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King Oyo reigns in the girls!

By
Our Reporter
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The King of Toro, His Royal highness Oyo Nyiimba Rukiidi IV was recently spotted painting the city of Kampala red with a select number of his closest friends.

The king who in 2015 made headlines with his online rant about “Ugandan girls not being marriage material” gave many Ugandans a shock when photos of the royal letting his guard down amidst a number of Ugandan beauties, even managing a rare smile in many of the photos, surfaced online.

In his Facebook post in 2015, the young king described Ugandan women as fickle and with a lack of commitment as some of the major turn offs and setbacks in many young couple’s lives.

“Just been perusing through my newsfeed and I landed on a post on my friend’s timeline where he said “It’s very hard to find a developmental female nowadays… All their thoughts are limited to let’s go and eat pork. I want a phone like the latest *Samsung S6 or iPhone 6 plus*. It’s a working day like Monday and she’s asking you what time you will go at the bar or club… That’s what they only think of. If you have one of that kind just kick her out of your life.”

The Royal who was out to celebrate his friend’s birthday was joined by a bevy of beautiful girls who had clearly dressed to impress him and his entourage.
Despite his earlier mistrust of Ugandan women, it is clear to see in the photos that the red-blooded King has indeed finally warmed up to them and possibly the idea of marriage. Sources close to the royal family claim that if things go well, church bells will be ringing in the near future.

The always collected, calm and poised Monarch greatly differs from his sister, princess Komuntale when it comes to the party scene here in Uganda.

Whilst the princess has been known to enjoy a good night out with her friends as well as shopping sprees abroad with the Queen Mother, little is known about the King’s private life outside of the palace walls, aside from a few candid photos shared online by some of his closest friends and members of the royal family.

Infact it is unclear as to whether the King Oyo had eventually found the right consort to help him carry out his official royal duties but sources close to the a-list bachelor claim he is a favorite amongst the ladies and it was only a matter of time before the lucky lady would soon be availed to the public and his subjects.

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Shs6 billion project to support Uganda’s small IT enterprises

By
Richard Wanambwa
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Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde

A new project worth about Shs6.3 billion (US$1.7 million) is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Uganda’s information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITES) sectors.

The Netherlands Trust Fund IV (NTF IV) project seeks to address wider challenges facing Uganda’s nascent tech industry, including scaling up its competitiveness, initiators say.

The NTF IV project was recently launched in Kampala by the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC) Arancha González together with the Minister of Trade Amelia Kyambadde.

Speaking at the launch of the project at the Africana Hotel in Kampala, Gonzalez said the project would strengthen the competiveness of Uganda’s technology sector in the domestic, regional and global market.

“Competitiveness is not an option. It is a necessity if countries are to seize the opportunities presented by trade and new technologies. With the NTF IV project we will open up a new chapter in ITC’s support to the development of exports of “Made in Uganda” IT and IT-enabled services,” said Gonzalez.

She said that the project was designed to scale up companies, provide more end-to-end solutions, engage more start-ups, and ultimately be one of the key drivers of the development of Uganda’s IT sector.

The official said Ugandan tech companies would benefit from engagement in the domestic, regional and global platform, saying that lack of a local venture capital prevents young entrepreneurs and start-ups from accessing seed and growth funding. She said ITC would actively be working to connect the participating companies with potential investors and partners abroad.

Minister Kyambadde said Uganda had attained substantive milestones in NTF III regarding the development of the IT&IT Enabled Services Export Plan, 2015-2020, re-skilling IT firms and increasing industry representation of women in the IT sector.

“The SME companies that participated in the NTF III and those that have expressed interest in Phase IV are highly commended. We also acknowledge the critical role of the Association bodies of ICTAU and ATIS in organizing your members to benefit from this programme,”the minister Kyambadde said.

She said her ministry would aded that her ministry in collaboration with other stakeholders such as the Ministry of ICT, NITA-U, Uganda Export Promotion Board and others would ensure sustainability of the NTF IV beyond its closure.

