Health Ministry Refuses Fufa To Host Guinea Team In Fear Of Deadly Ebola Virus
Guinea's national team parades before a game
The Ministry of Health has asked FUFA not to accept the Guinea team to travel to Uganda for a 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier early next month.
Uganda is meant to host Guinea on September 10th in a Group E tie at the Mandela National Stadium, Namboole in a night game expected to be played under floodlights.
However, the FA’s Head of Finance, Decolas Kiiza revealed on Thursday night that the Health Ministry had said the Guinea team should not be allowed entry in Uganda.
Guinea is one of the countries in West Africa together with Sierra Leone and Liberia where the deadly Ebola virus has killed many people. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has been forced to have Guinea’s home games moved to a neutral ground.
Kiiza said the Ministry had told them as a precautionary measure to communicate to the authorities that the Guinea team should not be allowed in the country and the match should be rescheduled to a later date.
However, the Fufa official said they have tried to engage the Ministry officials again to let Uganda host the Guinea team and hopefully a clearance letter will be issued on Friday.
Kiiza also disclosed that the Ministry had been reluctant to clear the national team to travel to Ghana next week where they will face the Black Stars in the first Group game in Kumasi.
The Cranes are expected to fly out on Sunday for four days of camping in Niamey, Niger before flying to Accra on September 4th and connect to the town of Kumasi ready for the game on September 6th.
The deadly Ebola virus has been a big worry in the continent with Cameroon also communicating to CAF on Thursday that their game with DR Congo should be moved to another venue instead of Lubumbashi since there have been some reports of Ebola in DR Congo.
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