Hardly a week after the Ministry of Health distributing 8, 212 treated mosquito nets to the people of Kikuube District, Ms Catherine Nyakato, one of the beneficiaries and a resident of Kyabatalya Cell in Buhimba Town Council, in the same district, mid-western Uganda has been arrested and detained at Kikuube police station for using them to trap white ants.
Ms Nyakato was arrested after the Buhimba town council health inspector, Ms Lilian Tumuhaise, during her field visit, found the offender using the newly distributed mosquito net to trap the white ants on Monday, December 4, 2023.
No sooner had the inspector landed on the illegality and launched a manhunt for the perpetrator than the Kikuube Resident District Commissioner, Mr Amlan Tumusiime, on his way to Buhimba sub-county arrived and together the duo worked jointly to look for and arrest the culprit.
Ms Tumuhaise said Ms Nyakato was later handed to Kyabatalya police post awaiting transfer to Kikuube central police station for further legal management.
Mr Musa Mugisa, the Buhimba town council local government chairman, wondered that although the beneficiaries were first sensitised about the importance of the mosquito nets in fighting against malaria, some including Ms Nyakato have not heeded to the government call for them to use the deliverables for their intended use.
The government distributed 27,789,044 treated mosquito nets to 11, 287,392 households countrywide with an average of 5.1 persons per household in the exercise aimed to fight malaria in Uganda.
