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Uganda climb four places in October 2018 FIFA rankings

By
Our Reporter
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Cranes

After back-to-back victories over the Lesotho national football team in the group L 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Uganda Cranes has climbed four places in the October Fifa rankings released today.

The Cranes are now in 79th position with a total of 1291 points, and are placed at 16th in Africa.

Uganda Cranes beat Lesotho 3-0 and 2-0, in the home and away matches respectively, to move one point closer to the Afcon tournament in Cameroon 2019.

A brace from Emmanuel Okwi and a Farouk Miya penalty were on target in the Namboole game while Miya netted both goals in the return leg in Maseru.

Cranes next opponent on 17th November 2018 at the Mandela National Stadium, Cape Verde, dropped by one slot to 68th.

East African neighbours Kenya are at 105, Tanzania at 136, Burundi (142) while Rwanda at 138.

The top five countries in Africa are; Tunisia (22), Senegal (25), Nigeria (44), Congo DR (46) and Morocco (47).

Last month, Belgium joined France in becoming the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking’s first-ever joint leaders. Now the Red Devils are in sole possession of top spot, by the narrowest possible margin, 1733 to France’s 1732.

Brazil comes in third, World Cup finalists Croatia in fourth and England complete the best five countries.

Gibraltar was the best mover, moving up by 8 places to 190, while Mozambique fell hardest, dropping by 9 places to 122.

The format used by FIFA is named “SUM” as it relies on adding/subtracting points won or lost for a game to/from the previous point totals rather than averaging game points over a given time period as in the previous version of the World Ranking.

The points which are added or subtracted are partially determined by the relative strength of the two opponents, including the logical expectation that teams higher in the ranking should fare better against teams lower in the ranking.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be released on 29 November 2018.

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Uganda and EU reconfirm partnership at Article 8 Political Dialogue

By
Geoffery Serugo
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The EU Ambassador to Uganda Attilio Pacifici shares a light moment with Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda as other officials look on

Uganda and the European Union (EU) have reconfirmed their close partnership in a Political Dialogue meeting held on October 24, 2018, hosted by President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe.

The meeting was held in accordance with Article 8 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement and forms part of regular political dialogue between Uganda and the EU on global, regional and national issues of mutual interest.

The discussion was held in an open, cordial and constructive atmosphere. The EU delegation was led by the European Union Ambassador to Uganda, H.E. Attilio Pacifici, who was joined by the Heads of Mission of Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Also in attendance in the meeting above were the Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa, Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija the Minister for Security, Attorney General and Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement, Justine Lumumba, as well as other senior government officials.

The topics for the political dialogue ranged from business climate, trade and investment to matters of rule of law as well as regional issues, with the EU thanking Uganda for its positive role in promoting regional peace and security. The EU also expressed its gratitude to Museveni and his ministers for; “regularly being available for a constructive political dialogue.”

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FUFA submits 23 names for 2019 FIFA badges

By
Our Reporter
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Ugandan referees during the Uganda cup final

Twenty-three referees have been shortlisted by FUFA to take charge of selected FIFA assignments for the 2019 season and they are to be confirmed by the world football governing body.

FUFA submitted the list to FIFA yesterday for the referees to be considered for the 2019 FIFA Badges. The development has been confirmed by the Chairman Uganda Football Referees Association Ronnie Kalema.

The list consists of five male referees, six assistant male referees, 3 female referees, five female assistant referees and four beach soccer referees.

Florence Ayaro, Eunice Tiwuwe and Keneddy Bazirio Kawagga are the new faces that have been added to the list by FUFA.

“The list was reached on after the mandatory fitness tests then presented to the FUFA Executive Committee for approval” said Chairman Uganda Football Referees Association Ronnie Kalema to the FUFA website.

Uganda currently has 21 International referees but FIFA decides on the allocation of referees to each Member Association.

FIFA will confirm the referees suitable for the 2019 FIFA badges before the end of this year.

The proposed list:

Referees (Men): Miiro Brian Nsubuga, Ssali Mashood, Muhabi Alex, Sabilla Ali Chelangat and Oloya William

Assistant referees (Men); Ssonko Mark, Okello Dick, Katenya Ronald, Okello Lee, Balikoowa Musa Ngobi and Masembe Issa.

Referees (Women): Nabadda Shamirah, Murungi Diana, Ayaro Florence

Assistant referees (Women); Nantabo Lydia Wanyama, Nagaddya Catherine Cynthia, Nakitto Marex Nkumbi, Mutonyi Jane and Tiwuwe Eunice.

