Details have emerged that top officials from Bank of Uganda led by Deputy Governor, Dr.Louis Kasekende, Chairman of Dfcu bank Jimmy Kiberu and city lawyer Apollo Makubuya from MMAKS Adocates yesterday at Serena Hotel Kigo Golf Course in a bid to frustrate Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, in case she blocks a fresh probe of BoU by parliament’s Committee on Commissions, State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE).

Sources say the officials met after realising that Kadaga would go by the call by two petitions that recently urged her not to allow a second BoU probe meant to help top officials there to clean their names that were tarnished during the first probe that started in late October 2018 and ended in February this year, pinning BoU officials on negligence and irregular closure of seven commercial banks as they didn’t follow the established guidelines.

Days ago Chairperson of COSASE Mubarak Munyagwa appointed a select subcommittee headed by Makindye East Member of Parliament (MP), Ibrahim Kasozi to probe BoU again especially over the Shs478 billion as that BoU claims it injected in Crane Bank limited (CBL) as liquidity support during its receivership that took place between October 20 2016 and January 25, 2017. BoU closed CBL due to undercapitalisation.

Sources at parliament say the Speaker has been upset by the reports that senior individuals in government are plot against parliament and moreover using both Munyagwa and Kasozi to frustrate her work.

However, during the first COSASE probe of BoU, it was established that Shs478 billion was not properly utilized for the purpose as the Auditor General John Muwanga established that Shs320 billion of that money could not be accounted for as BoU did not present all documents required, moreover it was worsened by the fact the BoU acted as a lender and borrower in the transaction.

Months ago, Kasekende wrote to Muwanga pleading for an audit on account of finding new documents related to the use Shs478 billion but the former declined, arguing that he had already than his job and that only parliament could order him to revisit the audit, a response that displeased BoU officials who are fighting hard to clear their names.

Recently the same BoU officials led by Kasekende carried the documents to parliament but were sent away for not coming along with the accountant of the bank and all required documents to support the use of Shs478 billion that the bank wants shareholders of CBL to repay yet they were not involved in the transaction. Sources within the bank also say CBL only needed Shs150 billion to keep afloat even though BoU officials sold the bank to its rival DFCU Bank at Sh200 billion, paid in installments.

Two separate petitions were days ago delivered to Kadaga pleading with her to block Munyagwa’s Cosase from conducting fresh investigations into BoU’s sale of seven commercial banks.

The petitioners, Michael Businge a resident of Nsambya, Kampala and Sam Kakuru a student of Uganda Christian University contest that it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money on a ‘syndicated move’ to clear BoU officials of wrongdoing.

The Speaker who supervises all the committees of parliament is expected to look at the merits in the petitions and the rules that guide Parliament to take a decision.

The petitioners argue that the House Rules of Procedures do not give Cosase powers to re-examine its reports and accused MPs of creating a backlog.

“These exercises cost taxpayer’s money and must be performed lawfully. [We cannot keep repeating the same things uncles there is something MPs are not telling Ugandans… This is to request you to prevail on the said Committee not to spend state resources (money and time) on a re-examination which is outside its mandate” Businge says in his petition to Kadaga.

On the other hand, Mr Kakuru, another petitioner, argues that the direction being taken by the Committee amounts to “contempt of parliament” hence asking the Speaker to relieve Mr Munyagwa of his duties as Committee Chairperson.

He argues that the select sub-committee headed by MP Kasozi with instructions to hear the BoU officials in closed meetings which is questionable.

“The Sub-Committee headed by Hon Ibrahim Kasozi is ultra vires on grounds that it conducts its proceedings behind closed doors. The issues of banking sector (Central Bank) are of public/tax payer concern,” he says.

The petitioners want parliament instead to act on the recommendations listed by the first probe headed by MP Abdu Katuntu as regards the irregular closure of banks and misuse of taxpayers’ money in the process.

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Now that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has come into force , policymakers and the business community should prioritize, develop, and implement smarter local strategies to seize the rising opportunities in manufacturing and industrialization across a variety of sectors and increase the global competitiveness of the continent.

Right now, only 10 African countries (Mauritius, South Africa, Seychelles, Morocco, Tunisia, Botswana, Algeria, Kenya, Egypt, and Namibia) are ranked among the top 100 most competitive countries in world, per the 2018 Global Competitiveness Index. Given that an integrated continent will have a larger supply market, decreased trade restrictions, and free movement of people, manufacturing specialization will accelerate and make Africa’s industrialization globally competitive.

As we have noted before, if the AfCFTA is successfully implemented, Africa’s manufacturing sector is projected to double in size with annual output increasing to $1 trillion by 2025 and create over 14 million jobs. Notably, one of the key objectives of the AfCFTA is to “enhance competitiveness at the industry and enterprise level through exploiting opportunities for scale production, continental market access and better reallocation of resources.”

One pathway to success will be effective AfCFTA implementation and better national ownership and alignment with Agenda 2063, the African Union’s strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent. Agenda 2063 aims at creating a “strong, united, and influential global player and partner,” turning African countries into the best performers in global quality of life measures and accelerating inclusive growth, including through industrialization, import substitution, and employment.

