{UAH} News from Ugandan vacation

Folks;

Happy New Year. I got back over the weekend from a three-week vacation in Uganda.

With the COVID-related restrictions mostly removed, unlike when I was there last June, I left Uganda is back to its vibrant self. Kampala is again as congested as ever, with its roads as impassable as usual! That's good for the country, because citizens are moving about, doing their things.

On two occasions, I regret to report, I had unpleasant experiences at COVID testing centers. First, in mid-December, I took a delegation of 11 family members to Kisumu, for a sacred visit to my wife's family. I'd planned for every member to take the COVID test at the Busia border.

The testing officials readily told me that each test would cost shs.100,000. I had no problem with that, because a few days earlier, on landing at Entebbe, I had also paid $30 for a COVID test. However, the problem arose when I asked for a receipt!

The test guy told me that if I needed a receipt, then the cost per person would be shs.170,000! Naturally, I called him out on this nonsense, and loudly asked, "Why?"

Two family members pulled me aside, told me to forget about the receipt so that we may get the tests out of the way, and we continue with our trip! I bit my tongue and went along with their suggestion, we got the test results back within 15 minutes, (all negative), and we proceeded to Kisumu.

The second time I would run into this shenanigan was on December 31, when I went to receive my wife at the Malaba border. She had taken the COVID test in Nairobi on December 30. With her negative result at hand, we thought crossing into Uganda would be a breeze. Not so.

Ugandan Immigration told her to get "their" COVID test before they could listen to her. After a brief protestation, I paid the obligatory shs.100,000, and she took the test.

As a consolation, the test center's senior most official allowed us to proceed with our journey before the results were out. We were told that the result would be sent to her via her email address or her WhatApp platform within the hour.

Up to now, she has not heard from the good people of Test & Fly Center at the Malaba border!

I'm not the kind to casually accuse government officials of misconduct, just because I find the manner of their operations out of sync with what I'm used to. But these two experiences have tested my trust in the veracity of the COVID tests at the two border posts.

Do these people really perform the COVID tests, or are they only interested in revenue collection?  In the case of the Busia test center, why would a receipted payment cost 70% more than payment without receipt?

The Corona Virus, in its many mutations, remains a deadly pandemic. Any public servant who is tasked with checking for the virus must perform that role in a manner that's impeachable, because the health of the nation is on their hand. Border test centers should not be turned into gold mines for unscrupulous officials to make easy money, while likely allowing infected travelers to pass through their check points.

Pojim