While speaking to the nation in a televised address on Tuesday evening, President Museveni said that he would contribute Shs.1.4 million of his monthly salary to the fight against the spread of Coronavirus in the country.
The President made it clear that he would accept a pay cut, and donate half of his salary to the National COVID-19 Response Fund led by Minister in Charge of General Duties, Mary Karooro Okurut.
“You remember your people normally pay me some little money. They pay me Shs3.6 million. NRM takes about 20%. On the other remaining Shs2.7 million, I will instruct Janet to sign Shs1.4 million each month to the Fund. Janet is the one who receives that money,” Mr Museveni said in response to a question from a Ugandan who asked why public servants have not committed their salaries to the fight against the virus, like the case was in other African countries.
Uganda has registered 79 confirmed cases of the virus with 52 recoveries.
Nigerian lawmakers, Rwandan top civil servants, Kenya’s top government officials and more recently Malawi’s cabinet have committed their salaries to the COVID-19 fight. In Rwanda, politicians and top civil servants agreed to donate their April salaries to welfare programmes to help the poor cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus.
Lawmakers in Nigeria weeks back agreed to forgo their salaries as contributions towards the COVID-19 fight. Kenya’s president and top government officials also took salary cuts for the same reason. In Malawi, President Peter Mutharika also announced taking a 10% salary cut along with his ministers.
