COVID-19: Rugunda unveils team to head fundraising drive

COVID-19 | FUNDRAISE DRIVE

KAMPALA - Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda has unveiled a 15-member team appointed by President Yoweri Museveni to manage the COVID-19 response fund.

The team, which is supervised by the Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, is headed by Mary Karooro Okurut, the Minister in charge of General Duties.

Okurut is expected to offer political guidance to the team that is comprised of people from both the private and public sectors.

Members on the team unveiled to the media on Saturday include Eng. Emmanuel Katongole, the chairman board of directors UNOC; Robert Kabushenga, Chief Executive officer (CEO) Vision Group; Apollo Makubuya, a lawyer; Keith Muhakanizi, secretary to the Treasury; Patrick Mweheire the regional chief executive of Standard Bank Group; Dorothy Kisaka, a senior presidential advisor, who is also the Fund's secretary and administrator.

 The Fund Chairperson Emmanuel Katongole

Other members are Bwoch Gustavas, who chairs the board of Centenary Bank; Aga Sekalala, managing director Ugachic; Dr. Francis Omaswa, executive director of the Global Health Workforce Alliance.

The team also includes Dr. Diana Atwine, Permanent Secretary ministry of Health; Ian Clarke, chairman Uganda Healthcare Federation; and Bishop Joshua Lwere, the general overseer National Alliance of Pentecostal and Evangelical Churches.

Addressing the media, Rugunda noted that, "the appointment of the team by the President was aimed at supporting the national campaign and also support the Health sector that is now challenged by this pandemic."

Rugunda thanked the people of Uganda who have been generously contributing whatever they have and for responding positively to President Museveni's call to support the campaign against COVID-19.

Vision Group's Kabushenga talking to the Prime Minister after being named as one of the COVID-19 Fund drive team member

 
"The contributions will be looked after well and you will be regularly published in the media so that everybody can know what happened," he said.

The Health Minister Ruth Aceng thanked Rugunda for inaugurating the team. She thanked the team members for accepting to take up the job.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is big. We may be seeing some negatives but I don't want you to give yourselves hope that we are beginning to make progress and therefore relax. We need all the resources that we can get and every contribution matters. There are so many things that we still need as we decentralize the response to the districts," Aceng noted.

 
She noted that she was confident that the team would do a good job and would account for every money that is contributed by the people.

Aceng noted that it was comforting to see Ugandan's united for a cause and thanked those who had contributed noting that, "it was very encouraging to the Health workers who are right in the middle of the response that the communities are united and are giving them support."