Buganda Kingdom closes offices for 14 days

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Buganda Kingdom has announced that it is shutting down its offices for 14-days over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking to the media, Charles Peter Mayiga, the kingdom Katikkiro said that the move has been necessitated by the ban on public transport by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Majority of the Kingdom’s employees use public means to get to the Mengo based offices.

“We have been affected by the pandemic obviously; you heard of the events that were canceled which are very crucial because we use these events to extend different kinds of services to ordinary people. In the circumstances, we have decided to close the kingdom offices from today until April 14 provided the government doesn’t extend the ban on public transport,” said Mayiga.

On Wednesday President Museveni suspended the use of public transport for 14 days as another measure to slow the spread of coronavirus that has so far infected 14 Ugandans.

Mayiga said that if there is no extension on the ban on public transport, then a skeleton staff will be called back to office and the rest will return as of when the government lifts the ban on public gatherings.

“We are going to reduce the staff by about 50 percent, the rest of the workers will report back to work after the expiration of the 32 days that were announced by the government,” said Mayiga.

For the companies that are owned by the Kingdom such as Buganda Land Board, CBS radio, BBS TV among others, Mayiga said they asked them to work out a business continuity plan during the shutdown period.

Meanwhile, the Katikkiro lashed out at those who he said are trying to politicize the fight against the virus.

He said politicians should know that a healthy population is good for everybody.

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