The minister of Kampala, Hajati Minsa Kabanda, has said that arcades, shopping malls and the Kikuubo trading area in the Kampala central business district will only be allowed to open after fully complying with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) put in place to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Kabanda said they have to ascertain that the landlords of the arcades and traders working there can comply with SOPs. She said this may take at least a week.
President Museveni on Friday eased the 42-day lockdown by allowing certain activities to resume albeit with conditions. Earlier on June 18, Museveni declared a total lockdown of the country to try and counter the rapid spread of the coronavirus.
For the last 42 days, Kampala has been a ghost city with security restricting access to all nonessential workers.
However, following the presidential announcement yesterday, some businesses had already opened this morning. But Kabanda said this should wait until Kampala Capital City Authority is satisfied that those opening meet the required conditions set by the president.
Asked whether this doesn’t run contrary to what the President said, the Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, said whatever the ministers are doing is the correct interpretation of the presidential directives.
Baryomunsi called upon the public to comply with all the SOPs in order to avoid Uganda slipping into a third wave of the Coronavirus. He said the reason why the government decided to partially open up the country was to have a balance between saving lives and livelihoods.
“I call upon all of us to take on these measures in good faith because they are intended to see that all of us see tomorrow. I would also want to say that, let’s do self-policing. Let’s not wait for security people to alert us to say put on the mask. Let’s know that that is a duty whether somebody is seeing you or not,” Baryomunsi said.
He also called upon the security forces not to use this opportunity to harass or extort the public in the guise of enforcing SOP compliance. He said those who will be caught doing so, will face the full wrath of the law.