The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has asked the Ministry of Health and the Acholi Parliamentary Group to design strategies to address the smear campaign against the government’s Covid-19 vaccination drive in Acholi region.
While presiding over plenary on Tuesday, 30 November 2021, the Speaker said it was unfortunate that as the government was pushing forward its vaccination programme, some malicious persons were sabotaging the exercise. She directed that the woman spreading the misinformation through the recordings, which have been widely circulated, should be arrested and prosecuted.
“Hon Jane Ruth Aceng, with the help of the Acholi Parliamentary Group, you need to go down and demystify what is being said about the vaccination and encourage the people in the region to comply since vaccination is not only in Acholi but the whole country,” Among said.
While raising the matter for the attention of Parliament, Bardege-Layibi Division MP, Martin Mapenduzi, said the audios on social media had caused unrest in Acholi region and the population was now shunning vaccination.
“There is an audio doing rounds on social media discouraging the Acholis from getting vaccinated claiming it is a ploy to kill them,” he said adding that “the constituents are worried for their lives especially those that have already been vaccinated and those not yet vaccinated have boycotted the whole exercise.”
Honourable Sarah Opendi reiterated the Speaker’s call to have the woman on the voice note brought to book.
“He who alleges must prove. This is a challenge to the Minister of Internal Affairs to pick interest in the matter, arrest the said lady in the audios and investigate why she is sabotaging government programmes,” she said.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
