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Home Blog Page 1454

NSSF’ defends 15% interest to members

By
George Mangula
-
NSSF Managing Director Richard Byarugaba, is credited with growing the fund.

The Managing Director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has defended the recent decision in which the Fund in August raised interest rate of 15 percent to be paid to its members in financial year 2017/18.

“I recently heard of a subtle but quite vigorous debate regarding the Fund’s recently announced record interest rate to members of 15 per cent. Specifically, the debate has been centered around the sustainability of the interest rate declared. I believe these are pertinent matters where, unfortunately, facts may either get twisted or misplaced,” he says.

The interest rate for the year equates to Shs1.1 trillion shillings paid out in interest to members of the Fund. This is the very first time in the Fund’s history that the Fund has declared 15 per cent interest rate to its members.

Byarugaba’s defence of the hike of interest comes following accusations by top administrators of the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) who alleged that the rise in interest from 13.5 percent to 15 percent was meant to benefit a few individuals only.

The contestation was made by NOTU’s chairman General Br. Owere Wilson Usher and Secretary Peter Christopher Werikhe who say they were not consulted on the matter.

However, Workers’ Member of Parliament Dr Sam Lyomoki supports the 15 percent interest increment to workers, urging Owere and Werikhe to celebrate, saying that all workers who save with the NSSF had been waiting for the rise given the recent good performance of the Fund now worth Shs10 trillion.

According to Byarugaba, the NSSF Act empowers the Minister of Finance to declare an interest rate credited on the members’ accounts following the end of every financial year…“The interest rate decision depends on the financial performance of the Fund. The financial performance in turn relies on the return generated from the various investments of the Fund in the period,” he says.

Byarugaba says the Fund made money in dividends, capital appreciation and currency movements, which are all sources of income that led to the rise in 15 percent interest to members who usually spend over 20 years on average saving with the Fund.

“The Fund’s members usually spend over 20 years saving with the Fund. This means that their savings are invested over a long-term horizon. As a result, the Fund tends to invest in long-term assets to match its membership profile,” he says.

For example, he says the Fund bought Safaricom shares in 2008 at an IPO price of KES 5.0. Today, the price of these Safaricom shares is about KES 24. “This represents a gain of KES 19 per share over the last 10 years. This is alongside the annual dividends that the Fund has been able to receive from the company,” he says.

The capital gain component of return is typical in equities and real estate investments and in many such cases the largest source of return. “The third component of return is on currency movements. This applies when the Fund invests in assets denominated in currencies other than the Uganda Shilling. Extending the Safaricom example, the Fund made the initial investment when the KESUGX rate was 24.7. Today it is averaging 37.2. The difference represents a currency gain,” he says.

“Now, some people argue that interest declared by the minister should not include unrealized gains. That is, that only cash returns should be declared, and the unrealized gains be hived off until they are converted into cash. However, this reasoning has two major limitations. First, some leaving members would not fully benefit from investments made from their savings. For instance, a retiring member who was saving with the Fund in 2008 whose savings were used to make Safaricom investment would not benefit if capital gains made in that period are not distributed”.

Second, he says, such an interest distribution approach would also undermine the Fund’s number one role in the economy; being a source of long-term capital. By their nature and name, long-term investments generate less cash and more capital gains. It is for this reason that pension funds money is also labelled patient capital. “If the Fund were to ignore this cardinal role, it would have to resort to continuous selling of its assets or limit its investments to short-term assets. This would not only create volatility in the market but also push the Fund out of long-term investments resulting in a mismatch with its liabilities,” he says.

He says it is for the reasons above that “the Minister has taken a very measured approach in the Fund’s interest declaration process but obviously after reviewing the performance achieved in the period. The goal is for the Fund to maintain a premium of 2 per cent above the average 10-year inflation. This has been built in the Fund’s investment strategy”.

Pension funds all over the world, he says, have preserving members value against inflation as a key investment objective. The Fund has achieved this over the last 8 years making it one of the best performing pension funds on the African continent.

And that the Fund’s investment strategy has become a benchmark for many regional institutional investors and in return the Fund has received several global accolades. Consequently, the Fund is committed to maintaining this performance and in doing so continue to raise the Ugandan flag globally in terms of pension fund management.

