President Yoweri Museveni has come out to defend Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng for flouting the presidential directives on covid-19.
Early this month, the internet was awash with photos and video of Dr Aceng while floutingcovid-19 directives. She was seen holding a public gathering without putting on a face mask or observing social distancing in Lira.
Being the frontline person in the fight against the pandemic, Aceng has always advised Ugandans to maintain social distancing, wear face masks, avoiding crowded places among other things, but many Ugandans were disappointed after seeing the Minister doing contrary to what she preaches.
Now during his state of the nation address on Tuesday, President Museveni said that she doesn’t think that the minister called the people to gather around her.
“Our minister Jane Ruth Aceng got a problem in Lira. She asked me if she could go and stand in Lira. I told her no, her constituency is in Nakasero. I thought I had convinced her to leave the Langi alone and concentrate on the work in the ministry. But when she did a good job with coronavirus, the Langi wrote to me and said she must go and become an MP,” Museveni said.
Adding,”“Now, when she went to distribute masks, those Langi women who are very tough people, went into a procession. The video went viral and the people rightly questioned why she was congregating people yet she had asked them not to congregate. My daughter put herself in a situation where people gathered in a crowd but I don’t think she asked them to come.”
However, he warned other political actors not to put themselves in similar situations.
He draws from his recent experience in Kitubulu, not far from Entebbe town, where he disembarked from his vehicle to check out the risen levels of Lake Victoria water. When an excited, curious crowd seemed to begin gathering, Museveni says “I had to run away” immediately.
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