Science Has Proved To Be Unreliable During These Times.

You can see from the hype and enthusiasm that many people have bought into the idea of indulging in these events. Since this is innovative, we cannot dismiss the heavy blows landed by this pandemic on Uganda's tourism industry.

The wounds left are not too quick to heal given the massive damages left to once hotel and lodge owners, the global flight disruptions with some flight operators pulling out of crushed economies, and the hotels shut down because clients are restricted from travelling and gathering at full capacity.

It was estimated that over 70% of  Ugandan employees in the tourism sector were to lose their jobs and yet this was their major source of employment. With this vital sector at a halt, our economy experienced a dramatic contraction in GDP of up to 80% and a subsequent rise in unemployment. In 2018, Tour Hotel Businesses had registered an accumulation of over US $1.6B in forex and employed close to 700,000 men, women, and youth which was adversely downsized in 2020 and through 2021, the recovery has been a struggle.

Sadly, while the industry was collapsing, it was doing better and thriving in other countries like Tanzania. Amid the pandemic guidelines on how nations were to keep the spread of Covid19 in check, Tanzania proposed to sustain its economy unconventionally. Indeed their way was more fruitful because, within the period of the economic recession, Tanzania was gaining revenue of close to 34871 TZ shillings from tourists only.

During these times, the very nations that were most affected countries came forth to criticise then President of the Republic of Tanzania, H.E the late John P. Magufuli for mishandling the pandemic and putting at great risk the lives of his countrymen. His nonchalant character received plenty of backlashes and his speeches regards to the pandemic rubbed off negatively on many leaders. In one of his speeches about the lockdown, the late said, "Our founding father was not someone to be directed to be told what to do... Those who devise these kinds of rules [lockdown] are used to making these directives that our founding father refused," referring to Tanzania's first leader Julius Nyerere's habit of rejecting advice from Western nations.

Unlike Tanzania, Uganda has been too quick to seek loans and receive all sorts of donations to fight the pandemic that is hardly affecting the economy than the measures to control it themselves. Again, Magufuli is quoted to have rejected donations intended to fight the pandemic. "We need to be careful because some of these donations to fight coronavirus could be used to transmit the virus. I want to urge you Tanzanians not to accept donations of masks, instead tell the donors to go and use them with their wives and children," he mentioned. From the prime of his legacy to his untimely demise, no other President stood as firm as him on his faith during the pandemic.

It will and is still very disheartening that Uganda has not emulated the example of her neighbours, Tanzania and Kenya which recently lifted the curfew measure. In times such as these were all measures in place to curb the spread of the virus have greatly contradicted the narrative of God's Word, it is good to reflect to see what the results of the nations that followed the science are in comparison to those of nations that have rejected this and relied solely on faith.

By James Tumusabe

The writer is a member of the National Christian Students Association (NCSA Youth)