Ugandan court orders MPs to refund coronavirus cash

A Ugandan court on Wednesday ordered lawmakers to pay back money they had awarded themselves to combat Coronavirus. Meanwhile, in Malawi, President Peter Mutharika announced COVID-19 cash packages for the poor to help them survive the pandemic over the next three-months.

The high court in Uganda has ruled that MPs must pay back any money they received as part of a package they approved to fight coronavirus in their constituencies, local media reported.

An allocation of 2.4 million euros was paid into the individual accounts of lawmakers earlier in April, according to The Observer newspaper. It must be repaid or transferred to national or district Covid-19 taskforces.

The money was initially approved as part of a bigger budgetary package and was intended to be used for sensitisation about the virus.

However, the payment angered President Yoweri Museveni, who described it as “morally reprehensible”.

Uganda has confirmed 79 cases of coronavirus with no deaths, according to the latest statistics from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.