Countrymen and countrywomen<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am here, to again address you\non the issue of the corona-virus. I first, addressed you on this issue on the\n18th<\/sup> of March, 2020. Before I addressed you, together with the\nexperts, we had discussed, in depth, the science of this virus. In that study,\nwe had discovered the following characteristics of this virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. It\nspreads through inhalation if somebody with the virus coughs (okukororra)<\/em> or sneezes (okwetsyamura)<\/em> near you ─ within four\nmetres from you. It will, then, infect you through the inhalation of the rwooya<\/em> (vapour) of the sick person that\nwould have coughed or sneezed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. The\nsecond mode of spreading is when the infected person pollutes surfaces such as\ntables, door handles, etc. If you touch the polluted surface and, then, touch\nyourself in the soft parts of the body: eyes, nose or mouth, you also get\ninfected. The virus cannot go through the normal, intact skin of a human being.\nIt only goes through the soft parts mentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Although\nthe healthy people afflicted may survive, it can kill alot of people that\nalready have other medical conditions such as Aids, blood-pressure, pregnancy,\ndiabetes, sickle-cells, cancer, the elderly, etc. In China, its kill rate was 4.05%. In Italy its now 11.03% and Spain, its kill\nrate is now 8.4%. It even kills the\nyoung people in some circumstances, like the young doctor, Li Wenliang, of\nWuhan in China, who first identified this problem. He was only 33 years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given its spread methods ─ sneezing\nand coughing by an inconsiderate and careless person in a cluster of people\nbunched together as well as an individual’s own carelessness of touching the\nsoft parts of your body (the eyes, the\nnose and the mouth) without washing your hands or sanitizing them first, after\ncareful study, we decided that this virus will spread fastest if it gets into\nlarge concentrations of people, some of whom may be behaving inconsiderately or\ncarelessly as stated above. We, therefore, adopted the strategy of dispersing\nany concentration that may provide fuel to this virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my address of the 18th<\/sup>\nof March, 2020, I put out 13 actions that dealt with this problem, in part, as\nwell as other associated matters. The 13\nmeasures were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (1) Close\nall the Educational Institutions which accounted for 15 million young Ugandans;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (2) Suspend\ncommunal prayers in Mosques, Churches or in Stadia and other open air venues;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (3) Stop\nall public political rallies, cultural gatherings or conferences;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (4) Banned\nUgandans from moving to or through category one (I) countries that had had a\nlarge number of corona cases by that time;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (5) We\nallowed returning Ugandans provided they underwent mandatory quarantine, at\ntheir cost, for 14 days at a venue identified by the Ministry of Health;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (6) We\nallowed the non-agricultural gathering points to continue but with SOPs(Standard Operating Procedures) put\nout by the Ministry of Health; and these gathering points were: factories,\nhotels, large plantations, markets, taxi-parks, etc.;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (7) We\ndiscouraged the hexagonal, extravagant Ugandan-style weddings; if in a hurry,\nwe encouraged the couples to go for the scientific weddings by the actual stakeholders,\naccompanied by a few people;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (8) Burials\ncould not be postponed, but it should be for a few people ─ the concerned\nhomestead;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (9) With\nthe 33 million farmers, according to the 2014 census, there was no problem\nbecause they are dispersed in their farms, plantations, etc.; the only issues\nto deal with here were the monthly or weekly cattle auction markets (ebikomera)<\/em>; and obutare (food markets);\nthese were suspended;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (10) At\nthat time, we thought that we could continue with the public transport systems\nof buses, mini-buses, taxis, boda-bodas, etc., provided they were given SOPs;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (11) The\ndiscos, dances, bars, sports, music shows, cinemas and concerts were all\nsuspended;<\/p>\n\n\n\n (12) Number\n12 was hygiene and enlightened (not kikafiri behavior ) behaviours of not\ncoughing or sneezing in public, no spitting, washing with soap and water or\nusing sanitizers, regularly disinfecting surfaces such as tables, door handles,\netc. and not touching your eyes, nose or mouth with contaminated and unwashed\nhands; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n (13) Ended\nwith nutrition to strengthen the body defence system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We quickly, however, learnt that\nsome of the actors were not obeying these measures and that, for instance, the\nreturnees from abroad, from the high risk countries, were escaping from the\nquarantine even when it was mandatory. The ones in self-quarantine were also\nescaping, e.g. the Chinese that were arrested on the Congo boarder, in Zombo or\nthe returnee from Kisumu that is the father of the Iganga baby that turned up\npositive that went into hiding. These gaps could cause us serious\nproblems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These