The Fund had an impressive performance on key financial indicators for the Financial Year 2017/2018, with total income hitting a record Shs1.6 trillion before interest to members and taxes with the fund’s total Assets Under Management (AUM) hitting a record Shs9.98 Trillion as at June 30, 2018, a 26 per cent increase from Shs7.92 Trillion the previous Financial Year.

Performance

The 15 performance interest rate is attributed to the Fund’s improved performance on all financial and investment indicators, arising out of strategic exploitation of the investment environment within the region, despite modest growth in the economy over the same period.

The Fund’s performance shows total member contributions increased by 14 performance to Shs1.05 trillion in 2017/2018 compared to Shs917 billion in the previous Financial Year, the most ever collected by the Fund in a single year and total Income increased by 77 percent to Shs1.6 Trillion in 2018 from Shs912 Billion in 2017.

Member contributions also grew by 14 percent to Shs1.05 Trillion in 2018 from Shs917 Billion in 2017 and benefits paid out to qualifying members increased by 29 performance to Shs360 Billion in 2018 from Shs278 Billion in 2017.

“These milestones can be attributed to a steady rise in compliance levels now at 81 percent as more members continue to trust us with their money. There was also a drive towards innovations that saw us introduce new products like the Voluntary savers scheme which attracted even more members,” said Byarugaba, Managing Director.

Summary of the Fund’s 2017/2018 Performance

• The Assets Under Management (AUM) increased by 26 per cent from Shs7.92 Trillion in 2017 to Shs9.98 Trillion in 2018

• Total Income increased by 77 performance to Shs1.6 Trillion in 2018 from Shs912 Billion in 2017

• Member contributions grew by 14 performance to Shs1.05 Trillion in 2018 from Shs917 Billion in 2017

• Benefits paid out to qualifying members increased by 29 performance to Shs360 Billion in 2018 from Shs278 Billion in 2017

• Compliance Level rose to 81 performance in 2018 from 80 performance in 2017 leading to improved contributions

• Cost of Administration stayed flat at about 1.3 performance

• Cost to income ratio declined by 1 performance to 12.6 performance in 2018 from to 13.4 performance in 2017

The Fund has consistently paid a real and competitive return to its members over the last 6 years:

Year NSSF Interest

2012 10.00 per cent

2013 11.23 per cent

2014 11.50 per cent

2015 13.00 per cent

2016 12.30 per cent

2017 11.23 per cent

2018 15 per cent

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The determination of the NSSF Annual Interest rate to members

By
Guest Writer
-

By Richard Byarugaba

I recently heard of a subtle but quite vigorous debate regarding the Fund’s recently announced record interest rate to members of 15 per cent. Specifically, the debate has been centered around the sustainability of the interest rate declared. I believe these are pertinent matters where, unfortunately, facts may either get twisted or misplaced. Consequently, I feel it is necessary to make a few clarifications.

The NSSF Act empowers the Minister of Finance to declare an interest rate credited on the members’ accounts following the end of every financial year. This interest rate must be declared by the 1st of October every year. The interest rate decision depends on the financial performance of the Fund. The financial performance in turn relies on the return generated from the various investments of the Fund in the period.

The Fund’s members usually spend over 20 years saving with the Fund. This means that their savings are invested over a long-term horizon. As a result, the Fund tends to invest in long-term assets to match its membership profile. In investing in the various assets, the Fund seeks three sources of returns. The first component of return is cash returns which includes interest income (coupons) from fixed income investments, dividends from shares in companies and rent from real estate properties.

The second component of returns are capital gains or losses: this represents movements in market values of investments which the Fund is yet to exit. For example, the Fund bought Safaricom shares in 2008 at an IPO price of KES 5.0. Today, the price of these Safaricom shares is about KES 24.

This represents a gain of KES 19 per share over the last 10 years. This is alongside the annual dividends that the Fund has been able to receive from the company. The capital gain component of return is typical in equities and real estate investments and in many such cases the largest source of return.

The third component of return is on currency movements. This applies when the Fund invests in assets denominated in currencies other than the Uganda shilling. Extending the Safaricom example, the Fund made the initial investment when the KES UGX rate was 24.7. Today it is averaging 37.2. The difference represents a currency gain.

So, to conclude the example of Safaricom, the Fund made money in dividends, capital appreciation and currency movements. Because the Fund has never sold its shares, the currency and exchange rate gains represent unrealized gains.

