The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Friday concluded its Annual Meetings, amid growing consensus that regional integration is imperative to a new phase in African prosperity.

Around 2,000 delegates gathered in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to discuss ways to fast-track regional integration after the milestone African Continental Free Area (AfCFTA) was endorsed earlier this year.

“We have had an excellent exchange with all of our shareholders. They were extremely impressed by the work achieved by the Bank, particularly in terms of regional integration,” said African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina at the closing press conference of the Meetings.

“Our AAA rating is preserved and protected … Look at our income. It’s sky-high.”

The theme for the Malabo Meetings was “Regional Integration for Africa’s Economic Prosperity”. Cesar Mba Abogo, the country’s Minister of Finance, said the Annual Meetings had allowed its country to showcase its opportunities.

“This has been a great moment for us. It fits in with our development plan and our investment needs. This is a country that is open for business and open to everyone. We are extremely happy to showcase what we have to the world,” he said.

During the Meetings, the Board of Governors discussed the Bank’s performance, outlook and a proposed General Capital Increase (GCI). Adesina welcomed the “solid support” from the Bank’s shareholders, who gave the go-ahead for further discussions around a GCI. Responding to a question on the Bank’s support to fragile nations, Adesina said: “Every dollar that the Bank spent in GCI led to US$17 of benefit to low-income countries. So the GCI not just for rich countries, it lifts everybody up.”

Adesina said the Bank’s transition facility continued to assist countries emerging from conflict, while its investments played a strategic role in helping countries that find themselves in the “triangle of disaster” – unemployment, poverty and environmental degradation.

The four-day Annual Meetings were attended by ministers, government officials, African Union representatives, development partners and civil society leaders, who gathered to deliberate on the continent’s development agenda.

The next Annual Meetings will be held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in May.

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The High Court has relaxed stringent bail conditions for the Rwenzururu king, Charles Wesley Mumbere and permitted him to go and attend the burial ceremony of his mother, Her Royal Highness Christine Biira Mukirania.

The Queen Mother died on Tuesday morning at Kilembe Hospital where she was admitted. She was first admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of Case Hospital in Kampala where registered improvement and was discharged. The queen mother has been battling cancer since early this year.

During 2016 clashes where the army invaded the kingdom, killing over 150 people, Rwenzururu king Charles Wesley Mumbere, his premier Thembo Kitsumbire and 202 suspects were arrested and tried in Jinja over allegations that they allied with the other forces from Democratic republic of Congo (DRC), seeking for the creation of the Yiira Republic.

He was in 2017 released on bail and slummed with restrictions on not step in Kasese, Bundibugyo and Kabarole till the disposal of the matter.

On Wednesday, through his layers led by Celeb Alaka and Samuel Muyizzi, Mumbere petitioned high Court seeking for relaxation of bail conditions to allow him attend the burial ceremony of his mother.

Justice Eva Luswata, Mumbere allowed Mumbere’s plea and allowed him to travel to the three districts that constitute the Kingdom and cultural practices for the sendoff of his mother.

The judge said since the state did not file against his application, “Court has granted you 14 days to go and perform cultural functions and burial of your mother.”

He was however been prohibited from attending meetings and inciting violence among other activities beyond burial ceremony.

Speaking after court proceedings, Mumbere, said, “I am happy with the judge’s judgement that has allowed me to travel to Kasese to attend the funeral of my beloved mum. I thank everyone that has supported me and may the soul of my mum rest in peace.”

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The Head of the Anti-corruption Unit in State House, Lt Col. Edith Nakalema has confirmed that her unit alongside that of Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Uganda Police, acting under Article 120 (3) (a) and in conjunction with Bank of Uganda is carrying out a special investigation on the bank’s procurement and supply chain activities.

“This investigation is being carried out following an invitation by the governor of the Bank of Uganda and in close cooperation with the governor’s office. The matter under investigation involves a recent procumbent consignment. A number of senior bank personnel, customs and civil aviation authority personnel are being questioned. The Bank of Uganda operations remain intact and uninterrupted .Further updates will be provided in the due course.reads the press released signed by Col. Nakalema.

Earlier Eagle online had reported that te Head of Anti-corruption Unit in State House, Lt col. Nakalema, was set to address the media on the arrest of Bank of Uganda (BoU) top officials over illegal printing of billions of shillings in Germany, sources say.

The BoU officials were apprehended hours ago by security agencies and were interrogated in regard to the allegations that they illegally printed Shs90 billion when they were sent to Germany to pick the local currency printed there.

According to sources, the BoU team travelled to German aboard a chartered airplane to ferry the printed cash to Uganda. The Uganda team was led by a one Dr. Barenzi who is the deputy director in charge of Operations and represented Charles Malinga Akol, BoU’s Executive Director Operations.

Eagle Online has been informed that upon getting to German, Dr. Barenzi and another officer allegedly printed money to a tune of Shs90 billion in excesses and they used some of the said Shs90 billion to purchase personal goods which were as well loaded into the chartered plane. However, upon landing at Entebbe International Airport where they were received by another team from BoU and the security team, the two officials ferried the pirates that contained the balance of the Shs90 billion into their own vehicles and drove to BoU.

Nevertheless, what is perturbing investigators is the fact that between Entebbe and Kampala, the balance of the extra Shs90 billion printed illegally never reached the coffers of BoU.
Sources say that what could have brought incident to light was the insistence by officials from Uganda Revenue Authority based at Entebbe International Airport who also insisted on verifying the bill of lading to verify whether the extra Shs90 billion and bought items had been had been cleared by the Germans before the airplane departed for Entebbe.

