UGANDA MIGHT REMAIN IN LOCK-DOWN UNTIL OCTOBER 2021; President Museveni Is Determined Not To Lift Restrictions Unless Vaccine Is Found For The Corona Virus

UGANDA MIGHT REMAIN IN LOCK-DOWN UNTIL OCTOBER 2021; President Museveni Is Determined Not To Lift Restrictions Unless Vaccine Is Found For The Corona Virus

On Tuesday 28^th April 2020 President Yoweri  Museveni addressed the nation about the progress of the fight against the corona virus. It was his 22^nd time he had addressed the country (in less than a month) in regard to the fight against the pandemic.

In the last 21 times he has spoken to the country there has not been anything tangibly new. He has always spoken the same things, repeated the same narrative (advising Ugandans about washing hands, not touching their faces etc) and left Ugandans wondering what direction the country is taking in the fight against the pandemic.

This time round, Ugandans expected his 22^nd speech to focus on the road map for easing the restrictions and eventual removal of the lock-down. It was supposed to be a message of hope.  

Given the horrendous suffering Ugandans have gone through due to the locking of the economy, they expected their president to announce some respite measures that would ease their plight.

The Facts And Figures

This optimism was derived from the fact that the figures and facts in regard to the pandemic were encouraging. Out of the 79 covid19 cases, 14 cases are still infected, 55 recoveries and most importantly there Is NO single death of a single Ugandan to covid19.

This should be good news to any leader by any means. But wait a minute!

The Uganda president had different ideas on his mind.

The fact that no single covid19 death has been registered in Uganda seems to have disappointed president Museveni so much he even suggested that perhaps there are some people who have died of the virus but it (the death) has always been attributed to other causes!.

He said that perhaps people might be dying of the virus but are misdiagnosed. He even ordered for an autopsy on people who are dying these days to establish the real cause of death.

In other words, he is not yet convinced that most people dying in Uganda are not perishing at the hands of covid19.

THE SADISTIC STANCE

In another twist, he made statement that really shocked Ugandans when he said that he loves this corona virus!. How can you love a disease?

 Prior to that sadistic statement he had mentioned that by imposing the lock-down he was ‘trying to discipline these Indisciplined Africans’. What do you make of a leader who openly admits that he is punishing his countrymen?

To cap it all, in yesterday’s speech; he said that he will certainly NOT lift the lock-down unless the vaccine is found!.

And that is certainly not good news for Ugandans given the fact that the health experts have already revealed that the earliest the vaccine will be found will be 18 months away from now.  And that is roughly October 2021! 

Even then, the scientists are simply speculating because they are not sure whether they will indeed have found the vaccine by that time.  It means that going by his statements, Uganda might remain in lock-down for a very long time regardless of whether it has covid19 fatalities or NOT.

While countries like Spain, Italy, USA, china and other countries deeply afflicted by the corona virus are opening up and easing restrictions, the Ugandan leader is still adamant about sustaining the lock-down.

This alone is a cause for worry amongst Ugandans.

The bad Spirit

We have written several times on this blog that Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni’s covid19 fight is not being done in good faith.

 He seems to have an agenda which is only known to him alone.

We can probably speculate that probably he is trying to find out which part of the country can stand up against his provocative actions. 

Some legal experts have already intimated that the Ugandan leader’s actions are mostly illegal and unconstitutional.

The president is operating as if the country is in a state of emergency.  According to the Ugandan constitution the president cannot declare a state of emergency without the consent of parliament.

According to the law president Museveni’s covid19 pronouncements were made unilaterally without the consent of parliament. Most importantly they were not in tandem with the law. What does this mean?

It means that those people who were arrested for defying presidential orders o covid19 have NO case to answer.

Once their case gets into motion, it will be a walk in park for the accused Ugandans who defied the curfew and other corona virus related presidential orders.

The way forward

The Ugandan president does not work alone. He obviously needs to heed to the voice of reason and listen to cabinet, parliament and other stakeholders agitating for the lifting of the lock-down.

Most importantly, the Ugandan president needs to make decisions depending on the prevailing circumstances on the ground. He needs to derive his actions from what is happening in the Uganda and not depend on what is happening in Spain or Italy.

And the reality in the country is that Right now is that we have zero covid19 fatalities to warrant a continued lock-down, vaccine or no vaccine. 

The covid19 facts and figures simply indicate that the restrictions are totally uncalled for. If a country like America which has lost more than 55,000 people is easing the restrictions, why should a country like Uganda which has lost no single person insist on a lockdown?

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a blogger, social critic, political analyst and an anti-lockdown activist

kamwadafred@gmail.com