Now, some people argue that interest declared by the minister should not include unrealized gains. That is, that only cash returns should be declared, and the unrealized gains be hived off until they are converted into cash.

However, this reasoning has two major limitations. First, some leaving members would not fully benefit from investments made from their savings. For instance, a retiring member who was saving with the Fund in 2008 whose savings were used to make Safaricom investment would not benefit if capital gains made in that period are not distributed. Second, such an interest distribution approach would also undermine the Fund’s number one role in the economy; being a source of long-term capital.

By their nature and name, long-term investments generate less cash and more capital gains. It is for this reason that pension funds money is also labelled patient capital. If the Fund were to ignore this cardinal role, it would have to resort to continuous selling of its assets or limit its investments to short-term assets. This would not only create volatility in the market but also push the Fund out of long-term investments resulting in a mismatch with its liabilities.

It is for these reasons that the Minister has taken a very measured approach in the Fund’s interest declaration process but obviously after reviewing the performance achieved in the period. The goal is for the Fund to maintain a premium of 2 per cent above the average 10-year inflation.

This has been built in the Fund’s investment strategy. Pension funds all over the world have preserving members value against inflation as a key investment objective. The Fund has achieved this over the last eight years making it one of the best performing pension funds on the African continent. The Fund’s investment strategy has become a benchmark for many regional institutional investors and in return the Fund has received several global accolades. Consequently, the Fund is committed to maintaining this performance and in doing so continue to raise the Ugandan flag globally in terms of pension fund management.

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TVET colleges fail to prepare African youth for agricultural jobs-experts

By
Our Reporter
-
A maize garden: The EA region is leading other African regions in agriculture development.

Despite some progress, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in Africa are still too theoretical and are not providing the real skills needed by the agricultural sector, according to experts attending the recently concluded Sixth African Higher Education Week and Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) Biennial Conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya.

TVET programmes remain overly theoretical and “academic” with the result that most employers look to develop the required skills “in-house” or are actively developing private or commercial TVET institutions, according to Richard Hawkins, a senior adviser for the International Centre for Development-Oriented Research in Agriculture, who spoke during a plenary session on skilling African youth.

“Employers consistently claim that TVET graduates do not have the practical skills needed. For example they don’t know how to milk a cow, much less run a dairy farm,” said Hawkins.

“Employers look for skills such as marketing, ‘functional’ or ‘soft’ skills (cooperation, team management, leadership, problem-solving), and attitudes. Neither TVET institutions nor universities in Africa are providing these skills and attitudes.”

An expert said that most countries in Africa had up until recently focused on developing universities as the main focus of higher education, to the detriment of skills and TVET development.

“Too many TVET institutions and colleges have become universities. TVETs should not aspire to be universities, the types of education delivered by each should be recognised as different, for different purposes, and incentivised accordingly,” he said.

In some countries of Africa, where the governments had developed a TVET legal framework which recognises TVET as a powerful catalyst to address youth unemployment in the country, there was still “negativity” towards the idea of TVET.

“There is an urgent need to demystify this myth that TVET is for the failures and those who didn’t qualify for admission to universities. In fact, more awareness is needed to educate people that TVETs are meant to consume the research from the universities and transfer it to the societies. Therefore there is no competition between universities and TVETs,” he said.

Hawkins also highlighted inadequate training of TVET instructors.

“While occupational standards and curricula are increasingly in place, instructors often have not themselves been trained to deliver a practically-oriented, competency-based programme. TVET instructors are typically educated in universities, in academic, theoretical programmes. They are not familiar with CBET educational programmes,” said Hawkins.

He said universities can play a role in developing instructors for TVETs. Only Ethiopia has a specialised ‘TVET university’ – the Federal TVET Institute – which is also in charge of implementing the country’s TVET education system.

“Many universities have educational institutes or departments, which focus on secondary education. Further indigenous development of the notion of competency-based education and training and its integration and relation to academic education would also be a valuable contribution of African universities,” said Hawkins.

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Ugandan midfielder wins league title in Belarus

By
Our Reporter
-

FC Bate Borisov won their 15th league title after defeating Neman Grodno 1-0, making it the 13th consecutive time they have the Belarusian Premier League, since 2006.

Uganda Cranes midfielder William Kizito Luwagga helped the club clinch the title by being part of the squad for the entire season.

