Jane Nafula
1 March 2008
Bundibugyo — TITUS Lucretius Carus, a first century philosopher said oneman's meat may be another's poison. But Dr Emmanuel Otaala and Mr Joseph Matte could not remember this when they met to celebrate the end of the Ebola outbreak at Boma grounds in Bundibugyo last Wednesday.
Mr Matte, the MP for Bughendera County, used the occassion to remind the public not to heed calls to abandon their delicacy - monkey meat or enkende as the Batooro love to call it.
Bundibugyo was the epicentre of Ebola that hit Uganda late last year.
In an attempt to establish the origin of the deadly Ebola virus, the government has pointed a finger at the Bundibugyo resident's insatiable hunger for monkey meat.
President Museveni went further when he ordered an investigation to establish the cause of Ebola and warned the people of Bundibugyo to desist from eating monkey meat - their delicacy.
This and the numerous reports seem to have angered Mr Matte who wasted no time in telling off the government , represented by Dr Otaala, the state minister for Primary healthcare to get off their tasty monkey.
"I am a Mukonzo from the mountains and time immemorial, people here have been eating monkeys and other animals including those bitten by snakes but they are still living," asserted the MP.
"My great, great grand parents were eating monkeys and I also eat monkeys but I have never contracted Ebola."
He signed off with a piece of advice for the government.
They should look for the root cause of Ebola elsewhere but keep off the monkey. "It was imperative for the Ministry of Health to work with other investigators to find the root cause of Ebola," Mr Matte said.
Came Dr Otaala's turn to speak. Straightening his grey suit, his T-shirt beamed the words" Uganda is now Ebola-free,". He picked the microphone.
The medical doctor from Tororo district could have wondered how he could confront a people led by their MP on a subject as delicate as it can be dangerous on their own turf.
On his mind could have been the contradiction from the government whether to eat not to eat monkeys. His cabinet colleague and State Minister for Agriculture Kibirige Ssebunya had some 12 years ago advised residents of Kalangala District to eradicate the nuisance monkeys that were destroying their crops. If you can't chase them, eat them, Dr Ssebunya had said.
So how was Dr Otaala going to contradict a senior cabinet colleague?
But Dr otaala, a Jopadhola, is a man made of tougher mettle. And speak he did.
He said his ministry will not allow people to continue eating animals that are likely to expose people to diseases. He warned that the Wild Life Act prohibits people from eating wild animals and to show determination, he instructed the Resident District Commissioner, Mr Samuel Kazinga, to ensure that legal action is taken against the culprits.
"Before you eat monkeys, you kill them and the law doesn't allow this because monkeys are among the protected wild animals," Dr Otaala said.
The threat was based on preliminary reports that the first people to contract the hemorrhagic fever in Bundibugyo had eaten the meat of a dead goat or a monkey that was infected with the Ebola virus.
The disease claimed the lives of 37 people including five health workers from Bundibugyo and affected 149 others.
The last person to be infected by the virus was discharged on January 8, 2008. Dr Otaala said although his ministry had not yet established the reservoir for Ebola, people should desist from eating monkeys. He said they can spread a number of diseases to human beings.
During the outbreak of Marburg -another hemorrhagic disease that hit Kamwenge District last year - health experts said the cause of the disease was not known but that birds, monkeys, rats, and bats could carry Marburg.
The LCI Chairman of Bundibugyo Central, Hajji Abdu Issa, said game meat is eaten by a few people. He estimated that about 5 per cent of the district's population of 130,000 people eat wild animals like monkeys, baboons and rats among others.
This means that about 6,500 people in the district eat wild animals. Hajji Issa said this practice was common among the Bakonzo living in forested areas and the Bamba in neighbouring Ituri forest. He said in most cases, the animals are trapped in gardens as they attempt to destroy crops.
Hajji Issa, however, said that the district leadership was sensitising residents on the dangers of eating wild animals.
Minister Otaala asked the district to forward the files of health workers who died of Ebola and the survivors to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development so that they can be compensated.
He called for the strengthening of community disease surveillance through village health teams as well as ensuring universal disease control practices in all health centres.
The Director General of Health Services, Dr Sam Zaramba, apologised on behalf of the Ministry for failing to immediately respond to Ebola in Bundibugyo. He said they took long to detect this particular subtype of Ebola because it was of a new species.
Laboratory experts from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA, provided support to the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in diagnosis and analysis of samples.
Specimens from suspected cases were collected and referred for laboratory confirmation to a joint CDC and UVRI team in Entebbe, Uganda.
There was time to lay wreaths on graves of Ebola victims, time to dance to the famous Bakonzo and Bamba jigs, and yes, a meal could be shared this time among all which was a different case from that at the peak of Ebola in December.
But as whether who won the monkey-meat contest between Dr Otaala and Mr Matte, it is difficult to tell. It remains to be seen whether Bundibugyo residents will choose Minister Otaala's advice or MP Matte's monkey-eating habits. Afterall old habits die hard.
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