Uganda will this Friday, March 5, receive an initial batch of 864,000 Astra Zeneca Covid-19 vaccines through the COVAX equitable access facility, Chimp Corps report.

The vaccines are expected at Entebbe International Airport tomorrow afternoon. They will be received by high ranking Health Ministry officials.

The vaccines will then be taken to the National Medical Stores (NMS) in Entebbe for storage ahead of the commencement of the vaccination programme starting March 10.

“Uganda’s storage facilities are fantastic,” said Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Diana Atwine.

“We are ahead of so many countries right from NMS. We use solar fridges because the power hasn’t been consistent,” she added.

NMS currently distributes medicines procured by the Government and her development partners, such as USAID, Global Fund, UNICEF, GAVI and World Bank, among others, to all public health facilities in the country.

These 18 million vaccines for Uganda are among the first of more than a billion doses going to developing countries this year through COVAX.

COVAX is explicitly designed to work for high and middle and low-income countries and to ensure that doses are allocated equitably at a global level.

The UK was one of the first countries to back COVAX and to date has committed £548 million to ensure global access to vaccines and has consistently called on other donors to step up their support.

COVAX began to deliver vaccines to lower income countries on Wednesday 24 February. In total more than a billion COVID-19 vaccines will go to up to 92 developing countries, with targets in place to help those countries vaccinate the most vulnerable by June 2021.

NATIONAL IDS
Atwine said nobody will be turned away from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine because they don’t have identity cards.

“We only required everyone to have identification because we need them to complete the vaccine after the first dose,” said Atwine.

“We want people to provide informed consent. All information regarding the vaccine will be given prior vaccination,” she added.

“The private sector will be allowed to bring in vaccines but this will be after the ministry has been able to cover a certain percentage of the vulnerable population to limit exploitation.”

The Ministry had targeted to vaccinate individuals from 16 years but following advice from World Health Organisation, jabs will be administered to individuals from 18 years and above.

Uganda has so far confirmed 40,408 cases of COVID-19 with 334 deaths.

Uganda will need a total of up to 45 million doses of vaccines (if all the vaccines provided are of 2 doses) to vaccinate a population of 22 million and extra doses to cater for the refugee population.

Atwine said, “You get to be vaccinated even when you had COVID19 and cured. We have variants, they keep changing. You can’t know how long the antibodies will stay in the body to protect you. When you have the antibodies, this vaccine acts as a booster dose.”

Support to COVAX is just one way the UK is helping countries respond to COVID-19.

In Uganda the UK has also donated test kits and supplied PPE, provided training and helped deliver messaging on COVIID-19 prevention, helped children continue learning through the provision of distance learning lessons, provided media training to help counter misinformation and ensure accurate COVID-19 reporting and funded two COVID-19 Isolation rooms at home for children suffering from cancer in Kampala.

Kate Airey, the British High Commissioner said she was proud that the United Kingdom was one of the biggest donors to COVAX, securing over one billion doses for the most vulnerable people in countries around the world including Uganda.

“The UK is supporting COVAX because we want to be a force for good in the world and because we need a global solution to a global pandemic,” said Kate.

“Next week, thanks to UK aid and other donors support, people in Uganda will start to be vaccinated; I hope this will be a major step forward to ending the pandemic,” she emphasised.

The COVAX facility communicated a tentative allocation of 3,552,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Uganda for the period January- June 2021.

Of this allocation, 864,000 doses arrive by March 5, 2021 and the remaining 2,688,000 by June 2021.

In the course of 2021, Uganda expects to receive 17,872,037 doses of COVID 19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility on a quarterly basis for 20% of its population.

Health Minister Dr Diana Aceng said Uganda targets to vaccinate 49.6% of the population which is about 21,936,011 people, in a phased manner.

Each phase is planned to cover 20% of the population which is about 4,387,202 people. The eligible population lies in the age range of 18 years and above.

“In the context of global pressure on vaccine stocks, the priority persons to be vaccinated is guided by the occupational risk of infection, risk of developing severe disease, death from COVID- 19, and population characteristics (age, gender and geographical location),” she observed.

Phase 1 of the vaccination exercise will focus on:

Health workers (Public, Private Not for Profit (PNFP) and Private for Profit (PFP)) estimated at 150,000
Security personnel (UPDF, Police, Prisons); estimated at 250,000
Teachers (Public and Private) among other essential social service providers; 550,000
Persons from the age 50 years and above, estimated at 3,348500
Persons with underlying health conditions aged below 50 years, estimated at 500,000
Other emerging high risk and priority essential groups ( airlines, media, Prisoners, tour operators and guides, Bankers, immigration officers, UWA, URA, Humanitarian workers and others to be identified..

Telecommunications giant MTN Uganda has been dragged to court over the alleged sale of “Kwata Esimu” song, which belongs to Winnie Nwagi and Mubarak Adams Mandela alias Free Boy as a caller tune.

Viva Entertainment Limited in its suit before the Civil Division of High court on behalf of the two music artists claims to have written, produced, published and invested money in the song.

Viva wants court to declare that the sale of Kwata Esimu as a caller tune to the public without authorization or its consent amounts to an infringement of their copyright.

Through their lawyers of Katende, Ssempebwa and Company Advocates, Viva contends that they had intentions of commercializing the said musical work through exclusive licensing of its use to various corporate entities in Uganda and abroad.

