No New Cases as Uganda Goes on Lock Down; Police Speaks Out of Defiant Bodabodas

It’s now Day 5, since Uganda registered her first case of Covid19. Ever since, the enemy virus has not relented, as the Health Ministry announced back to back confirmation of new cases.

But neither has government, under President Yoweri Museveni, who has unveiled a series of stringent restrictions in response.

As of today, Ugandans are commencing life without public transportation, while all businesses dealing mainly in non-food items will be closed.

President Museveni sounded these directives last evening, saying he believed they will go a long way in stemming overcrowding and therefore the coronavirus spread.

The sun however, rose today with some good news.

The Ministry of Health confirmed for the first time that since Sunday, a day’s work of testing for Covid19 ended with no new confirmed cases.

“Good news! All 104 samples tested NEGATIVE for COVID-19. God is good.  Together, we can overcome this battle,” trumpeted Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng.

Minister Aceng went to urge the public to adhere to the health ministry ‘s guidelines and preventive measures.

The Ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Diana Atwiine who first made the announcement last night described this development as “a great relief”

“I am sleeping soundly. May God give us sleep to compensate for all sleepless nights we have spent for 6 days”

On the flipside however, there have been multiple upsetting reports of bodaboda riders adamantly disregarding the president’s directive on halting all public transportation.

Several social media users shared photos of bobaboda riders in different parts of the city doing business as usual, some carrying more than one passenger.

President Museveni last night justified the ban on these motorcycles, saying that while they carry a limited number of people, these people tend to be too close to each other.

Speaking to ChimpReports this morning, Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Patrick Onyango confirmed that the police had a hard time trying to reign in on the defiant motorcyclists.

“We are continuing to impound those bodabodas’; when we get you riding, we tell the passenger to walk and we impound the bodaboda,” Onyango said.

“The operation is still ongoing; we have impounded dozens of them.”

Onyango said however, that the police operation will at first concentrate on the main city roads before spreading to “those other panyas” where multiple cases of defiance have been reported.

Uganda Police early this week announced that it will be devoting the biggest chunk of its force to enforce the Coronavirus guidelines, focusing less on other crimes especially the minor ones.