She reiterated government’s commitment to establish a robust dedicated regulatory and institutional mechanism for IT & ITES, increase internet connectivity and set up national and regional ICT hubs.

She said government would support attachments of Ugandans to world class BPO firms, create meaningful platforms for the Private sector with buyers from key markets, Data protection, and regulating the pricing of telecommunication services.

The Minister urged all IT players to work in consortiums to achieve greater milestones in the business environment and the foreign markets.

The NTF IV National Project Coordinator Richard Okuti said implementation of the project started in November 2017 and so far 110 companies are benefiting, of which 48 are SMEs and 62 are start ups.

He said companies were being supported in capacity building especially business skills development and execution of business plans, marketing, book keeping and other related training.

“We seek and link these companies to potential investors and buyers, and also link them to potential financial support in addition to facilitating their participation in exhibitions and other market platforms outside Uganda Okuti said.

“Two IT companies traveled to Barcelona in February to find partners and clients at the Mobile World Congress 2018, for instance. Three others, led by representatives from the ICT Association of Uganda (ICTAU) and the Alliance for Trade in Information-Technology and Services (ATIS), will take part in Transform Africa in Kigali on 7 May”, he said.

The project will also place a significant focus on gender and actively promote the participation of Ugandan women in tech – especially in leadership positions.

The project is a continuation of a long-running partnership between the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) and ITC.

The project will run until June 2021 and will be working at different levels of engagement with more than 100 MSMEs in Uganda, of which more than half comprise start-up companies.

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Uganda’s coffee production rises to 5.1 million in 2017/18

By
George Mangula
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Mature coffee beans ready for picking

After declining by 2.5 per cent in the year 2015/16, Uganda’s coffee production expanded in 2016/17 rose by 2.8 per cent to 5.1 million bags in 2017/18, the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) has said in its report for the month of July.

Exports for October 2017 through June 2018 decreased by 2.7 per cent, to 3.32 million bags, for Uganda compared to the same period one year ago, says the latest ICO report.

The report says Africa’s output in 2017/18 is estimated 5.3 percent higher at 17.63 million bags with production anticipated to increase in the region’s two largest producers, Ethiopia and Uganda.

The report says Ethiopia’s coffee output has grown steadily in the last five crop years, and is estimated at 7.65 million bags in 2017/18, up 4.8 per cent on 2016/17.

Compared to June 2017, the report says, shipments from both Ethiopia and Uganda declined in June 2018 by 14.8 per cent to 0.4 million bags and 25.6 per cent to 0.32 million bags, respectively.

The report puts world production in 2017/18 at an estimated 158.56 million bags, 0.3 per cent lower than last year. Arabica output is estimated 6.6 percent lower, at 97.16 million bags, while Robusta production is estimated at 61.4 million bags, 11.5 per cent higher than 2016/17.

Globally, according to the report, total exports in June 2018 amounted to 10.45 million bags, 2.6 per cent higher than in the same month one year ago, led by an increase of 7.9 per cent to 3.95 million bags for Robusta. However, total Arabica shipments in June 2018 fell by 0.4 per cent, to 6.51 million bags.

According to the report, total coffee exports for October 2017 through June 2018 were 0.3 per cent higher than those in the same period one year ago. ICO attributes the growth to increased shipments of Robusta, which reached 33.8 million bags, 3.6 per cent higher than one year ago. In contrast, Arabica shipments declined by 1.5 percent to 57.06 million bags in the first nine months of coffee year 2017/18.

It says coffee prices have fallen consistently over the course of coffee year 2017/18, with decreases recorded in seven out of the last ten months.

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Promote rights of persons living with disabilities- Pan African Parliament

By
Geoffery Serugo
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Pan African Parliament President Roger Nkodo Dang

Pan African Parliament (PAP) has called for protection and promotion rights of persons living with disabilities on the continent.

