The Kampala Capital City Authority KCCA has moved to start enforcement of the new Presidential directives in relation to suspension of public transport and hiking of food prices.
A statement released this morning by the authority indicates that, any traders in both the retail and wholesale business that are found to have unreasonably and unlawfully hiked the price of any good whatsoever shall have the trading license permanently revoked pursuant to section 11(3) the Trade Licensing Act as amended by the Trade (Licensing) (Amendment) Act, 2015.
“The general public is hereby requested to inform KCCA of any flouting of the Presidential Directive by any trader whatsoever on. As a City, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has embraced a number of aggressive measures and interventions in a serious effort to protect its urbanite population of about 5 million people” part of the statement reads.
KCCA set up Division Rapid Response Surveillance Teams including Doctors, Clinicians, Lab Technicians and Surveillance Officers since the first case was announced. The major responsibility of this group in the current situation is to respond to alerts from the communities and carry out patient assessments.
Also, the Institution has dedicated 90% of its Call Center services to Covid19- related emergencies, boosted its ambulance system and committed a response team across the 5 Divisions. The authority has also installed hand washing and hygiene facilities in many public places like parks, markets, public buildings, arcades.
KCCA is further coordinating with partners for supplies such as no touch infrared thermos cans or thermometers to help in the screening process especially in public places.
“The Institution has engaged Village Health Teams (VHTs) and prepared them for identification of suspects and health education of the community. Working with the Ministry of Health, KCCA has deployed film vans across the 5 City Divisions to sensitize the communities on the Dos and Don’ts on Corona Virus. All Schools and learning centers in the City were closed to avoid congestion effective 20th March 2020. KCCA has since 19th March 2020 been enforcing closure of all Bars, Discos, Clubs, Sports, Music shows, Cinema and Concerts. This includes bars located inside the hotels” the authority says.
Only gazetted markets are allowed to operate in the city having issued them with standard operation procedures (SOP) developed by Ministry of Health. All other Markets including open street markets, weekly markets, and road side markets among others were closed 19th.3.2020. “Our law enforcement officers are enforcing compliance with the guidelines on religious gatherings which prohibits prayers in churches, mosque, open air prayers and services on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays. We applaud religious leaders who have already issued statements stopping the services. We are also working with our markets management team in all City Markets to promote online shopping.”
KCCA has scaled down some services including; suspended the Library and Information Services, all community outreach activities except those in public health are all scaled down, heightened enforcement operations, have stopped external meetings and many are now online. We encourage the public to reach us via online services. We remain vigilant and call upon the city population to abide by the Ministry of Health Guidelines including proper washing of hands with water and soap. We remind the public, local council leaders within the city to respect the Directives and to report any person or entity violating the Directives to allow us take swift action. In case of an emergence, please call the KCCA call center 0800990000.
