After Corona virus numbers had surged in the last two months especially in Kampala and Wakiso including many deaths, Uganda went into another lock down. President Museveni had initially announced a lock down to last 42 days, after about a week, he again announced another extension of 42 days and this got many people worried how they were going to spend over 80 days under lock down.
This situation was rectified and the public was told that it was only one 42 days lock down and not two. The famous Kikuubo trading hub was shut down as well as many trading places commonly referred to as arcades and plazas.
Places of worship and taxis too were barred from operating. Boda bodas were not to carry people but carry merchandise. Over the weeks, people have been counting the lock down days on a daily basis. It was a common practice to hear a news presenter say we are remaining with ten days or one day is left.
And indeed, thank God, The 42 days elapsed on Friday 30th July 2021. President Museveni had to come and address the nation about what next. In his address on Friday evening, he said that people should go back to work in while observing standard operating procedures.
“Taxis should operate again but still at 50% occupancy of passengers, Boda bodas should carry only one person. The curfew remains at 7.00pm until 5.30 am,” Museveni explained. However, places of worship such as churches and mosques, bars and entertainment places will remain locked for another 60 days as government assesses the situation.
Meanwhile, all this said and done, many influential people including church leaders have advised government to focus on vaccinating rather than lock downs which affect the economy so badly. Before this lock down, government had talked of expecting about 600,000 doses of Astrazeneca in the near future but nothing about these doses has been heard.
The government’s main target is to have at least 20 million people vaccinated out of about 45 million people, that is the country’s population. However, so far, the vaccination looks like a drop in the ocean considering that only about one million people or even much less than those have been vaccinated.
The good thing though is that some are now receiving the second jab. The inter district travel ban has therefore been lifted immediately so people can move from one district to another. However, schools
remain closed although the United Nations had appealed to government recently to consider reopening schools. On Thursday, the senior four results were released which marks about two weeks since those of primary seven were released.
Although parents and students were jubilating, there is still a challenge and fear of having two sets of students qualifying for senior one and senior five due to the Covid -19 pandemic disruption. There were no proper terms of study or rather elongated ones it seems like students have studied for two years what they would in one year.
Exposure
The pandemic has had its positives and negatives. It has exposed many people’s actual day to day situations. Although many Ugandans do think that musicians are very wealthy as they seem to portray this in their music videos, the reality is that they are not.
Some have been seen on TV saying they would welcome the shs100, 000 or about $28 relief money meant for the vulnerable people. “I would welcome that money if it is given to me,” says Cindy Sanyu,
one of the most prominent musicians in the country and the current president of the Uganda Musicians Association.
Ever since President Museveni’s brother, Salim Saleh started giving out money to different entities in the guise of the government owned Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) organization, many people including musicians have been going to northern Uganda in Gulu where Saleh is based.
Recently one of the top rated musicians, not only in Uganda but in East Africa, Jose Chameleone, was heavily criticized by the public as having reduced his status to that of a beggar since he was among artistes that went to Gulu and were given shs20 million (about $5,600) to share as a relief fund.
The government recently introduced what they called, an E-concert. For 56 weeks, artistes and comedians and different emcees will appear on the show and perform for a fee (not disclosed). Picked from all over Uganda, every Saturday 20 singers perform on TV for viewers at home and can also be seen in other countries all over the world.
So far two weeks have seen big, up and coming singers perform alongside comedians. Some artistes have welcomed the idea while others have said the money given is not worth it and would rather they organize their own digital concerts with some sponsors.
Many others have argued that government should open up concerts while observing standard operating procedures than reducing artistes to becoming beggars.
“Being locked up for two years is such a long time. Let the president allow us to sing at least with a few revellers in attendance. There are businesses that operate with crowds why not allow us to sing,” one artiste complained. Many people have learnt not to live hand to mouth and do some saving.
The pandemic has also taught people to exercise more. Indeed every morning and evening many people are seen either jogging or doing brisk walking. Others have taken to cycling and this has seen the price of bicycles shoot up. Today, bicycles are some of the most sought after items, not cars, thanks to the
Covid-19 pandemic.
But there has also been a lot of crime with people looking for survival. There have also been many family break ups with many couples not used to the idea of spending many hours at home and doing nothing but sleeping or watching TV. Also many underage girls have been have been impregnated. It has been a story of many different things happening at the same time, some positives and negatives.