Kira Road Police is holding a security guard for vandalizing newly installed CCTV camera equipment in Mulimira zone, Bukoto, Kampala suburb.

The guard whose names withheld is working with Senaca, a licensed local security company based in Bukoto.

According to Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Luke Oweyesigire, said the suspect has been leveled with charges of destructing government’s programs and he will on Monday be produced before magistrate’s Court for prosecution.

The CCTV cameras are installed under the National Safe City Project aimed at Playing cardinal surveillance roles on the streets of Kampala and helping police to fast track criminality in metropolitan area and monitoring traffic control

The first phase of the surveillance system installation began in June 2018 and has steadily progressed with a number of 700 live CCTV cameras mounted to monitor Lungujja, Old Kampala, Rubaga, Naalya, Bulenga, Kawaala, Kabowa, Nateete, Mutundwe and surroundings.

All cameras will be monitored at Kikwandwa military facility in Kakiri, Wakiso district where a multi-billion ultra-technology facility is being constructed which began with a construction of an ICT Centre.

Installation of cameras is proceeded by the gruesome killings of dozens of people by unknown assassins travelling on motorcycles. The murders which include the Assistant inspector general of police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi, Muslim clerics, State attorney Joan Kagezi, former DPC of Buyende district Assistant supretenant of police Muhammad Kirumira and other unresolved murders.

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Reports coming in indicate that the outgoing Managing Director of DFCU Bank Juma Kisaame has packed all documents and moved them out of office. Dfcu Bank has already recruited his successor.

Mr. Mathias Katamba will replace Kisaame, whose 11 year stint at Dfcu bank will end in the first quarter of 2019.

Dfcu has had major changes in this year, beginning with the exit of CDC Group from the bank’s shareholding, which leaves Arise Investments BV majority shareholding. His stay at Dfcu Bank has also seen changes on the board of directors.

Kisaame led the acquisitions in the banking industry in Uganda, as Dfcu Bank acquired the assets and some liabilities of Global Trust Bank Uganda in 2014 and later Crane Bank Limited in 2017. The two acquisitions have been queried by the Auditor General John Muwanga’s special audit report of Bank of Uganda on seven defunct banks such as; Crane Bank Limited, Teefe Trust Bank, Greenland Bank, International Credit Bank, National Bank of Commerce, Global Trust Bank and Cooperative Bank.

Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) is probing Bank of Uganda (BoU) top officials based on Mr. Muwanga’s report and given that Kisaame led the purchase of Crane Bank Limited (CBL) and Global Trust Bank Uganda, he remains to be a key witness when the committee scrutinizes the controversial sale of the two banks. Dfcu Bank bought CBL at Shs200 billion and is paying in installments.

Sources say Kisaame could have profiteered from that deal. Recently it was discovered he held US $40,000 on his account in one of the banks in Kampala. Inside sources say some shareholders were not happy with the way Kisaame handled the bank’s business, the reason why some opted to exit.

Kisaame has seen tremendous growth increasing shareholders value, key among which included dfcu becoming the second largest bank, which resulted in three-fold balance sheet growth to more than Shs3 trillion, a customer base of close to one million and a network of 65 branches.

Mr Katamba, who replaces Kisaame from Housing Finance Bank, has more than 15 years of finance and banking experience, 12 of which have been at executive level.

He has previously worked at Finance Trust Bank, Orient Bank, Postbank and Barclays Africa.
Dfcu Bank Chairman Jimmy Mugerwa says the bank believes Katamba is well placed to continue the progress of Dfcu by building on the successes of his predecessor to the benefit of all shareholders.

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Experts attending this year’s Africa infrastructure conference say the continent needs to accelerate its infrastructure development to match the continent’s growing population and rapid urbanization to achieve development goals.

The experts from multilateral development institutions observed that with rapid urbanization and a tenfold increase in water needs for energy production, there is an urgent need to mobilize more financial and technical resources for infrastructure projects and plans, to support the continent’s economic development goals.

Furthermore, Africa’s population is projected to reach 1.6 billion by 2030, according to the United Nations, that would further put pressure on water resources and food production sectors.

According to the African Union Commission, the poor state of infrastructure in Sub-Sahara Africa in respect to electricity, water, roads and ICT, reduces national economic growth by 2 percent and productivity by as much as 40 percent.

“Empirical evidence however suggests that PIDA is already moving the development needle. It will provide the backbone for Africa’s regional integration, trade, investment, food security and competitiveness as economic corridors are beginning to develop through newly constructed road networks and one-stop border posts,” Moono Mupotola, The Bank’s Director for Regional Development and Integration, said.

Mupotola’s remarks underscored expert reviews of regional infrastructure projects in the transportation (roads, rail, aviation), energy and power sectors, under the first PIDA Priority Action Plan (PIDA- PAP 1:2012 -2020) being showcased and profiled at PIDA Week 2018.

Infrastructure transport projects being discussed include the Central Corridor Dar es Salaam to Chalinze Toll Road; the Kinshasa-Brazzaville Road and Railway Bridge; the High-Speed Rail Network (HSRN); the Abidjan-Lagos corridor and Praia-Dakar-Abidjan corridor projects; and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) initiative.

Four regional power projects are also being showcased, namely, the Ethiopia-Sudan Power Interconnector, Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya Power Interconnection, Batoka Hydropower Plant, and Inga III Hydropower project.

The capital cost of delivering the PIDA-PAP is estimated at US$68 billion or US$7.5 billion annually.

Projections by analysts at the African Development Bank and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) show that delivery of the PIDA Energy Road Map would also boost industrialization and promote regional cooperation and energy efficiency through regional power pools.

Presently, 32 percent or 131 of all 433 PIDA projects under the PIDA priority action plan are under construction or already operational, says Symerre Grey-Johnson, Head of NEPAD’s Partnerships, Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Trade Division.

According to officials from the PIDA Secretariat, the continent did not have any One-Stop-Border Post prior to 2009. Currently, 76 One-Stop-Border Post projects have been identified across Africa’s regional economic communities and PIDA: 10 have been completed in East, Southern and West Africa, 12 are under construction, five are being planned and 49 are awaiting possible design and construction.

Africa’s integration agenda is currently experiencing a momentous phase with the recent launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the creation of the SAATM. The PIDA agenda is critical to both initiatives. Forty-four African states have signed the soon to be ratified consolidated text of the AfCFTA.

The Core Team on SAATM Infrastructure led by NEPAD is partnering with the Bank, the African Union Commission, the International Civil Aviation Organization and other partners to reduce fares and costs of travel by 50 percent. It hopes achieve air traffic double-digit growth rates in Africa by 2023.

Deliberations at this year’s gathering of key players in Africa’s infrastructure space are being held on the theme, ‘PIDA Implementation through Good Governance – Realizing Smart Infrastructure for Africa’s Integration.’

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