Luwagga joined Borisov on a season-long deal from Romanian side Politehnica Lasi and was introduced as a substitute in the 90th minute in the title winning game.

The Belarusian giants won the title with 3 games to spare after accumulating 69 points that is 14 clear of second placed Shakhtyor Soligorsk.

Borisov is the league’s most successful club. They have also won three Belarusian Cups and four Belarusian Super Cups.

Their next match is a Europa League match against English giants Chelsea at their Borisov Arena on Thursday 8th November and Luwagga has been named in the squad.

BATE is the only Belarusian team to have qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League (2008–09, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15 and 2015–16) and one of two to qualify for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League (2009–10, 2010–11 and 2017–18), along with Dinamo Minsk.

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Oulanyah supports expansion of Heart Institute

By
Geoffery Serugo
-
Speaker Jacob Oulanyah

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah has pledged to support plans to expand the Uganda Heart Institute and its work of saving the lives of Ugandans.

Oulanyah commended the Institute headed by Dr. Dr. John Omangino for its ground breaking research in treatment of heart complications, noting that it needs to be facilitated more.

“I commit that if anything comes before me in Parliament about the Uganda Heart Institute, it will receive priority. Parliament should appropriate funds to set up a facility to house the institute outside Mulago Hospital,” said Oulanyah.

Oulanyah noted that he had interacted with Dr. Omangino and taken notes, which he shared with President Yoweri Museveni, and has thus tasked the Minister to follow it up at cabinet level.

“The proposal on how much can be given to which government body is made in a meeting between ministers and the President. Since the budget season is coming up, make the proposal through cabinet and bring to Parliament, it will find me there,” he said.

He noted that the President had often reiterated the aspect of competing priorities for financial investment, adding that health ought to be one of the major priorities.

Oulanyah said this at a thanksgiving service in Apac District, for Dr. Emmy Okello, one of leading researchers and cardiologists at the Institute.

The Minister noted that she had advocated for increased funding for the expansion of the Uganda Heart Institute which she said had stalled overtime.

“We need a bigger and spacious heart institute in the country that can accommodate the over 42 million Ugandans, so that they can stop seeking surgeries abroad,” Acheng said.

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Continue tracking the last fugitives from justice of the 1994 genocide- Dr. Mahiga

By
Our Reporter
-
RWANDAN President Pual Kagame

Tanzania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Community Cooperation, Dr. Augustine Mahiga, has called on UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) to continue tracking the last fugitives from justice of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and to ensure the genocide does not happen again.

Speaking at the IRMCT Grounds in Lakilaki, Arusha, Ambassador Mahiga, said it was unfortunate that the genocide happened in Africa, adding that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the precursor to the Mechanism, was established in Arusha, Tanzania, to address the injustices occasioned by the genocide and ensure that it is not repeated.

Further called on the Mechanism to engage in capacity building in law, prosecution and related areas for national judiciaries and regional courts in Africa, adding that Mechanism was a repository of information for all and a centre of excellence from which the world will continue to learn about genocide.

“Issues of human rights were inseparable from the rule of law and democracy, and that this was the essence for the establishment by the African Union of the African Court for Human and Peoples Rights. There were many yawning gaps with regard to human rights in several African countries, adding that respect for human rights was a value that should be institutionalized, nurtured and passed on to future generations,” He said.

The Minister under whose docket EAC Affairs falls urged EAC Partner States to deepen cooperation in areas of good governance, human rights, democracy and social justice, adding that all protocols touching on these areas should be revisited and revitalized.

“Government of Tanzania was cognizant of the various challenges facing the many international organizations in Arusha, adding that his Ministry would continue to work closely with them to resolve the outstanding administrative issues,”

Speaking at the event, EAC Secretary General Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko said that the EAC would continue focusing on opening up markets to enhance trade and free movement of persons, improving the business climate to enable the development and competitiveness of the private sector and make the region an attractive investment destination, in order to spur economic growth and generate additional incomes for EAC citizens.

“Going forward, the Community has already mobilized more than US$2.5 billion in funding for various development projects in the Partner States, projects that will be implemented within the next three to five years in health, education, agriculture and other sectors,” said Amb. Mfumukeko.

In his remarks, Mr. Olufemi Elias, the Registrar of IRMCT and the host of the event, said that the diversity of the organizations that make up the international community in Arusha is what inspired international organizations to share a common objective to reinforce their connections with one another and even more importantly with the local community by offering insights into their mandates and functions in the spirit of partnership.

