Ministry of JCT and National Guidance

UGANDA MEDIA CENTRE

CABINET DECISIONS TAKEN DURING THE CABINET MEETING

HELD ON MONDAY 1st FEBRUARY, 2021 AT STATE HOUSE
ENTEBBE

1. Approved the proposal to borrow up to USO 166 Million and Euro

200 Million from the African Export Import Bank (AFREXIM); and
Euro 200 Million from Trade and Development Barne, to finance the
development and infrastructure budget for the FY 2020/2 l.

2. Approved the proposal borrow

Special Drawing Rights (SOR) 57.0
to
Million (equivalent to USO 78.2 Million) from the International
Development Association (lDA) of the World Barne Group to finance
Uganda investing in Forests and protected areas for climate-smart
development project which include:

(i) Sustainable management of forests and

protected areas, increase
revenue from forests and wildlife protected areas, tree planting
on private land and address the impact of refugees on forestry
and environment in refugee hosting districts and that in
addition, the project will be implemented in the Albertine
region and the refugee hosting districts in West Nile region and
Lamwo district.

3. Approved the recommendations for reopening of Education

Institutions to Non-Candidate Learners during the COVID-19
Pandemic period as follows:

(i) That the Education Institutions be allowed to open for non-

candidate classes in a staggered manner that will ensure

compliance with COVID 19 Standard Operating Procedures

(SOPs) and safety.

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(ii) That the pre-primary schools should not be re-opened because

observe the S0Ps and are

Learners in this category cannot
and in
prone to respiratory infections including COVJD-19
addition, most of the pre-primary schools are day and therefore,
between the Learners, Teachers and
there is a lot of interface
Parents increasing the risk of infection.
hence

(iii) The Leadership of the Ministries of: Education and Sports; and
Health will undertake a countrywide tour of schools and
ascertain their preparedness to reopen for non-
Institutions to

candidate classes.

(iv) ln order to complete the academic year and ensure progression,

the semi-candidate classes (P6, S3 and S5) should report back
to school in the short term and study (in shifts where necessary)
with the Candidate classes.

(v) Given that PLE will be completed on 31st March, 2021 and
UCE on 6th April, 2021, there will be more space in schools,
when candidates leave, to enable the other classes report back
and study to complement home schooling.

(vi) For the studying in shifts, Teachers will be guided to

classes
work through the home-schooling materials with a view of

explaining and clarifying concepts and correcting self-study

work done by Learners at home.

the class will be based attendance and

(vii) Promotion to next on

continuous assessment of class work and assignments.

(viii) The Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET)

and

Institutions,Primary Teachers' Colleges (PTCs) and National

Teachers' Colleges (NTCs) should also open in the short term

provided they are able to observe the SOPs.

(ix) Primary Teachers' Colleges and National Teachers' Colleges

have the infrastructure capacity for the number of students
enrolled to observe the social distancing requirement, therefore

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all students in these colleges should be allowed to report back
with. the final year students.

(x) The Universities will open in a staggered manner that will

ensure compliance with COVID 19 Standard Operating

Procedures (SOPs) and safety.
(xi) Prior to the re-opening of Education Institutions, the Ministry
of Education and Sports, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local
Government and other key Ministries in conjunction with Local
Governments will carry out a massive awareness campaign to
enable Parents and Learners prepare for the re-opening.

(xii) Education Institutions emphasize preventive actions for

should
Learners and Staff on a daily basisas stipulated in the S0Ps and
this should include training of Staff on the SOPs so as to enable
transfer of knowledge to the Learners and other workers in the
Education Institutions.

(xiii) The SOPs should continuously be reviewed and updated based

on the trend of the pandemic and in view of this, the Ministry of
Education and Sports and the Ministry of Health will review the
SOPs and guidelines in light of the emerging issues before the
reopen mg.

(xiv) The Ministry of Health will constitute a team of Doctors to visit

schools affected by COVID-19 in support of schools and

District COVID-19 Task Forces.

(xv) All Learners required to wear face masks and parents

will be
shall be encouraged to provide two (2) face masks for each of
their children.

(xvi) Routine School Health Systems for surveillance

Information

purposes should be developed and these will be used for day-to-

day reporting on absenteeism, illness, symptoms and disease

surveillance efforts to detect and respond to the outbreak.

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 (xvii) An absenteeism monitoring plan should be developed to track
attendance of Learners, Teachers and non-teaching Staff to

enable monitoring and alerting of local Health Officials about

large increases in Learner and Staff absenteeism, particularly if
the absence is due to respiratory illness.
(xviii)A communication plan should be developed to enable sharing
of information within the school community on issues of
COVID 19 and this plan should include strategies for sharing
information with Staff, Students and their families.

4. Approved the procurement Eighteen Million (18,000,000)

of doses of
COVID-l9 Vaccines and noted the update on the COVID-19 situation
in the country as follows:

(i) The Ministry of Health working together with the National

Medical Stores has placed an order of eighteen million

(18,000,000) doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine from the Serum

Institute of India, which will be used to vaccinate persons from

the age 50 years and above, persons with underlying health

conditions, health workers, security personnel, teachers among

other essential social service providers.

(ii) Each eligible individual will receive two (02) doses separated
by 28 days and each dose costs USO 7, which amounts to USD

14 per person.

(iii) The international transportation and handling costs by National

Medical Stores is USD 3 and thus, a total cost for vaccine

regimen is USD 17.

(iv) The order placed wilJ only be confirmed upon remission of

USD 5,000,000 (Five Million dollars) as down payment out of

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(v) The COV AX facility managed by the Global Alliance for

Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVl) has communicated to

Government of Uganda, a tentative allocation of 3,552,000

doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine due by end of February or

beginning of March 2021.

(vi) The indicative doses are expected to be available to Uganda on

quarterly basis; 35 - 40% available in Quarter l and 60-65%

available in Quarter 2.

(vii) The indicative allocation is subject to WHO Emergency Use

Listing (EUL) of the vaccine; manufacturing constraints,

country readiness, the sequence of AMC Participants for the

shipment plan, the time taken to place the purchase order, legal
I regulatory obligations, as well as the supplier's lead time and

related logistics; and availabilityof other vaccines during this

period.

(viii) The Ministry of Health is on course with preparations to receive

these vaccines once they are made available.

(ix) There is an emerging opportunity of acquiring vaccines through

the African Union mechanism being coordinated by the African

Vaccines Delivery A1liance and through this initiative, an initial

270 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been secured

and are expected to grow.

(x) A credit facility supported by Exim Bank is being prepared to

guarantee loans for respective countries should they require

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 initiative, the Ministry of Health will keep give updates as more

information becomes available.

(xi) There is a growing interest from the private sector to participate

the COVID-19 vaccination efforts, however their
m

participation will be guided by the National Task force.

(xii) The interest of the private sector ranges from financing for
their staff and host communities hand
vaccines targeting on one

to supporting the general service delivery components;

information logistics management, importation of

systems,
vaccines and actual participation in vaccination of persons.

(xiii) The Ministry of Health has developed a draft concept note to

guide the participation of the private sector detailing the

regulatory processes and controls to ensure harmonious

implementation of the vaccination activities in Uganda.

5. Noted that the second Airbus Country

A330neo will arrive in the on

Tuesday, 2"d February 2021 thereby completing the consignment for

the Aircrafts procured by Uganda Airlines. -

().,tt"V?

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Ofwono Opondo
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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