President Museveni has said it is not yet time to lift or even relax the curfew restrictions imposed to help curb the spread of Coronavirus.
Addressing the country on the status of the Coronavirus on Friday evening at Kyankwanzi, Museveni said it is suicidal to think that the virus has gone away and the country relaxes measures meant to curb the same.
“When we advise you to please maintain the measures, it is because it is so far the only effective way. Much as cases seem to have fallen to manageable levels, it doesn’t mean covid-19 is no more. It is important we maintain some of the measures. We shall therefore maintain curfew between 9pm and 5:30 am,”Museveni said.
Ramathan
Many people have of recent asked government to consider relaxing the Covid-19 guidelines, especially the curfew to cater for the Muslim population that is currently observing the fasting month of Ramathan.
The request was made to allow the Muslim community to observe prayers that go past 9pm during the holy month of Ramathan.
However, the president said it would be suicidal and lead to the spread of the virus.
"Our strong advice, of course is that the Muslims can pray in the night but not congregate. You can pray in your house and the mosque as long as the numbers are within those advised by the Ministry of Health. For the Ramathan, my appeal is that please, I am also a Godly person and I remember what we learnt in catechism that God is in all places. Nobody should put our people at risk in name of praying. That is not religious,” he said.
“We have covered more than 12 months and survived. We have covered elections, exams and all things that were supposed to be done have been done successfully, Let’s not make any mistakes.”
Necessary evil
Many people have argued that curfew is being used by members of the security agencies to to extort money from the members of the public.
Earlier this week, Members of Parliament asked government to consider relaxing the curfew because it no longer serves any purpose.
However, recently, the government spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo said curfew is still necessary from both a health and security perspective.
“Covid-19 still has no cure, some countries are imposing new lockdowns either for the whole country, or region. We are taking a guarded action so that as we reopen, we are not taken by surprise,” Opondo said.
“It is necessary to take cautious steps, in a view that people don’t use darkness to violate the Standard Operating Procedures and security. It is critical in easing up and therefore still necessary.”