gaps were undermining the strategy\nof denying the virus the fuel that it could ignite and sustain its expansion by\nensuring that there is no match-box and there is no dry grass ─ no virus and no\nconcentrated masses. Therefore, on the 25th<\/sup> of March, 2020, on the\n41st<\/sup> Anniversary of the battle of Rugaando, I announced two new\nmeasures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Stopped\nall passengers coming into Uganda by air, land or water; this affected\nin-coming planes, buses, taxis or boats; <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Also\nprohibited from entry were the pedestrians ─ people walking on foot from the\nneighbouring countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In all these measures, we were\ncareful to clearly state that cargo planes and cargo vehicles, within Uganda\nand between Uganda and the outside, should continue with only the crews for the\nair-crafts and 3 persons per cargo vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, on the 21st<\/sup> of\nMarch, 2020, we announced additional measures as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, private vehicles could\ncontinue but with only 3 people maximum per vehicle. However, ambulances, army\nvehicles, garbage collection vehicles, etc., would continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since that time, we have been\nmonitoring the situation. It was good we took all these measures. However,\nthere are still windows through which the virus can continue to spread. As of today, the 30th<\/sup> of March,\n2020, 31 Ugandans and 2 Chinese have been confirmed as being positive with the\nvirus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost all of them are imported\ncases by Ugandans returning from mainly Dubai (UAE), Europe, the USA and\nAfghanistan. Only 3 are the ones that\nreceived it from the importers. These are: the wife and daughter of the Masaka\nman and the baby from Iganga whose father had returned from Kisumu in\nKenya. Out of the 33, the number of eight (8) were intercepted at Entebbe, in the\nquarantine or, even, at the airport, like the case number one, who was detected\nby the temperature monitor and another 7 that were first identified by the\ntemperature monitoring system. This means that 14 out of the 33 had already\nentered the ekibuga<\/em> (city, town), the\nlujja<\/em> (compound) and some had even\nentered omuunju ─ munyuumba<\/em> (inside\nthe house) since we did not detect them at the Eireembo<\/em> (the main entrance) or they escaped from the Eishaazi<\/em> ─ the holding ground ─ by\nescaping from the quarantine. How many\nother Ugandans did they interact closely with to infect them? That is what we\nneed to discover and soonest. It is good\nthat those who start feeling the symptoms report themselves, like the case from\nHoima did. However, this disease has two\ncharacteristics that make the work of fighting it tedious and quite challenging\nand need maximum vigilance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One characteristic is that some\nof the infected people may not feel sick and may not even know that they are\ninfected. Yet, they will continue spreading the disease, of course, through the\ncarelessness of the general population of, for instance, polluting surfaces and\ntouching oneself in the soft parts of one’s body: the eyes, the nose and the\nmouth; and sitting very close to one another even if the infected person is not\ncoughing. After further careful analysis, we have come to the conclusion that\nto be on the safe side, it is better we err on the side of caution than to wait\nfor a possible situation like of some countries where a 1,000 people are dying\nper day from this disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second characteristic of\nthis virus is that those that are infected, even when they survive, they take\nlong in the hospital. In China, one case took 2 months. This has caused the\nfilling up of all the hospital places even in the countries with advanced\nmedical systems, until a situation where the medical authorities have to decide\non who should be allowed to die and who should not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, with these cases that\nhad entered in the house, we should not wait for that situation. Incidentally,\nwe now have under quarantine, a total of 839 persons. Even those that are alleged to have escaped\nfrom the quarantine, have all come back. How many people had they interacted\nwith and how careless are they with the sitting close to one another and with\nthe carelessly touching their soft parts? We, therefore, think that there is\nless risk in taking the risk of the bitter medicine of maximum restrictions for\na limited time than gambling by assuming that pollution was limited when we are\nnot absolutely sure. Since we started this campaign of sensitization, if\neverybody listened by not coughing and sneezing near other people, by not\nsitting too close to one another when the infected person has got no symptoms\nand by not carelessly touching oneself in the soft parts, the cases that\nentered into the house would not have spread the disease. The question,\nhowever, is: “Did all our people\nlisten?â€<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is why it is better not to\ntake any risk by being complacent and assuming that everybody took heed when\nmany may have not taken heed. That is why we have decided to take additional\nmeasures as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Measure\nnumber one is to prohibit all people to people movement by everybody including\nthose using their private vehicles, bodabodas, tuk-tuks, etc. Why? \nTwo reasons: (i) some private car owners have turned their cars into\ntaxis, transporting the two people we had permitted, assuming that they would\nbe members of one’s family, when in fact they were passengers being charged the\nexorbitant fare of shillings 50,000\/- from Kampala to Jinja. Hence, the problem we were trying to cure of\nallowing the mixing of people from different sources was not being addressed.