Beach Soccer: Kintu Ivan Bayige, Mugerwa Shafic, Ssenteza Muhammad and Kawagga Bazirio Keneddy

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Private sector credit hits 13.6 trn in August 2018 –report

By
George Mangula
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Real estate had the largest share of 20 per cent of private sector credit

The total stock of outstanding private sector credit (PSC) in Uganda increased by 1.3 per cent to about Shs13.6 trillion in August 2018 from about Shs13.4 trillion in the previous month, according to the Performance of the Economy Report for the month of September 2018.

According to the report published by the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development (MFPED), most of the expansion was recorded in the stock of foreign currency denominated credit which grew by 2.7 to Shs5.04 trillion in August 2018 percent from Shs4.9 trillion in July 2018.

The stock of shilling denominated credit also expanded by 0.5 percent to Shs8.5 trillion in August 2018 from about Shs8.5 trillion in July 2018.

Lending institutions disbursed credit worth about Shs1.045 trillion to the private sector in August 2018 which partly accounts for the growth in the stock of outstanding private sector credit.
“There was increased demand for credit by the private sector when compared with the previous month as value of loans applied for increased by 50.9 per cent although only 56.1 per cent of this was approved,” says the report.

The report says manufacturing, trade and the real estate sectors registered declining credit extension on a monthly basis yet they account for the biggest share of credit extensions. “They are the reason the total credit extension in the month declined,” the report says.

In terms of sectoral shares, trade and the real estate sectors hold the biggest share of the stock outstanding private sector credit at 20 per cent each, followed by personal and household loans at 18 percent, Manufacturing, Agriculture follow at 12 per cent each, respectively.

Other sectors’ share follows as; Transport and Communication (5 per cent) Electricity and Water (5 per cent), Community, Social & Other Services (4 per cent) and Business Services (4 per cent) while mining and quarrying as well as other services share 0 per cent each.

Meanwhile the report says the average interest rate for shilling denominated credit during the month of August 2018 reduced to 19.03 per cent down from 19.17 per cent recorded for the previous month. “Unlike for the shilling denominated credit, average lending rates for foreign currency denominated credit went up from 7.62 per cent in July 2018 to 7.78 per cent in August 2018,” the report reads in part.

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Vivo Energy profit dips after supply disruptions in Q3

By
George Mangula
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Vivo Energy

Shell African licensee Vivo Energy has reported a slim tumble in third-quarter gross cash profit tagged to a slowdown in retail volume caused by short-term supply disruptions in Uganda, Kenya and Ivory Coast.

Vivo, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and distributes and markets Shell-branded fuels and lubricants across 15 African markets, said gross cash profit dropped to US $167 million in the quarter ended September 30, from US $171 million a year before.

The company gave no detail on the nature of the supply disruptions, saying only that they were largely resolved.

It said total retail volumes grew just 1 percent in the quarter. Overall Q3 volumes grew to 2,323 million litres, which was a 2 up percent rise from last year. The company said it expected growth of 4 per cent for the full year.

Established in 2011 via a partnership between energy trader Vitol Group and UK-based private equity firm Helios Investment, Vivo has been looking to expand and develop its network of 1,800 filling stations.

Recently it purchased a network of service stations from Engen Holdings and expects to use them to allow it expand into extra eight African markets. Vivo also expects to exceed its earlier target of opening 80 retail stations this year.

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Burundi yet to confirm its participation in Dialogue to resolve conflicts

By
Agencies
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FOURTH TERM? Burundi President, Nkurunzia.

Government of Burundi is yet to confirm its participation in the 5th and final round of the Inter-Burundian Dialogue that is aimed resolving conflicts in the country.

Since April 2015, protests have taken shape against the president’s decision to run for a contested third consecutive term. Since then, the security situation has deteriorated, with more than 400 people killed and 200,000 fleeing to neighboring countries of Uganda and Tanzania.
Although much of the violence has subsided in recent years, extreme poverty, lack of law and order and ongoing human right violations, as well as the difficulty of integrating former rebels into state institutions, continue to be major barriers to stability and sustainable peace in the country.

According to Ambassador David Kapya who remarked on behalf of the Facilitator, retired Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa, there is no confirmation from the government of Burundi on whether they will attend the talks or not.

The talks that are being held at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge near Arusha, Tanzania have the goal of arriving at consensual roadmap towards the 2020 general election in Burundi.
The 5th and Final Round of the Burundi Dialogue, which will go up to October 29, 2018, will involve the Facilitator engaging political parties and political actors in arriving at the roadmap.

Amb. Kapya, a Senior Adviser to the Facilitator, said that retired President Mkapa had so far engaged with international actors to seek their assistance in bringing all the parties to the negotiation table.

Earlier in June, Burundi’s long-serving President Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would not run for another term, easing fears of new violence in the impoverished country after a referendum on term limits. He was expected to take advantage of the constitutional amendment to participate in the next two presidential elections of 2020 and 2027.

