Ssenyonyi Seeks Answers Over Travel Restrictions on Ugandans After Ebola Outbreak

What the report says

Leader of the Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi has pressed the Ugandan government to explain why some Ugandans are still encountering travel limits and stigma abroad after the country was declared Ebola-free. He raised the issue in Parliament on Wednesday, during a sitting chaired by Speaker Jacob Marksons Oboth, ahead of a planned health conference in Munyonyo focused on Uganda’s Ebola response.

According to Nile Post, Ssenyonyi argued that the government should clarify why restrictions remain in place and what steps are being taken to have them lifted. Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng, who previously served in the health docket, confirmed that Uganda had been declared Ebola-free but said nearby transmission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and porous borders continue to affect how some countries respond.

Aceng said the government is engaging foreign authorities to reconsider the measures. The World Health Organization declared Uganda’s 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak over on August 27 after 42 days without a new confirmed case. Nile Post reported that Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths in that outbreak. The article also noted that the wider regional outbreak in the DRC has continued, with Kenya reporting imported cases linked to it.

WHO has advised against travel or trade restrictions on Uganda and the DRC based on available information, warning that such steps can harm movement and economic activity without clear public-health benefit. Parliament is expected to receive further updates at Thursday’s conference, though the specific countries or restrictions at issue were not identified in the exchange.