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Sudhir expands empire by opening of another building in Kampala

By
Our Reporter
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City Mogul, Sudhir Ruparelia is at it again just few months after opening another building in Nakasero area.

On the weekend, Rajiv Ruparelia, the Managing Director of Crane Management Service, opened up a building on 5th street industrial area.

Rajiv being briefed by constructors.

According to Rajiv, the building is to cater for a combination of ware house, office and showrooms.

“It is three in one and it will cater for those that want to shift away from the congested city centre but who would want work in such an environment. However, the structure has got space for showrooms as well as enough parking” Rajiv said.

The has building is 1600 meters of the total area. Sudhir will in July unveil another state of art building that is under construction at Shimon grounds. Crane Management Service is the largest property service in Kampala.

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Parliament asks Museveni to intervene in Apaa eviction

By
Geoffery Serugo
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Justice and Constitutional Minister, Ephraim Kamuntu.

Parliament has asked President Yoweri Museveni to intervene into the planned process of evicting people from and around Zooka forest and game reserve an area that is situated in Apaa Parish, Paboo Sub County in Amuru district.

The request by parliament chaired by Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah came after the Leader of Opposition in Parliament Winnie Kiiza asked government to explain the continuous land conflicts between the Madi and the Acholi as government resolved that both encroached on game reserve’s land.

“Given that the president has taken the initiative to have a permanent solution to this problem, any activities on the remaining land should cease until the he gets on the ground. The earlier the president goes there, the better for all of us,” said Oulanyah.

According to a report presented by the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, out of the 827 square miles of the land in question, locals have been evicted from 400 square Miles.

“There is no conflict among the people; the conflict is instigated by some leaders who instead of going to courts of law want to incite violence. Despite the demarcation, locals from Gulu, Adjumani and Amuru districts continue to encroach on the forest reserve,” he said in parliament.

He regretted the incident of March 23, 2018 where one of the locals was shot dead by the patrol team, “It is unfortunate that a group of 20 youths suspected to have been poachers, and armed with bows and arrows, attacked a patrol team, the team had tried to avoid confrontation with the hostile group and retreated from the attackers who continued to pursue them,” said Kamuntu.

The First Deputy Prime Minister, Gen. Moses Ali also appealed to MPs to allow the president to resolve the issue, “President Museveni has already committed to solving the Apaa land conflicts and he should be given the opportunity to do so,” he added.

“Even if the president is going to de-gazette the land, he will have to follow the procedure and consult the people of Adjumani,” said Gen Moses Ali.

However, Kilak South MP Gilbert Olanya accused government of evicting the locals to clear the land for an investor from South Africa.

“The investor is already advertising that he has acquired about 42 square kilometers of land in Apaa. Government should instead de-gazette the land for the locals and find better ways of getting land for investors,” said Olanya.

The land conflicts between the Madi and the Acholi in the northern Uganda date way back to 2015 when members of the two tribes attacked each other, following with claims that the Madi had settled on Acholi land in an area stretching from Zooka Bridge to Aliwala.

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Must the gods and dead chiefs, Kings return to preserve us?

By
Guest Writer
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HULLO: President Yoweri Museveni greets the author Mr Nabende Wamoto.

BY NABENDEH WAMOTO

Are the dotcom proponents worst enemies of our generation than our primitive, ancient forefathers who did wonders to practice sustainable land management such as pooling of labor, contours, fertility enhancement with homemade manure e.t.c?

Conservation is internationally described as the protection of flora and fauna, an area placed under public control for the protection and preservation of wild vegetation and animal life for the benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the general public whose boundaries cannot be altered either by presidential or royal decree except by competent legislative authority i.e. the August house (Parliament) of Uganda.

Therefore issues of hunting of fauna and collection of flora is prohibited except again with permission of the conservation authorities like Uganda wildlife Authority.

BAMASABA KAMPALA CHAPTER BRIEF.final

It must be recalled that conservation of game for example started with rulers (Kings) who used to go hunting in the wild. However as people learnt how to develop and use sophisticated weapons (firepower), they threatened the Kings interests by reducing the number of game so in order to protect their interests, the rulers put regulations on the hunting activities which protected game.

The Roan Antelope in South Africa for example exclusively belonged to the Kings and in the same way Ivory in Toro belonged to the Omukama (Toro King) and no other person was allowed to own the trophy. Conservation or park creation in the United States of America was first initiated in 1872 with YELLOWSTONE conservation area i.e. National Park and from hence the idea of conservation spread to other areas albeit with different themes.

In Africa, the first practical move of a conservation area was the Sabi game reserve established in the Transvaal in 1898 which later became known as Kruger national park from 1926.