“As a concept, the International Organizations Open Day has generated a lot enthusiasm and excitement within participating organizations as well as the general public. This has inspired us as international organizations to increase interactions in order to bridge the gap between the international organizations and the local community,” said Mr. Olufemi.

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Doris Akol reappointed CG as URA makes shortfall of Shs48.7b in mobile money tax collections

By
George Mangula
-
URA Commissioner General Doris Akol says paying taxes is painful but necessary

Doris Akol should be the happiest Ugandan in the year 2018, having given birth to a pair of twins in September and now the birth of the twins been welcomed by government by way of reappointing her as Commissioner General (CG) of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) for the second term.

Doris Akol, who hitherto served as the commissioner for legal and board affairs in the URA before she took over from Allen Kagina on November 1, 2014. Kagina is now the Executive Director of the National Roads Authority (UNRA).

Under Akol’s stewardship, URA has seen improved tax administration, promotion of transparency and consistency. Looking forward to a continued efficient working relationship with you.

Over the period of the past four years, revenue collection has consistently grown. In this period, the total gross revenue collected has exceeded Shs48.7 trillion (an average of over Shs12 trillion per annum) or Shs1 trillion per month.

URA’s revenue collection target for the 2018/19 financial year is Shs16 trillion, even though some shortfalls have already been realised.

Meanwhile, URA has reported first quarter of the 2018/19 financial year collections of Shs103 billion from mobile money tax but the figure is Shs48 billion short of the targeted Shs151.5 billion.

Mobile money tax was alongside the over-the-top (OTT) services was introduced on July 1, 2018 following the introduction of the Excise Duty amendment Act by government. Taxes collected between July and September indicates that the authority collected Shs103 billion from the 1 percent mobile money tax imposed on users of the service before the president clarified and reduced the amount to 0.5% though he has not accented to the Amendment Bill.

Speaking to the press, URA publicist Ian Rumanyika, while referring to the revision of the tax from 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent, said that it could have been the reviews and debates on the tax that affected their collections.

He said the 1 percent tax was in full effect, on both withdrawals and deposits, the authority registered more collections but in the last days of August and September when the president said only withdrawals should be taxed, there was a decline.

URA says for the month of July, the one per cent charge on mobile money contributed Shs22 billion while the Shs200 (daily excise duty on social media use contributed Shs4.3 billion. “With the new tax review from 1 percent to 0.5 percent, there is likely to be a major reduction of the URA collections in the second quarter of October to December,” Rumanyika told the press.

In August 2018, Bank of Uganda and telecom companies reported a sharp decline in mobile money transactions by a whopping Shs672 billion. MTN Uganda, in recent times reported a 30 per cent decline in revenue since the taxes became effective.

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Former Crane Bank employees now seek to include BoU in suit against Dfcu Bank

By
George Mangula
-
AT THE CENTRE OF STANDOFF: Former Crane Bank

The Bank of Uganda (BoU) is likely to be involved in three cases in court relating to the controversial sale of former Crane Bank Limited (CBL) to its rival Dfcu Bank in January 2017 at only Shs200 billion, having injected in CBL taxpayers’ money of about Shs478 billion as liquidity support and other costs.

The transaction above left over 4000 terminated by Dfcu Bank and they now intend to sue both Dfcu Bank and BoU, according to Isaac Ssemakede, the lawyer for the affected former employees of CBL who each is claiming for at Least Shs120 million in compensation for what they say unfair termination, breach of contract and discrimination.

“We are seeking further permission to include BoU in the suit,” he said, quoting the Auditor General’s recent special audit report of bank of Uganda on defunct banks in which BoU says about Shs5.1 billion had been paid to former CBL workers as terminal benefits. However Workers say the money they were given as salaries cannot add up to that amount.

The victims’ lawyer Ssemakade says Dfcu Bank acted unfairly by terminating the employees of CBL, having acquired them as it bought off CBL. He says the termination didn’t cut across the board as it targeted only former CBL workers, leaving behind those originally hired by Dfcu Bank.

He says it was a ‘classic discrimination’ and that at the same time breached the equality principle. “Dfcu should have terminated all workers across the board, but they terminated only CBL workers,” he says, adding that the commercial bank violated the Employment Act of 2006.

