MOROTO – Cholera seems not to end soon in Moroto district as the Municipal Council has even failed to collect garbage due to lack of funds.
Last week, the same Municipality which is the main city for Karamoja region reported being attacked by cholera outbreak, forcing the authorities to shut down unhygienic take away restaurants and banned sale of vegetables and drinks along the roads.
Moroto District Health Officer, Dr Charles Omundu Komakech told us that 109 people were admitted and five had succumbed to the deadly disease.
Mr. Isaiah Tumwesigye, the town Clerk Moroto said that the council has been hit by the current country lockdown arguing that all the businesses that used to generate revenue for the council are closed.
“We are stuck; we can’t collect garbage and burying unclaimed dead bodies in the municipality because we have no fuel and there is no money,” he said.
Tumwesigye was in a meeting on Monday morning where the Moroto Municipality Member of Parliament Mr. Fred Angella was handing over the controversial shs20 million to the district taskforce on covid-19.
Tumwesigye said they have been collecting between shs9 to 10 million monthly before businesses were closed
He said that now, the Municipality has only collected shs 800,000 in the two divisions of North and South Division which he said was too little address the challenges faced by the municipality.
He noted that much as the municipality has generally been experiencing low revenue collection due to lack of serious business, the money they used to collect as revenue was helping the council in terms of keeping hygiene in the town and paying for units for street lights in the Municipality.
“if there is any municipality that has been hit harder it’s not more than us in Moroto Municipality because all the areas where we used to get the revenue such as lodges, restaurants, bars, busparks, and markets are closed,” he said.