The Uganda media council has banned a Dutch film from screening in Uganda over homosexuality.

According to media council, “The Dinner Club” which the Embassy of Netherlands in Uganda intended to screen at Dutch film for European Film Festival promotes homosexuality, which is a criminal act in Uganda.

“The film depicts and glorifies homosexuality which is a criminal offence in Uganda. In minutes 11, 26 and 57, homosexuality is depicted/spoken about. In 10 minute while glorifying homosexuality two women say marriage (presumably to men) is hard work! This is against Ugandan values,” reads a response from the media Council.

It further adds that the film is replete; “with various scenes of imitable behaviour examples deep kissing before kids (2min), galloping alcohol (almost throughout the movie); smoking (almost throughout the movie); steamy sex scenes (15, 42, 51, 58mins etc) Women form a ‘Dinner Club’ which is in reality a brothel.”

Responding to the media council, the Dutch Embassy announced its exit from the festival in what appears to be a protest.

“Unfortunately the Embassy has to announce that the screening of the Dutch entrance for the European Film Festival, the film “The Dinner Club” has been cancelled. The Uganda Media Council denied the film a classification rating and decided that the film should not be exhibited anywhere in Uganda. The Embassy deplores the decision of the Uganda Media Council and it will withdraw from participation in the European Film Festival in Uganda,” reads a statement by the Dutch Embassy in Uganda.

Though, a section of Ugandans were in support of the move by the media council.

Emokor Eric Our creativity is not in sexual scenes that’s so stupid, Iranian movies are moving worldwide without any intimate scenes. People from west should know that “Uganda” has a culture and it’s very right to prohibit what they see is evil or will torment our culture. Am a filmmaker but value my culture from the bottom of my heart, I will always stand up straight against all western evil culture destruction motives. I say this “for God and my country.” Thank you #respectMyCulture

Bernard Ssabbiitti Just as the Dutch Embassy denies a visa to a person it doesn’t want to admit into its own country and isn’t bound to give any explanation as to why, Uganda, a sovereign nation has every right to ban material it doesn’t want shown on its land and owes no one an explanation. At last someone said no to a European. That satisfies me. All the other stuff is immaterial to me. Wouldn’t have mattered if the film was a documentary on the Rhinelands (which are still taught in Ugandan secondary schools by the way, the real scandal) or the Dutch ‘liberal democracy’.

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The Minister of Works and Transport, Monica Azuba has pledged to fast track the development of the road networks that are in line with 2040 vision.

“Development of infrastructure is a key to the propelling of a country to middle income status, The Government has imported equipment from Japan that will be used in the maintenance of roads” adding that all the districts are entitled to getting them.

The government through Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is upgrading over 1,400 kilometers of roads countrywide. “In order to reduce the congestion within metropolitan areas, we are also constructing expressways and flyovers’’

Briefing the media at Uganda Media Centre about National Resistance Movement (NRM) party manifesto review, the Azuba cautioned district leaders that government is going to be firm and strict on road equipment saying they have a GPS system that will help in tracking them wherever they will be.

“Most of the first year of the manifesto is spent on design, plan, we are making sure that all roads are accessible for the whole year’’ she said.

Azuba revealed that due to lack of an alternative International Airport, the governments is yet construct an airport at Hoima that will facilitate other travelers to different parts of the world adding that they already have a master plan and the construction will be done by 2019. However the expansion and rehabilitation of Entebbe airport runway are ongoing and upon finalizing, it will be modernized and have automate works that suits the international standards.

In line with Uganda’s Vision 2040, the minister assured the public that the government is going to construct an inland port at Bukasa that will facilitate commercial activities around Kampala. The first phase is expected to take four years; the second phase is supposed to take another four years however constructions are yet to begin.

She gave a hint about the construction of standard gauge railway, Malaba-Kampala line starting this year however, she sounded contradictory and unsure saying it is not expected but it will be starting.

‘’We are improving our systems including quality assurance that is why we are accountable to the public’’.

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A section of Ivory Plaza gutted fire in the woe hours of the morning consuming the second floor of the building and burning severally shops.

The building is a centre of several shops that deal in mainly in clothes and other light items light phones among others.

According to the officer in charge of Wilson Road only known as Nduhura as quoted by Daily Monitor, the fire started at around 2 am and in less than one hour, the entire second floor was burnt.

Police said investigations have commenced to establish the  cause of the fire

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President Yoweri Museveni used part of his two day State visit to the United Kingdom to meet one of his secondary school his former Economics teacher Gerard Sullivan and his wife Mary Sullivan.

