Author: Alexandra Katusiime

President Museveni has announced that all Ugandans will receive face masks in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Museveni, who emphasised the compulsory wearing of masks at any time in public, said the face masks will be distributed to the population using the Local Council (LC) system as was done with the mosquito nets. “The other point of emphasis is that all Ugandans above the age of six (6) will receive free masks from the government.” Museveni said. The basis, he said is to ensure that people don’t borrow masks from each other because they can’t afford. “Once the issue…

A Ugandan Twitter user (@_MuGisha_) has sent People Power Principal and Kyadondo East Member of Parliament (MP) back to bed for ‘ranting about privilege yet he is one of the privileged Ugandans’. The government of Uganda, through the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Ministry of Health authorised city tycoon Ben Kavuya to jet his family back into the country from the United States of America (USA) amid the coronavirus pandemic. In the letter from Dr Henry Mwebesa, the Director General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health, the government acknowledged inspection of premises in Kololo that will house Barbra…

An epidemiologist, and Dean of the Makerere University School of Public Health, Prof Rhoda Wanyeze has disagreed with individuals that are advocating for mass lifting of the coronavirus lockdown under the guise of testing/ experimenting herd immunity. While speaking at a Ministry of Health press conference happening now in Kampala, the professor said mass lifting of the lockdown is detrimental for the country and can not be recommended to the president by health experts. “Herd immunity is tricky,” Prof Wanyeze said, “to be able to achieve it, we may have to first subject about 70% of the population to the…

The former president and head of Uganda Medical Association (UMA), Dr Ekwaro Obuku, has warned government against putting every effort on COVID-19 and forgetting about other diseases that claim hundreds of lives of Ugandans each month. While speaking to journalists, Dr Obuku said there is need to monitor the status of other diseases with special concern dedicated to the key leading causes of deaths whether they have reduced, or increased in order to avoid the danger of excess deaths. “The key ones are malaria which last year killed 4,501 people, pneumonia 2,800 people, anaemia 2,200 and tuberculosis 1,400 last year.…

Self professed Lil Stunner, Sheila Gashumba has recently been having her Twitter account buzzing with regular trolls directed at Veteran Television star Dave Kazoora JK. While appearing on Sanyuka TV, Kazoora said he was disappointed that Gashumba could trash her former employers that way, after she alleged that she was getting payment of 50K per show, less that 14 dollars. “I did not disagree with Sheilah Gashumba. However, I was letting her know that attacking her former station was not the right move. That aside, Sheilah was getting UGX 100,000 for a 30-minutes show, which I believe was good pay.”…

The Ugandan Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has reported 13 new coronavirus infections from yesterday’s test samples leap frogging the country’s figure to 114. According to the Minister, the 13 cases were drawn from 2,421 samples collected from truck drivers at different entry points around the country and noted that tracking the same drivers down has immediately commenced. “Yesterday, 8 May 2020, results from samples tested at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) confirmed 13 positives cases for COVID-19 out of 2,421 samples of truck drivers. The truck drivers are being tracked.” Dr Aceng said in part. Accordingly,…

Vendors and the general public will be occupying the new multi-million Kasubi Market premises in two weeks, according to information from the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA). Located along the Hoima road, this new market is meant to rid the city of roadside vendors and generate income for the authorities. According to our sources within government, the project consumed about Shs 3Bn to complete and was handed over to KCCA by the contractor. According to the KCCA spokesperson, the market will house over 1500 vendors. “Opening soon is another key public infrastructure program by the Gov’t Of Uganda! Today, we…

Tenants in Kampala are calling upon the government to command landlords to write off the rent dues for the period they have not been working due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tenants say it is going to be disastrous for them if the lockdown is not lifted soon because they will have to look for money to pay for all the months they have not been working, which according to them, doesn’t balance the equation. Represented by the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA), the tenants insist that the only way to save them (traders) is by writing off the collection…

Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament (MP) Francis Zaake Butebi has come out to share his ordeal of the his April arrest and alleged torture by members of the security forces in Uganda. The account of events, transcribed by his lawyer, reveals what led to his eventual hospitalisation from his own perspective. Read on; I spent the whole day of Sunday 19th April, 2020 at my home in Mityana Municipality, Mityana District. I had the previous day bought items including rice and sugar with an intention of helping some very needy [people] in my constituency. This was after many of them…

Sheila Gashumba is a former TV Presenter at NTV Uganda