By Spy Uganda
Uganda’s award winning musician Edirisa Musuuza aka Eddy Kenzo, who is currently stuck in Ivory Coast because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, has cried out to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to help him do everything possible so that he can be allowed by government to fly back home.
Kenzo has been struggling to survive for months in Ivory Coast, where the COVID-19 lockdown that was announced by President Yoweri Museveni in March this year found him.
The lockdown saw the closure of Uganda’s borders to foreigners, and suspension of passenger flights at Entebbe International Airport.
Kenzo had traveled to Ivory Coast to perform at a concert which flopped, but ever since then, he hasn’t been able to fly back to Uganda, although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently announced that a few Ugandans who were caught abroad by the Lockdown would be allowed to fly into the country, but on their own costs.
On Thursday, Speaker Kadaga revealed that she had received a phone call from Kenzo in which he was pleading with her to help him return home. “Maddam speaker, I am too broke to even afford my a meal here, not even my own own flight back home, please help,” Kenzo swallowed his pride and opened up to speaker via phone call.
“This afternoon, I received a phone call from Eddy Kenzo, a Ugandan musician, stuck in Cote d’Ivoire where he had gone to perform. He is in dire straits and has spent whatever he had. He’s unable to come home because flights are not available. I would like to call upon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working through our Mission in Abuja, to offer him consular services so that he can be assisted to come home; and to also meet his bills.
I will also be informing H.E. the President about this matter so that he can be assisted. For him its even worse because he is in a French speaking country. Life is not as easy as it would be if he was in an English-speaking country where he could talk with people and get assistance.” speaker revealed.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Ivory Coast current stand at 2,556 with 31 deaths.
On May 15, the curfew was lifted nation-wide in Ivory Coast and people were allowed to return to work .
Primary and secondary schools as well as Universities in the interior of the country began re-opening May 8, while schools in the Greater Abidjan re-opened on May 25.
Restaurants and marquis in the Greater Abidjan area re-opened on May 15, with instructions to follow strict social distancing and hygiene guidelines.
Bars, night clubs, cinemas and entertainment venues remain closed through to May 31.
However, Regular Commercial passenger flights remain suspended for an indefinite period. Some diplomatic missions have been given permission to operate humanitarian repatriation flights for their citizens on a limited basis.
Social distancing remains in effect: no handshakes or embraces, maintain at least one-meter distance from other persons. All non-essential movements are discouraged.
Travel from the Greater Abidjan area (including Dabou, Azagule, Bingerville, Grand-Bassam, Bonoua and Assinie) to the rest of the country remains prohibited through May 31 and is being enforced by entry and exit check points. There is an online application process to request permission for inter-city travel at autorisation.securite.gouv.ci.
Face masks/cloth face coverings are mandatory in public in the greater Abidjan area, including in vehicles.
The Government of Cote d’Ivoire closed land, aviation and maritime borders on Sunday, March 22 for an indeterminate period of time.
