Matthias Magoola, a Luzira based biochemist announced on local television on Thursday that he was ready to start supplying the hand sanitizer that kills the novel coronavirus in a fortnight.
Magoola who displayed a sample of a hand sanitizer which he named CovaNil assured the viewers that the sanitizer was the game changer at the moment as the world grapples with the novel Covid-19 pandemic.
On Monday 16th March 2020, the Speaker of parliament Rt. Hon. Alitwala Kadaga told parliament that a Ugandan known as Matthias Magoola together with a professor from the U.S. Safarz Niaz had invented a spray that would kill coronavirus and many other viruses.
“I’ve told Parliament that a spray, which instantly kills the coronavirus, has been discovered and is to be co-produced in Uganda. It goes on the market next week. The American inventor, Prof. Safraz K. Niaz, was here at the weekend & donated the patent, free of charge to Uganda,” Kadaga wrote on Twitter on Monday.
Who is Magoola? Mr Magoola Matthias is a broad-based business entrepreneur and professional chemist with over 15 years of experience working with key areas of expertise in the mining sector and medical research.
In 2013, local media published stories about the arrest of Minister Isaac Musumba and Ugandan MP Micheal Mawanda who were held in India on charges of fraud. But the arrest involvedMagoola a businessman who turned out to be a mastermind of the game.
The fraud involved shs 50 billion which he sought from videocon an Indian firm.
Magoola had alleged he wanted to sell ‘un-existing’ minerals to these Indians.
Whereas Magoola had been placed under investigations by Indian police, he later switched the version of his story saying he had been fleeced of his mining licence by Videocon.
Could this sanitizer produced by Magoola be a hoax?
According to the laws of Uganda, Marketing Authorization holders are required by law to provide information about variations to the existing Marketing Authorization. Legally, a Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) of the medicines that are registered is required to be published. Furthermore, legal provisions requiring the establishment of an expert committee involved in the Marketing Authorization process are in place. Possession of a Certificate for Pharmaceutical Products (that accords with the WHO Certification scheme) is required as part of the Marketing Authorization Application. By law, potential conflict of interests for experts involved in the assessment and decision-making for registration need not to be declared. Applicants may not legally appeal MRA decisions.
Magoola’s sanitizer has been received with criticism with many medics saying he is a fake.
