Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - November 29, 2005
Eddie Ssejjoba
Former premier and presidential adviser on HIV/AIDS Kintu Musoke said many high profile people had died and many would follow because they feared to be seen seeking assistance in public facilities.
"MPs, managers, permanent secretaries, ministers, lawyers and all those big people will perish if nothing is done to consider setting up separate facilities for them," Musoke said.
He said the ordinary people had got the HIV/Aids messages and had responded well but it was still very hard for the big people.
Kintu was last week launching the Masaka District Network of Aids Service Organisations at Masaka Referral Hospital.
He said as other politicians went ahead seeking 'bisanja' (more terms) and parliamentary seats, he would devote his life to fighting HIV/Aids.
He said by 1990, there were 1,120 NGOs that had registered to fight Aids in Uganda but many of them were briefcase organisations based in Kampala, with little impact on the beneficiaries.
He said like the briefcase NGOs, some people in the Global Fund project decided to fight their own poverty and diseases at the expanse of the ordinary people.
Musoke said the United States Government President's Plan for Aids Relief (USPPAR), for which he works, cannot divert money like was the case in the Global Fund because beneficiaries send their applications and accountability to the US embassy, from where they are sent to Washington DC for approval. He said the money would then be sent directly to the beneficiary organisations, not through ministries.
"You have heard about the scandals in the Global Fund. It is because the money has to go through different channels like the ministries of finance and health, where you hear people use it to fight their own poverty and diseases because of your ignorance. In USPPAR, not even we the managers handle that money. Even if we had any intentions to swindle it, we cannot," he said, adding that it could only be diverted by individual beneficiary organisations.
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