President
Museveni Must Relax The Restrictions; FASTING MUSLIMS CANNOT CONVENIENTLY ADHERE TO THE 7 PM
CURFEW
- Bookshops and Libraries are more than needed during this time of self isolation
- How can you allow two people to move on a bicycle and forbid one person from jogging?
- 3. Businesses that can observe social
distancing like saloons, internet cafes should be opened
- 4. Muslims cannot fast conveniently when
there is a 7pm curfew
5.
After
enduring 29 days in a sustained 36 Day lock-down that has confined Ugandans in
their homes, it’s fair to ask for a relaxation in the restrictions.
At the time
of writing this article on Tuesday,
28th APRIL 2020, (3pm) the Ugandan covid-19 cases were still at; 79 infected,
44 recovered and zero deaths.
Now by all
accounts these figures prove that this is a safe bill of health.
There Are No Ugandan Solutions To
Ugandan Challenges
I bet my
balls on the fact that if these covid-19 figures were from ac country like the United
States of America, or any European country, there would be NO lock-down imposed
on those respective countries at all. Instead you would see precautionary measures
set in progress to deter any possible emergence of the corona virus.
But since we
are in a banana republic our government crops polices from the west and imposes
them on their citizens without regard to circumstances on the ground. The philosophy
of advancing our own solutions to our own challenges is only in theory but not
in practice.
Now president
Museveni , who is the biggest proponent of the lock-down could somehow justify
the lock-down three weeks before, but cannot justify the continued lockdown now.
Why?
Because the
figures have proved that we are relatively safe.
Although our
neighbors of Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Sudan and Congo are in relative danger
of high covid-19 cases, we have the bragging rights of safety. We need to simply
guard our borders to keep infections at bay.
But once
again the Ugandan government which is dying to claim credit for fighting the
epidemic is the same that committed the very first mistake of failing to close
Entebbe airport and all borders to stop the corona virus from entering Uganda.
Evidence
shows that 85% of the Uganda covid19cases were all imported cases from abroad.
If the NRM government had closed Entebbe airport in time, there would never
have been corona virus in Uganda.
Similarly,
If there was absolute vigilance at all borders of the country there should
never have been covid19 cases infiltration through the Ugandan borders.
But in April
alone the porous borders meant that the covid19 cases jumped from 55 to 77
within a very short time (of less than seven days) because of the truck drivers
that had entered through the various Uganda border points.
What does
all this mean?
It means, we
as indigenous Ugandans are still free from the corona virus. What is the
implication of this?
The
implication of this is that we can observe the social-distance rules and keep
the corona virus at bay even when there is no lock-down. Alternatively we can
still manage to open up as long as massive congestion of the population is
forbidden completely.
The Situation Report
As you read
this the Ugandan Muslim fraternity is undergoing a fasting period. The fasting
itself starts at 6am and ends at 7pm. At the same time these fasting Muslims
have to grapple with the 7pm curfew.
The reality
is that these Muslims have to move around at 7pm to end the fast of the day. Some
of them still have to walk to have a family setting for observing the need of
the fast.
Even if they
are don’t do it at the mosques, they still have to move around for the endless logistics
of the fast which stretches beyond 9pm.
Basing on
all this any sensible person can therefore not justify the continued curfew
beyond 7pm.
Some Businesses Can Observe Social
Distance
There are
also other business which were abruptly closed in a bid to fight the covid19.
Most of these businesses don’t congest people. Yet the spirit of the business
closure was done to avoid congesting many people in one place to avoid person
to person contact.
For instance the lodging or accommodation
sector shouldn’t have been closed because it provides timely service for people
who have been caught by the 7pm curfew.
For instance
if someone has moved to a given place and is caught by the curfew, his only
option is to spend the rest of the night in the lodge in respect of the stated
curfew. But closing lodges and at the same time requiring someone to respect
the 7pm curfew is a massive miscalculation
The
president should therefore consider relaxing the restriction on lodges.
SALOONS
When you move
around Kampala today you will realize that most men have grown bushy beards!
All this is because the saloons business was closed to stop spreading the
corona virus.
But
logically speaking, how many people can a saloon accommodate in a given time?
Even if you
put a standing order compelling saloons to have one person at a time, it can
easily be implemented.
Therefore
the president needs to relax restrictions on saloons basing on the fact that is
one of the business entities that can operate without attracting large number
of people.
THE INTERNET CAFES
Another
business that can easily observe social distance is the internet cafes.
These ones
were summarily closed together with other businesses that don’t provide
necessary basic services.
Evidence
shows that it was NOT a good idea that internet providers were closed because
they were the last working stations that people could resort to without
trekking to offices during this quarantine.
As a matter
of fact, the internet cafes are some of the other businesses that can easily
observe social distance rules to their utmost expectations. Most of the
journalists who don’t have modems can easily operate using internet cafes to
file stories.
One would
logically expect the president to relax restrictions on these internet
providers.
Bookshops and libraries
For instance
why close bookshops when you know that they can easily allow one person to
enter at a given time to pick a book.
These books
can be a very god source of intellectual nutrition during this dark period of
self isolation. Besides the intellectual value, It must be accepted that during
this time of the quarantine, the books are a good source for passing time. Why
close them?
By the way a
confined person needs books more than any other because of the time and privacy
he enjoys at the time.
For instance
great men like Malcolm X were intellectually transformed when they interfaced
with books during their time in prison.
Therefore it
was really irrational to close bookshops and libraries during this period of
self isolation.
Jogging
Some health
experts assert that the corona virus could be averted by those who do
consistent exercises. President Museveni himself actually reiterated the same
point by stressing that doing exercise was a good remedy in the fight against
covid19.
But
paradoxically, the same president Museveni went on to ban jogging? Oh dear me! Now Ugandans have been undergoing the terrible
punishment of staying idle without any exercise at all.
Now, if you
allow two people to move on the bicycle riders to move freely, why stop one
person from jogging?
CONCLUSION
Well, as
stated earlier most of these decisions were not well thought out and need to be
lifted as soon as possible. In a bid to enforce the lock-down to its utmost, the
Ugandan president lampooned all businesses together without considering whether
some of them could continue operating by observing the social distance rules or
not.
This means
that his team did not make enough homework on which business to close and which
one to spare the restrictions.
Otherwise the
figures and facts simply show that the continued lock-down I its complete form is
totally unjustified. A partial lock-down can be put in place to safe guard or
avert covid-19 from spreading the country.
In any case countries
like china, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and USA which were badly hit by the
corona virus have started to open up. Why should Uganda which has not lost a
single person continue in a complete lock-down?
The author Fred Daka
Kamwada is a blogger, social critic and a political analyst
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