Ekibiina kyobufuzi ekya Kabaka Yekka, UPC y’ Obote Ekiwera:

Obote yekyusiza abaamutuusa!

 

 

Mu mwaka 1965, Omubaka we kibiina kya KY Daudi Ocheng, yayisa ekiteeso kunsonga yokukusa zaabu we Congo namasanga g’enjovu, okubitunda munsi zebweru.

 

Dr Obote, nga Prime Minister, ne Minister Nekyon muganda wa Obote ne Onama Minister wa Defence bebatekebwa ko olunnwe nga bwebenyigira mulukwe luno.

Era Ocheng yaleeta ekiteeso ekirala, Colonel Amin okugira ng’awummuzibwako weeks bbiri nga Gavumenti bw’ebuuliriza.

 

Gwo omukago gwebyobufuzi wakati we kibiina kyo bufuzi ekya KY ne kibiina kyo bufuzi ekya UPC gwafiira ddala mu September 1964. Era 1965 gugenda okutuuka nga bangi ababaka ba UPC mu National Assembly (Parliament) bateesa kulaba nga bawera ekibiina kya Kabaka Yekka. Baakiyita kya bakyewaggula abatagoberera mateeka era abaagala okutabulatabula eddembe mu Uganda.

Abantu bangi baali bakwatiddwa era nga bali mu nkomyo na ddala e Luzira.

Obote yatekawo akakiiko kabulirize ku bya zaabu n’amasanga era abantu bangi ko baawa obujulirwa mu kakiiko ako, ebyama bingi ku kufuna n’okutunda zaabu n’amasanga ne bibikkulwa.

Naye report y’akakiiko bwe yaggwa Obote teyagifulumya! Parliement ye, Cabinet ye nabawagizi bangi aba UPC nebamuggyamu obwesige.

 

Yali asigazza kwesiga b’amagye bokka. Okuyimiriza Col. Amin yakigaana nakuza Amin mukifo kya Brigadier Opoloto. Mukuteesa kwa Cabinet okwaddako Obote yagenda kukwatta ba Minister be batano nabasibira e Luzira Criminal Prison.

 

 

 

 

 The British Judge Allen

 

P J Allen and his judiciary at the time demonstrate the high quality of the judiciary at the time.
 
Judge Allen and Judge Manyindo presided over  the trials of most of the Amin era criminals. A majority of these criminals hired the best lawyers available in Uganda at the time, which invariably was Ayigihugu. Some like Abdallah Nasur were convicted but a good number were acquitted because of lack of direct evidence. Others like Edward Mulindwa even managed to lie low for a while before escaping to foreign lands.

 

 

 I hope your mate WBK does not judge those of us who participated in prosecuting these Amin era criminals as failures, in the same manner that he has judged the ICC prosecutors. Prosecutors are supposed to present the facts before the courts that can convince a court that an accused is quilty. In this, it has to work very closely with the Investigatory authorities, namely the police and law enforcement. In the case of the Amin criminals, the police did not give us enough information from their investigations that would allow a conviction to be  upheld.
It was particulalrly disappointing in the case of Bob Astles in whose case, the judge found he was always around the major killings we charged him with, especially the murders of Archbishop Luwum and Minister's Erinayo Oryema and Oboth-Ofumbi, but we could not connect him directly to the killings. With advance in DNA science these days and coupled with Edward Mulindwa's recent confessions about complicity in the murders, I think a good prosecutor would today nail Edward Mulindwa without doubt. What WBK does not understand, from your debates which I have followed,  is that the ICC prosecutors can only be good as the investigations put before it. The Satatute of the ICC puts a duty on Satte Authorities to cooperate with the ICC in investigating cases referred to it. if a state refuses, objects or even thwarts the invesigations, the direct result is that the Presecutors will not have serficient evidence to obtain a conviction. So Mensouda and her team have so far failed in their prosecution of Jomo Kenyatta, but this is because of the failure of GoK to cooperate in investigations. It is not because Mensouda and her team are bad lawyers as WBK keeps asserting. In fact the evidnce that they had gathered against Jomo Kenyatta was so compelling that any prosecutor would make a decision to prosecute. But faced with alkmost all key or material witnesses withdrawing or disappeared or intimidated, Mensouda had no choice but to withdraw the case.