He says having taken of CBL on January 25, 2017, Dfcu started with the termination of 300 CBL workers in the process that was carried out in phases without considering their terminal benefits as required by law.

Douglas Opio, the Executive Director of Uganda Employers Federation (UEF) said his organisation is discussing with Dfcu Bank to see if the issue can be handled out of court, though he noted that the former CBL employees needed a public hearing as regards their termination.

“Protection of an employers is as good as protection of an employee,” Opio said, adding that they are trying to protect both sides especially that Dfcu Bank is an important player in the Ugandan economy but that workers’ rights must be protected at all times.

Opio pointed that most employers in Uganda have been found culpable of their decision to terminate workers because they don’t follow the laid down procedures as well as terminating workers without facts.

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Kayihura threatens to sue New Vision

By
Isaiah Mwebaze
-
Former Inspector General of Police-Gen. Kale Kayihura who is already on the list

The former Inspector of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura through his lawyers of Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA) wants the New Vision Printing and Publishing Company or Vision Group to compensate him billions of Shillings for allegedly publishing malicious, false, and defamatory propaganda against him in regard to the brutal murder for Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Andrew Felix Kaweesi in March 2017.

“You have accused our client or insinuated that he is guilty of a number of heinous crimes and in particular of the brutal and tragic murder of AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi,” a letter to New Vision’s Editor in Chief reads in part, adding that Vision Group has published insinuations with malice and in the full knowledge that the allegations are false.

“Your newspaper (New Vision) claims to have evidence thoroughly discrediting the baseless allegations that our client was involved in the sinister and brutal murder of his comrade AIGP Kaweesi. Yet not withstanding that evidence you claim to possess, and even after purportedly receiving that evidence, you went ahead to run a series of malicious stories against our client knowing that the stories were false and thoroughly discredited,” his lawyers say.

Kayihura though his lawyers says that the false and malicious propaganda was conducted on New Vision’s twitter handle and other social media platforms as well as well as sister publications like Bukedde, Saturday Vision and Sunday Vision as well as online versions of the publications.

He wants the media house to compensate him Shs300 million per story that was run maliciously in /on the Group’s newspapers, radio and social media platforms, meaning the compensation he is demanding is in billions of shillings.

Kayihura also says New Vision on September 30, 2018 ran published article accusing him of carrying out 100 irregular promotions and that on October 20, 2018 published an article “Kayihura in more trouble over crime preventers”. “Both stories contained clearly false and malicious allegations consistent with your malicious defamatory campaign,” Kayihura’s lawyers say on his behalf.

Kayihura through his lawyers urges that Bukedde Newspaper has been at the forefront of the defamatory campaign as well as has Bukedde FM. He says the newspaper on almost a daily basis from June 13 to August 30, 2018 ran a number of false and defamatory allegations against him.

The former IGP says the media house has gone as far as providing commentary on his health in total violation of his right to privacy. He says the media house alleged he had been admitted in a German hospital.

The lawyers say the allegations have presented Gen. Kayihura as a cold-blooded murderer, traitor and that the defamatory campaign was intended to “ensure that all right-thinking members of society shun him”.

Kayihura also wants the Vision group to apologise to him within seven days via its various media platforms where the said allegations were published or else he goes to court. The lawyers penned the compliant on November 1, 2018. It was copied to the Group’s CEO Robert Kabushenga and the Uganda Media Council.

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South Sudan frees rebel leader’s spokesman, S.African adviser – official

By
Our Reporter
-
Machar’s spokesperson, James Gatdet Dak,

South Sudan on Friday freed rebel leader Riek Machar’s spokesman and a South African adviser from prison, a Reuters witness and senior government official said, advancing a deal to end almost five years of civil war.

To reinforce the accord signed in September, President Salva Kiir on Wednesday ordered the release of retired South African colonel William Endley, an adviser to Machar, and James Gatdet, Machar’s spokesman.

The Reuters witness at the prison where they were held saw the two being asked to go and put on their civilian clothes after being brought out of their cell.

“We are here to implement the orders of the president. Their release comes as part of the peace process. They are now free,” Interior Minister Michael Chiangjiek said after signing paperwork confirming their release.

“Gatdet will be going to Khartoum and William Johan will be going to South Africa.”

Endley was sentenced to death in February for trying to bring down the government, while Gatdet was sentenced to death in the same month on charges of treason and incitement against the government.

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