Before Kruger was named a park, Virunga national park (then Albert national park) was declared in 1925 in the then Belgian Congo, later called Congo Kinshasa, Zaire and now Democratic Republic of Congo to protect mainly the mountain gorillas (scientifically known as Gorilla gorilla berengei).

Uganda joined in the fray and at the moment there are 10 national parks Viz: Murchison falls, Queen Elizabeth, Kidepo valley and Lake Mburo national parks which are which are dominantly grasslands, mount Rwenzori and Mgahinga gorilla national parks which are dominated by tropical montane forests, Bwindi impenetrable forest national park which is dominantly low land tropical rain forest, Kibaale forest, Semuliki and Mt. Elgon national parks.

If the ancient leaders would conserve how then can the dotcom ones destroy like what is happening on Mt. Elgon parks?

NABENDEH WAMOTO S.P (0776-658433)
Kenya Utali College Alumni
Email: simonwamoto@yahoo.co.uk

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Minister Mukwaya calls for protection of women at work

By
Badru Kasadah
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Gender Minister Janat Mukwaya (3rd R), Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana (2nd R) and other members on the Ugandan team with the Director General of ILO, Guy Ryder at the ongoing Labour Conference in Geneva

The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development Janat Mukwaya has called on labour actors at the international scene to ensure that more efforts are put into protecting women against violence and harassment at work.

Mukwaya observed that women are subjected to violence and harassment at work than men but unfortunately, although violence against women is widely acknowledged, few people raise a voice against the vice.

“For others, the violence and harassment is seen as conservative stereotypes, but it is the reality that has to be tolerated as part of life. I am therefore, pleased that the International Labour Organisation is working on an international labour standard on ending violence and harassment at work,” she noted.

The Minister was speaking at the 107th Session of the International Labour Conference that’s underway in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference runs from 28 May –8 June 2018.

Mukwaya is leading the Government of Uganda delegation which also includes Mr. Pius Bigirimana, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Mr. Peter Werikhe, Secretary General National Organisation of Trade Unions and Mr. Douglas Opio, the Executive Director of the Federation of Uganda Employers.

The International Labour Conference is the ILO’s highest decision-making body.

It meets annually, bringing together the tripartite delegations from the Organization’s 187 member States and a number of observers from other international actors to consider a series of topics related to the world of work, placed on its agenda by the Governing Body of the ILO.

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Among the committees is the Standard Setting Committee on violence and harassment in the world of work, where Uganda and
She appealed that the standard setting should be followed by domestication in the various countries and establishment of well-resourced and functioning institutions against violence at work.

“Furthermore we must enable women to take their destiny into their hands through education, employment creation and enterprise development.”

“Similarly, imbalances in asset ownership especially land should also addressed. This is because where males own and control land, access to finance will also be skewed in favour of men yet capital is crucial for improvement of livelihoods of women through enterprise development,” the Minister noted.

She cited that of the 192 million unemployed people in the world, 114 million of them are in developing countries.

“Gender gaps are also a matter of concern. A woman is associated globally with 30 per cent less chance of being in the labour force and often being at the bottom of the economic ladder. Women continue to be paid approximately 20 per cent less than men per month across the world, even when they are engaged in the same or work of equal value,” she said.

She added that Uganda welcomes the ILO-initiated women at work centenary initiative which aims to better understand and deliver decent work for women in the 21st Century.

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Trade war continues as Kenya gives Uganda ultimatum to lift ban on sweets

By
Our Reporter
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Uganda imposed tax on Kenya-made sweets

Kenya has given its neighbours Uganda and Tanzania one more month to lift an embargo on duty-free entry of Kenya-made sweets or face retaliatory action from July 1, when new the financial year 2018/19 begins in the East African Community (EAC) bloc.

Uganda and Tanzania in March this year imposed a 25 percent import duty on Kenyan confectionery, juice, ice cream and chewing gum earlier in the year on grounds that makers were using zero-rated industrial sugar imports.
The two countries rejected certificates of origin issued by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and opted to levy the import duty on the confectioneries.
Acceptance of the certificate, a document showing where a good has originated so as to determine the import duty chargeable — guarantees goods to enter tax-free into partner states of the EAC as outlined in EAC Common Market Protocol.
Sources say revenue and standards bodies from both countries will separately visit Kenyan factories from June 11 for verification in a bid to resolve the embargo.

Sources say Kenya will make a decision by June 30 and communication will be made by the EAC secretariat on the findings of that verification.

