Eddie Kenzo petitions Parliament for evacuation from Ivory Coast

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Singer Edirisa Musuuza also known as Eddie Kenzo has petitioned Parliament seeking government’s intervention to have him evacuated from Ivory Coast. Kenzo has been held up for the last two months due to the closure of borders occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kenzo left the country for business in March. However, his return was put on hold when President Yoweri Museveni directed the closure of Entebbe International Airport and all other borders to forestall the spread of coronavirus disease. Media reports indicate that the BET award winner is quarantined in a hotel room in Ivory Coast.

According to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, Kenzo made a direct call to her office on Wednesday appealing for government’s help to return home and meet his bills in the foreign land.

Kadaga appealed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to work with Uganda’s Mission in Abuja to offer him consular services until he returns home. The Speaker also said that she is to engage President Yoweri Museveni on the matter.

The singer is not the only Ugandan stuck abroad as several Ugandans across the world have in the recent past appealed to government for evacuation after the closure of borders. But these stranded Ugandans who wish to return from abroad will have to meet both the cost of their flights and institutional quarantine according to the Ministry of Health.

Uganda Radio Network-URN learnt that this development followed the Monday cabinet meeting in which government cleared 2,400 Ugandans stranded abroad to return following constant pressure and calls to have them evacuated. Several of these had rushed to register during an exercise undertaken by the missions abroad with the hope that it would be part of the process to facilitate their return.

The Minister of Health Dr Ruth Aceng says that these will come back in phases and will register with Ugandan embassies abroad and be linked with airlines that are operational. She emphasized that only those who can meet their cost will be returned.

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