Daily Monitor understands that all the bidders that have applied for procurement of 33 million masks in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic, have quoted prices above the government offer.

Some companies, according to sources close to National Covid-19 Taskforce, have asked for Shs5,000 per mask, yet others want between Shs2500 and Shs4000 (inclusive of Value Added Tax).

Cabinet asked the Ministry of Health to renegotiate with the companies before they extended the deadline for distribution of free masks to June 10.

On the price concerns, Mr Birungi said he was not aware of the companies asking for Shs5,000 per mask and explained that the role of UMA stopped at putting companies into contact with the Ministry of Health- the procuring entity.

This company and a few others have not started work due to disagreements on the unit cost per mask.