The verification process, to be supervised by the EAC’s secretariat, will extend to factories making other products such as cement, lubricants, cosmetics and wooden pallets which have also had difficulties gaining free access into Tanzania.
Uganda and Tanzania revenue authorities accuse the Kenyan manufacturers of tilting competition in their favour by using industrial sugar imported under a 10 percent duty remission scheme.
The region does not produce industrial sugar. In April, Kenyan firms accused Uganda and Tanzania of using the customs taxes to restrict trade in the EAC.
The two countries have lists of Kenyan products they suspect do not meet the rules of origin, which forms the basis for qualification for duty-free market access within EAC under the common market protocol of July 2010.

Official statistics show Kenya’s exports to Uganda fell 9.52 per cent to Sh12.92 billion in the first three months of the year 2018 compared to last year, while Tanzania’s rose 20.37 percent to nearly Sh6.01 billion.

According to sources, officials will investigate availability of stocks of duty-free raw sugar shipped into the country under the one-year zero-rate duty remission scheme that Kenya sought from the EAC secretariat last July.

Reduced sugar production in the region as a result of a recent prolonged drought, allowed importation of raw sugar at zero tax.

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Keys to recharging passion and purpose in business

By
Guest Writer
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By Martin Zwilling

New entrepreneurs routinely jump into a startup with a full charge of passion and energy, but often find themselves drained of both after a few months by the workload and challenges. As a result, burnout and loss of passion are consistently listed among the top causes of startup failure, according to many experts. The challenge is find ways to continually recharge along the way.

Of course, this same challenge extends well beyond the entrepreneur, into all walks of life and work. I found some great insights in the classic book, “Are You Fully Charged?” by human relations expert and bestselling author, Tom Rath, which explains well the three keys to energizing all your life pursuits. These keys are meaning, interactions, and energy.

Based on my experience working with early-stage startups, I agree with Guy Kawasaki, that those entrepreneurs who set out to make meaning in the world (a positive change) create the companies that will most likely be successful. I have paraphrased Rath’s eight recommendations on making meaning as key focus principles that every new entrepreneur should take to heart:

Create meaning with small wins. Celebrate small wins by asking yourself what can you do today to make a difference? Real meaning is made up of many small differences, such as a design breakthrough, new business model, a truly satisfied customer, or an excited team member. Take a moment to enjoy each of these and get recharged.

Pursue life and meaning, as well as a solution. Finding meaning is driven from within, through new learning and overcoming challenges. Every startup has a wealth of these opportunities. Successful entrepreneurs often admit that they enjoyed the journey more than the destination. Meaning does not happen to you – you create it. Don’t wait.
Make your startup a purpose, not just a business. Strive to see the work you do to build a business as the way to make a difference in the world. Make sure your team understands your shared mission, meaning, and purpose. Making meaning is making your life, and the lives of others, stronger as a product of your efforts.

Find a higher calling than cash. Happiness does not scale up with income. Studies show that doubling your income might increase happiness by 10 percent. In addition, focusing first on money will kill meaning. The more you focus your efforts on others, the easier it is to do great work without being dependent on money, power, or fame.
Ask what the world needs. You create meaning when your strengths and interests meet the needs of the world. One of the rightful critiques of all the “follow your passion” advice is that it presumes you are the center of universe. A better way is to explore the most pressing needs in your social circles, organization, and the worldwide community.

Don’t fall into the dreams of others. If you walk only in the path of others, your own image disappears. Be sure you create your own shadow, spending some time each day engaging in activities that energize and recharge you. Also plan to spend more time around specific people who energize your work and less around those who don’t.
Take the initiative to shape the future. If you want to make meaning in the world, your ability to do so will be almost directly proportional to the amount of time you spend initiating instead of responding. Being busy is often the antithesis of working on what matters most. Usually you have to focus on less to do more.

Work in bursts, paired with time to recharge. This can mean focus for 45 minutes, followed by a break for 15 minutes. Short breaks allow you to refresh yourself and work with purpose. Try to remind yourself daily why you do what you do, and if you don’t like what you hear, it’s time to change to something that has more meaning for you.

In an author survey of 10,000 people, only 20 percent admitted to spending much time doing meaningful work yesterday. Only 11 percent reported having a great deal of energy at work. Clearly, most entrepreneurs are operating well below their capacity, and could be more effective in building their business or making new meaning in the world. If you are one of these, then it’s time for you to change before you burnout and disappoint everyone, including yourself.

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BoU in financial crisis after making loss of Shs494b

By
Isaiah Mwebaze
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Bank of Uganda

The Central Bank –Bank of Uganda currently under probe by the Auditor General (AG) over the mismanagement of properties of closed banks is under a financial crisis after making a loss of Shs494 billion now is seeking capitalization from central government, sources say.

