HOTELS IN ARUA CITY CAUTIONED AGAINST HIDING TRAVELLERS FROM DRC

Arua RCC Betty Akello Otekat (in pink) chairing an Ebola task force meeting with hotel owners recently.

By Erema George

Arua City

Efforts to contain the spread of the Ebola virus disease in Arua city has continued to be prioritized with meetings now been taken to different business sectors operating within the city in order to ensure increased vigilance in highly risky spots.

In a meeting organized by the ministry of health and the Ebola task force to address the Hotel owners in the City on June 7, the Hotels and hospitality centers operating in Arua city have been spotted as hideout zones for many travelers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the Epicenter of the disease after many managers confirming to the authorities that they receive and accommodate Congolese travelers in their hotels.

However, the hotel owners have been urged to cooperate with the taskforce and the ministry of health to ensure high vigilance in order to manage the situation of Ebola in the city.

The Commissioner for institutional and health workforce development and a member of the national Ebola task force Dr. Alfred Driwale cautions that, “When you have people who are particularly the Congolese group, they are high risk and if they are in your hotel, you volunteer that information to us before you inform them, we would like to manage that process not you. If you go ahead and start managing it and we discover it retrospectively, then you are crossing a certain red light,” Dr. Driwale Cautioned

“The intention is not to scare them and run away. Let us cooperate and solve the problem. As a hotel owner, knowing that the Congolese border is closed and you are busy receiving them, it means you are abating crime” he added.

Dr. Alfred Driwale, Commissioner for institutional and health workforce development and a member of the national Ebola task force.

Equally, the Commissioner in charge of Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) in west Nile Obedi Collins Gertrude, urged the hotel owners to immediately report those who have visited their hotels for scrutiny by the intelligence officers to know their statuses;

“We must all remain vigilant and make sure we take charge of whoever comes as a visitor and whoever comes in must be recorded afresh and they bring it to the intelligence office the next day so that they too scrutinize and understand that these are the right people or the wrong people.” Obedi stated.

Obedi Collins Gertrude, Commissioner in charge of Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) in west Nile.

While Arua Resident City Commissioner (RCC) Rt. Maj. Gen Betty Otekat Akello warns that lack of cooperation in handling the cases may result into a lockdown, urging the hotel owners to coordinate with the task force to be able to make swift decisions, “You are the frontline eyes, a single unregistered case or guest from across will trigger a lockdown and we don’t want to get into that,” Akello warned, urging hotel owners to cooperate with the task force.

“I have given you my directives that if you have any arrangements, let it pass through me. I also have a task force that I can convene within immediate time possible then we discuss about your issue and see how best we can solve it,” she emphasized.

Arua RCC Betty Akello Otekat.

On a positive note, the hotel owners have expressed readiness to cooperate with the task force and the ministry of health preventive measures.

Mori Samuel Sidoro, the managing director of Sidoro hotel calls upon fellow managers to protect lives of the people, “We must report those community definition of Ebola we have noticed in our place through the SMS and calls and refer those people to health units for management and if we can protect ourselves to protect other lives, we can fight this epidemic,” Mori urged.

Whereas Joseph Kyobe Wambi, the director of Bamboo village encourages that, “If the authorities are telling us this and that, let’s comply. But also the security team are not our enemies, I believe that they are our partners.so when we see them, let’s receive them, let’s cooperate with them, and if there are challenges, let’s communicate ahead of time.” Kyobe noted.

Arua city features a variety of full service hotels and hospitality centers that offer standard accommodation, dining and conference venues which could easily increase contraction of Ebola if not managed well.