The State Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations, Herbert Kabafunzaki has been sent to Luzira prison till tomorrow when the anti-Corruption Court will rule on his bail application.

The Minister was arrested on Saturday for soliciting a bribe from AYA Brothers, he has however, appeared before Anti-Corruption Court in Kololo for hearing.

Kabafunzak and his co-accused, Brian Mugabo  have appeared before  Chief Magistrate Agnes Alum, pleaded guilty and charged with corruption for soliciting Shs15 million to ‘kill the case’ against AYA Brothers chairman’ Muhammad Hamid who is accused of sexual harassment of his workers and was under investigations by Kabafunzaki. Mugabo has accepted hiding Shs5 million which had been accepted by Minister Kabafunzaki. He acknowledged that everything stated by prosecution is true.

However the Minister through his layer Counsel Kenneth Muhangi applied for bail with three sureties as requested by Court for him to be bailed out

The Prosecution has asked Court for stringent bail terms including hefty amounts of money, passport and a land title and reporting to Court on a weekly basis if granted bail.

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A top Ethiopian economist and advisor to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalgn has challenged the government over selling off Uganda Airlines, the national carrier.

Speaking at high-level dialogue on Uganda’s economy, particularly sustainable industrialisation, organized by the Ministry of Trade and Cooperatives, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the Prime Minster (OPM) in conjunction with Makerere University, Dr. Arkebe Oqubay said his country has an increasing annual growth rate of GDP of 11 per cent.

‘’Unlike other Presidents , President  Mulatu Teshome and his Prime Minster use Ethiopian Airlines while travelling to different countries thereby contributing to the growth of GDP in the country,” he added.

Dr Oqubay, who was addressing the businessmen and women at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, advised the government to massively invest in industrialization, saying it was a sure way of overcoming the prevailing unemployment in the country.

He implored Uganda to draw lessons from the already developed industrialised countries.

In a reaction to what Dr. Arkebe Oqubay  said, Ugandan Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda said the country will sustainably invest in the industrialization, reduce the costs of power and attract investors ready to process local materials into finished and ready products.

He also promised to initiate the change of the Uganda curriculum in a bid to train job creators that will impact change in the development of Uganda.

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Renowned comedian-turned-politician, Kato Lubwama, the MP for Lubaga South has been evicted from Royal Theatre today the morning, after he failed to pay his rent arrears for three years.

Court bailiffs in company of police carried out the forceful eviction after Lubwama’s landlord Hajji Twaha Gwavu secured the green light to evict him from the Martin Road located theater.

It is said that Kato Lubwama and Hajj Gwavu entered into an agreement in 2009, with the comedian promising to develop the then vacant plot of land into a Theater. In return, he was to use the place for two years without paying rent, meaning he was to start paying rent from 2011.

Indeed Lubwama started paying rent in 2011 but stopped in 2013.

In December 2014, Hajji Gwavu dragged Kato to court for failure to remit rent that had accrued to Shs50million at the time.

The two have since been involved in legal battles until recently when Hajji Gwavu secured an eviction order. At the time of eviction, Kato Lubwama apparently owed him Shs200million in rent arrears.

This comes at a time when Lubwama is involved in legal battles to save his stay in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Nakumatt Supermarket Katwe branch has also been evicted over failure to pay rent.

The management of Muganzilwaza building which hosts the Supermarket has closed it over rent arrears that had accrued to Shs297 million.

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Amnesty International, a global Human Rights body has called on the Uganda government to unconditionally release arrested Makerere University researcher Stella Nyanzi.

The global rights body also urged government to drop all charges against her, for what it called ‘pointless prosecutions’.

“The state should stop wasting resources on pointless and politically-motivated prosecutions, immediately drop all charges against her and release her unconditionally,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes

“Lack of sanitary towels is one of the leading causes of girls dropping out of school in Uganda. Dr Nyanzi has led a campaign to ensure girls continue to attend school with dignity during their periods and, instead of commending her, the authorities have harassed, intimidated and now arrested her,” Wanyeki added.

“Arresting Nyanzi simply for criticising the President and his wife serves no legitimate purpose. The state should stop wasting resources on pointless and politically-motivated prosecutions, immediately drop all charges against her and release her unconditionally. The Authorities must also immediately revoke the Computer Misuse Act, and respect, protect, promote and fulfill the right to freedom of expression of all Ugandans.”

She added that public officials should tolerate more criticism than private individuals.

“Laws that have the intention or effect of prohibiting insulting the head of state or public officials are disproportionate, unnecessary and have a chilling effect on freedom of expression,” Ms Wanyeki wrote.

The reaction came shortly after Dr. Nyanzi was remanded to Luzira prison up to April 25 over charges based on her social media statements, including one where she referred to President Museveni as, amongst other things, ‘a pair of buttocks’. Nyanzi was arrested on April 7, and produced in court on April 10. She pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

Dr Stella Nyanzi, a single mother of three, has repeatedly criticized President Yoweri Museveni and the First Lady Janet Museveni, who is also the Education and Sports Minister, for the government’s failure to fulfill its commitment to provide sanitary pads to all schoolgirls.

This was a campaign promise made by President Museveni as he campaigned to extend his three-decade rule two years ago. But Mrs Museveni told Parliament on February 14 that the government had no money to buy sanitary towels.

Dr Nyanzi also organized a public fundraising drive to buy sanitary towels for girls in school, which has collected thousands of dollars and gained widespread publicity among Ugandans at home and abroad.

On March 6, police questioned Nyanzi for her critical comments against the President and the First Lady, and a week later barred her from boarding a plane to The Netherlands to attend an academic conference. Interestingly, in a rare TV interview on March 30, the First Lady said she had forgiven her, but Nyanzi was then arrested days later.

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Kawempe South Member of Parliament Mubarak Munyagwa has been committed to civil prison for failing to pay Shs100 million to one John Baptist Maali.
Munyagwa, aka Mugati Gwa Bata, was arrested and taken to court on Monday by Kyalula Edward of Alpha Court bailiffs from where he was sent to Luzira prison, to serve a six month sentence by the Registrar in charge of Execution Division, Flavia Nassuna.

Munyagwa’s woes began in 2015 when he borrowed the money believed to have been used during last year’s election campaigns that saw him emerge Kawempe South MP.

According Maali, he was approached by the maverick MP, who asked him to buy ‘his land’ located at Kyadondo Block 205, Plot 509 at Kawempe measuring 0.316 hectares.

Maali contends that after Munyagwa’s assurance that the land in question belonged to him, they made a sale agreement which was witnessed by Munyagwa’s lawyer Joseph Kyazze and his agent  Meddie Basajja.

Maali then paid Shs100 million to Munyagwa, who promised to vacate the land and also give him transfer forms to process the land title but the latter failed to honour his obligations despite several reminders.

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