Whereas his consultation meetings are being condemned by his party as irregular, former FDC president Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu has likened President Yoweri Museveni to former Presidents Idi Amin Dada and Milton Obote.

In a tweet on the side lines of his first consultation exercise, Muntu lashed out at Museveni for attacking the two former leaders for their past actions while they served as president yet he is not any different.
“Museveni criticised Obote and Amin and over time did what they did,” he said adding “That is why those of us who desire real change must build a new culture of politics in this country with institutions that check leaders,”
Gen. Mugisha held his first consultations were held Sunday in Hoima. He says the main reason he insisted on going ahead with his consultations is because this is the best timing for Uganda to achieve what other generations of Uganda have not.
“My belief has always been that we should resist the temptation of being obsessed with regime change in and of itself. Museveni’s departure is a given, whether he likes it or not. But if we don’t prepare for a post-Museveni era, we may find ourselves in the same position we are trying to escape from,
“Where the country is dependent on the charity of individuals rather than the functioning of institutions. Galvanising the country around protests, civil disobedience and boycotts is an effective tool of weakening regimes – can also bring down dictatorships like we have witnessed in a number of countries worldwide,” his statement at the consultation meeting reads in part.
It further reads, “But if we don’t have people across the nation to provide an alternative kind of leadership, all we will achieve will be a mere change of guards if not outright anarchy like we have witnessed in a number of African and Arab countries. The question for us as a country therefore is this; how do we change our politics to reflect the democratic ideas we aspire to achieve?”

Last week by FDC Secretary General Nandala Mafabi ordering all FDC District Chairpersons and Secretary Generals that any activities in their areas must have been sanctioned by the party’s National Executive Committee.
“This is to inform your office that anyone from headquarters or anywhere who intends to carry out any activity in your district in the name of the party should demonstrate that the activity was discussed and passed by the FDC National Executive Committee,” reads a directive from Mafabi dated January 10.
However, defending his meetings, Gen Muntu insists they are not about him or any single individual.
“They are about how to best put the country before self. How do we get our young people to realise that they are not merely spectators but stakeholders in our politics? How do we get our women to reject lip service being paid to gender-based injustice and insist on holding their leaders accountable?
“What is the best way to get our small but influential working class to realise that unless we sort out the unemployment crisis affecting their brothers and sisters, even the few jobs they have will quickly disappear?” he asked.
He further added that a full consultation program had been drawn and police had been informed about the same, while the public will soon be informed about the program that he intends to carry out all over the country.

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Court of Appeal has this morning sent David Chandi Jamwa, former Managing Director NSSF back to the coolers after throwing out his application to have his 12 year jail sentence set aside.
Mr Jamwa was found guilty of selling National Social Security Fund (NSSF) bonds to the now defunct Crane Bank before their maturity date which caused financial loss to the fund to the tune of Shs3.1billion
He appealed the ruling challenging the late Anti-Corruption Court Judge John Bosco’s Katutsi’s judgment, where he convicted him of causing financial loss and abuse office. Justice Katutsi also banned Jamwa for 10 years from holding any public office.
However, the appellant judges, Kenneth Kakuru and Opiyo Aweri, today agreed with the late Katusti saying that he properly evaluated and reached the right decision and conclusion in convicting the troubled former NSSF Managing Director.
The two judges observed that Jamwa as well aware that selling government treasury bonds to Crane bank before their maturity date would cause financial loss to NSSF but instead insisted on authorizing the sale. They actually added another four years for abuse of office, which sentences are supposed to be served concurrently.
It was only Justice Steven Kavuma who dissented with his colleagues.
Important to note is that since Mr Jamwa has been out on bail for seven years since 2011, Mr Jamwa will only serve 5 years in jail since bail time is also considered to be part of the sentence.

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Uganda Law Society has petitioned the Constitutional Court challenging the just enacted Age limit act.
ULS through its president Francis Gimara President has today petitioned Constitutional Court reasoning that the extension of parliament and local councils to seven years was unconstitutional.
Hardly a week after it was controversially passed by parliament, President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill into an Act last December. The Act gives a president room to rule until he feels he tired.
In December last year 317 legislators voted for amendment as 97 voted against the expunging of both the lower and upper presidential age limit that was capped at 35 and 75 years and increasing their terms in office from five to seven years and reinstating term limits that were removed by the seventh parliament in 2005.
‘’Article (8) which is yet to become an act extending legislators term in offices to two years which is inconsistent with and contravenes with article one which vests powers in hands of Ugandans, article 77(4) and 96 of the constitution’’. Part of the petition reads.
The Attorney General is yet come to challenge the petition to answer all circumstances surrounding the process of enacting age limit law, petitioners wants the law be annulled on grounds that the process of enacting the bill was marred with violence, assault of legislators, storming of Special Forces Command (SFC) in parliamentary chambers and violations of human rights which among others contradicts with parliamentary rules and procedures.
The petitioners contend that by this law the Electoral Commission will be required to organize separate elections of both legislators and the president due to unconstitutional divergence form from the usual five years of legislators to seven.

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As a way of improving power reliability and quality of supply in the Western region, Umeme has invested about US$1,470,000 in the construction and improvement of the Ishaka substation.
Last weekend, Umeme commissioned the Ishaka substation with focus on restoration and expansion of the grid, reduction in energy losses, improvements in efficiencies, connections of new customers to the grid, improving service delivery, reliability of supply and public safety.
Being completely an outdoor substation, it has a 5MVA power transformer, with two 33kV incomer Interconnectors from Mbarara North and Nkenda Substations.

There is also a one 33 kV outgoing interconnector to Rukungiri Substation, Kanungu, Ferdsult and finally to Ishasha generation plant. With 11kV outgoing line that splits into two after leaving the substation to feed Ishaka town and Tea estates 11 kV feeders.
Previous the substation posed several challenges ranging from reliability issues, operating issues, safety concerns and maintenance challenges.

Therefore, Umeme re-design the substation to allow future expansion, constructed a plant control house at the substation to house the switchgear, metering equipment, DC system and SCADA, install indoor switchgear for both 33kV and 11Kv, installed AC and DC auxiliary systems and laid underground cables to decongest the substation
The substation will be monitored by SCADA an intelligence network watchdog. This will help in detecting faults on the network and help in quick supply restoration, reduction in outages, Automated Meter Reading (AMR) for large consumer users, e-bills and SMS bills, all of which have offered customers a new lot of customer experience by giving them the power to manage and control their consumption and bills.
The benefits of these investment is evidenced by improved system reliability, network reliability, improved safety, reduction in energy losses, increased customer connections and the deployment of technological innovations thus offering new customer experience

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