Two Bank of Uganda security officials have further been sent back to the coolers of Luzira prison until Monday, a day when Court is expected to deliver its decision about their bail applications.

Ms. Beatrice Kyambadde and Charles Mollo are grappling with charges of negligence of duty leveled against them by City Hall grade one Magistrates Court on Tuesday this week.

The two however, have appeared before two separate magistrates who vowed to deliver their ruling on suspect’s bail applications.

Kyambadde appeared before his worship Patrick Tulisuna and Mollo before Justice Beatrice Khainza.

Prosecution led by Joy Kalungi avers that Kyambadde committed the offence in February 2015 and Mollo in March the same when one decline to stop the former supervisor of banks in bank of Uganda Justine Bagyenda from accessing her former work place and their failure to check bags containing confidential documents that she had sneaked out.

Prior to presentation of their sureties and fulfilling the requirements for them to be released on bail, Prosecution gave no objection to their applications however both magistrates adjourned the matter to Monday next week.

Ms Kyambadde and Mr Mollo were keeping the access gates that the former BoU executive director for Supervision, Ms Justine Bagyenda used to take out bags suspected to be carrying bank documents.

The two security assistants were arrested alongside Bagyenda’s bodyguard Juliet Adikot and her driver Job Turyahabwe on orders of the Abdu Katuntu, the chairman of parliamentary committee probing BoU over the closure of commercial banks.

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The World Bank on Thursday launched a road inspection report of the North Eastern Road Corridor which calls for improvement of safety measures to make the road safer for all users. The 340km stretch, known as the North Eastern Road Corridor Asset Management Project (NERAMP) covers the Tororo-Mbale-Soroti-Lira-Kamdini road, and is about to undergo rehabilitation and improvements funded by the World Bank.

The report, funded by the Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility, was disseminated to stakeholders at a workshop held at Hotel Africana. It identified several challenges including rapid urbanization along the corridor, poor road design that is inconsistent with the geographical terrain, ineffective and limited speed control measures as well as steep embankments and slopes. A total of 98 accident blackspots were identified in the corridor – equivalent to one blackspot every 3.5km.

“Uganda has made important strides in the past decade to reduce communicable diseases, maternal deaths, and improve the overall life expectancy. Therefore, a concerted action on road safety would bring additional far-reaching benefits for the public health sector, and economic development,“ said Tony Thompson, Country Manager, World Bank.

A World Bank assessment of 135 countries, shows reducing road traffic deaths by 10 percent raises per capita real GDP by 3.6 percent over 24 years. The study, The High Toll of Traffic Injuries: Unacceptable and Preventable, finds that countries that do not invest in road safety lose anywhere between 7 and 22% in potential per capita GDP growth over the same period, which underlines the importance of investing in road safety.

“There is need for UNRA to develop a proper accident data collection and storage mechanism as part of safety appraisal of the designs and maintenance. This can be done internally with Uganda Traffic Police,” said Dr. Godfrey Mwesige, a road safety specialist who carried out the NERAMP road safety inspection.

The report is expected to inform a much safer and detailed engineering design of the NERAMP as well as to enhance road safety management capacity in the project corridor. Proposed safety measures include, changing the design of the road to make it more consistent to the terrain, improving the cross section from two-lanes to four-lanes with guardrails in the towns of Tororo, Mbale, Soroti and Lira and at the Manafwa steep descend, use of speed guns, installation of speed humps, and delineation of horizontal curves to enhance safety for night-time driving with chevron signs.

The Minister of State for Transport, Aggrey Henry Bagiire welcomed the World Bank’s support to the transport sector, a priority for government to drive growth and prosperity but noted the importance of ensuring that the designs and safety measures are forward-looking and cater to the rising population and urbanization trends. “The designs need to change to reflect the changing circumstances. If roads are safe by design, it is possible to reduce road accident deaths by as much as 30 percent,” the minister said.

The Traffic and Road Safety department of the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) will play a leading role in implementing the safety interventions in the project corridor, including raising public awareness and supporting traffic authorities in enforcement.

“The Unit will be coordinating and liaising with all key stakeholders, including the police, the contractor, and the National Road Safety Council. The Unit will follow up on the NERAMP road safety performance and compliance to requirements of the national road safety standards and programs,” said Allen Kagina, Executive Director, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA). “UNRA will strive to continually engage all these partners and to recognise the unique role each of them has to play”.

Two other road safety audit surveys will be carried out during the project life cycle to inform further safety measures and assess the quality of implementation. The NERAMP project is the first of its kind in Uganda to apply the cost-effective Output and Performance Based Road Contract (OPRC) – where payments for management and maintenance of road infrastructure is linked to the contractor successfully meeting or exceeding defined minimum performance indicators.

The project’s development objective is to reduce transport costs, enhance road safety and improve and preserve the road assets sustainably along the north eastern road corridor. The road safety audit is part of a multi-faceted Legislative Action Plan aimed at addressing road safety issues in Uganda, in partnership with Safe Way Right Way, financed by the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF).

The GRSF is a global partnership program administered by the World Bank with the mission to help address the growing crisis of road carnage in low and middle-income countries. The facility provides funding, knowledge, and technical assistance designed to scale-up the efforts of low- and middle-income countries to build their scientific, technological and managerial capacities.

