Immediately after an outbreak of Covid 19 in several countries in the world citizens were forced to change their lifestyle and cultures. There a number of measures that were brought up as a way of preventing Covid 19. One of them was to immediately stop any forms of congregating and in case it was unavoidable social distance was to be observed strictly while wearing masks. This was very difficult to implement because most people were used of congregating and being close to each other. But because there was an invisible enemy that the world was fighting with at that time people had no choice but to adhere to all the advise that was given to them by health workers. It’s widely known that it took a period of two years for some countries to be begin partially opening the economy. Meaning some of the measures that had been given had already become a culture to some people, several people had got used of them not because they liked it but because it was done to save them and their loved ones.
It is widely known that Uganda did better in as far as prevention of Covid 19 is concerned. We are the only country that closed schools for two years simply because of the safety of children, the teachers and other people. In other countries where the government wasn’t strict a big number of people lost their lives to Covid 19 and the evidence is available which is the numbers. The united states announced recently that they lost over one million people which is a huge number compared to other countries.
The current inflation and the increase in the prices of commodities calls for a change in the lifestyle of everyone so that we can all cope up with the situation. The other day when the president said that we should replace bread with our locally grown Cassava so many people mistook him and others used that statement to criticize him and curse him saying lots of funny things. However the president’s message was that the low materials used to make bread are imported from outside countries and those countries are currently facing challenges of the war which obviously has affected production and transportation hence leading to increase in the prices. The only solution therefore is to stop buying bread and eat our cassava which locally grown here meanwhile as we wait for the situation to normalize.
The challenge of inflation and price increase of different commodities isn’t only happening Uganda as a country. It’s all over the world and there a number of issues that have led to this problem. Whereas such a challenge comes when no body is prepared and when the salaries and income have remained the same but there should be ways on how citizens can survive one of them being change of lifestyle. You can not expect to eat and be satisfied in times when there’s less food. Obviously in those times one eats just to survive but not to be satisfied and bulge because the food isn’t enough. It’s high time therefore that we understand that we are not in normal days therefore this calls for change in our lifestyle. Ugandans must know that it’s high time they focus on consuming the food which they produce as they wait for that one from abroad.
President Museveni was very clear in his address to the nation on Sunday, He said that some of the options that are being suggested by some people are not reliable and can lead to more other challenges. In any case Uganda is doing better comparing to other countries in East Africa whose inflations percentages are high. This isn’t the challenge of Uganda alone as country but the challenge of the whole world. Let’s therefore learn to economize and also eat or use what is available for us as we wait for the world to stabilize so that we get back to our lifestyle of extravagance. Uganda being a rich country most Ugandans are used to enjoy to the fullest, they can’t understand it when suddenly things change and that’s why there’s outcry everywhere. The opposition politicians should explain to the public and stop taking advantage of the current situation to tell lies and gain political capital.
The writer is a deputy RDC Kyenjojo District.
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