\nInstead, it was taking new forms. The\npeople with private cars were now the new public transporters without licences\nand facilitating the dangerous mixing in the process. Secondly, even more importantly, even if the\nprivate car owners had been disciplined and only moved around with only the 2\nmembers of their families, still that movement would be dangerous because we do\nnot know who has the virus now and who does not, given the penetration of the\nimported cases into the society, short-lived though it may have been. The ban on privately owned passenger vehicles\nwill take effect from 2200 hours (Ten O’clock ─ Shaaha inna ez’ekiro<\/em>), today,\nthe 30th<\/sup> of March, 2020. I would have given the public time to\nadjust but on more scientific study, it was found that this would be a wrong\npolicy. Why? A longer time would give people time to try and go to the\nvillages. In so doing, they may transfer the sickness. We, would, then, not be\ncuring anything. This freezing of movement will last 14 days from the 1st<\/sup>\nof April, 2020. This time it is not\nFool’s Day; it is wise-person’s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. The\nsecond category of concentrations are the shopping malls, arcades, hardware\nshops, which gather alot of people to sell and buy non-food items. These are suspended for 14 days starting with\nthe 1st<\/sup> of April, 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. All\nthe non-food shops (stores) should also close. \nOnly food stores, stores selling agricultural products, veterinary\nproducts, detergents and pharmaceuticals should remain open. The Ministry of\nHealth should work out SOPs for those stores. Many people should not be allowed\nto congregate there and form lines to buy. \nHome deliveries should, instead, be encouraged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. The\nSuper-markets should remain open but with clear SOPs that should restrict\nnumbers that enter and leave the site at a given time and the handling of\ntrolleys within the super-markets. Alot\nof people can be infected by handling the unsterilized trolleys within the\nsuper-markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. The\nestablished Food Markets in Kampala and the other towns should continue to be\nopen. However, two precautions must be\nobserved. One, the distance of four\nmetres to the front, to the left, to the right and to the rear ─ between seller\nand buyer and also seller and seller must be observed in all the markets.\nSecondly, the sellers must not go home during the 14 days. They must arrange to\nstay nearby for that duration. That movement between workplace to home and back,\nis part of the problem. How are the\npeople you left at home and how do you move to work if there is no public\ntransport? It is that mixing that we want to freeze ─ between home, enroute and\nworkplace. Be in only one place for 14\ndays and we see what is happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Saloons,\nLodges and garages should also be shut for 14 days from the 1st<\/sup> of\nApril, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Like\nthe farms, we would like the factories to keep producing because that is the\nlife-blood of the country. However, the danger is in the workers going home and\ncoming back. It is that daily movement\nthat must be frozen. Let the factory owners arrange for the crucial employees\nto camp around the factory area for the 14 days. If they cannot do that, let them suspend\nproduction for 14 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8. Construction\nsites should continue if they can be able to encamptheir workers for 14 days. \nOtherwise, they should suspend construction for the 14 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9. The\nessential services are: the medical, agriculture and veterinary, telecommunication,\ndoor-to-door delivery, financial institutions, all media, Private Security\ncompanies, cleaning services, garbage collection, fire-brigade, fuel stations, water\ndepartments and some KCCA staff should continue to operate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n URA\nshould also not close business on account of not paying taxes in these 14 days.\nThese employers should, however, see whether they can encamp some staff near\nthe workplace for the 14 days, which is the preferred way, or else get a\nspecial exemption from the RDC with the concurrence of the District Medical\nOfficer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10. Cargo\ntransport by train, plane, lorry, pick-up, tuku-tukus, bodaboda and bicycle,\nwithin Uganda and between Uganda and the outside, must continue but only with\nminimum numbers, technically needed as follows: \nCargo ─ Air-craft ─ only the crew; Lorry ─ not more than 3 persons i.e.