Following instructions from Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase), the office of the Auditor General is carrying out a broad forensic audit into the operations of Bank of Uganda and is demanding accountability for Shs200 billion taxpayers’ money that was injected into Crane Bank before it was sold to Dfcu Bank.

Interestingly, despite injecting Shs200 billion of the taxpayers’ money into Crane Bank capitalisaiton, BOU sold the bank to its competitor- dfcu at the same amount. Leaked documents show that dfcu will pay the money in installments.

However, Jinja Municipality East MP Paul Mwiru who was the Vice Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee in the last Parliament, earlier said that BOU top managers must account for Shs600 billion not Shs200 billion, claiming that before the release of Shs200 billion to Crane Bank under the guise of capitalization, Parliament had already capitalized BoU with Shs400 billion.

Having acquired Crane Bank in January 2017, Dfcu reported Shs127 billion net profit as of December 2017, up from just Shs46 billion in 2016.

The Auditor General John Muwanga was also instructed by Cosase to look into Crane Bank sales agreement that was signed in January 2017 between BoU and Dfcu Bank. Former Crane Bank shareholders are seeking legal redress because of the way the bank was sold, without putting their interests into consideration.

Cosase is in possession of a Crane Bank shareholders’ document disputing the sale and summing up the sales agreement as fraudulent and it has also been passed to the Auditor General’s office, which will carry out the forensic audit.

Some of the issues Cosase wants the auditor general to look into are; the cost of Crane Bank liquidation, assets management, hiring of external lawyers, liabilities and also the status of all the banks closed by the central bank.

The Auditor General’s office has confirmed that the forensic audit into BoU is ongoing and that they will leave no stone unturned.

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Museveni assures Anglicans on Church House project

By
Isaiah Mwebaze
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President Museveni greeting Dr. Kizza Besigye

President Yoweri Museveni has given assurances to the Church of Uganda that no one will take away Church House from the Church as long as he is still alive.

The President was speaking at the Anglican Shrine in Namugongo, Wakiso District during the annual Uganda Martyrs’ celebrations. Kigezi Diocese led the celebrations for this year’s Martyrs’ Day celebrations.

President Museveni said he had seen media reports to the effect that the Anglican Church risked losing the multi-billion Church House building located in Kampala City Centre to businessmen.

“I saw in the news today that you have issues with the Church House. They want to steal it from you. Archbishop Orombi and I worked very hard to get that house. As long as the Lord has put me here, I will not allow it to happen. I will meet and discuss with the leaders,” he said.

Church of Uganda owes Equity Bank debt of Shs2.6 billion in interest. The bank in a February 9, letter, had given the Church of Uganda only three weeks to pay, or the house would be advertised for sale.

Meanwhile, the President was happy that the numbers of Church of Uganda pilgrims attending the annual pilgrimage at Namugongo had increased. He promised to help the Church of Uganda so that Anglicans further develop their site at Namugongo to a higher level like their Catholic neighbours have done to theirs.

Church House in final touches.

“Some of you do not know that the majority of the Martyrs were Protestants. You used not to pay so much attention to this day but now you are awake. I congratulate you. We are going to develop this place like that of your brothers because I have noticed that the gradient here is too steep,” he remarked.

The President used the occasion to encourage the pilgrims to work hard for the transformation of their homes and chase away poverty. He called for efforts to live exemplary lives like that of the disciplined Puritans who played a crucial role in the building of the United States of America.

“There is a saying that in this world, we are visitors and we are passing through. So some people do not care to develop their lives. The Bible says that the body is the temple of God, but if it is full of prostitution and drunkenness and poverty, how can it be the temple of God?” he remarked.

In his sermon based on the Scriptures from the Book of Revelation, Bishop David Grants Williams of Basingstoke in the United Kingdom encouraged the pilgrims to be ready to sacrifice their lives for Christ, even to the point of death, just like the Uganda Martyrs. He thanked the President for the stability in Uganda adding it has enabled the country celebrate major events in peace.

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Cancer: Cobalt 60 Radiotherapy machine still functional-Ministry of Health

By
George Mangula
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Cobalt 60 Radiotherapy machine

The Ministry of Health has come out to refute media reports that the Cobalt 60 Radiotherapy machine at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) is no longer functional.

“We would like to inform the public that the Cobalt-60 Radiotherapy machine has not broken down and is fully functional,” the Acting Director of Health Services, Dr. Henry G. Mwebesa said in a June 3, media statement.
The machine was imported into the country in August last year at a cost of over Shs3.015 billion ($815,000) and installed at Mulago Hospital in January this year.

