President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni has responded to calls by veteran opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye to reopen schools.
A trained medical doctor, Besigye remains a helpful voice in the fight against Covid19.
His addresses, media appearances and herbal concotion have also come in handy as Uganda continues to battle the deadly viral respiratory disease.
Besides calling for an end to a selective lockdown, Besigye recently urged Museveni to reopen schools.
“The biggest crime this government has ever done is refusing to reopen schools. There is absolutely no justification for the measures that have been taken in education,” said Besigye on August 05.
“It is basic knowledge about Covid19 that the least vulnerable are the young. The greatest majority of them will suffer without knowing Covid19 entered [their body systems].”
Now, while officiating at the Youth Day celebrations at Kololo Independence Grounds on August 12, Museveni responded to Besigye.
The president claimed that his former personal physician and fiercest critic had not clearly looked at the issue of reopening schools.
“The other day I heard my friend Dr Besigye talking about the reopening of schools. That these people don’t have a plan. That the government doesn’t have a plan because if they had immunized the teachers, the schools could be opened because if the children get sick, they will recover,” noted Museveni.
“Okay, thank you very much Dr Besigye but you haven’t thought through the problem properly. Actually the teachers are among our priority list of immunization and I think many of the teachers have already been immunized.”
Museveni also argued that the fact that there are many days schools means that students may catch the virus and spread it to their parents at home.
“Even if all the teachers were immunized, the problem is that actually very few are boarding schools,” he continued.
“Yes, schools would open if all were boarding schools. Children will get infected and transmit the virus to their patients. Is that what Besigye wants?”
Museveni has insisted that schools should not reopen until all teachers and learners have been vaccinated.
“The main point here should be to ensure that Ugandans are immunized against the deadly virus,” he added.
“As a country, losses will be incurred but human deaths will be minimized.”
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