 

The first important hurdle, that is the establishment of the International Criminal Court, has now been successfully overcome. States party to the Rome Treaty now have to decide ways and means by which they can strengthen the ICC's Investigatory capacity and authority, especially in cases where a suspect or accused  holds or is close to power. The UN Security Council has to give the Prosecutor extra-ordinary powers to investigatewith or without the cooperation of the State concerned. Th UN must also strengthen its Witness protection programme. Lastly, the Security Council must reserve to itself power to punish leaders, like Jomo Kenyatta and Omar Bashir who refuse to cooperate with the ICC investigations. This may mean imposing travel bans, arrest warrants and other other economic sanctions against them so that they the continue to swagger around like Jomo Kenyatta whn in fact they should be locked up in prison as dangerous criminals. 
Written by 
George Okello
 
 

 

Current Ugandan political parties are just like anti-colonial movement parties of a bygone era:

Written by Professor J. B. R. Goya
 
Last Updated: 23 March 2015
 
UPC founder Milton Obote

The term movement legacy was first coined by professor emeritus, Goran Hyden in 2011, and by it I mean a pattern of political behavior that characterized anti-colonial nationalist movements in their struggles for independence.

Half a century since most countries gained independence, this form of behavior continues to shape ruling- and opposition party politics in Africa and Uganda, while frustrating the prospects for deepening democracy.

 

CAUSE-EFFECT

Nationalist movements in Uganda were spearheaded by three main sections: World War II veterans, a small not so well-educated elite class of clerical workers, and leaders of a nascent civil society.  These groups were united by a single but multi-faceted cause, namely to vanquish the colonial masters and take charge of the state apparatus.

Other than this mission, these groups remained committed to their particular identities. The issues were varied and subordinate to the cause. The anti-colonial movements adopted a simple but important strategy of popular mobilization for the cause. It was rare and in most cases illegal to campaign.

Most notably the movement against the British took place at the level of society because there were no representative bodies such as parliaments or legislative councils until much later in the struggle.  Membership to these movements was rather diffuse and fluid, but because there was a single movement, this was not detrimental to its dynamic and operation.

 

The Military Police in Uganda is still busy blocking Dr Besigye 9 months after  the Uganda General elections:

Dr Besigye using a Boda Boda  motorcycle as a get away from the determined Military Police of Uganda.  He has been stopped from using his car.

By Serestino Tusingwire,

 

21 November, 2016

The former Forum for Democratic Change presidential Candidate, Dr. Kizza Besigye has been seen in another rare moment this afternoon when he too walked for some distance before getting a boda boda which he used to travel to town for a meeting.

It is alleged that Police blocked his car as he was trying to leave his home in Kasangati for a certain meeting in Kampala, and this prompted him to abandon the car and use his feet leaving the empty car in the hands of police.

 

Government printer lies neglected. The old colonial building  is in ruins at Entebbe as street publishers flourish:

Here is Joseph Kaggwa, the production manager at the Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation.

 

The printing press is covered in dust, a clear sign that the machine has not been used in a long time. Kaggwa blames the flourishing street publishers for knocking UPPC out of business.

 

By Paul Tajuba

 

Posted  Monday, March 9  2015

 

Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPC) is stationed at Entebbe.

The Entebbe based government publishing house has no business running and the dust baked machines have become a place of abode for cockroaches and ants.

The wooden doors have seen better days as they have now become food for termites.

These are features that stand out when you go to UPPC. When the publishing house gets some business, the staff there works tirelessly to ensure that the out of use machines do not disappoint.

Back in the day

The Government Printer, as it was called before it became UPPC in 1993, had its glorious days though mainly during the colonial days, Obote and Amin regimes.

At the time, the agency was authorised to disseminate information to different government departments and ministries. Through this avenue, duplications and forgeries were minimised.

The printer also dealt in the printing and publishing of newspapers both in English and local languages, the Uganda Gazette, land titles, scholastic materials and envelopes.

Those who worked at the corporation during the golden days have a message of dire straits - asking government to intervene.

How things got out of hand

Joseph Kaggwa-Mubuya, the UPPC production manager has worked at the corporation for nearly 30 years. He says the troubles of the printer started in 1993 when the agency was turned into a corporation but was never given funding.

According to the 1992 UPPC Act, government is mandated to give UPPC money for its operations but the Act is silent on how much government should submit.

Subsequently, UPPC, though under the office for Presidency, has never received money that could have been used to purchase modern printing machines.

Actually, the “newest” machine at the agency was imported in 1991.

In the 1990s when liberalisation of the economy was at its peak, the printing school at the agency collapsed.

“You cannot trace the history of printing in Uganda from UPPC. It used to be the skills centre where even staff would go abroad to enhance their skills but that is gone,” Kaggwa –Mubuya sadly states.

