{UAH} What Went Wrong?
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9:06 AM |
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What Went Wrong?
By: Joseph Byamukama
We arrived at Entebbe yesterday, 5 p.m., via Ethiopian airlines, disembarking via the plane's steps. Inside, a lady separated my wife and I, due to 'strict social distancing instructions' despite the obvious; we are married. But she will not have any of this. They took our fingerprints, and passports too, 'to be received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs after 14-days of self-quarantine.'
But in the baggage claim area, it was as though the government had not prepared for us. We arrived almost at the same time as Qatar Airways and Air Dubai, about 500 people in total, in that small area. The inside had no air conditioning. But most sadly, it has no social distancing. The place was worse than downtown Kampala's Kikuubo. I asked one of the ladies who works there how we can keep the 'strict social distancing instructions.' She, smilingly, said to me: 'this is your airport, you know it.'
Meanwhile, they had sprayed all our bags (and the belt) with a 'disinfectant.' Some say it was chloroform, and others may say it was one of those drugs that kill bedbugs or cockroaches and rodents. Getting your bags was itself a nightmare, combined with the disinfectant in a small room without air conditioning. We had a baby too. At the same time, of all those people arriving at the same time, there was only one scanning place. One. Which means that getting out of the baggage area was at snail-speed, while those permitted inside came crashing from the immigration desks.
Our 16-month old baby was not amused at the very least. But patient he was. It is his home, or so it will be. How long could one stand in a zig-zag line where everyone wants out, and no officer offers organization? It got me thinking: who runs this place? Why is it such a mess?
Fast forward, we got out of the building three and a half hours after we landed. This was not before I protested to the officers, asking how long my boy will wait. Calls were made, they resprayed our bags, we registered outside, and jumped into the government-prepared bus to our hotel.
The process in the U.S was surprisingly slightly more efficient. Not without its problems though. For instance, we had to raise about $5,000 for our tickets and self-quarantine costs, in just over two weeks of being told. But the embassy knew we were students. They also knew we had booked our flights with KLM already since they demanded we send them our booked tickets. Then they chose Ethiopian airlines, where we needed to pay twice as much as we had paid for KLM. The other irony was that we made these payments through a tour company, Satguru Travel & Tourism.
Before that, the embassy had demanded we test negative for COVID-19 before embarking. That was almost three weeks before travelling. Now, those who know the U.S health system understand the complications of this, especially, depending on what type of Visa one has. Some told me, while at Dulles International Airport in Washington, how they had to move from one state to another to take the tests.
Fast forward, and no one asked for the results, neither at Dulles, nor Entebbe. No one has asked for them, yet. The sad thing is, another lady who flew in from UAE just told me the same story. Last year, flying with KLM, we received the Ministry of Health Forms while in Kigali. We filled them, only to take them home when no one cared to ask.
As to quarantine testing, someone said to me that the Ministry does not often do so before the end of their mandatory 14 days. They take their samples as time ends so that people's stay at the hotels is more extended than required. They have your passports, what will you do?
In the meantime, someone in the government is making huge money out of this. Their arrangements with a Tour and Travel company enriches someone. Their intentional extension of quarantine at these hotels makes someone wealthy. Someone's bank account is growing fat out of many people's misery.
All this leaves you thinking: who runs this place? Why doesn't this country love its citizens back as much as citizens love it? As I write this, one tells me (and I wait to see this), that getting passports back might involve some payment. But I will speak of that story when the day comes. For now, yesterday revealed the obvious: as a country, we are in a mess. And as Teacher Mpamire oft asks, what went wrong?
--
-- By: Joseph Byamukama
We arrived at Entebbe yesterday, 5 p.m., via Ethiopian airlines, disembarking via the plane's steps. Inside, a lady separated my wife and I, due to 'strict social distancing instructions' despite the obvious; we are married. But she will not have any of this. They took our fingerprints, and passports too, 'to be received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs after 14-days of self-quarantine.'
But in the baggage claim area, it was as though the government had not prepared for us. We arrived almost at the same time as Qatar Airways and Air Dubai, about 500 people in total, in that small area. The inside had no air conditioning. But most sadly, it has no social distancing. The place was worse than downtown Kampala's Kikuubo. I asked one of the ladies who works there how we can keep the 'strict social distancing instructions.' She, smilingly, said to me: 'this is your airport, you know it.'
Meanwhile, they had sprayed all our bags (and the belt) with a 'disinfectant.' Some say it was chloroform, and others may say it was one of those drugs that kill bedbugs or cockroaches and rodents. Getting your bags was itself a nightmare, combined with the disinfectant in a small room without air conditioning. We had a baby too. At the same time, of all those people arriving at the same time, there was only one scanning place. One. Which means that getting out of the baggage area was at snail-speed, while those permitted inside came crashing from the immigration desks.
Our 16-month old baby was not amused at the very least. But patient he was. It is his home, or so it will be. How long could one stand in a zig-zag line where everyone wants out, and no officer offers organization? It got me thinking: who runs this place? Why is it such a mess?
Fast forward, we got out of the building three and a half hours after we landed. This was not before I protested to the officers, asking how long my boy will wait. Calls were made, they resprayed our bags, we registered outside, and jumped into the government-prepared bus to our hotel.
The process in the U.S was surprisingly slightly more efficient. Not without its problems though. For instance, we had to raise about $5,000 for our tickets and self-quarantine costs, in just over two weeks of being told. But the embassy knew we were students. They also knew we had booked our flights with KLM already since they demanded we send them our booked tickets. Then they chose Ethiopian airlines, where we needed to pay twice as much as we had paid for KLM. The other irony was that we made these payments through a tour company, Satguru Travel & Tourism.
Before that, the embassy had demanded we test negative for COVID-19 before embarking. That was almost three weeks before travelling. Now, those who know the U.S health system understand the complications of this, especially, depending on what type of Visa one has. Some told me, while at Dulles International Airport in Washington, how they had to move from one state to another to take the tests.
Fast forward, and no one asked for the results, neither at Dulles, nor Entebbe. No one has asked for them, yet. The sad thing is, another lady who flew in from UAE just told me the same story. Last year, flying with KLM, we received the Ministry of Health Forms while in Kigali. We filled them, only to take them home when no one cared to ask.
As to quarantine testing, someone said to me that the Ministry does not often do so before the end of their mandatory 14 days. They take their samples as time ends so that people's stay at the hotels is more extended than required. They have your passports, what will you do?
In the meantime, someone in the government is making huge money out of this. Their arrangements with a Tour and Travel company enriches someone. Their intentional extension of quarantine at these hotels makes someone wealthy. Someone's bank account is growing fat out of many people's misery.
All this leaves you thinking: who runs this place? Why doesn't this country love its citizens back as much as citizens love it? As I write this, one tells me (and I wait to see this), that getting passports back might involve some payment. But I will speak of that story when the day comes. For now, yesterday revealed the obvious: as a country, we are in a mess. And as Teacher Mpamire oft asks, what went wrong?
"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"
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