Indian residents in Uganda have written a letter to the government in protest over the way their country citizens are being discriminated against in regard to COVID-19.
The letter written by Rajesh Chaplot, a chattered accountant and resident in Uganda calls upon the government to change the category of India travels to Uganda from category 1 (high risk) to 2.
In May, the government banned travels from India after recording new strains of the virus, including the Covid-19 variant from India.
The new directive follows the Ministry of Health researchers detecting one case of the coronavirus disease, an Indian variant, in the East African country.
“All passenger flights between Uganda and India are suspended until further notice,” she said. “No travelers from India shall be allowed into Uganda, regardless of the route of travel,” Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said.
However, Rajesh claims that it is unfair to deny Indians entry while citizens from the UK are permitted and categorized differently.
Rajesh argues that the UK has more people being infected per day per million of population.
According to Rajesh, UK receives 402 cases per day in every million people, while India gets 29.
“You will note from the above cases per million is high in the UK, but still the UK is in category 2 while India is in category 1. Hence, we need to change the category of India to category 2,” Rajesh’s letter reads in part.
Rajesh says that while the covid rates in India were high in the early days, the new rates of infections are quite low and should be “negligible”.
He says that while people in India including Ugandan officials are moving freely, he does not understand why Indians are not being allowed the same.
“At least those that have got double vaccination should be allowed to return to Uganda and resume their work,” he states.
“Resident Indians working in Uganda contribute about 60% to the economy of the country. It is in this regard that I am humbly requesting you to allow Indians stuck in India (and residents in Uganda) but working in Uganda to return and resume their work,” Rajesh adds.
He says the majority of the companies in Uganda with Indian employees are struggling to cope with their absence.
