The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
– ‘Easier to buy luxury cars’ –
“It’s easier to buy luxury cars for the hospital managers than it is to buy medical supplies,” said Maurilio Luyele, a medical doctor who is also a lawmaker for the opposition Unita party.
Last month, three senior officials were sentenced to eight years imprisonment after embezzling $2 million (1.6 million euros) that was intended for the fight against malaria.
Even if Angola had the “best medicine in the world,” the issue of malaria will persist “while we don’t resolve the problem of rubbish piling up in the streets, of stagnant water and a lack of hygiene,” said Sebastiao, the paediatrician.
Refuse collectors have not visited some parts of Luanda for months, another service that is also afflicted by corruption.
Some quarters of Luanda have been transformed into open-air dumps as local authorities grapple with limited budgets and the small number of companies providing refuse services.
During the rainy season from September to May, roads and public spaces are transformed into marshes with floating detritus — a paradise for mosquitoes.
Faced with a growing crisis, the government of new president Joao Lourenco who took office in September last month launched an emergency plan to fight the malaria epidemic with mass insect fumigation and the distribution of mosquito nets.
