MPs fury over Uganda's 'missing hoes'

Lawmakers in Uganda have alleged that there has been "selective distribution’’ of hoes in a government initiative aimed at improving agricultural production, the Daily Monitor newspaper reports.

President Yoweri Museveni had promised in his 2016 election manifesto to give the farm tools to every household.

Some 800,000 hoes were procured and distributed via MPs, Janet Grace Okori-moe, the chairperson of parliament's agriculture committee, told her colleagues.

Social embed from twitter

However, MP Cecilia Ogwal said the farm tools had instead been given to MPs and ministers allied to the government, some of them as a reward for their support to remove a constitutional age limit for presidential candidates that cleared a hurdle for President Museveni to run for a sixth term:

“We gave you money to buy the hoes last financial years, the year that preceded, where are the hoes? We have heard - and this is actually a confirmed rumour - that each minister got 25,000 hoes and some few MPs who voted for the age limit,” she asked Ms Okori-moe, according to the daily Monitor.

Ms Okori-moe also said that questions about the project should be directed to the agriculture minister.

Another MP Solomon Silwanyi dismissed Ms Ogwal's claims, saying the hoes were distributed fairly.

“Hon Ogwal has raised an allegation in this committee which is unfair, baseless and misinformed,” he said.

MPs bicker over distribution of hand hoes #MonitorUpdates https://t.co/LRaWAukhsM

— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) January 29, 2020