By Fred Siminyu
President Museveni’s stringent measures against the Covid 19 transmission have saved State house and parliament from what could have resulted into a massive infection, if the legislator who tested positive to the virus had not been discovered early enough.
As the lockdown continues countrywide and in many areas there is complaisance, the case is different for president Museveni’s vigilance against the pandemic.
Without taking chances, it is now mandatory that all visitors to State House take a Covid-19 test at least 24 hours before the appointed time of meeting the president at State house.
In this case, all MPs who were to meet the President today had been asked to go to Mulago hospital for the test.
The MP who tested positive was part of a group of ‘rebel’ NRM MPs whom the President had called to get their word ahead of today’s scheduled meeting of the NRM’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) at Statehouse.
The CEC meeting is expected among other issues to discuss the fate of the 37 MPs that voted against the lifting of the Constitutional age limits.
While the rest of her colleagues tested on Monday and received their results on Tuesday, this MP went for the test on Tuesday and got to know her status on Wednesday as she prepared to travel to Entebbe.
It was moments away to a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni at State House Entebbe today when she received a call from Mulago hospital, informing her that she had tested positive for the Corona virus that causes Covid-19.
“We all received our results and a copy had to be sent to State House for the soldiers manning the gates of State House for verify as we enter. Since we privately drove to Entebbe, it was hard for us to know whether there was anyone who had tested positive,” one of the MPs among the team that met Museveni told the public Lens.
For the entire time they spent at State House, the MP said, they thought that the MP had joined a group of some of the three MPs who have indicated that they will not seek re-election under NRM.
“Phones are not allowed at State house, so we did not get to know that she had tested positive,” he further explained.
According to a message she posted on one of the social media platforms, much as she has been moved into Mulago hospital’s isolation unit, she does not believe that she is indeed sick.
However, a close associate of the MP has disclosed that the MP felt unwell before volunteering to take the test at Mulago where she is currently admitted.
Prompted by the current events, the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga on Wednesday announced that starting from today, Thursday, 16 July 2020; Parliament will start screening the MPs for COVID19 at Parliament.
She further said the staff will also be screened later.
This is however the first Ugandan legislator to test positive for COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic in Uganda early this year.
Normal business at Parliament continues but with a reduced staff and tougher strictness on measures against the virus.