Upon receiving the complaint from URA, BoU is said to have initiated its internal investigations on how the flight from German to Entebbe was flown and who was aboard, the exact amount cleared by the printing firm and other items. As the investigation continued, it was revealed that extra cash had been printed and was inserted on to the plane after the billing of lading had been cleared by the agents and the plane authority.

However, according to interrogators, the airplane authority came out first and apologised acknowledging that they had been duped by the two officials to load extra cash and items despite the clearance from the German authorities.
However, it is at this time that Director Malinga who had been on leave got involved because his name had been dragged in, accordingly, Mr. Malinga is said to have informed the Governor Emmanuel Mutebile about the incident and thereafter, the two agreed to brief the President and State House Anti-Corruption Unit.

Upon briefing the president, it is said he was furious about the incident and immediately directed that Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema and head of Criminal Investigation Department, Assistant Inspector of Police Grace Akullo investigate deeper to find out where the said balance of the Shs90 billion is and also established the motive by the culprits.

Storming Bank of Uganda
On Tuesday, June 11, Col. Nakalema and Akullo resolved that the combined team of police, Special Forces soldier investigators storm BoU and arrest the suspects and indeed on Wednesday June 12, the team stormed BoU and picked five directors.

The said directors include Barenzi, three other gentlemen and a lady; they were driven to Entebbe Airport under tight security where CCTV footage of the said day was reviewed. They team established some vital information before the said team travelled back to Kampala for further interrogation.

Eagle Online was reliably informed that upon arrest and further interrogation, it has been established that top executives at BoU have been implicated in the scam that is likely to be the worst scandal to occur at BoU.

Investigators are also trying to establish how such big sums of money could be printed without the knowledge of the top leaders of the bank including both the Governor and his deputy. However, Eagle Online has learnt that by the time of the incident, Governor Mutebile had sought for leave as he was seeking medical treatment abroad. It is said his deputy Dr. Louis Kasekende was in-charge. Governor Mutebile is said to be undergoing treatment at his Kololo home as for the last one month, he hasn’t stepped in office.

Accordingly, Dr. Kasekende and other three directors have been lined up for questioning on how such magnitude of money could be printed without their knowledge and yet they are the final people to clear any printing of money.

The five directors have since Wednesday been quizzed by the combined team of investigators from both police and military and are currently held in incommunicado.
Another area of interest for the investigator is said to be the Shs478 billion that BoU claims to have used during the receivership of Crane Bank.

A probe by parliament’s Committee on Commissions State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) established that BoU officials over the years closed seven commercial banks without following guidelines.

They are believed to have connived to dupe some of the banks of their money. For instance some banks like cooperative bank, Greenland Bank and International Credit Bank had their assets sold at over 90 per cent discount even though some had valid documentation like land titles.
It is also believed that BoU officials took part of the Shs478 billion supposedly injected in Crane Bank Limited (CBL) while in receivership as liquidity support. Yet the Auditor General John Muwanga while auditing the expenditure of the money found that Shs320 billion of the funds could not be accounted for.

One of the top officials at BoU, Benedict Sekabira, during the COSASE probe, told MPs that CBL needed only Shs150 billion to stay operating yet Shs478 billion was allegedly spent for that purpose. It became worse when BoU sold CBL assets at only Shs200 billion to its rival DFCU Bank, which is being paid in installments. That transaction has become questionable.

Dr Kasekende is on record to have requested Muwanga to do a second audit of Shs478 billion but the latter declined to do so on the grounds that he did the first one and that only parliament could order him to do another one. In the first audit, BoU failed to present all documents related to the spending of the money, saying some were missing from their files.

There is concern also that BoU officials are acting behind the scene to have a fresh probe of BoU and especially Shs478 billion which has become a thorn in their fresh.
The printing of extra money above the requisite by officials could confirm the held view by some sections of the public that BoU is fool of corrupt officials who for a long time have swindled public resources for their personal benefit.

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The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) has approved businessman Hamis Kiggundu’s book titled ‘Success and Failure based on Reason and Reality’ to be used by students in secondary schools.

Ms. Grace Baguma, the NCDC director, said after reviewing and evaluating the text book, they found it relevant to be adopted in Uganda’s curriculum to inspire students into investing.

“We evaluated this book and found it useful to our children since it cuts across all the subjects. All schools should adopt it since it is an inspirational material that would inspire students, right from Senior One to be business-minded,” Ms. Baguma was quoted by Daily Monitor.

“Mr. Kiggundu’s book will help to inspire and change the mindset of students, right from the grassroots on how to save and invest,” she added

Before any book is adopted into the national curriculum, it has to go through evaluation processes by NCDC, which involve reviewing for language, relevance and message, among others.

Most schools have adopted a number of books written by foreigners and, therefore, it is time they adopted books written by Ugandans.

Hamis Kiggundu is a well-known businessman who not only trades in Uganda as Ham Enterprises Ltd, but also as Ham International UK Ltd in the UK, Ham International Ltd in the US and Skylight Investments in South Africa.

Eagle Online reviewed the Book: https://www.eagle.co.ug/2018/07/26/book-review-hamis-kiggundu-on-success-and-the-need-to-have-a-sense-of-purpose.html

Kiggundu directly employs more than 1,200 people. He had his primary, secondary, and university education in Uganda and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Makerere University. He is commonly known as Ham.

In his book, Kiggundu says he’s purely a businessman and doesn’t often write books. But he did write this one due to the prevailing circumstances of many friends approaching him on how he managed to make it today.

With the help of his local and international business experience, he basically highlights and explains the areas that may help the reader widen his knowledge on how to manage a business.

He wrote the book in only six days without doing any research at all because it was his intention to pass on his unbiased personal opinion to the readers from a realistic and reasonable perspective. So the book is purely based on his personal realistic opinions.

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