Gud Mbareba, the printing finishing superviser at the agency says the final blow that UPPC got was in 1996 when there was massive staff retrenchment.

He says, “some of the most experienced people were laid off thus the school had to collapse.”

Rebirth

Some of the axed staff found solace at Nasser Road and it was not long before the groupo had established a printing and publishing empire at the strategically located area.

“All those who first owned printers on Nasser Road are former employees of UPPC because they had the expertise and money to buy modern machines. Now UPPC can’t compete with them” Mbareba says.

While Nasser Road is booming with publishing work, at UPPC silence reigns supreme with the machines lying idle.

 

 

 

Government asks for an extra Shs800 billion: 

Mr Matia Kasaija

 

By Yasiin Mugerwa

 

Posted  Monday, 9 March, 2015 

 

IN SUMMARY

In the supplementary request, government would, for instance, spend Shs3 billion on workshops and seminars alone and another Shs4.1 billion on travel expenses.

 

Uganda Parliament-Wasteful budget requests such as special meals, welfare, workshops, foreign trips and allowances as highlighted in the new government supplementary request have kicked off a fuss in a new budget dispute over the request for an extra Shs800 billion the government urgently needs to cater for “unforeseen emergencies”.

The new request, if approved by Parliament, will increase the 2014/2015 budget from Shs15 trillion to about Shs16 trillion amid complaints that the money is going into consumptive areas.

In the supplementary request, government would, for instance, spend Shs3 billion on workshops and seminars alone and another Shs4.1 billion on travel expenses.

Opposition members have, however, criticised the latest cash request as “a political supplementary request” intended to help the ruling party raise cash to finance its campaigns.

“This supplementary request is suspect. What has been paraded as money for travel abroad, workshops and seminars could be money for campaigns,” said Mr Gerald Karuhanga (Youth Western).

The Budget Committee is expected to convene later this week to start scrutinising Mr Matia Kasaija’s maiden cash request as Finance minister designate.

The rising figures

Even before his swearing-in, Mr Kasaija last week requested for Shs847.2b up from the Shs237 billion requested in 2013/14 financial year.

As a rule, supplementary budgets should be a result of unforeseen actions such as natural disasters. However, in some instances, ministries have asked for more funds in the course of a financial year to deal with recurrent costs such as salaries.

Explaining what looks like a policy-reversal on wastage, ministry of Finance spokesperson Jim Mugunga said: “As a policy, there was an across-the-board hold on non-core international travels and workshops. This was meant to manage available resources then. It does not necessarily make workshops and travel unnecessary in functions of government.”

Deputy NRM spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said the NRM party does not get campaign cash from the Treasury and described Opposition accusations as “cheap political games”.

ymugerwa@ug.

nationmedia.

com

 

 

Political Parties in Uganda reject the  EC use of national ID register as NRM government prepares another rigged national election for 2016:

Gen David Sejusa (R) with the vice chairperson of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dick Odur (2nd R) address the press at PPP offices in Ntinda yesterday.

PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA

By Winnie Tabitha & Albert Tumwine

 

Posted  Wednesday, April 29   2015

 

Kampala,Uganda, The Opposition has rejected a move by the Electoral Commission (EC) to use data collected during the compilation of the national identification registration exercise to update the national voters’ register ahead of the 2016 general elections.

Speaking at separate events, various political party leaders said the national ID registration exercise was full of errors and as a result, most Ugandans were not registered.

Addressing a news conference at the DP party headquarters in Kampala yesterday, the party spokesperson, Mr Kenneth Kakande, said: “Many people on the national register did not register for the national IDs and that means if the EC uses the ID project register, many Ugandans are going to be disenfranchised,” Mr Kakande said.

Addressing journalists during the party’s weekly press conference on Monday, Forum for Democratic Change spokesperson John Kikonyogo expressed dismay at the way EC is handling the entire exercise.

“We have failed to get an explanation from the EC on why the old register was discarded and we want them to tell us how those people they are adding to the list applied,” Mr Kikonyogo said.

Democratic Party (DP) secretary general Mathias Nsubuga said the EC should use the previous register. He claimed the Opposition has evidence to the effect that more than 3,000 people appearing on national ID register are not Ugandans.

Uganda Media Centre executive director Ofwono Opondo, however, defended the EC, stressing that whatever is being done is within the law.

EC spokesperson Jotham Taremwa, said the government made the decision that all government departments should use the collected national voters’ data banks for future purposes.

