Socialate Shanita Namuyimbwa has hired a legal team as she intends to sue the government of Uganda's ministry of health along with their partners WHO and UNICEF.
This all comes after the ministry clarified that various individuals and stakeholders who took part in the ad about sensitizing the masses about COVID-19 had no contract signed. In a lengthy clarification shared by the ministry, it read as below;
Following the call by H.E the President to the general public to donate or provide free services towards the prevention of COVID-19, a number of companies came out to support the Ministry of Health with some offering a number of items while others supporting in terms of the services they offer.
It is therefore against this background that Precision Communications Consulting Limited came out and donated Media Production services to the Ministry of Health under close supervision of the Ministry of Health. All content and messaging were cleared by the Ministry of Health.
Additionally, Precision Communications Consulting Limited approached various key personalities who voluntarily recorded messages as a way of giving back to their country in this COVID-19 fight, among whom was Bad Black. All these individuals were requested to voluntarily participate, and they consented before any recording was made.
BadBlack, in particular consented to record a message that was appealing to her colleagues who were at risk of contracting COVID-19, and would thus spread it to other members of the community.
Indeed the Ministry of Health appreciates all entities and personalities who offered their valuable time and services voluntarily to support risk communication to various target audiences for purposes of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
The Ministry would like to reiterate that this was done on solely voluntary terms and no contractual or financial obligations were attached to any of the personalities including Bad Black.
The Government of Uganda only paid for airtime on radio, television stations and digital platforms to enable regular airing of messages which Precision Communications Consulting Limited and other media agencies recorded from patriotic Ugandans.
As the pandemic evolves, the Ministry of Health changes messaging and content to inform the population accordingly. As such, Bad Black’s message has since stopped airing on the various channels of media effective 10th June 2020.
The Ministry of Health is now focusing on messaging on effective use of face masks and the complacency exhibited by sections of the public.
The ministry promises to provide facts, be open and honest in it's communication and remain committed to the communities they are serving.
