Prime Minister commits to lifting new restrictions on Gulu district

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda has told the Acholi Parliamentary Group, an umbrella of legislators from Acholi sub-region that the ongoing lockdown in Gulu district will be lifted on Monday.

Travelers were caught unaware when buses from Gulu were stopped from travelling in line with a pronouncement made by President Yoweri Museveni for movement restrictions in districts that have evidence of community cases of COVID-19. The president singled out Gulu and Kyotera. Working on the instructions of the Resident District commissioner Maj Santos Okot Lapolo, the police and military teams started enforcing travel restrictions on Wednesday blocking private and public vehicles from entering or leaving Gulu district.

Although the Gulu district taskforce had cited only four community infection cases, the Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng pointed out that a number of contacts from already confirmed patients were still at large. Up to 75 cumulative cases of COVID-19 have been treated and discharged from the treatment centre at Gulu hospital since April. However, currently there are 43 active cases still undergoing treatment at the facility.

As a follow-up, the Acholi MPs held a meeting with the Prime Minister and the Director-General Health Services Henry G. Mwebesa over the same in which he assured them that the restrictions will be lifted on June 29. Chua West MP Okin Ojara who also chairs the Acholi Parliamentary Group says that the meeting was productive.

Other members who attended the meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister said that they agreed to allow commercial, private and public transport to and from Kitgum district to be allowed to pass through Gulu without any hindrances. The meeting also agreed that the heavy deployment at the entry and exit points of Gulu districts are not called for. They also resolved that the Ministry of Health and the Office of the Prime Minister will have a comprehensive assessment of all isolation centres in Acholi sub-region to assess their capacity among others.

Gulu Woman MP Betty Aol Ochan said that the problem with the lockdown is that it has come with brutality by some local defence unit personnel.

The Ministry of Health had earlier said that they could not allow the opening of Gulu town contrary to President Museveni’s directive to curb the spread of the virus. If the lock-down in Gulu is opened, it would be a week earlier than what the President had proposed.

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