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 In the song, 38 year-old Robert Kyagulanyi, who also goes by his
stage name Bobi Wine, and fellow artist Nubian Li, croon to a
tune laced with East Africa's signature rhumba melodies about
the importance of personal hygiene.
They also exhort people to regularly wash hands, keep a distance
and look out for symptoms like fever and cough.
Uganda on Wednesday confirmed five more cases of COVID-19,
bringing its tally to 14, four days after it recorded its first
patient.
"The bad news is that everyone is a potential victim,"
Kyagulanyi says in the lyrics.
"But the good news is that everyone is a potential solution."
President Yoweri Museveni's government has already taken a raft
of measure including sealing off borders, closing bars, and
banning public gatherings to contain the outbreak.
Music has previously been instrumental in tackling other
outbreaks in Uganda.
Songs about HIV/AIDS by another Ugandan crooner Philly Bongoley
Lutaaya, who would later die of the disease, helped spread
awareness in the 1980s and 90s and bring down sky-high infection
rates.
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Kyagulanyi, long dubbed the "Ghetto President" for his star power
and songs highlighting urban poverty, has been a headache to the
ruling party since joining politics in 2017.
After declaring he wants to stand for president, he quickly emerged
as a formidable opponent of Museveni, who has ruled since 1986 and
is widely expected to stand for re-election.
Joel Ssenyonyi, Kyagulanyi's spokesman, told Reuters the singer had
distributed press releases on COVID-19 and handed out jerry cans and
soap to drive up hand washing in communities.
"One other creative way of communicating is through music,"
Ssenyonyi said. "Most people love to listen to music so what better
way to put across a message than through music."
In Senegal, activist hip-hop group Y'en a Marre have recorded a rap
about washing hands, disposing of used tissues and avoiding crowds
in their latest release: 'Shield against Coronavirus.'
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Omar Mohammed and
Alexandra Hudson)
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