Unsurprisingly, manufacturing and industry—fundamental for overall economic growth and poverty alleviation—feature prominently. A robust manufacturing industry can provide well-paid jobs for large numbers of low-skilled workers, increase average household incomes, boost domestic demand, stabilize economies against external shocks, and contribute to innovation and diversification.

The AfCFTA and Agenda 2063 hope to reverse Africa’s premature deindustrialization and tap into the vast number of manufacturing opportunities that persist, including in software, auto components, industrial and business machinery, chemicals, agro-processing, and clothing and footwear subsectors, among others. Indeed, some countries already claim advantages in certain subsectors. One example is Kenya, whose relatively strong industrial manufacturing sector accounts for nearly 20 percent of the country’s economic activity and 12.5 percent of all formal jobs, and which has become the primary supplier of motor vehicles for East African markets.

National efforts toward a globally competitive industrialization

Already, in countries such as Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa, business-to-business spending is a major contributor to growth, and these countries are beginning to implement policies to capitalize on this opportunity. Increased business-to-business spending will also improve African firms’ ability to specialize—an essential determinant of growth in manufacturing—as necessary inputs can be sourced from other businesses or neighboring markets, rather than produced in-house. The projected increase in Africa’s business-to-business spending in manufacturing by $200 billion to a total of $666.3 billion by 2030 presents further opportunities to advance manufacturing for the continent given the free trade area. In fact, manufacturing goods constitute a higher percentage of intra-African exports, compared to extra-African ones (41.9 percent compared to 14.8 percent in 2014). The business-to-business market is made up of thousands of firms, many of them smaller businesses, with substantial demand for materials, goods, and services across a wide range of sectors.

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Tanzanian Premier League champions Simba Sports Club have withdrawn from the 2019 Cecafa Kagame Cup.

Simba cited the short period between the conclusion of last season and the start of next season as the reason because they want ample time to concentrate on pre-season before starting their title defence for the 2019/20 season.

“Simba Sc would like to inform stakeholders as well as our fans that the club will not be participating in the upcoming Cecafa Kagame Cup,” the club said in a statement.

“The main reason why we will not be taking part in the tournament is the short period of time we will have for pre-season ahead of the start of the next season.”

The annual regional club showpiece, which is contested by clubs that win their domestic leagues, is set be staged in Kigali and Rubavu, in Rwanda, from July 7th to 21st.

KCCA FC will represent Uganda at this year’s tournament after winning the 2018/19 StarTimes Uganda Premier League.

The last time a Ugandan team won the championship was back in 2005, Police FC under Sam Timbe by defeating Moro United 2-1 in the final.

Zesco United of Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo duo AS Vita and Motema Pembe have already confirmed their participation.

The winner of the annual tournament will smile home with prize money worth USD 30,000.

The CECAFA Club Cup is a football club tournament organised by CECAFA. It has been known as the Kagame Interclub Cup since 2002, when Rwandan President Paul Kagame began sponsoring the competition.

Azam FC from Tanzania are the defending champions while Simba are the record holders of the competition winning it six times.

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Uganda on Friday joined the rest of the world to celebrate the World Food Safety Day that is aimed raising awareness about the dangers of unsafe food with governments, producers, handlers and consumers.

This is the first World Food Safety Day to be celebrated globally since the United Nations General Assembly, adopted a resolution proclaiming it on 20th December, 2018.

Every year, nearly one in 10 people in the world fall ill and 420,000 die after eating food contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances. Unsafe food also hinders development in many low- and middle-income economies, which lose around US$95 billion in productivity associated with illness, disability, and premature death suffered by workers.

The day has been held under the theme: ‘Food Safety, everyone’s businesses peddled at calling everyone to be involved in promoting food safety to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks. As we celebrate, it is a time to raise awareness on food safety standards and their relevance in consumer protection.

According executive director of UNBS, Ben Manyindo, Food safety is key to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that include ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, promoting good health and wellbeing, while ensuring sustainable consumption and production.

“In line with our mandate of developing and promoting standards for quality products and services, UNBS developed 3,621 standards of which 1,317 are compulsory standards designed to protect the health and safety of consumers,” he said

The food safety standards are both general and product specific. Some of the notable general food safety standards include: US 45: 2019 – General standard for food additives specifies guidelines for the use of food additives and lists safety levels suitable for use in specific food products or food product categories.

US 28:2002 – Code of practice for hygiene in the food and drink manufacturing industry specifies minimum requirements for factories and employees engaged in the manufacture, processing, packaging, and delivery of foods for human consumption.

US CAC/RCP 39:1993 – Code of hygienic practice for precooked and cooked foods in mass catering deals with the hygienic requirements for cooking raw foods and handling cooked and precooked foods intended for feeding large groups of people.

He called upon consumers, manufacturers, traders and other government agencies to use standards to improve food safety and combat outbreak of food borne diseases in Uganda and the rest of the world.

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