A man in Jinja has been arrested after police Flying Squad raided his rented home in Kimaka village in Mpumudde Division and discovered a gun, army uniforms, jungle boots, rounds of ammunition and rocket bombs.

Denis Oyo, 36, who was whisked to Kiira Regional Police Headquarters, stays in the Kimaka village which is just next to the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) Senior Staff College in Kimaka.

Kiira Regional Police Commander Onesmus Mwesigwa declined to comment on the matter but this writer witnessed the arrest and spoke to some of Oyo’s neighbours and the village leaders.

“Now this is the second person they are arresting from this village in connection with possession of firearms. Government should come to our rescue otherwise we are not safe,” said one of the residents.

On Sunday, April 8, 2018 police retrieved an AK47 assault rifle with three magazines from a pit latrine in Idogoro Village, Mafubira Sub-County in Jinja District. Mafubira is less than two kilometres from Kimaka.

Police sources said the rifle that was tightly fastened by a polythene bag and left to freely sag in the latrine, was discovered by a neighbour who had gone to answer nature’s call.

They added that he thought a human being had plunged into the latrine and immediately reported the matter to the owner of the latrine who in turn informed the police.

Kiira RPC Mwesigwa confirmed the discovery of the gun, saying the rifle was found inside the pit latrine of Katib Kafufu, a resident of the same Village. He added that the gun was rusty, making it difficult to identify which security institution it belongs to.

Mwesigwa said that Kafufu was not arrested but is helping with investigations into how the gun ended up in his pit latrine and appealed to the public to always be very vigilant and report people in their respective areas who lack proper identification.

In a separate interview, the acting Jinja Central Division Police Commander, Nasur Anguyo, while displaying the gun to journalists at Jinja CPS, said the weapon had been in the latrine for ‘close to five months’.

Incidents of guns being found in Jinja have started worrying the residents, and Michael  Muwanguzi who works in Jinja wondered whether the citizens are safe when almost every day some gun is recovered from illegal hands in their area.

In December last year, police in Jinja recovered two guns stolen from two different local security firms operating in the second largest town in the country.

The then Jinja Central Division Police Commander Martin Mbabazi, while addressing journalists, said that one of the guns was stolen from Blue Light Guard Ltd on December 14, 2017, and was recovered from atop a house along Iganga Road.

He said the second gun recovered had been abandoned by a guard at his place of deployment on December 26, 2017.

“For us to recover these guns it was team work; we involved the community, crime preventers and of course the UPDF who patrol with us at night,” said Mbabazi.

No arrests were made in both incidents but he said police were hunting for the suspects.

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Government has insisted on charging Shs 100 for every Ugandan to access social media platforms, with arguments that it will contribute towards the transformation of the economy.

According to Bahati, when action is taken, the government will generate over Shs 400 billion which will be for economic transformation of Uganda’s economy.

Early this month, President Yoweri Museveni ordered for levying taxes from social media users to access various platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Viber. According to President Museveni, owners of social media platforms make money without giving back to community.

Speaking to journalists at Uganda Media Centre, the Minister of State for Finance and Planning David Bahati said the Shs 100 will be levied on sim cards daily for social media users to use applications optimally.

“This will not only be applicable from social media users, however there is a proposal to increase tax on fuel by Shs 100 which will be for the construction of roads,” Bahati said.

He added: “These tax measures take effect on July 1st, 2018, we are increasing the excise duty from Shs1000 to Shs1, 500 and this will be on the company (telecommunications).

Since Museveni introduced the Shs100 levy proposal, it has attracted criticism from various political analysts, who argue that taxing social media users will not promote ‘local content’.  Instead, they argue, government should strategically invest in Information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and support local ICT hubs and individuals to promote local content.

The Lord Mayor for Kampala Erias Lukwago noted that taxing social media will limit information consumption to the public and will limit freedom of speech and free expression.

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The recently appointed Executive Director of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Sam Mwandha, has started familiarization visit to conservation areas in the country.
Mwandha kicked off the visit Wednesday starring Lake Mburo Conservation Area and urged park rangers to uphold UWA core values of Commitment to conservation, teamwork, customer care, quality service, professionalism and Integrity.
Sam Mwandha replaced Dr. Andrew in February.
Uganda apparently has 10 national parks dispersed across its various regions. The number could increase or decrease in the nearby future basing on the number of game reserves and forest reserves that the country has. Mwandha is expected to visit all these.

At the moment Murchison Falls National Park is the biggest with Lake Mburo National Park being the smallest. Kidepo Valley National Park Uganda is the most isolated, falling far north-east of the wild frontier region of Uganda, Mt. Elgon National Park is the least visited and could lose it’s national park status anytime soon as claimed by UWA.

Queen Elizabeth National Park is the most popular of all where as Bwindi Impenetrable National Park Uganda remains among the most visited. The other national parks include Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Kibale Forest National Park, Semuliki Valley National Park & Rwenzori Mountains National Park.

These national parks have long been the center of tourism in Uganda attracting thousands of visitors annually.
Each of them has diverse tourism activities to offer to tourists that range from wildlife viewing, chimpanzee tracking, gorilla trekking, golden monkey trekking, nature / community walks, canoeing and so much more. For gorilla trekkers, Bwindi harbors over half the total population of the remaining endangered mountain gorillas in the whole world. The gorillas are divided into families and distributed according to the sectors of Bwindi in their respective habitats.

As for wildlife viewing, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park and Kidepo Valley National Park are goldmine though Lake Mburo National Park also offers a good sight on some occasions. Chimpanzee tracking can be carried out from Kyambura Gorge and Kalinzu forest near Queen Elizabeth National Park, in Murchison Falls National Park and in Kibale Forest National Park (Best place for Chimpanzee trekking).

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The Chairperson of the Pornography Control Committee Dr. Annette Kezaabu Kasimbazi has said that most children in Uganda are exposed to pornography by accessing their parent’s electronic gadgets like mobile phones.

Addressing journalists recently, Dr. Kezaabu Kasimbazi said her committee had enlisted media support in educating the youth and students in the fight against pornography.  She also disclosed that her committee the National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC) would work together develop a suitable packaging for the introduction anti-pornography lessons in schools.

“The Anti-pornography Act dictates that one of the many functions of this committee is to promote appropriate educational materials against pornography in the school curriculum in consultation with the government,” she noted.

Her disclosure came in the wake of heavy criticism from the public and individual critics following the committee’s announcement to include anti-pornography classes onto the school curriculum.

However, the chairperson emphasized the need for children to acquire the right education about pornography and its dangers from their parent’s and qualified persons or sources.

“We cannot close our eyes and say porn is not there in schools; these children will still learn these things in the hidden context,” she said of the fantasy love novels like ‘Mills and Boon’ that are found in most secondary schools’ libraries.

Dr. Kezaabu also clarified that the government never bought the anti-pornography machine but instead sourced various types of software that would enable the government to filter illicit content from the country’s cyberspace with the help of the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC).

She also expressed willingness to work with celebrity artistes but took swipe at some who dress indecently, saying they would be dealt with accordingly.

The committee members have of recent been on a countrywide sensitization campaign as part of its mandate to tackle pornography in the country and its recommendations will lead to the possible prosecution of errant consumers of porn beginning June 1.

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