By Mulengera Reporters
Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng has rallied the entire Ugandan populace to use the current lockdown to go on their knees and pray for their country stressing that, however much her and other scientists will toil, the ultimate healer will be God the creator of the universe.
A devout Born-Again Christian, Aceng says she is already practicing this as the political leader by ensuring at her Ministry, there is a two-pronged effort. “At the MoH we are already doing both; pray and listening to the scientists who themselves too are using their God-inspired wisdom and guidance to guide us,” Aceng said adding there is no way Uganda can isolate its COVID response from prayer and Godliness “because even our national anthem is a prayer in itself.”
She said that insisting on divine-guided responses isn’t being out of order in any way because even the national prayer session against COVID that President Museveni hosted in State House recently was (just like that in the US) about the same thing. The steady lady from Oyam added; “If all of us go on our knees and pray, the Lord will hear us and heal our land.”
In the same vein, Aceng (an active member of Watoto Church) called upon Ugandans to exhibit Godly humility through this period emphasizing it’s the best way “because everybody else is stressed including the security operatives on the streets, people in the quarantine, their loved ones, the medical workers and people in the essential services.”
She advised Ugandans, especially those having stickers permitting them to drive around, to exercise maximum restraint and humility implying they should humbly stop when asked and identify themselves as required before carrying on with their journey.
Still about humility as a virtue, Aceng disclosed that once all citizens humbly observe frequent washing of hands and maintain the social distancing of 4 meters as prescribed by WHO and repeatedly stressed by their President Gen Museveni, Uganda could celebrate wonderful results and progress against COVID at the end of the 14 days lockdown period the man from Rwakitura imposed on the country effective 1st April.
She added that as the Ministry of health leadership, they are going to succeed or fail in their COVID-related targets because Ugandans complied with the required hygienic and distancing practices-and vice versa. “Let us not miss this great opportunity [of the President agreeing with scientific advice to lock down the country on good time] to flatten the curve of the pandemic and heal our country. Please simply do your part as citizens; stay at home, practice social distancing in the markets, on the roads and the supermarket. Give us as Ministry of Health the opportunity to implement the strategy we put forward. We shall give you accountability on what we have achieved after 14 days,”
Aceng pleaded during a comprehensive media briefing she conducted this Thursday morning via UBC.
It was a comprehensive briefing during which many other frequently asked questions were interrogated and responded to by Aceng and an entourage of excellent scientists and development partner representatives she moved with. Watch out for more coverage in our subsequent COVID-19 news updates. (For comments on this story, call, text or whatsapp us on 0705579994, 0779411734, 0200900416 or email us at [email protected]).