Meanwhile, former coordinator of intelligence services, Gen David Sejusa has said there is no point in going for an election that will be “stolen”.

Mr Sejusa said the criteria of registering voters did not put into consideration verification of citizens.

“You were all registered, but what system was used to establish that you are a citizen of this country? How many of you were asked for a birth certificate, none!” Mr Sejusa said.

Article 61 (e) of the 1995 Constitution mandates the Electoral Commission to compile, maintain, revise and update the national voters register (the same is repeated under the EC Act Section 18).

But Parliament this year passed the Registration of Persons Bill that establishes a national identification register of all persons in Uganda and provides for access and use of the information contained in the national identification register.

editorial@ug.

nationmedia.

com

 

Mu Uganda, aba Prudential Assurance baddizza bakasitoma baabwe amagoba akawumbi ka sente kalamba!

By Benjamin Ssebaggala

 

Added 16th May 2018

 

AKULIRA yinsuwa ya Prudential Arjun Mallik, agambye nti okusomoozebwa kwe basinze okusanga mu Uganda kwe kuguza abantu enkola za yinsuwa kuba tebazitegeera.

 

 

Prudential4 703x422

Okuva ku ddyo: Zephania Dube, akulira ebyemirimu, Arjun Mallik, akulira kkampuni ne Nashiba Nalubega, akulira ebya kitunzi era omwogezi wa kkampuni nga bali mu lukung’aana lw’abaamawulire ku Pearl of Africa Hotel.

 

Abadde ayogera mu lukung’aana lw’abaamawulire ku Pearl of Africa Hotel mu Kampala aba Prudential Assurance Uganda Ltd kwe baalangiriridde nti mu mwaka gw’ebyensimbi oguyise ku magoba ge bakoze basobodde okuddizaako akawumbi kamu n’ekitundu eri bakasitooma baabwe.

Omwogezi wa kkampuni eno, Nashiba Nalubega ategeezezza nti amagoba ge bakoze omwaka guno gakubisizzaamu ge baafuna omwaka oguwedde ag'obukadde 700.

Agambye nti bakasitoma be baddiza amagoba beebo ababeera basobodde okusasula ebisale byabwe mu budde.

kuva ku ddyo ephania ube akulira ebyemirimu rjun allik akulira kkampuni ne ashiba alubega akulira ebya kitunzi era omwogezi wa kkampuni nga bali mu lukungaana lwabamawulireku earl of frica otelOkuva ku ddyo: Zephania Dube, akulira ebyemirimu, Arjun Mallik, akulira kkampuni ne Nashiba Nalubega, akulira ebya kitunzi era omwogezi wa kkampuni nga bali mu lukung’aana lw’abamawulireku Pearl of Africa Hotel.

 

Nashiba ayongeddeko nti omwaka guno abantu bajjumbidde nnyo okugula enkola za yinsuwa ez’okutegekera ebiseera eby'omu maaso era muno mwe basinze okufuna ssente.

Zephania Dube, akulira ebyemirimu ye ategeezezza nti baasalawo okuteeka sente mu buntu obutono abalala bwe banyooma kyokka bo ne babukolamu ssente.

Okwetoloola amawanga agenjawulo mwe bakolera kati batereka ebintu ebibalirirwamu obuwumbi bwa ddoola 900.

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Era temuyinza kwewana magoba bwegatyo gemugemelula ba investors munsi eno egoba mumalwaliro abalwadde badeyo eka bafe kubanga mwe mutunda life and health insurance zobulamu bwabantu ba Uganda!

 

Nyabo byotunda munsi nyingi kyatteeka okubeera ne Life and Health Insurance nga osasula nomusolo gweggwanga awamu. Awo no nenkulabira aba insurance bwebamegana nabasawo abatasobola kujjanjaba balwadde. Oba Medical Stores eziremeddwa okugaba obulungi eddagala. Tekako ne governmenti ya Uganda ezimba amalwaliro, nga Kiruddu, newayitawo emyaka 3 gyokka abebyobuyonjo nebaligalawo. Kitalo nyo.

 

Kyakufera bantu oba bana Uganda tebategeera nga bwokakasa.

