Commonwealth lauds Museveni for Covid-19 response
Commonwealth Secretary General Dr Patricia Scotland (purple dress) and Ugandan president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at State house on March 16, 2021. PHOTO/PPU.
What you need to know:
- Hon Patricia Scotland noted that Commonwealth countries have done very well in handling the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Commonwealth Secretary General Rt Hon Patricia Scotland has hailed President Yoweri Museveni for the ‘proper response’ to Covid-19 pandemic in Uganda.
“I must commend you your excellency and your leadership for what you did right from the very beginning in terms of leading this by listening to science, listening to the empirical evidence, planning and helping to get the population to support the measures,” she said.
Ms Scotland made the remarks when she paid a courtesy call on the President at State House Entebbe on Tuesday.
She was accompanied by the Senior Director at the Commonwealth, Professor Luis Franceschi and the Communication Officer Ms Temitope Kalejaiye.
By immediately taking stringent measures based on science, Scotland notes, Commonwealth countries have done very well in handling the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed over 2.6m people, infecting over 121m people worldwide.
She cited countries like New Zealand, Barbados, Bangladesh and Uganda that have gone further to develop their own local vaccines. She asserted that the Commonwealth was fortunate to have the medical practitioners at all levels acting as a family that shared their expertise and knowledge on Covid-19 pandemic.
She urged Commonwealth member states to continue sharing information, science and research in a bid to combat viral diseases.
She recalled that the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that devastated the world was baffled upon evoking similar stringent measures President Museveni and other commonwealth leaders took aimed at controlling viral-disease spread.
“What they did in 1918-1919 is what you have now done for this pandemic. Closing places of worship, limiting the number of people coming together, wearing of masks and hand washing,” she said.
Nearly a year since the first Covid-19 case was confirmed in land-locked Uganda, the country has recorded 334 fatalities of the 40, 593 cases confirmed.
According to the Ministry of Health, 15, 099 people have since recovered from the viral disease. In a Sunday prime time televised nation address, president Museveni acknowledged Uganda's Covid-19 fight thus far as a 'success'.
Meanwhile, Mr Museveni and his Tuesday guest also discussed a wide range of issues among which were the strategies laid down by the Commonwealth towards the implementation of the proposed tool kits covering economic, social and infrastructure sectors in the entity’s member countries.
Ms Scotland informed Mr Museveni that opportunities to support the youth in the area of employment, innovations and creativity are available at the Commonwealth.
Mr Museveni asked her to support Uganda with technical consultancy on research, medical and ICT sectors.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Sam Kutesa and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hon Henry Okello Oryem among others.
