Chinese national Zhao Long, the manager of Good Home Supermarket in Fort portal town is in trouble for selling Mama Kits meant for free distribution. He was picked up on Thursday evening after a whistle blower informed Rwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition that the Chinese-owned supermarket was selling mama kits clearly written on “For Public Use, Not for Sale”.
The Kabarole District Police Commander – DPC, John Faustine Oese, says the leadership of Rwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition immediately informed police about the matter. They swung into action found indeed 10 kits being sold at Shillings 50,000 at the supermarket.
Inside the kits was a cotton cloth (baby wrapper), a bar of White Star laundry soap, a pair of gloves, piece of cotton wool, small gauze, cord ligature, and a meter of polythene sheet among other things. Oese says that when Long was asked the source of the kits that are suspected to have been donated by a non-governmental organization, he was unable to explain leading to his arrest.
Messach Byomuntura, the Research and Gender Officer at Rwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition, who received the tip from the whistle blower, says it is illegal to sell things that have been donated to health centers and hospitals.
Our reporter tried to establish the source of the mama kits in vain. Efforts to speak to the Health Ministry Spokesperson, Emmanuel Ainebyoona were futile as he was unavailable by the time of publishing this story. But Richard Mugahi, the Assistant Commissioner Adolescent Health and School Health, says that it is unlikely that the kits belong to the Government because they would have been marked with “Property of the Government of Uganda, Not for Sale” and not simply “For Public Use”.
This isn’t the first time that Good Home Supermarket that is under the spotlight for the wrong reason. In June 2018, the then Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigations Department at Fort Portal police station, Godliver Twinomugisha, ordered for a temporary closure of the supermarket when it was selling expired good. The products included Toothpaste, bread, baking flour and blue band.
The News Editor ,Reporter at Kagadi Kibaale community Radio