Lwaki otunda ekintu mukatale nga tokinyonyola munyukuta enene ba customer  abaguzi ba life and health insurance zebategeera obulungi?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Uganda, the city traffic has stopped moving for hours in the city of  Kampala:

 

Motorists stuck the traffic gridlock along

Motorists stuck the traffic gridlock along Mukwano Road in Industrial Area, Kampala on December 15, 2017. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE 

16 December, 2017

By Job Bwire, Franklin Draku, Damali Mukhaye, Amos Ngwomoya & Stephen Otage

A pregnant woman was about to deliver in her car along Yusuf Lule Road near Garden City following traffic gridlock that has left most parts of Kampala city in chaos.

The woman identified as Barbra Namatovu said she was, together with her husband, heading to hospital to deliver a baby but got trapped in the traffic chaos for more than an hour.
Namatovu was being driven by her husband who told this reporter that they found it difficult to even pull out of the jam and take a different route.
On Friday evening, motorists in Kampala were left cursing after traffic Police department withdrew their officers from the city roads following media reports that they are the cause of traffic jam on most roads in Kampala.

 

The traffic Police boss, Mr Stephen Kasima, said they had withdrawn from all traffic light junctions to let the traffic lights manage the city.

 

 

A lorry truck that was about to catch fire

A lorry truck that was about to catch fire before the occupants jumped out and poured water on the engine. PHOTO BY FRANKLIN DRAKU


The officers were redeployed at all non-traffic light junctions in the city as an experiment to determine if they are the problem, which seems to be the perception by some members of the public.

 

They want motorists to figure out whether there will be traffic order without traffic Police officers being stationed on the roads.
For now, citizens have taken on the duty to direct traffic.
Amid the traffic chaos along Yusuf Lule road, some Police officers were seen trying to force motorists to pave way for the minister of lands but all was in vain as no car could move an inch.
An unidentified lady on a boda boda also lost her phone to suspected thugs commonly known as kifesi.

A tipper truck was also about to catch fire when its engine overheated near Golf Course hotel. Its occupants jumped out and started pouring water on the engine.

 

Motorists stuck in traffic gridlock along Yusuf

Motorists stuck in traffic gridlock along Yusuf Lule Road near Fairway Hotel in Kampala. PHOTO BY FRANKLIN DRAKU

 


At Fairway roundabout, it was a total lockdown by 8pm. Although traffic lights were changing, vehicles were immobile as there was no space to move.

At Acacia Avenue at about 8:30pm, a few traffic officers who were on the road were seen plucking off number plates from suspected traffic offenders' cars.
Some of the most affected roads include Mukwano road in Industrial Area, Jinja road roundabout near Kitgum House, Spear Motors-Nakawa junction, Bwaise junction- Mambule Road and Nakulabye junction, especially Sir Apollo Kaggwa Road, among others.

This comes just days after the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director, Ms Jennifer Musisi, said that KCCA had invested a lot of money in traffic lights to save people from traffic jams, but traffic police were hindering their operation by overruling them.

 

M/s Jennifer Musisi trying to manage the urban planning of the expanding international city of Kampala

 


Ms Musisi’s assertion during the mid-term review of the institutional infrastructure development on Wednesday is supported by Operation Wealth Creation chairman, Gen Salim Saleh.

Gen Saleh, while meeting members of the Police Advisory Committee at Namunkekeera in Kapeere, Nakaseke District recently, said the biggest challenge to investors in the city is traffic jam.
“We are wasting a lot of money in traffic jams. This is the biggest problem in Kampala. I wanted the director of traffic police, Dr Stephen Kasiima, to study the cause of the problem and address it.”

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman, Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, said junctions with traffic lights using old technology are manned by traffic police officers or KCCA traffic warders to control the flow of traffic.
“If we allow the vehicles to move according to the traffic lights on some of these junctions, there will be gridlock in the city. Sometimes the lights don’t correspondent with the events in the city,” he said.
The experience by most motorists on Friday serves to cement Mr Owoyesigyire’s assertion.

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Indeed the urban planning authority is using the backward traffic system operations that have no camera vision!

 

 

 

 

Very interesting observation about the quality of Parliamentary attendance and debate in the national Parliament of Uganda

21 September, 2017

 

 

By Mr Hardy on Twitter

In Uganda, the registered political party of the Forum for Democratic Change is active for 12 years now:

February 22, 2017

Written by Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda

In Bijaaba village, Kyazanga sub-county originally of Masaka but now Lwengo district where I was born and raised, each family occupied at least 40 acres of land around the 1980s and 1990s.

A few families invested heavily in education so their children didn’t have to depend on land. Majority of children from a few families that invested in education landed white-collar jobs and, therefore, remained in Kampala and other urban centres.

