President Yoweri Museveni has announced plans to deploy religious leaders to directly supervise government health centers, in a move aimed at ending the widespread theft of essential medicines.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Alebtong District on Thursday, Museveni said while Uganda’s health sector had made progress—especially in immunization—drug theft remained a major obstacle.
“In the health sector, our immunization aspect is doing very well. The only challenge is that some people are stealing drugs from government health facilities,” Museveni told supporters.
Museveni explained that the government was already using digital systems to track drugs, but supervision at the grassroots was still weak.
He suggested that each of Uganda’s 2,000 Health Center IIIs could be assigned a supervisor from the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU).
“These people of God, whom I believe want to go to heaven, can help us stop this theft of government drugs,” he said, drawing applause from the crowd.
Drug theft has been a recurring problem in Uganda, leading to severe shortages in public facilities and forcing many patients to buy medicines at private pharmacies.
Billions of shillings are lost every year due to diversion of free government drugs.
Investigations have shown that some health workers sell medicines meant for patients, undermining public trust.
Shortages sometimes cause unnecessary deaths, especially among vulnerable groups in rural areas.
The government recently rolled out computer-based tracking systems to monitor drug distribution. However, Museveni argued that human oversight—especially by trusted religious leaders—would ensure accountability.
Drug theft scandals have surfaced repeatedly in Uganda over the past two decades. Several health workers have been arrested in recent years, but cases of stolen medicine persist.
The proposal to bring in church leaders marks a new approach, reflecting the president’s belief that the moral authority of religious figures could act as a deterrent where state monitoring has failed.
