The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Sembabule Woman Member of Parliament, Anifa Kawooya Bangirina is under fire from her electorates for allegedly evading the institutional quarantine for COVID-19 following her return from abroad. A section of voters accuse Kawooya of failure to subject herself to the 14 days mandatory quarantine despite her recent travel to South Africa, which confirmed its first COVID-19 case on March 5th, 2020.
The legislator flew to South Africa early this month to attend the Pan African Parliament session where she represented Uganda and returned home on March 12th, 2020. Ibrahim Mpuuga, one of the concerned voters is a leading a team pushing the legislators to under the mandatory quarantine, arguing that she could be a potential transmitter of the novel coronavirus to the local community.
According to Mpuuga, since her return, the legislator has been moving freely in the constituency, which clearly shows that she didn’t undergo the 14 days mandatory quarantine as required by Ministry of Health. Stanley Karuhanga, another electorate says the MP has been interacting with several people, which exposes them to infection.
The group has since posted a message on social media platforms including Whatapp and Facebook to pile pressure on the district surveillance team to confine Kawooya and test her for COVID-19.
“To CAO and the entire emergency committee. The ministry of health called all Ugandans who returned in March to go for institutional quarantine, the ministry did this through all medias! Hon Anifa happens to be one of them, she has just returned from South Africa where she had gone for a Pap session with other pap MPs from across Africa, she returned and stayed in Kampala for two days and then after went to her constituency, a few days after she got a complication and was shortly admitted and discharged, a few days after the president declared a partial lockdown and there after a total lockdown Hon was supposed to be under an institutional quarantine as per the presidential directives however she is busy mixing with innocent bataka and they are worried and panicking I request the committee to intervene and save the community from suspicion, panic and tension. Thanks,” reads part of the message posted on social media.
The message has triggered anger from more people demanding that the district surveillance taskforce takes Kawooya for testing in Entebbe. Kawooya confirmed having traveled to South Africa during the said period but was quick to add that she was tested when she arrived at Entebbe International Airport and was cleared to leave.
She also claims that she invited another medic on Sunday evening to her residence in Sembabule to test her and her family members who declared them coronavirus free. The Health Ministry has in the past expressed concern about government officials and high profile individuals defying the quarantine guidelines, which exposes communities COVID-19 infection.
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