 

 

The insignia of the political party of FDC in Uganda

 

 

Land for the families that didn’t invest in education, was subdivided and each son given at least two or three acres to start their own family. The girls were obviously married off.

The children I am talking about are of my age, 43 years and above. Their (our) children are now adults who need to start their own families as well.
While our fathers had bigger land to sub-divide, the three acres given to their children are too few to be shared.

There is hardly any land remaining for subdivision and there is no money to take these children to any sensible school. That is how many of them have ended up in Uganda’s fast-growing industry – boda boda (commercial motorcycle riding).

The current food shortage ravaging parts of Ankole, Buganda, Teso and Karamoja may be partly rooted in our failure to plan for the population explosion our president is always excited about.

Trucks used to descend on our village in the morning and leave in the evening full of bananas. Loss of soil fertility and the banana wilt disease have reduced banana production in our village to almost zero. The little grown is for home consumption. The population explosion has made the situation worse.

And you don’t have to be a statistician to understand what I am talking about. I completed school in 1998 and have since added five human beings to the population of Uganda. I am one of the few lucky ones who don’t depend on land.

Just imagine my father had subdivided his land and given each of us two acres; what would we, in return, give our children?

That is the crisis that we must face head-on. Both the current food shortage and land conflicts are partly as a result of population growth. According to official National Bureau of Statistics figures, Uganda’s population stood at 34 million in 2014. We are now projected to be between 37 and 39 million people.

Mr Museveni and his group went to Luweero to fight in 1980 when we were 12.6 million people; they returned five years later when we were about 14 million because the first census under Museveni in 1991 put us at 16.6 million people.

We, therefore, can no longer depend on subsistence farmers to feed the country. Unfortunately, Mr Museveni goes to sleep, wakes up every day planning not how to feed the country, but how to stay in power.

To professionalize our agriculture, we need a veterinary officer, fisheries officer and an agricultural officer at subcounty level, according to the ministry of agriculture policy statement 2016.

In total, we need 3,236 extension officers at the sub-county level but only 389 have been recruited since the policy was declared nearly a decade ago. Why? We need Shs 39 billion for their salaries, but only Shs 5 billion is provided.

We need a production coordinator, principal agricultural officer, principal veterinary officer, principal fisheries officer, entomologist and an agricultural engineer at every district, totaling 672, but only 77 have been recruited.

Again, money is the problem because less than what is required is provided. This same government has provided Shs 62.3 billion for what it calls Internal Security Organization (ISO) under the president’s office. There is now an ISO operative at district, constituency, sub-county, parish and, I hear, even at village level.

And you know what these fellows are doing? Campaigning for Museveni and his group. All their reports are about FDC activities. To employ extension workers, we need Shs 49 billion; only Shs 10 billion is provided, but for campaigners disguised as ISO operatives, Shs 62 billion is provided.

For an opposition politician, where do you begin to pick pieces? Gen Mugisha Muntu, the FDC president, told us on Friday while reviewing our party’s five-year strategic plan that the real danger now lies in the young people.

By 2040, Uganda will have 80 million people and because of the pressures on land in villages listed above, nearly 50 million people will be living in urban centres. If the planning doesn’t happen now, Muntu believes the economy will collapse. It doesn’t matter who will be in charge.

Thoughts on the future have made us fail to celebrate the little the FDC has achieved in the last 12 years. People forget that FDC was not in existence until December 2005. Trouble is trying to evaluate it on its major mission of removing Museveni. I think the party has grown and some of its leaders are still focused, but the environment under which we do politics continues to worsen.

Muntu continues preaching that we should struggle to remove Museveni but we shouldn’t allow him to go down with our country. And yes, it is not too late to send me happy birthday greetings for FDC.

 semugs@yahoo.com

The author is Kira Municipality MP.

 

 

M/S KYAMBADDE SAYS:"I HAVE NO POWER ANY MORE AS A MINISTER OF TRADE IN UGANDA"

December 28, 2016

Written by JOSEPHINE NAMULOKI

Six years into her tenure as trade minister, Amelia Kyambadde now appreciates one inescapable reality; she was more powerful in her old job of presidential principal private secretary (PPS).

On December 19, Kyambadde told the parliamentary committee on tourism and trade that she cannot make major decisions and that diminishes her performance.

This was in reference to the committee’s concern about the continued influx of Chinese traders in retail businesses and their unfair advantage over Ugandan traders. The MPs said she is not the powerful PPS.