In a two days event debating under the theme ‘workshop on continental disability legislation and other related policy instruments’, PAP is expected harmonize ADA’s position on clauses of the Model Disability Law (MDL) that are in line with the African Disability Protocol (ADP) and other policy instruments.

“We call on partners to support ADA and PAP to enable them to uplift the living standards of Persons with Disabilities in Africa,” said Kudakwashe Dube, ADA’s CEO during the kickoff the August Sitting of the Permanent Committees of the 5th Parliament of the PAP underway in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

“With the support of African legislators, we call on all African countries to implement the provisions of the Protocol and other disability legal instruments. As you know, the AU policies and the ADP require a Model Disability Law that can be used by AU members’ states to domesticate the protocol and formulate national policies and legislative regulations.”

The Model Disability Law provides mechanism for cooperation between PAP and ADA in a broad range of activities, particularly the development of this MDL to give effect to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa (Protocol) adopted by the African Union Heads of States and Governments in January 2018.

“The Model Disability Law is designed to assist Africa States in reforming and harmonizing their national laws on Disability. It covers all aspects of the human rights of persons with disabilities. Through our organization, we require that People with Disabilities, as individuals and through their organisations, play a meaningful role in the implementation, monitoring, oversight, evaluation and enforcement of policy/legal instruments, policies and programmes that directly affect their lives,” added Dube.

Addressing the workshop on behalf of the PAP President, 1st Vice-President, Hon. Stephen Masele, challenged African legislators to push for consideration of the Protocol as it only requires fifteen ratifications to enter into force.” I urge all parliamentarians to advocate for the quick ratification of this Protocol that addresses the Rights of this vulnerable group,” says Hon. Masele.

Hon. Masele further noted that among other duties of the PAP is to promote the implementation and domestication of the African Union Legal instruments to ensure that legal frameworks are put in place to protect the interest and rights of every group of society, especially the vulnerable groups such as people disabilities.

“We are mindful that the diverse needs for persons with disabilities should be mainstreamed in the work of the PAP. We need to ensure that no-one is left behind if we want to speed up the integration and development agenda of the continent. “We must promote recognition and respect for the human rights of persons living with disabilities and make sure their contributions and concerns are more visible.

We must also disseminate accurate information on the situation of this vulnerable group. As such, the indicator of effective implementation of AU legal instruments should be measured by the formulation of national policies and legislative regulations.”

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Minister Namuganza flaunts Museveni’s name, ducks grilling by land committee

By
George Mangula
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Junior Land Minister Persis Namuganza.

In a move that could be interpreted to have been a tactic to avoid hard grilling State Minister for lands Persis Namuganza threw the title “the President” in each of her responses to the land probe committee.

Minister Namuganza was appearing before the commission in connection with her alleged involvement in the disputed chunk of land in Mubende District which government wants to buy for the sitting tenants.

Minister Namuganza defended herself against the accusations saying everything she did was blessed by “the President” whom she continuously briefed throughout the process. That she picked only a few purported landlords of the three square miles of land to meet President Yoweri Museveni for compensation, leaving others behind.

She said Museveni had requested to meet a only few people of those claiming ownership of the said land located in Butoroogo and Madudu sub counties. She said Museveni wanted to resolve the ownership issue but not to pay the money to the claimants as claimed by her accusers.

She said the president wanted to meet a few people at State House because he would later meet a big number of the affected people when he visits Mubende district sometime in the future to establish the whole truth before government can commit payments for the land.

It is alleged that Namuganza worked together with state minister for Kampala Benny Namugwanya Bugembe to select only a few claimants of the said land in Mubende.

Some of the purported land owners taken to State House included Blasio Musoke Lule and Ms Milly Naava Namutebi. They were said to have claimed for compensation of the land whose ownership is under investigation by the ministry of internal affairs and other agencies.

Lule is said to have asked the Museveni to let government pay them Shs4 billion in cash for one Square mile of the land. Namuganza however said that at the meeting at in Entebbe, Museveni told the group that government was not ready to buy the land due to the disputes on it.

