AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Immigration Department in Mwanza Region has strongly refuted circulating reports on social media that authorities in Uganda have deported Tanzanian traders who had entered the country for business purposes due to Covid-19 fears.
Mwanza Regional Immigration Officer Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, Bahati Mwaifuge said the alleged nine traders were not businesspeople as reported on social media.
According to the regional Immigration boss, the alleged individuals were Mv Upendo Ship’s crew who had ferried cargo to Jinja in Uganda on February 16, this year.
She said after offloading cargo in Jinja the workers with their vessel, which is owned by Mr Timothy Kilumile, travelled to Kisumu for the same purpose and again returned to Jinja.
“After returning to Jinja from Kisumu in Kenya, they were stopped by police officers for Immigration clearance procedures, including undergoing health screening for coronavirus,” she added.
Ms Mwaifuge said she spoke to the captain of the vessel, Mr Juma Mchalaganya, and the executive director of the company, Mr Timothy Kilumile, who confirmed that the nine people were not traders, but the ship’s crew.
She added that they were safe and were going on well with their activities as usual as they had followed all Immigration laws and procedures.
“Let me use this opportunity to ask journalists before they report or broadcast anything for public consumption, especially at this time of the coronavirus pandemic, let them investigate and balance their stories with authorities who are concerned,” she said.
For his part, Mv Upendo Executive Director Timothy Kilumile said he was shocked with the circulating news, saying the alleged nine people who were said to be businesspeople were not returned to Mwanza by the Ugandan government for fearing the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The nine traders are the crew of my ship and they have never travelled back to Mwanza, but they left the country on February 16, this year, for Uganda even before the deadly disease plagued our country,” he said, reminding the journalists to work professionally by making research and coming out with true and balanced stories.
Meanwhile, the Immigration Department in the Mwanza Region has arrested six illegal immigrants during its operation mounted from March 17-23, this year, according to the regional Immigration boss.
Speaking to reporters, Mwanza Regional Immigration Officer Assistant Commissioner of Immigration, Bahati Mwaifuge said out of the six arrested illegal immigrants three were Burundians.
According to Ms Mwaifuge, one of the illegal immigrants is alleged to be bearing the nationalities of either Kenya or Rwanda while the remaining two also claimed to be Tanzanians, but the authorities are investigating to establish the genuineness of their claims.