In response, she said: “I want to define my role in this country as principal private secretary (PPS), I was the mouthpiece of the president and I was protected but now as a minister, you are bound by collective responsibility and [I hold] consultations with cabinet.”

“I have to go back to cabinet on every issue. Now, really, my hands are tied. There [as PPS], the fact is I could do anything because I was protected; but here, I am not protected.”

Then PPS Amelia Kyambadde with President Museveni

 

She, however, said she will voice her frustration in cabinet and ask to be allowed time to address the concerns of Ugandan traders, especially in Kikuubo, a downtown business hub, who for a long time have complained about the increasing unfair competition from Chinese traders involved in retail businesses, including hawking.

“I am bound by collective responsibility according to the constitution but I am going to express my will to them [cabinet] so that I am endorsed to perform as I would wish. Being a minister, really your power is limited,” she said.

Dokolo MP Felix Okot Ogong said: “But honorable, you remember the time you went to Centenary park, you were a minister. KCCA wanted to demolish that area but you stood very firm. That was Kyambadde of the time, she resisted the destruction of Centenary park and that was the real Amelia I knew.”

Okot Ogong described Kyambadde of the past to have been very straight, firm and composed.

“But this Amelia [here before the committee] is not the one I knew. This statement here is not you, this is not your mind, me I know your mind completely because that Amelia of then would say no way these people [foreigners/Chinese] must go, Ugandans must have their way,” Okot Ogong said.

He added: “You can look at [your] statement here that ‘the influx of traders dealing in wholesale and retail trade is a potential threat…It is a reality, we are not actually speculating, this is happening.”

The committee wanted Kyambadde to declare that foreign retail traders should leave the country with immediate effect.

“Make a pronouncement that these people should leave this country immediately. What you [minister Kyambadde] are saying is true but we need to have action and political goodwill. Political good will is the one that runs the country. I am an NRM cadre 3:1:1 but let’s have the political goodwill of saying we need the youth of this country to get jobs that have been taken by those Chinese,” Busia MP Geoffrey Macho said.

In October, President Museveni met a group of MPs at State House and urged them to handle Chinese investors with care.

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Soon NRM is going back to the days of barter trade in Africa. One reckons global trade is not a one way traffic road. Much of the products traded in this country of which this government gets lots of tax revenue are not Uganda or Africa made. What is so wrong with a few foreigners(about 5 percent) living and working in this country. This is a black African country that is used to chasing off foreigners and after some years to bring them back in again!

 

The African tribespeople who immigrated into the United Kingdoms of Britain over time, are being stripped off their indigenous citizenship:

By Apollo Mubiru

 

Added 8th November 2016

 

She said that much as in Uganda the law requires to pay $400, this can be changed only through lobbying to have the fee reduced.

 

Uganda High Commissioner to UK, Prof. Joyce Kikafunda (second left) with other Ugandans.

 

The Uganda High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Prof. Joyce Kikafunda has called upon Ugandans in the diaspora to lobby the Ugandan government to acquire dual citizenship.

 

“I understand in the former British colony of Kenya, there was also a big fee like this and the Kenyans in the diaspora lobbied their government and this was removed,” said Kikafunda.

 

She said that much as in Uganda the law requires to pay $400, this can be only be changed through lobbying to have the fee reduced.

“I don’t think it can be removed but can be reduced,” she added.

She was speaking at a monthly special Luganda service at the Church of the Ascension Hulme in Manchester.

This was in response to uproar and questioning of the $400 required as mandatory fee for Ugandans holding other countries passports to process their dual citizenship.

Kikafunda said holding two passports of different countries, one being Uganda is illegal at the moment but until the dual citizenship law has been implemented, no one will be prosecuted for that.

The envoy said much as duo citizens can own property including land, property on lease and own private business, British passport owners of Ugandan origin and of the British Commonwealth of Nations cannot own Mailo or Free hold unless they have received dual citizenship.

(The country of Uganda alongside the international law that makes it was actually a British Protected country of Buganda and not a British colony of Uganda. There is much confusion about who exactly are the natural citizens of the country of Uganda and their Language and Culture, let alone their Passports.)

She appealed to Ugandans who renew their passports to always photocopy page 45 which has their reference in addition to the usual bio date page to make it easy for the original file to be identified in case of loss of a passport.

The service was led by the Vicar of St. Jude and Aidan Thornton heath London Rev. Nathan Ntege who appealed to the congregation to re-examine themselves as to whether they have attained independence at a personal level reasoning that a country’s independence can never be meaningful without liberated citizens both in the mind and economic terms.

