Stuck With Over 2,000 Kgs of Rotten Posho :: Uganda Radionetwork
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.
Casual labourers offload relief food from a trailer truck for storage at World Food Programme [WFP] Warehouse in Koro Subcounty, Omoro District. Photo By Julius Ocung
More than 2,000 kilograms of posho that was 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.
Luo
//Cue in: “Eno ni lanyut...
Cue out: ocak ki kenyo.”//
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.
//Cue in: “There was a lot...
Cue out: it’s very unfortunate.”//
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.
Luo byte
//Cue in: “Wa bedo ki peko...
Cue out:… ki fining gin.”//
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.
// Cue in “Kita nongo district…
Cue out:..gi ki cik.”//
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.