How closure of schools may have messed up the whole country

On Mr Museveni’s ministers-designate, here is my opinion: Mr Boss just visited a coup on ‘us’ the mafia (and influence peddlers). The Cabinet story aside, the bigger story is that the abrupt closure of schools has messed the whole country. The students returning upcountry may have spread Covid-19 to the four winds of Uganda.
I am not here to tell the reader ‘the why’ and ‘the how’. I just would like to share my simple story about the abrupt closure of schools on Monday June 7.

Returning from ‘minding my own business’ in the DR Congo, I spent two nights in Kiburara (returning to Kampala on Friday June 4 with my sister Madina Asuman and my niece Aisha).
Aisha was returning to Kibuli Secondary School on Sunday for her last term of Senior Five. On Saturday June 5, the school advised us thus: “We are waiting for the President’s speech on Sunday. If he doesn’t close the schools, students will report on Tuesday (June 8) not on Sunday June 6 as planned”.

On Sunday June 6, Mr Museveni closed all schools. That’s how I found myself saddled with an unplanned evacuation of five people from Kampala to Kasese.
At 12pm on Monday June 7, I went to pick Amina from Nabisunsa and Mohammad Ali from Kibuli. I would put all the four (my sister Madina, Aisha, Amina and Mo Ali) on the bus and call it a day. But Madina reasoned that public transport would expose them to risks associated with catching Covid-19. There was some sense in that; but the logistical needs to evacuate four people by private transport were prohibitive (remember a vehicle was allowed only two passengers). I had to secure a private vehicle and a driver.

Typical me, I classified the four persons as A Coy (Amina and Mo Ali) and B Coy (Madina and Aisha). I would evacuate A Coy on Monday and the vehicle would return from Kasese on Tuesday to evacuate B Coy. Our A Coy left Kampala for Kasese at 2.30 pm.

My sister Shakila Asuman was travelling by bus from Mbale (where she is pursuing a Law Degree at IUIU) and would continue to Kasese (by picking another bus from Kampala). When she reached Kireka (Kampala suburb) at 4pm, it was clear Shakila would not be able to get a Kasese-bound bus in Kampala. I advised her to leave the bus and come to Tactical HQ (Kawempe). She would wake up early in the morning, go to the bus terminal in Central Kampala and continue her journey to Kasese by bus.

At 5.30am, Shakila was ready. But her transport fare (planned at Shs50,000) was short by Shs10,000. I did the needful and off she went. At 12pm, she called asking for Shs70,000 “because the transport fare had shot to Shs120,000”. I did the needful and sent Shs70. She paid and was told to wait for a bus on its way from Kasese.
But at 2pm, when the private vehicle to evacuate B Coy reached Busega, Shakila’s bus (from Kasese) had not reached the bus terminal in central Kampala. I had to act quickly. I told her to return to Tactical HQ. I made a quick decision: I would convince (actually force) the driver to take three passengers.

Poor little thing, Shakila wanted the bus operators to refund her ka Shs120. I advised her against it. She used a boda boda to  Kawempe. As she entered the house, the B Coy transport was hooting outside the gate. It was 3.30pm. With three passengers, the driver would negotiate his way with the traffic police in the typical Ugandan way.

 Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]