By Spy Uganda
Hours after billionaire Elon Musk told the president’s Cabinet that the U.S. had quickly restored previously canceled aid to fight Ebola in Uganda, the Trump administration officially ended at least four of five U.S.-funded Ebola contracts in the country.
The contracts were just a handful of the 10,000 grants and contracts canceled by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. State Department amid cuts by Musk’s so-called Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE.
The canceled Ebola contracts provided critical support at a time when Uganda is still recovering from a serious outbreak that began in January.
The contracts funded airport screening, protective equipment for health workers and programs to help survivors avoid spreading the virus, according to a former USAID official.
Musk, CEO of Tesla and the world’s richest person, is a senior adviser to President Donald Trump. He and the Trump-created DOGE are working to shrink the federal government.
Musk told Cabinet members earlier Wednesday that after DOGE briefly canceled Ebola prevention funding, the administration “restored the Ebola prevention immediately, and there was no interruption.”
But two former USAID officials familiar with the situation in Uganda say that’s not true.
At Entebbe Airport, for example, Ebola screening was paused for more than two weeks.
A group providing screening services decided to resume work using its own funds — but that contract was officially terminated the night of Feb. 26.
The White House declined to clarify Musk’s comments and directed questions to him directly.
The funding cut leaves a major gap in the U.S. role in controlling Ebola and other diseases.
USAID had more than 50 staffers dedicated to outbreak response, but recent cuts left just six people to handle Ebola, Marburg virus, mpox and bird flu preparedness.
“I have no idea how six people are going to run four outbreak responses,” one official said, “It’s complicated at the best of times when you’re fully staffed.”
Although the Trump administration allowed some waivers for health programs related to Ebola, Marburg and bird flu, little money had actually reached the field.
Few organizations had the reserves to keep working and even fewer trusted they’d ever get reimbursed.
Further complicating matters, the U.S. Supreme Court’s chief justice, John Roberts, ruled Feb. 26 that USAID and the State Department don’t have to immediately pay the $1.5 billion owed for work already completed.
After the first Ebola patient in this year’s outbreak visited six different health facilities, Uganda asked for protective gear to shield workers who were exposed.
USAID has a warehouse in Nairobi stocked with such gear, but since the World Health Organization (WHO) manages it, USAID staff weren’t allowed to directly communicate with WHO or even pay them to release the supplies.
With no clear solution, officials ended up spending $100,000 to buy the gear elsewhere.
“So much for cost-effectiveness,” a former official with knowledge of the events said. The contract with the alternate provider, too, has now ended.