Others in attendance were the leaders of Uganda Community in Greater Manchester (UCOMM) led by the Chairperson Hajat Rehema Nnabukeera Kawooya and the treasurer Allan Ssemanda. After the service, the High Commissioner cut a ceremonial cake made in Ugandan colours, followed by a traditional meal in the Church Hall after the service.

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A Parliament of Uganda where these African citizens of the British Commonwealth of Nations are required to lobby their international problems of life in exile is a very dodgy National House of Representatives indeed in the country of UGANDA.

In Uganda, a new housing policy must come out that will bring many more benefits to residing in an African tropical house for all

Written by DENNIS OBBO

Created: 22 July 2016

Mr Dennis Obbo

On May 4, 2016, cabinet approved the Uganda National Housing Policy that seeks to promote the progressive realization of adequate housing for all.

It is premised on the principle of partnerships, involving the ministry of lands, housing and urban development on behalf of government, the private sector, landowners, financial institutions and cooperatives, among others.

In the new policy, the role of government will largely be to provide a conducive policy, legislative and regulatory framework to enable the stakeholders and other actors within the housing sector to act. Under a public-private partnership framework, government will provide key inputs such as the installation of utilities like electricity, water and sewerage on identified real estate development plots of land as well as leverage access to affordable financing for housing development.

Currently, the overall housing situation in the country is characterized by inadequate housing in terms of quality and quantity both in rural and urban areas with a housing deficit of about 1.6 million housing units, out of which 210,000 units are needed in the urban areas.

An estimated 900,000 housing units are substandard and need replacement or upgrading. The National Housing Policy lays emphasis on the regular repair and maintenance of properties. The policy advocates for regular property inspections by competent authorities from the urban and local governments for compliance with building standards.

The policy has five objectives, which include: to increase the production of adequate housing for all income groups from 60,000 to 200,000 housing units per annum, so as to meet the housing needs by 2022; to increase access to affordable housing; to improve security of tenure for property owners; and to improve the mechanisms for development and management of the real estate industry.

The policy is expected to give direction to the country to achieve six major outputs, including: Housing-related policies, laws and institutional frameworks harmonized for efficient and effective housing delivery systems; Adequate and affordable housing for both rental and owner occupier; Institutional houses for hard-to-reach areas and five key institutions namely: the military, police, prisons, teachers and medical workers; Environmentally-friendly, affordable and orderly development of planned human settlements; Improved security of tenure in human settlements through regularizing land rights of beneficiaries; and Environmental conservation through promotion of efficient utilization of renewable energy and other resources.

In line with the policy’s vision, goals and objectives, cabinet directed the mandatory training of all sub-county chiefs in matters of physical planning. This was on realization that urban centres are developing very fast without any articulated physical plans, which highly reduces land available for agricultural production. One of the required skills of a sub-county chief shall, therefore, be physical planning.

Relatedly, in order to address the problem of substandard houses and buildings that are life-threatening from being constructed, cabinet directed that a civil engineer be posted to every county. The engineer will assist communities to develop buildings that comply with acceptable standards and ensure their maintenance in a habitable condition.

In order to kick-start the implementation of the policy and in the interim, priority will be given to the establishment of a revolving fund for construction of low-cost houses especially at district headquarters using monies realized from the sale of former Pool houses and currently residing with the Housing Finance bank.

Government shall also develop a mortgage framework intended to address the reduction of the payable mortgage interest to a level that can attract more up-takers.  Government shall also mainstream the construction of houses for the military, police, prisons, teachers and medical workers under an institutional housing arrangement.

The policy promotes a public-private partnerships (PPP) framework in housing development where landowners are encouraged to provide land for the mass production of housing as well as real estate development.

Through this framework, the private sector investors working with financial institutions are also encouraged to provide funding and technology for housing/real estate development.

Slum upgrading and urban renewal programmes are envisaged within the National Housing Policy and it also lays emphasis on the utilization of local construction materials in housing development. This will be creating numerous jobs for our people, the youths in particular.

The implementation of this policy stems from other government development programmes such as the National Development Plan II, Vision 2040 and the NRM Manifesto 2016-2021 and other agendas with regard to contributing towards achieving the sustainable development goals.

dennisfo2002@yahoo.com

The author is the spokesperson of the ministry of lands, housing and urban development.

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An environmental friendly house in the tropics of Africa must be thought out clearly by the architecture and civil engineers of this age. Many African home owners have messed up their front and backyard compounds in their efforts to have several lodgers because of lack of housing for all.