Mwebesa said the operations of the machine have been scaled down in preparation for its first periodic servicing which is scheduled for this week, adding that the machine was still under warranty, meaning servicing is to be done for free by the manufacturer.

“The designated technician from the machine manufacturer (UJP-Praha), Mr Bednar Andrej has been contacted and is expected to arrive in the country on Thursday 7th June 2018to undertake the servicing of the machine which will commence on Friday 8th and run through the weekend of 9th -10th June 2018. Normal full capacity operation of radiotherapy services is expected to resume on Monday 11th June 2018,” he said.

He said: “Due to the big number of patients that required the services, the number of patients treated per day drastically increased from about 10 patients upon re-establishment of the service in November and December 2017 to 150 patients per day by the end of March 2018. This has remained the current average number treated per day, with the exception of the emergency cases.”

He said since the installation of the machine, the number of treatment sessions rose from about 20 to over 300 per day and that about 1000 patients have been treated since the restoration of radiotherapy services at UCI last November. “About 15,000 treatment sessions had been done by the end of May 2018,” he said.

Meanwhile he said government has funded the training of three Radiotherapy technicians, who are currently training in Zambia and are expected to back in the country in March next year.

“The construction of additional modern bunkers with six chambers -which will house four linear accelerator radiotherapy machines- has also reached a level of 95 per cent progress and this is intended to fast track the next phase of modernization and expansion of radiotherapy services,” he said.

He said the new machine is; “a high-level and ultra-modern machine and was accepted by both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Institute for Clinical Use in October 2017.”

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Mamdani returns to UCT centre as honorary professor

By
Our Reporter
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Mamhood Mamdani

Ugandan academic Professor Mahmood Mamdani returned to the University of Cape Town’s Centre for African Studies (CAS) as an honorary professor, almost 20 years after he left owing to a disagreement with his faculty.
His return to UCT has been hailed as “institutionally historic” and marking a significant step on the university’s path towards decolonising the institution.

In a statement last week, Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza, CAS director, said: “This appointment is particularly exciting and profoundly significant in light of the pressure from the student movements since March 2015 for the University of Cape Town (UCT) to be decolonised and to fundamentally transform its curricula, with numerous references by student leaders to the relevant scholarship of Mamdani.”

Mamdani was appointed as the AC Jordan chair of African Studies at the University of Cape Town in 1996 and became director of CAS in early 1997. However, he left the institution in 1998 following a fall-out with his faculty over its rejection of a faculty-wide foundation course on Africa that he was asked to develop.

His departure and the events leading up to it became known as the “Mamdani Affair” and still serve as a critical reference point in South African debates about institutional transformation.

In what is described in the CAS statement as a “profoundly historic occasion for both CAS and UCT”, Mamdani returned to UCT to deliver the TB Davie Memorial Lecture on August 22, 2017.

“His lecture – titled ‘Decolonising the Post-Colonial University’ and delivered to a much inspired, excited and indeed provocative and engaged audience of hundreds of students, staff and workers – brought to the public space the vital debates that are currently intensely reverberating across South Africa’s higher education institutions,” the statement said.

Ntsebeza said Mamdani’s course titled ‘Problematising the Study of Africa’ had been rejected by a “white-dominated faculty”. This had led to Mamdani’s public critique that UCT was promoting “Bantu Studies” and “South African exceptionalism” as “African Studies”.

“The appointment of Mamdani as honorary professor in CAS is therefore nothing less than institutionally historic,” he said.

In 1998 Mamdani accused his faculty of presenting a colonial view of Africa from both a spatial and social perspective; drawing on a limited set of disciplinary perspectives; reinforcing a racial reading of Africa by not incorporating African intelligentsia in core readings and relying instead on the American academy’s perspectives on African studies; and presenting a racial periodisation of African history leading to the concluding logic: “disintegration following the departure of the white man”.

However, according to Ntsebeza, almost two decades later, “the core African Studies course he argued for … was successfully implemented as a core course at postgraduate level in African Studies, and much of the themes within his scholarship have been introduced in the highly successful foundational African Studies major first rolled out in 2017.”

Once voted the world’s ninth most important public intellectual by the US’s Foreign Policy and the UK’s Prospect magazines, Mamdani is currently director and professor of the Makerere Institute of Social Research at Makerere University and Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in the departments of Anthropology, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS), Political Science and School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, New York, where he was also director of the Institute of African Studies from 1999 to 2004.

His texts have been core readings for undergraduate and postgraduate studies at UCT and far beyond on the major debates on the study of African history and politics, exploring the intersection between politics and culture, comparative studies of colonialism, civil wars and the state, and genocide in Africa.

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