Namuwongo Man collapses, dies waiting for Government relief funds at Chairman’s office

Shock gripped residents of Kasanvu zone of Namuwongo in Makindye Division a Kampala city suburb after one of their own collapsed and died in their area, due to suspected hunger.

According to local authorities, the deceased is only identified as Kanyamunyu, a resident of the same area and porter on Fifth Street in the Industrial area in Bugolobi.       

The area Chairperson Richard Biresho says that Kanyamunyu breathed his last at his office around 7:00 pm on Monday evening. He had pitched camp asking for food relief on grounds that he was starving. Biresho says that the deceased looked frail, weak and emaciated an indication that he could have gone days without food.  
Kanyamunyu stopped working when the government imposed the 42-day lock-down in the effort to combat the spread of COVID-19. Biresho says that many people are flocking his office for relief support because of starvation, adding that many more could start dying in their homes.  

When the deceased collapsed residents immediately informed the police, however, when the officers arrived, they couldn’t put him on their patrol and rush him to the hospital fearing that he could be a Coronavirus patient. They waited for an ambulance, which arrived after 2 hours when the man was already dead.    

According to Joseph Karugaba, the Officer in charge Kisugu police post, they are waiting for the postmortem from Mulago city mortuary to establish the cause of death.

Ugandans who fall in the category of Vulnerable poor are today expected to start receiving relief money, amounting to Shs. 100,000 per household, from office of the Prime Minister.