The Joint security task force has concluded an inspection of all the country’s border points in a bid to assess the situation in relation to fighting Coronavirus.
Government formed the inter agency joint security task force comprising of the UPDF, Police, Prisons, Joint Intelligence committee, Uganda Revenue Authority, and Immigrations to enforce President Museveni’s directives on combating the spread of Coronavirus.
On Sunday, the joint task force chaired by Maj.Gen.Leopold Kyanda that firs visited Malaba and Elegu completed its inspection of the key border posts.
Speaking at the conclusion of the inspection, Maj.Gen.Kyanda said the visits were meant to interface with the regional task forces in a bid to get solutions to the problems affecting the implementation of the government anti Coronavirus directives on border closure and cargo truck movement.
He noted that from the interactions with the task forces, some of the challenges they faced were related to coordination.
“In a place like Malaba, every agency did the right thing but there was little coordination. Things have since moved on smoothly after we met the teams,” Kyanda said.
“Our interactions with the field teams were very important. We have been able to put some issues right on the spot.”
He said a key recurring issue in all the regions is violence against security agencies, something he strongly condemned.
He, however, called on the security members to always exercise restraint when under such situations but not be cowed.
“Do not allow the state to be subdued by such peoples. Appropriately employ the law and your rules of engagement to ensure we protect our people from situations that may lead to increased spread of Covid-19 Make sure such people are arrested and charged.”
The Joint Task Force chairperson said that despite considerable deployment by UPDF along the borderline, kinship relationship and interdependence of communities along the porous borders has made it hard to implement border closure.
“Nevertheless, we have done our best and intercepted thousands of people trying to cross the borderlines especially through the hard to reach spots,” he said.
Throughout the inspection program, the joint task force visited Malaba, Elegu,Mutukula, Mirama hills, Cyanika, Bunagana, and Mpondwe border posts.
Whereas a recent survey by the Ministry of Health indicated the virus was not among Ugandan communities, the border points are still a challenge.
Apart from the porous border points, truck drivers coming in from neighbouring countries are the leading contributors to the growing number of Coronavirus cases in the country.
Uganda now has 417 confirmed Coronavirus cases whereas 72 of these have fully recovered.