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The Inspector General of Police (IGP), JM Okoth Ochola has urged Police Officers to observe human rights and fight discrimination of women in the course of implementing their duties.

In a speech read for him by the Deputy Inspector General of Police Brig. Sabiiti Mzeei, IGP said the fight against discrimination and by extension violence against women is a national priority with long standing commitment and mechanism to implement the supporting policy and legal framework.

Under the theme ‘Promoting gender equality at workplace in the Uganda Police Force’, the function that was organised by the department of Women Affairs in police, was held at Sliver Spring Hotel in the commemoration of 16 days of activism 2018.

“As an institution, police has paid particular attention in the development strategy which explains the early integration of women into police for over sixty years ago, the institution has invested in training program for officers, enhanced selection criteria and developing human resource especially for women who now play an important role in the implementation of the strategic Policy plan of the institution,” he said.

“We deeply stress the highest commitment of the institution for the promotion of human right as well as the role of female police officers, by recognizing the principal of equally between men and women as a principal of constitutional value entitled in the constitutive Act of our Plan-African organization, ” he said.

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Esther Akwango said, Women Affairs department is looking forward in galvanizing action to end violence against women and girls in Uganda and enhance awareness of the gender concepts, identifying manifestations of violence.

During this commemoration, the department is also committed itself to addressing gender based violence and ensure effective implementation, breaking silence and increase awareness on the mandate of the department.

The Women Affairs department was formed in 2014 with the objective of building a strong force of women officers dedicated to the transformation of the Uganda Police Force, through the elimination of gender imbalances and the improvement of service delivery.

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The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation (MIIC) have selected more than 100 high-potential start-ups to participate in a new initiative designed to spur innovation and job creation across the African continent.

The start-ups include Vezeeta, Avidbeam and Next Protein. They and other selected companies will participate in Africa’s Next Start-Ups program, a joint IFC-MIIC effort that helps provide up-and-coming small businesses with funding and advice. The program connects such companies with potential investors, financial institutions, business leaders, and policymakers. It is designed to support the continent’s budding start-up culture and create opportunities for entrepreneurs, who often struggle to secure growth capital and have few places to turn for guidance.

As part of the program, the start-ups and other entrepreneurs will attend the Africa 2018 Forum in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from December 7 through December 9. The Africa 2018 Forum will take place under the guidance of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

“Africa is brimming with entrepreneurs whose drive and creativity have the potential to transform the industries in which they work,” said Philippe Le Houérou, IFC’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the right support, African start-ups can help create the high-quality jobs that are so urgently needed while reducing poverty and finding solutions to some of the continent’s most urgent challenges.”

More than 500 business from 35 African countries applied to be part of the program. The companies selected represent those with the greatest potential to achieve a positive impact on their communities. They come from across the African continent—including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa. They operate in a range of sectors, including education, health care, logistics, and software.

The initiative is part of IFC’s advisory program in MENA, which aims to boost access to finance, ease business regulations, support entrepreneurs, and help businesses improve governance. With over 56 active projects across 15 countries, IFC’s advisory services are made possible with support from our development partners—Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

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The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Gulu district in partnership with the United Nations Human Rights Council and other human rights bodies are preparing to commemorate the 70th Human Rights Day slated for the December 10, in Gulu town. The Day will be marked under the theme, “Stand up for Human Rights”.

Addressing Journalists at Northern Uganda Media Club “NUMEC), Nicolas Ogwang, the regional manager Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC)-Gulu, said that celebrating the Day is derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. He said it important to mark the Day as it enables people across the world to know their rights, become actors and work hard to ensure that rights of other people are respected.

Geoffrey Okello director NGO Forum also noted that they are taking this period for education and awareness on human rights. The Day’s celebrations in Uganda will run concurrently with 16 days of gender activism.

However, Immaculate Acayo quality assurance program manager at Gulu Women Economic Development & Globalization (GWED G ) said a lot of inequalities exist ranging from gender based violence, discrimination, denial of women’s and orphan’s rights to properties among others. She said it was high time such issues are addressed. She called concerted efforts combat human rights abuses in communities.

Chali Olawole Mongadji, from the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said that the event is important as it strengthens the human rights law.

The preparation team is to visit the prisoners at Gulu main prison and dialogue with them on human right matter.

In Uganda, the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) is mandated to ensure that people’s rights are protected.

Article 52 (1) of the 1995 Constitution lays down the following functions of the Commission: To investigate , at its own initiative or on a complaint made by any person or group of persons against the violation of any human right, visit jails, prisons, and places of detention or related facilities with a view of assessing and inspecting conditions of the inmates and make recommendations, to establish a continuing programme of research, education and information to enhance respect of human rights.

Others are to: To recommend to Parliament effective measures to promote human rights including provision of compensation to victims of violations of human rights or their families, create and sustain within society the awareness of the provisions of this constitution as the fundamental law of the people of Uganda, educate and encourage the public to defend this Constitution at all times against all forms of abuse and violation, formulate , implement, and oversee programmes intended to inculcate in the citizens of Uganda awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights and obligations as free people and monitor the Government’s compliance with intentional treaty and convention obligations on human rights.

Article 52 (2) also requires the Commission to publish periodical reports and submit annual reports to Parliament on the state of human rights and freedoms in the country.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 10, 1948 General Assembly resolution as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations.

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