MICHAEL ABONEKA: What we need more than the Presidential Directives on Coronavirus Pandemic

I salute the Ministry of Health for the efforts so far in as far as managing the Corona Pandemic and providing timely information to the general public. The President on March 18th, 2020 delivered a speech on the Country’s position on the Corona Pandemic and stated several what he termed as strategies. Below are issues that are still hanging in the balance:

1. Is the Speech legally enforceable?

The President made a speech on Wednesday 17:00hrs and this was one of the shortest speeches in history I have observed. Th Speech had consequential orders and I am wondering how they will legally be enforceable. I don’t think Presidential orders from a speech are legally biding. There needs a legal process by a Minister tabling or exercising her powers under the Public Health Act by first making a statutory order of the Corona to be brought under the Public Health Act and then make a special Statutory Instrument detailing the rules and their sanctions. As it stands, what will be the consequence if on did not fall the Presidential speech/orders? What will they be charged with? The Carinal principle of Criminal Justice is that such sanctions should be exercised within the ambit of the constitution and for every offence/such orders there must be a sanction. I foresee challenges in enforcing this speech unless the Minister does what she is supposed to do under the law.

2. Court, Prisons and detention centres

We know that Prisons involve movements of persons such as visitors to the prisoners, attendance of Court among others. What is the position on this matter? For the Remandees who still have Court to attend to, what is the option available that does not jeopardise their right to justice in a fair trial? As of now, we only have Video facilities in Kampala of which they are still not enough for the volume of cases on schedule. We need an urgent plan on this matter. Further, arrests will not stop because crime will continue, what are the mechanisms of arrest without physical touch? Are the police officers being oriented on how to handle this? How shall we deal with congested police cells? How shall we ensure that suspects are arraigned in court within 48 hours?

3. The Quarantine

It is unornate that Ugandans must pay for their own quarantine upon arrival. By Thursday Morning, several travellers were stranded at Entebbe Airport because they must pay 100USD per night for the 14 nights which is about UGX 5, 180,000. Who set this standard fee in the first place? What happens to travellers that cannot afford it? How about other entry border points? What are the plans? Are there any designated quarantine facilities the Ministry has made public? Why would a minister negotiate with Hotel owners on a national television to support? This should have been planned earlier, a courteous meeting with hotel owners at all entry ppoints would have been better and government should subsidise costs of the quarantine and not entirely abandon it on the travellers. If other governments are moving towards family stipends for each house, surely our government can subsidise quarantine costs.

4. Localization of the messages of precaution

Only those that can access Televisions, radios and newspapers benefited from the Presidential address (which was delivered in English). I have also seen the Ministry guidelines on this pandemic but only in English, and I hope there are translated versions. We need to do more mass sensitization at all levels of communities in the manner and language every Ugandan understands. For example, all the hand washing demonstrations I have seen involve a water tap. How about those without taps and clean water, how do we demonstrate to the right way to use their containers to wash hands without risking infecting otters. Let us all take whatever measures we can to localize these messages through all means available.

5. The fate of health workers

The Pandemic is here but nothing has changed significantly in terms of numbers of health workers, their readiness, support systems and welfare. We are still dealing with Yellow fever outbreaks, Malaria, HIV and AIDS and usual health related issues. How prepared are we to handle Corona pandemic victims without suffocating other services? Is there a special ward(s) designated for the would-be victims? Are there special medical personnel across the country undergoing a rapid-response orientation on this virus? How about we engage the churches that have been shut down to use their structures as emergence centres? Is this something the Ministry is thinking about? Afterall, one of the major missions of churches is philanthropy.

6. What amounts to a mass gathering?

The Presidential address continually makes reference to “mass gatherings” but does not define exactly in terms of numbers what has been prohibited. What is the maximum number of people that should gather and what is the minimum? Even with the exceptions, how many should gather to burry and what are the guidelines in terms of spacing, the dos and don’ts. If these are left ambiguous, they are susceptible to abuse by those who will be in charge of enforcing this directive or until the Minister gazettes the rules as per the law. We need to be clear so we avoid any room for manipulation and unfair treatment of Ugandans.

7. Planning and Coordination

I hope there has been good planning for this pandemic. Previous experience of the locust invasion showed us that there wasn’t proper planning and coordination of government agencies. The minister for instance kept on asking for new monies everyday because something new always came up. I am sure as a country we have a disaster and risk policy and pan. How are the line Ministries speaking with each other? What is the involvement of the Minister of Disaster preparedness in this scenario or are they only focusing on mud slides and floods that would come? The president spoke about farmers and how they will be affected, how is the Ministry of Agriculture working together with Ministry of health to ensure they avoid risk. There needs to be in place a disaster coordinating committee that is charge with all these eminent threats so that there is a harmonised mitigation plan so that the public is not confused and overwhelmed with so much information coming from each ministry.

8. The role of Tertiary Institutions

Now that all education institutions have been closed for 32 days, it will be good for these institutions to offer support especially those professional courses such as public health, nursing, biotechnology, medicine and the related fields. The government should collaborate with these institutions to have the students work with the ministry of health in providing support in terms of sensitization, localizing messages, house to house support and the country can achieve much with all these students in the 32 days they are off school. I also implore the students to take a national service and volunteer to work with health officials at all levels so that we work collectively to safeguard our communities.

9. Promote Local investment

This is the time for Government to waive mobile money taxes to promote use of cashless transactions. I am still surprised that some service providers are still charging us a surcharge of up to 15% on use of VISA Cards and Bank of Uganda should prevail on this so that we support as much as we can cashless transactions as this will limit the spread of, he pandemic. Further, we should support our local industries and SMEs to produce all the services and goods that re currently under low supply and affected by the global pandemic. Let us allow them access credit at reasonable terms and Financial institutions too should be ready to adjust their loan facilities and government should plan to subsidize on this too.

We can all learn from this pandemic and make our country better for the next pandemic. It is also time for national cohesion, let us unite and work together to ensure that we stick to safety and health precautions and that the same vigilance of sanitizing and regular hand-washing should be part of us even without Corona virus.

Michael Aboneka is a Partner:Thomas & Michael Advocates and Director: Envirogreen Trust Ltd