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BREAKING: Tropical bank MD sacked

By
Our Reporter
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Tropical-bank

The latest news in the local banking industry is that The Managing Director of Tropical bank Kreshi Sameh Mahmud has had his contract terminated and asked to handover office immediately.

The termination letter was written by the Bank’s board chairman Gerald Ssendaula on October 1, 2018, stating that Mahmud’s bank account was continuously being overdrawn which goes against Bank of Uganda regulations.


“It is within your knowledge that during the on-site examination of Tropical Bank Ltd for the year 2017, Bank of Uganda established that your account was continuously overdrawn. The Central Bank recently conducted a follow up examination and established that the anomaly was never rectified as the overdrawn position was only regularized as recently as 12th September 2018, 3 months after the same was highlighted to the Board of directors,” Ssendaula wrote.

Denis Kakeeto, the Executive Director for now replaces Muhmud in acting position.

Sacking letter.

However, other sources say there is a clique of mafias in the bank eying US$ 7 million lying on one of the accounts for Libyan shareholders and would want to withdraw and shared it. “That’s the reason the termination of the MD is very urgent. That once he is out of the country, it will be easy for them to withdraw this money,” a source says.

Mr. Muhmud has been Managing Director of Tropical Bank Limited since August 17, 2016. Mr. Mahmud served as General Manager of Tropical Bank Limited since 2015 to August 17, 2016. He is a visionary, action oriented and hands-on Leader, with over 20 years’ experience in Treasury Operations, Trade Finance, Investment and Portfolio Management, International relations and Marketing; General bank Operations among others. He has been a Director of Tropical Bank …

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NWSC,two ministries sign Tri-partite MoU to skill technicians in water sector

By
George Mangula
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Eng. Silver Mugisha, NWSC Managing Director who is credited with the latest innovations.

The Ministry of Water and Environment, Ministry of Education and Sports and National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) have signed a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at skilling Engineers, plumbers and other technicians in the sector.

The above follows the July 2012, tri–partite MOU) between NWSC, Directorate of Water Development (DWD), and the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT), under the auspices of Ministry of Education and Sports was signed. The duration of this MOU was five (5) years, and expired at the end (July 2017).

The latest MoU to run for another five years (2018-2023) was signed to benefit more technicians in the water sector, the previous one having been implemented successfully.
Representing the Ministry of Water and Environment, NWSC Board member and Director, directorate of water development in the Ministry of Water and Environment Eng. Aaron M. Kabirizi said that all technicians and plumbers will be required to be certified. “We want to know the different skills they attained from training institutions,”” he said.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, NWSC MD Dr. Eng. Silver Mugisha said a number of NWSC plumbers and technicians have learnt on the job and, therefore, there is need to test the skills.
He said that the programme is in line with the ongoing staff development plans and the corporation has made good strides towards developing training materials and vocational infrastructure/training centres at Gaba and Kachung Vocational Skills Development Facility coming on board very soon. “We have plumbers who have worked with NWSC for over 20 years and we need to certify them,” he said.

Aggrey Kibenge, the education ministry undersecretary, said certification would enable local technicians and plumbers to compete for opportunities even at regional level.
While Dr Martin Kalibala, the manager training and capacity building at NWSC, said since 2016, NWSC is been assessing engineers and technicians from DIT. “It is good for this programme to be rolled out. It has improved service delivery and reduced on costs of monitoring workers, since they are now competent,” he said.

Kalibala said that upon completion of the training and assessment, NWSC technicians will be given certificates known as Worker’s Practically Acquired Skills (Worker’sPAS).
The primary objectives of the MOU are to: develop a highly skilled national technicians’ workforce in the water sector, which shall competently run and maintain water supply, sewerage, and sanitation systems, within and outside the jurisdiction of DWD and other Water Authorities.

The trained personnel will; enhance the schemes’ operational efficiencies; ensure better asset management; and reduction in non–revenue and create synergies with stakeholders and develop capacity at various vocational skills levels, qualification standards, assess/examine candidates and award certificates/qualifications.

Benefits of the MoU to NWSC
NWSC will achieve the following benefits from implementing the MOU:
• Enhance vocational hands–on skills for technicians (plumbers, electro–mechanical technicians, electricians, customer service advisors, welders, water quality experts) for the small towns under DWD jurisdiction.

• Earn additional income from training DWD technicians – through External Services (ES) – since the financing mechanisms of the MOU training activities will come from DWD budgets.
• Strengthen our collaboration with DIT and DWD.
• Enhanced our corporate image, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and visibility by enhancing skills within the water sector.

Last year, over 232 NWSC graduated from the Gaba skills development facility [VSDF].
This year, a total of 284 graduands will graduate at the centre come November 9, 2018.

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Express FC appoints new fitness coach

By
Our Reporter
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AG Kiryowa Kiwanuka

Uganda Premier League side Express football club have appointed fitness expert Robert Ssebugwawo into a new role as a leading nutritionist, mental and physical coach to the club’s backroom staff.