She added another group had said that a square mile of that land has on it Buganda cultural sites and as such it cannot be sold off.

The commission is investigating accusations of forceful evictions, destruction of property, unlawful arrests and threatening violence against a retired primary school teacher, Ms Namutebi and a senior army officer in charge of administration at Mubende Rehabilitation Centre, Maj. Eric Kigamboha.

The incidents, reportedly took place in three sub counties of Buwekula, Butoroogo and Madudu between 2010 and 2018.

Yesterday Mr Herman Byakatonda, one of the evictees testified that Ms Bugembe linked them to Minister Namuganza took them to State House to meet President Museveni after being assured by the minister that Museveni would pay the money to the owners of the disputed land.

“The minister told us not to say anything. She told us to let her talk to the president to convince him to pay off the landlords,” said Mr Byakatonda who added that nothing much came out of the meeting in terms of compensation as the president upon finishing consultations, appointed a team to carry out a fact-finding mission on ground.

Yesterday two sisters Hajati Fatuma Namutebi and Sarah Nalubega testified in connection with the disputed land.

Last week, the land probe ordered for the arrest Ms Namutebi and Mr Musoke for defying witness summons which required them to appear and explain fresh accusations on the

The Commission is inquiring into the law, processes and procedures in land acquisition, land administration, and management across the country.

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Wapakhabulo’s son dies after short illness

By
George Mangula
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Rest in Peace: The Late Yona Wapakhabulo (Internet Photo)

Yona Namawa Wapakhabulo, the son of the former Speaker of Parliament, James Wapakhabulo and proprietor of WMC, a public Relations firm, has died a short illness.

Namawa was brother to Lumumba Wambogo Wapakhabulo, Maima Wapakhabulo, and Josephine Kasalamwa Wapakabulo, the Executive Director of Uganda National Oil Company.

According to information from family, he died after a short illness and will be buried near his father in Mafudu Parish Bukhulo Sub County Sironko district.

Namawa married his wife Dorothy Ssozi in 2009. There will be a requiem mass in Kampala before the body is transported to Sironko.

A detailed program is yet to be released by family.

Social Media Condolence messages

Boaz Shani

RIP Yona Namawa Wapakhabulo, among the people who supported UGO Uganda whenever he could, he was a great friend and will sure be missed. My condolences to his family and his extended WMC family.

Mark Keith Socrates Muhumuza

RIP Yona Namawa Wapakhabulo. A journey cut short.

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Three suspended from Makerere over ‘illegal’ demonstration

By
Geoffery Serugo
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Wrote Suspension Letter: Makerere University VC Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe

Makerere University, Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe has suspended three students for participating in illegal demonstration and destruction of the Institution property.

In a statement Prof Nawangwe said Jobs Dhabona from school of psychology, college of humanities and social sciences, Daniel Kituno from Bachelor of commerce, college of education and external studies and Samuel Kigula from School of medicine in the college of health services indulged in illegal acts with the intention to anarchy at the mighty institution.

“You published informatory messages on social media calling for defiance and disruption of University activities. You also participated in illegal demonstration during which you disrupted guild council sessions perusing danger to lives of participants and destructing university property on August 5, 2018,” the statement read.

He said illegal acts geared by alleged students are against University policies and other national laws and give rise to both criminal and civil liability on their part.

“Because of your involvement in the above illegal activities, and in order to ensure safety of the members of university community and property as well as peaceful activities in the university, I hereby suspend you from Makerere University with immediate effect until further notice,” the letter further reads.

He instructed the chief security officer to commence criminal proceedings against suspended students to ensure that they vacate University premises and bar them to appear at any of the institution installations until their suspension is lifted.

The three will be called for discussion on subject matter on the date the will be communicated in the due process.

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Gov’t starts construction of CCTV command center

By
Our Reporter
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Courtesy Photo: Late Suzan Magara portrait, "the Lady" painted by Daniel Lagen.

