Gov’t withdraws vaccination card requirement for passengers

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The government has withdrawn the condition that passengers must prove that they are fully vaccinated before using public transport.

The cancellation of the directive comes barely a week after it was announced by President Yoweri Museveni, as a condition for reopening the economy and allowing public service vehicles to load full capacity.

Initially, public transport vehicles were restricted to carrying only half of their licensed capacity in order to ensure social distancing among passengers.

Passengers were required to carry vaccination cards, a measure which however has been found to be difficult to enforce, according to Works and Transport Minister Gen Edward Katumba Wamala.

He says that many public transporters could not differentiate between genuine and fake cards, yet some already vaccinated travellers never received their cards from the Ministry of Health.

Gen Katumba Wamala has now revised the directive restricting the proof of vaccination to operators of public transport vehicles, among them, drivers, conductors and their staff.

He told a press conference at the Uganda Media Centre on Wednesday that travellers using public transport will only be required to have a mask at all times, adding that the police have been directed to arrest non-compliant passengers.

Gen Katumba Wamala also cautioned the public against faking vaccination cards, noting that preventing COVID-19 is a personal responsibility.

Mustafa Mayambala, the Chairman of the Uganda Transport Development Agency-UTRADA, noted that they equally want to see the police dealing with all drivers and conductors who are reluctant in enforcing standard guidelines for the control of COVID-19.