Ugandan landlords have been asked by the government to stop collecting rent as citizens stay home to fight COVID-19.
The letter is allegedly from State House Uganda, and has been signed by President Yoweri Museveni. It is addressed to the Minister of Works and Transport, and notifies all landlords and landladies in Uganda to stop collecting rent from their tenants for a period of 90 days as a preventive measure against the spread of COVID-19., However, the letter refers to Hon. Monica Azuba Ntege as the current Minister of Works and Transport instead of General Katumba Wamala who is the current minister of works. Hon. Monica Azuba Ntege who is currently a senior presidential adviser served as minister of Works and Transport from June 2016 to December 2019 and was replaced by General Katumba., The ministry responsible for tenancy related matters in Uganda is the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, not the Ministry of Transport and Works as claimed in the letter., State House Uganda has not shared any information regarding the directive on its website or its official Twitter and Facebook pages., The letter also claims that the postal address of State House is P.O. Box 25499 but according to the official State House website, the postal address is P. O. Box 25497. The email email\xa0protected stated in the letter is also incorrect and emails sent are not delivered., President Museveni’s name is misspelt in the letter, and the signature appears to be forged., PesaCheck has looked into the authenticity of a letter directing all landlords in Uganda to stop collecting rent from their tenants for three months due to COVID-19 and finds it to be FALSE., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Pius Enywaru and edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Ann Ngengere., The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
FALSE: This letter directing Ugandan landlords to stop collecting rent due to COVID-19 is not authentic