Eddy Kenzo probed for alleged quarantine breaches

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health is investigating claims that Ugandan musician  Edrisa Musuuza also known as Eddy Kenzo has breached quarantine guidelines.

Kenzo is among the 232 Ugandans and legal residents who arrived in the country from West Africa and Europe on July 25 and are currently undergoing institutional quarantine at various centres. Except for those who test positive for coronavirus disease-COVID-19, this group of returnees was expected to complete quarantine on Sunday and today, Monday.

Quarantined persons are banned from having physical interactions with other people except for health officers and hotel workers. They are also not supposed to leave their rooms until they are given a discharge certificate upon completion of the quarantine period.

However, Dr Richard Mugahi, the National Coordinator for Quarantine Centres at the Ministry of Health says that the ministry is investigating claims from whistleblowers that Kenzo has been receiving visitors while undergoing institutional quarantine at Fairway Hotel in Kampala.

Mugahi says that the ministry is sending a team to review CCTV footage at the hotel to ascertain the claims, and adds that the investigation findings will determine Kenzo’s fate. “If he is found guilty, he will undergo extended quarantine, and those who contacted him will also be traced and quarantined,” Mugahi says.

I’m here waiting for the last results for Covid and if all goes well I will be going back home tomorrow. Straight up to studio. Expect new song on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. God bless you all. One love

— Eddy Kenzo (@eddykenzoficial) August 9, 2020

Meanwhile,  Kenzo tweeted Sunday morning saying that he is waiting for his last COVID-19 test results and expects to be released from quarantine on Monday or Tuesday. But Emmanuel Ainebyoona the spokesperson for the health ministry says there is no special treatment for returnees regardless of one’s status.

Meanwhile, the hotel is open to other businesses such as providing restaurant services. All visitors including those in cars sanitize their hands at the main gate. Thereafter, the security officer takes their body temperature measurements.

A visitor we found at the site told our reporter that they had come to check on Kenzo but they had been turned away by a police officer at the gate. Some of the security officers and staff of  Fairway Hotel say that an average of five people turns up at the hotel daily to visit Kenzo. However, “only his close relatives and friends have managed to see him in the last two weeks,” one of the workers said.

Some of Kenzo’s supporters say they did not know that he is quarantined at Fairway Hotel. However, they are urging him to be law-abiding so that his fans can formally welcome him back to the country. 

Kenzo had travelled to perform at a music concert when he got stranded in Cote d’Ivoire. He was stuck in the west African country for four months following the closure of all land borders and Entebbe International Airport on March 23, as a way to combat the spread of COVID-19.

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