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Fighting Coronavirus Together: Ministry of Health to hold Webinar on Threat of Fake News in Pandemic

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KIU, Western Campus – The Ministry of Health will tomorrow, June 6 hold a webinar about the threat of fake news in a pandemic, to help enlighten the public about the crucial role the right information can play in fighting COVID-19.

The webinar will be moderated by Emily Comfort Maractho, the head of Journalism and Media Studies at Uganda Christian University and will feature two panellists, Dr William Tayebwa, the Head of the Journalism and Communication Department at Makerere University and Dr Richard Kabanda, the Acting Commissioner of Health Services at the Ministry of health.

Two other speakers will be on Zoom Video call and these are Andrew Mwenda, the CEO of the Independent magazine and Don Wanyama, the Senior Presidential Press Secretary.

The Ministry is currently embroiled in a conflict with Kampala Central Member of Parliament, Muhammad Nsereko, over what they call “uninformed false allegations’ by the MP against the Ministry.

Nsereko accused the Ministry of inflating the price of testing kits for COVID-19, thereby swindling public funds, something which the ministry refutes.

In a press release dated June 5 and signed by Permanent secretary Diana Atwiine, the ministry clarifies on the cost of each testing kit used to test for COVID-19.

“The public is further encouraged to disregard misinformation and venomous allegations against the Ministry of Health,” the press release, posted on Twitter, reads.

The webinar will be screened on UBC TV from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm tomorrow, June 6.