Maria Nassiwa

Kampala: Government is to start the construction of the national command center for CCTV cameras in line with the president’s order aimed at curbing insecurity.

The project will be headed by the Uganda Police Force with a target on installing over 3233 cameras in Kampala metropolitan

Police spokesperson, Emilliano Kayima, while addressing the press at Central Police Station said the project started on 16 July, and will be rolled out in phases.

“3233 cameras will be placed in Kampala metropolitan areas which cover the biggest percentage of Uganda’s population,” said Mr Kayima.

All the action will be in 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.

Earlier in March this year Mr Museveni pushed for the installation of the CCTV cameras stemming unexplained murders in the country.

For instance, the brutal murder of Muslim leaders, Senior Principal State Attorney Joan Kagezi who was shot dead by unknown people in what police said was a planned assassination, and Assistant Inspector General of Police Andrew Felix Kaweesi, who was killed alongside his body guard, Kenneth Erau and driver Godfrey Wambewo on March 17 last year.

The ICT ministry will be in charge of evaluating the quality of the cameras while Ministry of Security and Police work together in assessing the security aspect of installing the gadgets

Mr Kayima added, “to ensure the smooth running of the project, the Uganda police force is patterning with various organizations such as NIRA, UNRA and UMEME.”

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SC Vipers appoint Mexican as new head coach

By
Our Reporter
-
Vipers new coach

Uganda Premier League reigning champions Sports Club Vipers have today appointed Martinez Espinoza Javier as their new club head coach.

The Club’s President Lawrence Mulindwa unveiled the Mexican in a press conference at St. Mary’s stadium in Kitende. Martinez will lead the Venoms for the next two seasons.
Dr. Lawrence Mulindwa said, “I would like to thank Da Costa for the work well done and we salute him together with his team.

He was not a bad coach but we thought he would not lead us to achieving our objectives. We don’t want to just see Vipers participating but rather competing in every competition. Let us welcome Javier Martinez from Mexico as our next coach.”

Espinoza emerged as the favourite among the list of more than ten foreign and local coaches who were interested in taking over at Vipers.

Martinez expressed his delight to be appointed in the role: “It’s a pleasure to be in Uganda and glad that Dr. Mulindwa has given me a chance to work here. I am aware that Vipers won the league last season but we have professional targets to try and achieve next season.”

Martinez replaces Miguel Jorge Da Costa who was sacked just after one season in charge. Da Costa won the leagueand also finished runner-ups in the Stanbic Uganda Cup.

The Mexican becomes the third foreign coach to manage Vipers after Nigerian Ambrose Chikuma and Portuguese Miguel Da Costa.
He has had his entire coaching career in Mexico, with his last coaching role at Juventus SC in Nicaragua.

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Uganda private sector activity growth stays unchanged in July

By
George Mangula
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Shopping mall in Kampala.

Business conditions in Uganda’s private sector continued growing in the month of July, with activity expanding at a rate unchanged from the month of June, according to the latest survey of purchasing executives.

The Stanbic Bank Uganda purchasing managers’ index stalled at 53.2 in July from June, above the 50-point level that signals an improvement in business conditions on the previous month.

The strengthening reflects “ongoing expansions in output and new orders amid reports of strengthening client demand,” said IHS Markit, the global research firm which produces the index.
“Companies responded to rising workloads by taking on extra staff and upping purchasing activity,” it said.

Both overall input costs and output prices, however, continued to increase. Indeed, output prices have risen for all the 26 months the survey has been conducted.

“Private sector activity remains solid and could further benefit from the ongoing public investment in infrastructure,” Jibran Qureishi, Regional Economist East Africa at Stanbic Bank said.
He said firms in Uganda would gain from the government’s intentions to clear domestic arrears over the course of the financial year 2018/19.
“Headline inflation, however, could continue rising over the coming months owing to new tax measures and the lag pass-through impact of the weaker exchange rate from May and June,” he said.

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