The Chief Executive Officer of Private Sector Foundation of Uganda (PSFU), Gideon Bagadawa speaks during the launch of Tugobe Corona and wear a mask campaign at Hotel African Kampala on 6 Oct 2020. (Photo by Ronnie Kijjambu)
HEALTH VIRUS
The Private Sector Foundation (PSFU) has warned private sector players over reluctance to follow the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), saying that it threatens both their lives and their business survival.
The warning was sounded by the PSFU executive director, Gideon Badagawa during the launch of the "Tugobe Corona, Wear a Mask" campaign at Hotel Africana, Kampala on recently.
He noted that while private sector players cried out to the government to ease the lockdown, saying that they had no source of income, their failure to strictly follow the SOPs is disastrous to businesses.
"We have been advocating for the resuscitation of businesses and the government has agreed that we get out of the lockdown because many of us were crying about jobs, revenue and the ailing economy. In the wisdom of government, we agreed that we need to ensure that our people are alive and that businesses remain afloat but now you are complacent," Badagawa said.
He added: "While our tagline as people that are driving business is that business growth is our business, this is likely to be turned upside down because of the high complacency and laxity levels among the public in following the SOPs."
Badagawa noted that the private sector needs want people to remain alive to work in their businesses and to also provide market for the goods and services produced by the private sector.
Personal responsibility
Badagawa noted that the primary responsibility to suppress the pandemic lies with each individual and not the government as some people think.
"No amount of policy, legislation and regulation will drive covid-19 out of Uganda; it is about mindset and behavioural change of our people. By wearing a mask, we will protect ourselves up to 50% of this disease," Badagawa said.
The "Tugobe Corona, Wear a mask" campaign, which kicked off on October 6 and will run for a month across the country, seeks to collectively help in mitigating and ending the spread of coronavirus in Uganda by sensitizing all people to wear their masks correctly.
"We have now entered the fourth phase of the pandemic. The virus is no longer at the entry points but has now spread into communities," Elly Karuhanga, the PSFU chairman said.
He added: "We urge Ugandans to take personal responsibility and strictly wear a mask as a primary shield at all times. Each time you don't wear a mask, you put your life and that of your family, friends and workmates at risk. Let us do this together and this way, we shall remain safe, alive and continue normally with our businesses."
The campaign
The campaign was launched by PSFU in partnership with SafeBoda, the Kampala City Traders Association, the Public Relations Association of Uganda, Civil Society, Religious leaders and the MasterCard Foundation, under its Covid-19 response and resilience programme.
The programme seeks to respond to the immediate needs and aid in the recovery of businesses that have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking recently, the Mastercard Foundation Uganda country director Samuel Yalew Adela said: "Covid-19 is a call for building resilience; every intervention that we implement has to take into consideration to ensure that we build resilience and that there are shock absorbers to ensure that businesses bounce back."
The MasterCard Foundation Uganda, Communication Lead, Simon Kasyate alluded to the catastrophic effects the Covid-19 pandemic has had on businesses, emphasizing the need to curb it so that businesses can recover.
