By Spy Uganda
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon. Sam Kahamba Kutesa has issued tough regulations for Ugandans currently stuck abroad but are preparing to return to the country amidst the COVID-19 partial lockdown.
These regulations, which are aimed at upholding the Ministry of Health Guidelines to fight the spread of Coronavirus, will be applied to all passengers travelling to Uganda from abroad as and when they start flying in.
It should be noted that last week, the Minister of Health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng revealed that the government is in preparations of flying in some Ugandans who were caught abroad by the COVID-19 lockdown, but that they will travel in batches and will cater for costs of their flights and quarantine.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Patrick Mugoya in a letter dated June 16 to diplomatic missions abroad said that; “As you are aware, Cabinet recently approved in principle to allow Ugandans who are stranded abroad due to the closure of Entebbe Airport and of the borders following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to start returning home in a safe and orderly manner.”
He added that “Accordingly, the Ministry working with relevant MDAs have developed the enclosed Standard Operating Procedures that will guide your mission in arranging for the return of the stranded nationals.”
However, in his letter to Uganda’s diplomatic missions abroad, Mugoya did not reveal when the return of the Ugandans would start. Efforts to reach him on his
The Foreign Affairs Ministry guidelines provide that those who wish to return must either be Ugandans citizens or stranded nationals.
The returnees must possess Ugandan passports or other recognized identification particulars such as residence or work permit.
The Returnees will also pay the entire cost of their travel up to the designated point of entry such as Entebbe airport.
Relatives will not be allowed to meet or pick a returnee from the airport on arrival.
Returnees will deposit their passports with immigration office.
The passports will be returned to their owners at the end of the mandatory quarantine period upon presentation to the immigration office of a certificate of release from the quarantine issued by the health ministry.
It should be noted that President Yoweri Museveni on March 21, 2020, announced the immediate closure of Uganda’s international borders and suspended all passenger flights at Entebbe International Airport, leaving the airport only open to cargo flights.
He also ordered that no corpse should be repatriated to the country and that whoever dies abroad shall be buried in the country where they die from.
The move came after an assessment done by the National Taskforce on COVID-19 revealed that imported cases posed the highest possible source of an outbreak of the pandemic in Uganda.
However, closure of the airport and all points of entry left very many Ugandans stranded abroad in countries like China, USA, UK, United Arab Emirates, Ivory Coast, South Africa, among others.
Among those stranded abroad are several Ugandan students who had completed their studies and others who were still pursuing their studies but couldn’t return home after closure of schools due to the COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda.
