Kenzo, 230 Other Ugandans return from West Africa, Qatar

Singer Edrisah Musuuza popularly known as Eddy Kenzo is among the 232 Ugandans and legal residents who arrived in the country last night after four months of being stuck abroad.
Kenzo arrived at 3:30 a.m. aboard Uganda Airlines, with 64 others from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire. He had gone to the West African country for a concert in March, shortly before borders we closed due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease.

The aircraft which was initially expected to land in Entebbe at 9pm. delayed by over six hours because of the stopovers in each of the countries where meeting hubs had been gazetted. Each passenger paid $1,376 (about Shs5 million) for the airfare regardless of the pickup point.
Hundreds of Kenzo's supporters had converged at the airport to receive him but were blocked.

Mr Kenneth Otim, the Principal Public Affairs Officer at Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the supporters were advised to leave the airport Friday afternoon and were told that the artist would arrive during curfew hours.
Mr Otim, however, says the supporters would still not be allowed to meet and greet the musician because returnees are taken for institutional quarantine after screening at the airport.

Earlier on, another 167 stranded Ugandans and legal residents returned from Qatar, a week after 238 other people arrived from the same location. The group arrived at Entebbe International Airport aboard Qatar Airways on Friday. The two groups were received by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ambassador Alfred Naam, the spokesperson of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, says the two groups bring the total number of returnees to 2,154 since June 22, when the country started receiving those who got stranded overseas.
Some of the people who have since returned include students, expatriates, soldiers and seniors citizens who had travelled to various countries. All of them have been subjected to a 14-day quarantine before they are allowed to travel to their various destinations.

Ambassador Naam lauded heads of missions abroad for their efforts to see stranded Ugandans return home.
Meanwhile, Naam says that the government is committed to bringing home all the 2,400 stranded Ugandans who got stuck in 66 countries across the world. The initial plan was to bring home an average of 300 people every two weeks for better management of suspects and confirmed cases.

However, an average of 800 returnees has been arriving in the country every two weeks. The flights will resume on August 9, 2020, for returnees in China, The United Arab Emirates and Southern Africa among others. Another group of returnees from in and around East Africa is also expected to travel back by air or road.