The no-access directive by some government institutions for unvaccinated individuals is meant to protect others from being infected, Attorney General Kiwanuka Kiryowa, has said.

Speaking out on the move by some government institutions to restrict access by unvaccinated staff and members of the public, Kiwanuka said the move is not forcing people to go and vaccinate, but to try and protect others from being infected.

“These institutions are not telling you to go and vaccinate. They are only telling you not to come and kill other people. So, they are not forcing you to vaccinate, but they are simply protecting others. They are saying do not come and kill other people as a result of your negligence,” he said.

In order to encourage people to go and get vaccinated, a number of institutions have announced no-access policy for all unvaccinated individuals, including staff.

Last month, National Medical Stores banned its unvaccinated staff and all other visitors from accessing the premises. NMS has over 350 staff and thousands of visitors, who are usually bidders, suppliers of drugs and other pharmaceutical products.

Parliament last week followed suit and directed that MPs, staff and visitors will not access the premises if they are not fully vaccinated.

In a communication to all MPs, staff and the public, the deputy clerk to Parliament, Henry Waiswa, said the move is to rally more Ugandans to take covid-19 vaccine as guided by President Yoweri Museveni.

Parliament is a key institution in the fight against Covid-19 and, therefore, MPs and staff must demonstrate a good example in support of the Government’s public health policy,” Waiswa said.

He asked the Sergeant-at-Arms to work with the Police to enforce the guidelines effective yesterday. However, a visit to Parliament by New Vision showed that the Police was yet to start enforcing the directive. In an internal memo dated October 25, 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries also issued the same directive to its staff and the public. The directive was to take effect starting yesterday.

The ministry encouraged unvaccinated staff to vaccinate at any of the designated covid-19 vaccination centres.

The Government launched the nationwide vaccination exercise in March this year, beginning with the vulnerable groups. However, later, the categories of people were expanded to include teachers and university students.

However, the exercise had by yesterday not picked up as expected.

The country targeted to vaccinate about 21.9 million Ugandans, but data showed that only 3.2 million have been vaccinated and only 600,000 fully vaccinated.

Speaking to New Vision on phone, Kiwanuka said every government institution, agency has a duty to protect their people from harm.

Meanwhile, the National Unity platform (NUP) has protested the Deputy Speaker’s directive of not allowing unvaccinated people into the Parliament premises.

NUP spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi said matters of governing the Parliament require the entire House, but not just as one individual.

“We are going to engage the Deputy Speaker and tell her that such a directive has no place in the law. We should focus on bringing in more vaccines as opposed to trying to lock Ugandans out,” he said.

He said by doing so, many Ugandans are going to die because they are unable to access some services because the vaccines are not adequate.

“If this happens with Parliament, a precedent will be set and we shall start hearing everyone saying the same thing and that is not only illegal, but unfair because you are judging these people wrongly. They have not refused to get vaccinated, they want to, but the vaccines are not there,” he added.