The West Nile Catholic Parish of St. Anthony Angal in Nebbi Diocese has celebrated 100 years since its establishment by the Comboni Missionaries in 1917.

The colourful Centenary celebration held at the parish grounds and presided over by the Papal Nuncio Augustine Blume attracted hundreds of Catholic faithful from Zombo, Arua and Nebbi districts.

According to the Parish Priest Fr. Elio Zanai, Angal Parish was the first Catholic contact among the West Nile communities of the Alur and Madi as the Italian Comboni Missionaries reached the area by the twentieth Century.

President Yoweri Museveni, in a speech read for him by the Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, lauded the church as important conduit for attitude change towards development. He said that Uganda and Africa in general are blessed with abundant resources, good climate, sufficient rains and sunshine but the challenge is the commitment of leadership to develop it.

He urged the church to continue sensitising people the value of hard work, faithfulness, patience and self-reliance and asked the church to continue being agents of positive change in society beyond evangelism, teaching and discipleship.

Museveni noted now is the time for hard work, coupled with justice and integrity that must be taught to the next generation as the only way to preserve the nation from infiltration by moral decadence.

The President acknowledged the work of the Comboni missionaries who arrived in Uganda in 1917 for their humanitarianism and said they laid a strong foundation for the church as seen in the social-economic changes witnessed in the areas in education, health and economic development opportunities.

He congratulated Angal Catholic Parish for being a model of development not only spiritually, but also in the social and economic arenas and urged all the people in the parish, to remember and emulate the legacy of the founders.

Museveni, who gave Shs30 million towards the function, also reminded the people of West Nile to maintain peace and security.

The function attended by the State Minister for Northern Uganda, Grace Kwiyucwiny, the Archbishop of Gulu John Baptist Odama, the Bishop of Arua Diocese Rev. Sabino Odoki Ocan, Alur Chiefdom representatives and several members of Parliament and local leaders from the three districts.

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High Court Judge Flavia Anglin Senoga has today threatened to cancel businessman Muhamad Sebuwufu’s bail after his lawyer asked court to adjourn the hearing for two weeks.

Appearing before court this morning, lawyer Noel Nuwe said that his client, who is accused of murdering businesswoman Donah Katushabe, had petitioned the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for a plea-bargaining deal, and sought the adjournment that rubbed the Judge the wrong way.

“We had not concluded the process with the DPP’s office, plea bargaining deal documents were received on Saturday and we had one day to look into them, so we ask the matter to be adjourned to two weeks,” Nuwe told Justice Senoga.

But in response Justice Senoga said: “This matter has continuously been adjourned; if we adjourn for two weeks then court will cancel the suspect’s bail to balance with other suspects still on remand.”

In 2016 Sebuwufu was granted a Shs10 million cash bail by High Court Judge Justice Musalu Musene, but his co-accused including Shaban Oduttu, Damaseni Sentongo, Godfrey Kayinza, Yoweri Kitayimbwa, Philip Mirambe and Paul Tasingika, are on remand in Luzira.

Another suspect, former Central Police Station District Police Commander (DPC) Aaron Baguma, was last month cleared of murder charges by the DPP.

Prosecution avers that in 2016 the accused tortured and killed Ms. Katushabe over a Shs9 million debt she had failed to clear after acquiring a car from Sebuwufu’s Pine Car Bond on Lumumba Road in Kampala.

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Bridge Academies and Schools are open for the new term with 60 percent of the pupils reporting on the first day, the Country Director Morrison Rwakakamba said Monday, adding that management is yet to receive operating licences from Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES).

In an interview with the media in Kampala, Mr. Rwakamba said all the 63 schools spread across the country are open for the new term as per the recent statement by the education ministry Permanent Secretary Alex Kakooza who said that all schools which had submitted in registration documents would be allowed to open for the new term as the ministry processes their operating licences.

Rwakakamba said that even though there were concerns that the Academies would not be allowed to open for the new term, the fact remained that management had tendered in documents for registration, with some applications sent over a year ago.

On January 29, 2018 Mr. Daniel Nkaada, the Commissioner of Basic Education in the Ministry of Education, wrote a letter to Bridge Schools, expressing uncertainty whether the schools would be allowed to open for the new term, while accusing management of not complying with registration requirements that he failed to specify.

But Rwakamba told journalists that management tendered in files containing registration documents for 45 schools to ministry as well as sending files for registration of 21 schools in local governments. He added that management is awaiting the approval of the files as they teach 14,000 pupils, many of them from poor families who cannot afford an expensive education.

Rwakakamba said Bridge Academies have fulfilled all the requirements-including; recruiting qualified teachers (certified by MoES), but also presenting tenancy agreements, approvals from LC1s, health inspection reports, NEMA approvals, among others and sees no reason why the ministry cannot give them licences.

Rwakamba says has followed the due process of registration and has brushed off rumours that they might have skipped some procedures needed by the MoES.

According to Rwakakamba, Bridge Schools have a good working relationship with government and particularly the MoES, and as such cannot afford to disregard the ministry’s guidelines for registration.

Bridge academies, out of its own initiative, are promoting affordable/low cost education to under privileged communities. About 14,000 pupils are benefiting from this social enterprise model in underprivileged areas where Government has not been able to set up schools. Over 30,000 parents and communities in Uganda send their children to these schools.

In last year’s primary leaving examinations, Bridge Academies had all its candidates pass to join secondary education.

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