As the Minister of Health, I will give technical advice to the President and State House that maybe there is no big necessity to subject people to COVID testing
Minister of Health Chris Baryomunsi has said he will advise President Museveni to consider dropping the requirement for people meeting him to undergo COVID-19 testing, after Leader of Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi questioned the continued practice.
Baryomunsi made the commitment on Thursday during plenary after Ssenyonyi put him on the spot over the continued COVID-19 testing of NRM Members of Parliament whenever they are called for caucus meetings the President.
Ssenyonyi said he was concerned that the practice could send the wrong message to foreign countries at a time when Uganda is struggling to convince them to lift travel restrictions imposed following the Ebola outbreak.
Ssenyonyi said although he was not trying to poke his nose into the internal affairs of the NRM, the continued testing of leaders before meeting Museveni could make other countries believe that Uganda is still battling a serious health crisis.
“I thought COVID is no longer an issue. Why are MPs forced to do COVID tests each time they meet the president?” Ssenyonyi asked.
He argued that Uganda could be undermining its own diplomatic campaign to have the travel restrictions lifted.
“So that means COVID is still a serious challenge in Uganda. We seem to justify the countries that impose travel restrictions on Uganda,” Ssenyonyi said.
LoP JOEL SSENYONYI
His concerns forced Baryomunsi to acknowledge that the COVID tests are still required for people meeting President Museveni at State House, although he insisted that the measure was only precautionary.
Baryomunsi said Uganda’s COVID-19 positivity rate currently stands at far less than 1%, meaning the country basically has no active transmission of the killer virus.
It was against this background that the Minister said he would take up Ssenyonyi’s concern with the President and State House.
“As the new Minister of Health, I will give technical advice to the President and State House that maybe there is no big necessity to subject people to COVID testing,” Baryomunsi said.
The admission effectively opened the door to a possible end to the testing requirement, which Ssenyonyi had questioned as inconsistent with Uganda’s position that COVID-19 is no longer a major public health threat.
Dr. CHRIS BARYOMUNSI
Baryomunsi, however, maintained that the testing was harmless and said he did not believe the precautionary measure was responsible for the travel advisories issued against Uganda.
He explained that government was separately engaging countries which had imposed travel restrictions on Uganda following the Ebola outbreak.
He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was already engaging the countries concerned and expressed optimism that the restrictions would soon be removed.
The Minister’s decision to seek a review of the State House COVID testing requirement came after Ssenyonyi pressed him to explain why MPs from the yellow camp are still tested before meeting Museveni at a time when government is telling other that counteies that Uganda has virtually no active COVID-19 transmission.
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