Several members of parliament, staffs, soldiers and voters are feared to have contracted the deadly HIV/AIDS following alleged government’s decision to supply defective condoms to the masses.
In fact, already a suit against government Attorney General and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been tabled before the high court seeking court orders against government to withdraw all the condoms on the market because they are defective.
In a suit dated August 17/2012 due for hearing tomorrow, the plaintiff led by Joseph Seremba through his team of lawyers headed by Lukwago & co. Advocates, wants court to declare that all male latex condoms from Asia by GAULIN LATEX FACTORY, QINGDAO DOUBLE BATTERLY GROUP, QUINGDAO DOUBLE BATTERLY CO. LTD, TIANJIN HUMAN CARE LATEX CORPORATION and KAREX INDUSTRIES) are defective and do not meet the acceptable quality level set by Ugandan standard.
The same petitioners want an order directing government to collect all the fake male condoms manufactured the named companies for destruction and be replaced with batches that meet the acceptable standards.
They also want government to bring before court all the defective condoms in government stores manufactured by these companies, in addition to directing government to carry out a compulsory compliance test on all male latex condoms on market and those to be imported to ascertain their quality.
The petitioners also want court to put an injunction retraining government from importation and distribution of condom brands that are fake and also declaring that the continued distribution of Engabu condoms to the people by the health ministry to yet they are expired is illegal and fraudulent.
The plaintiffs want an order that government makes a public apology to the citizens for its breach of duty in distributing the already condemned Engabu condoms and also an order for a statutory reward of shs2.2bn to the plaintiff.
According to this petition, UNFPA was contracted by government to procure male latex condoms and that in carrying out its duty, the world body was supposed to adhere to the set standards called the Male Latex Condom Specification and Guidelines for Condom Procurement 2003 to which the entity is a member, but according to the plaintiff, it didn’t.