On seeing him, Sullivan was reminded of a day in 1963 when a young teenage guy at Ntale School came down with a serious fever with a temperature of over 104 degrees centigrade.

This was strange considered that the normal body temperature is said to be between 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius).

“According to one of my teachers who took the temperature, I was practically dead. The temperature was too high. I was taken to hospital and I became delirious,” President Yoweri Museveni said, in one of those rare moments, recalling how one of his teachers Mr. Gerald Sullivan saved him from chickenpox.

The Sullivans were accompanied by a former Headteacher of Mbarara High School John and Ailsa Nicholsan and Brian Remmer and Maurice Reeve a former English teacher.

The nostalgic meeting that raked in emotions from a teacher who taught a young man he described as ‘A tall, serious looking student’ recalled how he treated the young Museveni of chickenpox, which he later contracted himself.

Museveni recalled how he got a bout of malaria that lasted for three days from Thursday to Saturday but as he sat on his bed one morning, one of the boys noticed blisters on his chest and immediately called a one doctor Philpot.

“Dr. Philpot came immediately and said this is very serious. They took me to an isolation centre and later teacher Sullivan took me to his house to look after me. The school was closed because of the chickenpox,” the President reminiscenced.

According to the President there was no immunization at the time and even at 18 years, students were susceptible to contracting chickenpox.

The President said teacher Sullivan took him in and fed him until he fully recovered.Teacher Sullivan said he contracted the Chickenpox from Museveni and was down with a fever when Obote visited their school.

“I never forgave you because I contracted the chickenpox from you and missed seeing Obote when he came to our school,” he said.

Sullivan was later to write a book “The Making of a One-Handed Economist” in which he described the young Museveni as a tall, serious looking student who asked him a fundamental question, which stopped him in his tracks.

Sullivan had been teaching about the location of Industry, telling students why Britain had a car industry because of its abundant resources while East Africa lacked resources and focused on Agriculture.

“All straight forward stuff in the textbooks of the day which I merrily spouted fourth until, I was stopped by a raised hand. A tall, serious looking student had a question. ‘Why shouldn’t East Africa develop its own car industry?’ he asked,” Sullivan wrote in his book.

“I had been trotting out standard bourgeois economics which favoured advanced industrial economics. Yoweri Museveni, for that was the student, had asked a fundamental question which stopped me in my tracks. As I write, Museveni has now been President of Uganda since 1986,” he wrote.

President Museveni talked about several of his former teachers including Mr. Reeds and Robert Ball with whom they acted “Murder in the Cathedral,” a play by T.S Elliot

Sullivan later handed the President a Ntale alumni classlist of the 1967.

The President said the British teachers gave them a strong foundation and said his former teacher must be proud that he taught a student who has contributed to the development of Uganda.

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United Nations coordinator and a representative of United Nations development programme Rosa Malango has promised to collaborate with the government of Uganda and all its ministries to fight against violent extremism.

Over the past decades, violent extremism has dramatically grown around the world including in Africa, but the fact that violent extremism affects Muslims and Muslim communities most therefore, the need to engage religious leaders.

In a two days summit of religious leaders from 10 African countries held at Serena Resort Kigo  under the theme countering, responding and preventing violent extremism in Africa, Rosa Malango said ‘’Violent extremism is a contribution to a reversal of Africa’s development and gains, if not addressed, it threatens to curtail development prospects. Fighting it is a collective responsibility and as religious leaders, you are our key partners’’

She added that Political will is critical in maintaining stability and sustaining development in Uganda and Africa as well. At regional level, UNDP Africa has produced a regional strategy for Africa on preventing and responding to violent extremism.

However 3^rd Deputy Prime Minister  and Minister of East African Affairs, Kirunda Kivejinja assured the public that the government of Uganda is committed to fighting violent extremism through its firm stand on terrorism and promotion of peace.

The leader of Muslims in Uganda who showed up in the same summit Sheik Ramadan Mubajje lauded UNDP for organizing such summit to discuss the issues of extremism from a scholarly perspective and the move of any assumptions formed over time.

United Nations development programme (UNDP) is supporting the government of Uganda to develop a national preventing violent extremism strategy with the Ministry of Internal Affairs claiming that working together can eliminate violent extremism from our continent and the world.

‘’We hope to have a re-affirmation of the Abuja declaration 2016 against all forms of extremist activities’’ UN Chief emphasized

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