A total of 23 passengers of various origins were intercepted yesterday by the Aviation police at Entebbe International Airport after they presented the officials with forged covid-19 certificates. According to the Kampala Metropolitan Spokesperson Patrick Onyango, the perpetrators who include 13 men and 10 women will be slapped with forgery charges and uttering false documents.
Since the commencement of flights to and from Entebbe, a number of standard operating procedures have been put in place to curb the spread of the covid-19 virus amongst travelers, including the presentation of a valid negative PCR covid-19 certificate that would indicate the traveller’s status.
The certificate enables travelers to move without being a risk to the citizens of any given sovereign, however like all untested systems, the sops have proven to be demanding and with a number of loopholes. Air travel remains one of the most expensive modes of transportation and with the additional requirements put in place and some countries still on total lockdown, it is steadfast becoming heavily burdensome to travel by air.
Also, the standard price of a covid-19 test is set at $65 (shs 241,000) per person with over shs 300,000 charged by the private labs now, despite the certificate being only temporary for fourteen days. It goes without saying that since its outbreak, the Corona virus has led to a global pandemic and shutdown, however as the world continues to grapple with this new challenge, a lot of businesses worldwide continue to sick under the turmoil.
“Before the corona virus I used to get a lot of customers asking for transactions in the millions but today I get such a customer once in a while,” said one Ugandan Business man who choose to stay anonymous.
As the fight against covid-19 continues-and people learn how to live with it, the new demands and sops put in place might prove to be too restrictive and inturn affect the economy with various negative implications. It is safe to assume that more forgeries are to be expected and sops dismissed as many are faced with the deaths of their businesses and economical structures rather than the immediate dangers of the covid-19 virus.
Although the airport was re-opened with special guidelines, a number of travelers have been forced to miss their flights due to various reason such as expired covid-19 certificates among others despite the costs incurred by the traveler. Therefore it comes as no surprise when Dr. James Eyul, the Director Kazuri Medical Services based at the Airport, reported that 1 in 3 people who turned up at the airport had forged certificates.