\ndriver, tonne-boy plus one, etc., as will be directed by the Ministry of\nTransport, working with the National Task Force on the Corona virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 11. Gatherings\nof more than 5 persons are hereby prohibited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. Except\nfor cargo planes, lorries, pick-ups and trains, starting with the 31st<\/sup>\nof March, 2020, at 1900 hours (Saa Moja\nya Usiku<\/em>), there will be a curfew throughout the whole of Uganda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All\nother movements should stop. Let people stay in-doors in their homes except for\nthe cargo-transporters. The exemption of cargo transporters does not apply to\nthe bodabodas, tukutukus or bicycles in the curfew hours. Those should only operate during daylight\nhours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 13. In\norder to deal with some unavoidable health issues like mothers in child birth\nor very sick people, permission can be sought from the RDC to use private\ntransport to take such a person to hospital. \nAdditionally, government vehicles that do not belong to UPDF, Police,\nPrisons or UWA, will be pooled and deployed at the District Health Offices,\nincluding the divisions of Kampala, with their drivers, staying in tented\ncompounds, ready to help in those health emergencies. Those vehicles will be\nunder the command of the District Medical Officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 14. On\naccount of this pandemic, some sectors of the economy are suffering, such as\nthe tourism industry, the entertainment industry, the transport industry, etc. However,\nas I said earlier, new opportunities are emerging in this misfortune. You have seen how the demand for sanitizers,\nface masks, bicycles, etc., has stimulated new industrial opportunities. Working with the IMF and the World Bank, we\nshall set up a fund in UDB to accelerate industrialization through\nimport-substitution and export promotion. You have seen how dangerous it is for\nAfrica to excessively depend on imports from outside. This is the time to\nwake-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15. We\nare going to discuss with Banks, electricity companies and water companies in\nconnection with the loans and bills, many people have with these units. It is not correct to disconnect water or\nelectricity on account of non-payment during this time of shutdown or to seize\nproperties on account of the non-payment of loans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 16. Government\nworkers should also stay at home for the 14 days, except for the Army, the\nPolice, the Health workers, the Electricity, Water and Telephone workers. Even there, however, SOPs should be worked\nout for the soldiers, etc., that do not stay in the barracks. This problem of not staying near the\nworkplace is something I have never supported. At one time, I wanted to shift\nand stay in Lubiri when it was still a barracks. The Army leaders, that time, pacified me by\nturning both Nakasero and Entebbe into barracks, including taking over Nsamizi\nHill. People who do not stay in\nbarracks, should either stay away for the duration of the shut down or camp in\nthe barracks. The families of the\nsoldiers and policemen should also be controlled moving in and out of the\nbarracks should be suspended and so should the visitors. Otherwise, we can have a major outbreak in\nthe barracks. The vehicles of the Army, Police, ambulances utilities’ vehicles,\nPrisons, UWA, etc., will continue to move on orders of the competent\nauthorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Government anti-Corona-virus\nactions of stopping public transport and other measures have put the drivers\nand other people out of work. Besides,\nmany of them live hand to mouth ─ the daily bread. Without those activities,\nespecially in the towns, such people may not be able to buy food. The Government, after properly identifying\nthese people will distribute food to them in the form of akahuunga<\/em> (maize flour), beans, powder milk, sugar, salt, etc. In\nthe meantime, I direct the Police to arrest the opportunistic and irresponsible\npoliticians who try to distribute food for cheap popularity. Those are very dangerous to the health of the\npeople. When you try to distribute food\nor money in such a situation, people gather around you. Many people can be infected in that\nprocess. You will, therefore, have\ncaused the sickness or death of those people. \nAnybody involved in that effort will be arrested and charged with\nattempted murder. Today, Mr. Elumelu sent me US$150,000. I will use it to buy, may be, three (3) four-wheel\ndrive vehicles to use, by the Ministry of Health to use in this effort. Those trying to take patients to hospitals,\nmust also stop because they spread the virus in the process. If they have money,\nlet them contribute it to the Task Force to use in a disciplined and safe way.\nIn Mbale, the Chinese donated to me two four-wheel drive Jeeps. I have donated these to the Task Force of the\nanti-corona virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the crucial point is\nthe stopping of the epidemic. I do not\nwant us to lose millions of our vulnerable people to this wholly avoidable\nepidemic just on account of indiscipline. What is the indiscipline? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Coughing or sneezing where there\nare other people; not washing or sanitizing your hands regularly; touching\nyourself in the soft parts of the body with unwashed hands, the soft parts being\nthe eyes, the nose and the mouth; and congregating in numbers when science is\ntelling us to avoid this wholly avoidable danger, disperse and do not congregate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea, a Sheikh sent to me\nthe verse from Isaiah, Chapter 26: Verse 20. It says: “Go home my people and lock your doors! Hide yourselves for a little\nwhile until the lord’s anger has passed<\/em>â€.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 30th<\/sup>\nMarch, 2020 – Nakasero<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Countrymen and countrywomen I am here, to again address you on the issue of the corona-virus. I first, addressed you on this issue on the 18th of March, 2020. Before I addressed you, together with the experts, we had discussed, in depth, the science of this virus. In that study, we had discovered the following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17648,"featured_media":14623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-14743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n