The Red Eagles have added Ssebugwawo to help on the players’ general health and fitness as they continue to adopt to the modern day footballing standards and methods.
Robert Ssebugwawo is currently the physical fitness and nutritionist specialist for Parliament of Uganda. Before that, he was the Physical Activity and health diet consultant with University of southern California Institute for global health.

The club Chairman, Mr. Kiryowa Kiwanuka, in part of the letter said, “When my executive took over the reins at Express FC, I stated that one, we intended to raise Express FC footballing pedigree. Two, raise Express FC competitiveness through application of modern day footballing standards and methods.”

Below are the full details on what the chairman Mr. Kiryowa Kiwanuka says about Coach Bob’s appointment and his profile:

Express appoints new fitness coach (1)

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Former Crane Bank employees sue BoU,Dfcu over loss of jobs

By
George Mangula
-
The Former Crane Bank Ntinda branch, which DFCU took over and illegally rebranded in its name, was ordered by the court to vacate and compensate Meera Investments because the property belongs to Meera.

The controversial sale of Crane Bank Limited (CBL) in which Bank of Uganda (BoU) was the seller and Dfcu Bank the buyer, continues to haunt both sides since the transaction was done in January 2017.

The latest development that BoU and Dfcu Bank have to deal with now, is the decision by over 400 former workers of CBL to sue them in the courts of law for breach of contract, which led to the workers losing their jobs without compensation.

The employees are seeking for general and punitive damages arising from unlawful termination of their respective contracts of service after they were transferred to Dfcu Bank Limited by BoU.

The plaintiffs accuse BoU and Dfcu Bank of breach of statutory duty, breach of the duty to act fairly, breach of trust, negligence, misrepresentation, deceit and discrimination. The plaintiffs want the two defendants (BoU and Dfcu Bank) to meet the costs of the suit.

The plaintiffs are represented by 10 of their colleagues in the names of Achan Catherine Kate, Akullo Teddy, Angwena Janet Mector, Arinatwe Mactose and Bukenya Edward. Others are; Kiwumulo Loy Dianah, Abbey Mivule, Benjamin Muchwa, Robert Mwanje and Emmanuel Ngororano.

The plaintiff are being helped by the Centre for Legal Aid.

The new development at the time when Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) has resolved to summon Bank of Uganda (BoU) top officials for inquiries next week as regards the closure and sale of seven commercial banks, including Crane Bank Limited (CBL).

Cosase Chairman Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri Constituency) said at parliament that the investigation will be based on findings of the Auditor General John Muwanga. “We will begin with the BoU board. The governor (Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile) is the Board Chairman and the deputy governor (Dr. Louis Kasekende) is the deputy Board Chairman,” Mr. Katuntu said.

The Committee will quiz the BoU officials using the forensic report by the Auditor General John Muwanga which revealed the rot ranging from unaccounted for money, missing land titles, disputed payments to external lawyers and customer loans that were inherited from closed banks and sold at an undervalued rate without justification.

The report now in parliament raises key issues regarding the closure of Teefe Bank (1993), International Credit Bank Ltd (1998), Greenland Bank (1999), The Co-operative Bank (1999), National Bank of Commerce (2012), Global Trust Bank (2014) and the sale of Crane Bank Ltd (CBL).

The report says assets worth Shs23 billion formerly owned by Global Trust Bank (GTB) Uganda were not transferred to dfcu in the purchase and assumption agreements when the bank was closed in July 2014. Some of the assets were: cash balances (Shs6.6 billion), amounts due from other banking institutions[Shs2.3b], other assets (Shs5.1 billion),amounts due from group companies (Shs9 million), property and equipment (Shs5.6 billion),intangible assets(Shs758 million) and deferred tax (Shs2.4 billion).

Auditors in the report say they could not trace Shs9 billion which was taken from other banks as the inventory report highlighted then. The money was not reflected on the recovery account. The Committee chairperson, Abdu Katuntu yesterday said that Cosase would a preparatory meeting today.

The committee is expected to summon a number of other individuals such as; Justine Bagyenda, the former director of supervision at BoU and the dfcu managing director, Mr. Juma Kisaame, as well as the former owners of the seven defunct banks.

Finance minister Matia Kasaija could be summoned over the sale of closed banks.
Mr. Muwanga has also faulted BoU officials for selling CBL assets and some liabilities to dfcu bank without valuation as they depended on Dfcu’s inventory report to sale CBL at only Shs200 billion paid in instalments.

The auditors wonder why BoU sold 79 per cent of the loans it inherited from International Credit Bank, Cooperative Bank and Greenland Bank in 2007 despite having closed the banks in 1998 and 1999.

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