Museveni bans private vehicles, declares curfew

UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni who last week banned public transport has now included the use of private vehicles on the ban and instituted a curfew as part of a raft of measures to curb the further spread of the coronavirus in the country.

UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni who last week banned public transport has now included the use of private vehicles on the ban and instituted a curfew as part of a raft of measures to curb the further spread of the coronavirus in the country.

Speaking today during a live update, President Museveni said measure number one is to prohibit all people to people movement.

“Measure number one is to prohibit all people to people movement by everybody including those using their private vehicles, bodabodas, tuktuksetc,” he said. The President noted that although restrictions had earlier been made by having private cars carrying only three people, some people had resorted to using their vehicles to transport others, increasing the risk of spreading the virus.

In addition to the banning of private vehicles on the road for 14 days, the President also instituted a curfew for the whole country to start on March 31st at 7pm. The curfew however he said, would not affect cargo planes, lorries, pickups and trains.

President Museveni also suspended the opening of shopping malls, arcades, hardware shops which he said gather a lot of people to sell and buy non-food items. They are suspended for 14 days starting April 1st. All other non-food shops will also be closed for the same amount of time apart from those selling agricultural inputs and veterinary services, detergents as well as pharmaceuticals would remain open.

The President said while the government had earlier put restrictions of gathering of people, there are still windows through which the virus can spread. Although, he noted that out of the 33 people who have been tested positive with the virus, only three received from importers (travellers who likely contracted the disease from their trips abroad), many travellers had not respected the quarantine measures while others had escaped quarantine, and there was no knowledge as to how many people could be exposed to the virus, hence the new restrictions.

Museveni also said places like salons, garages and the like would be shut for 14 days starting April 1st. He also mentioned essential services like telecoms, banks and private security companies among others that would remain open.