COVID-19: Bigirimana Releases Indoor Home Workout Video; Rallies Ugandans to Stay Home

Judiciary Permanent Secretary, Mr Pius Bigirimana has urged Ugandans to emulate President Museveni by doing physical fitness exercises indoors.

Bigirimana said this was one of the best ways of combating further spread of Coronavirus and maintaining a healthy body.

“We have to follow Mzee’s (Museveni) example,” said Bigirimana in reference to the president’s call for indoor workouts.

So far, there have been 71 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Uganda, according to figures from the country’s Ministry of Health.

Bigirimana also released videos of his indoor workouts as evidence of his commitment to support the president’s awareness campaign.

The videos shared on social media show Bigirimana doing push-ups and tummy toning exercises.

His family members can be heard in the background of the video cheering him up.

Ugandans who watched the push-ups video challenged Bigirimana to do better by straightening his back.

Contacted on Saturday morning, Bigirimana said he was “no stranger to exercises,” adding, “In fact if it was not that Helicopter crash where I sustained back injuries and was operated, I would be doing even better.”

Bigirimana was involved in a helicopter crash in Bugiri district, eastern Uganda as he flew with then Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi.

Judiciary Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana working out from his residence in Bugolobi. He urges the public to emulate him and the president in avoiding public places to prevent further spread of Coronavirus #Bigirimanapushupschallenge pic.twitter.com/v0sfziXXzh

— Giles Muhame (@Gilespies) April 24, 2020

Both survived with injuries.

Fitness revolution

Bigirimana introduced monthly physical fitness exercises at the Ministry of Gender where he served as Permanent Secretary.

He extended the same practice to Judiciary.

The Top Policy Management in its meeting of August 7, 2019 resolved that mandatory physical fitness exercise be put in place with Judicial Officers freeing up their Fridays at 4pm to take part in the health run.

Then Principal Judge Hon Justice Dr Yorokamu Bamwine observed: “There is no leisure time for judicial officers since they spend most of their time in court, some don’t go to church because they are writing judgements…now we are saying let Judicial Officers and all staff for that matter free up their Friday evenings. Let us see whether this will increase or reduce backlog.”

Mr Bigirimana called upon all Judicial Officers to include physical exercises on their weekly schedule to be able to live healthier and longer lives.

The run, he said, will not only help the officers in fighting non-communicable diseases but also improve teamwork in the Judiciary.

“Through such activities other staff members will be able to rub shoulders with top officials in the Judiciary like judges and other well-guarded officials,” he said.

At the time, Chief Registrar, HW Esta Nambayo, welcomed the programme saying it will help in the curbing of “judicial illnesses”.

Every Friday evening, all Judiciary staff who include Judges, Registrars, Magistrates and support staff now participate in the health run.

There are equally plans to conduct health runs at the different courts throughout the country.

Bigirimana said the Judiciary Run is in line with the Ministry of Public Service guidelines requiring all civil servants to engage in physical fitness exercises.

With a projected population of over 40 million people in Uganda, non-communicable/lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancers kill up to 100,000 people annually; which is 35 percent of the total annual deaths in the country, according to findings that UNCDA sourced from the World Health Organisation.