They however, contend that MTN which provides caller tunes to customers at Shs 700 monthly, went ahead to use the song without their consent. Viva now says it is entitled to payment in form of royalties from MTN out of the proceeds from the unlawful sale of their song to the public since 2019.

The company states that due to the said actions, it has suffered anguish and therefore should be compensated with Shs 175 million. They are also seeking a permanent order restraining MTN from the continued illegal sale of their music and to be given 100 per cent royalties as well as costs of the suit. MTN Uganda spokesperson, Rhonah Arinaitwe declined to comment since the matter is already before the court.

“That despite the song’s popularity, the plaintiff (Viva Entertainment) was not able to fully recoup the cost incurred while producing the said musical work, due to the limitations in commercial engagement in the said work caused by the defendant’s illegal exploitation of the song without authorization from the plaintiff (Viva Entertainment),” reads the suit.

Adding that, “The popularity of the song was so immense it triggered dance challenges locally and abroad from fans dubbed ‘Kwata Esimu challenge’ which was a statement to the song’s popularity.”

The Civil Division registrar, Jameson Karemani has summoned MTN to file their defense within 15 days before the case is fixed for hearing.

This is not the first time MTN is being sued on matters related to caller tunes. In 2012, the late Kampala lord mayor, Nasser Ssebagala sued MTN and SMS Media Limited accusing them of using his speeches and addresses as ringtones and caller tunes without his consent.

He demanded that MTN and SMS Media compensate him for infringing on his copyright. But in 2015, the then High court judge, Christopher Izama Madrama dismissed the petition on grounds that Ssebagala did not have a copyright that was infringed on by the companies.

He reasoned that his speeches were publicly broadcast in Uganda as the current news of public and political events and besides, he was a ministerial nominee.

UCE EXAM PROCESS STARTS TODAY

The Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) Examinations for the 2020 candidates will officially start today with the briefing of candidates, according to the Uganda Examinations Board (UNEB).

“The briefing must be done by the headteachers themselves. During the session, candidates must be made aware of the instructions contained in the timetables and the Rules and Regulations on examination conduct.

The headteachers must explain clearly the consequences of cheating in the examination…cases of cheating by candidates usually arise from lack of briefing to candidates,” UNEB executive secretary Dan Odongo said in a press statement on Thursday.

The briefing is also aligned to the official national prayers and dedication for the candidates and the examination process under all faith affiliations, scheduled to take place from Friday 26- Sunday 28, 2021.

Candidates will start writing their examinations on Monday, March 1, 2021, starting with Physics practical in the morning and Fine Art-Still Life/ Nature in the afternoon.

A total of 333,889 candidates (50.1% female) are scheduled to sit their examinations from 3,935 Examination Centres.

This year’s examinations will be conducted under the theme ‘Integrity and security in the management of examinations; the health and safety of learners is a joint responsibility’.

Ochom in a letter dated February 22, 2021, to the Commander Kampala Metropolitan Police, Regional Police Commanders, District Police Commanders and all units also directed police alert squads to be sent out and that any officer who will not comply with the new instructions will have actions taken against them.

“As you are all aware, the curfew and the Covid-19 regulations are still in force. However, it has been observed that the bodaboda riders are no longer observing curfew time and they are seen riding through the night. Equally the vehicles are not observing curfew time of 9:00 pm and are seen all the times of the night,” Ochom noted.

He also noted that bars had not been allowed to operate but information pertaining is that some of the bars and discotheques are alleged to be protected by security personnel.

“These continued activities have enabled crimes to escalate and there are increased cases of domestic violence, murders and robberies. This is the time when crimes should be going down as we still have the support of other security agencies and Special Police Constables,” Ochom further stated.

In March last year, President Yoweri Museveni announced the closure of bars, schools and churches among others as a measure to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The President also imposed a 9:00 pm curfew.

Even though some of the restrictions were lifted, the curfew and closure of bars have since remained. However, so many bars and entertainment joints are still in operation.

With the declining cases of COVID-19 in the country, there have been calls to Government to lift all the restrictions that had been imposed.

Police yesterday did not release the names of people abducted by security men despite the army handing over the list to them last week.

The deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Paul Lokech, was expected to release the list of the suspects and their offences at yesterday’s weekly press conference but it was abruptly called off without explanation.

Relatives of the abducted persons were anxious to know whether their missing people were on the list to confirm whether they were still alive. Many of those detained are said to have participated in the November 18 and 19 protests violent protests which left 54 people dead. More than 100 people are said to have been abducted from that time to the election period in January by security personnel driving Toyota vans commonly known as drones. Many of them have not been seen since.

Earlier this month, President Museveni admitted that the abducted people had been arrested by security personnel. He said at least 318 people were arrested but only 55 were still detained. He ordered security to release the list of names of all the detainees. President Museveni said the missing people were arrested by military intelligence operatives and the army commando unit on allegations that they participated in terror related incidents to disrupt the January 14 elections.

President Museveni ordered security agencies to make their names public so that reports of “disappearance” cease. The army agreed that the police should release the list. But internally some senior police officers fear that police taking the responsibility of the suspects, many of whom allege to have been tortured, might attract litigation against individual police officers if the victims sue.

However, National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, said those in detention were more than the number announced by government. Mr Kyagulanyi released the names of more than 250 people who he said were still in unlawful custody. He shared the list with the United Nations agency on human rights.