1. DR. Margraret Mungherea is dead.

Mungherera died in India where she had traveled for specialized treatment and by the time of her death.

She retired in 2015 as a senior consultant psychiatrist at Uganda national referral hospital Mulago.

She served as the president of the World Medical Association from October 2013 until October 2014

The president of the Uganda Medical Association Dr Fred Biso confirmed the gloomy news noting that she succumbed to cancer.

Who is Dr Margaret Mungherera?

She was born Tororo district (Butaleja dsistrict) in the eastern region  and she was one of five siblings, four of whom are medical doctors.

She attended Nakasero Primary School and Gayaza High School for her elementary and secondary education. In 1977, she was admitted to Makerere University to study human medicine. She graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree. After one year of internship at the Mulago national referral hospital, she attended the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where she obtained a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1984. In 1992, she obtained a Master of Medicine in psychiatry from Makerere University. Her chosen field of concentration was forensic psychiatry.

From 1992 until 2000, she worked as a registrar at the Butabika national referral hospital, responsible for forensic services and from 2000 until 2003, she was a consultant psychiatrist at the Mulago National Referral Hospital and was responsible for forensic services. Since 2003, she had served as a senior consultant psychiatrist at the Mulago Hospital Complex, responsible for psychiatric emergency services. Since 2012, she had been the clinical head of the Directorate of Medical Services (Departments of Internal Medicine and Psychiatry) at the Mulago National Referral Hospital. After 31 years of continuous service, Mungherera retired from civil service effective 30 June 2015.

Source Wikpedia

Stories Continues after ad

Busoga Kingdom has rejected the appointment of Kyabazinga William Nadiope as Ambassador. Through a response issued by the Busoga Prime Minister Dr. Joseph Muvawala on Thursday, he stated that the Kingdom had rejected the appointment.

“At the extra ordinary meeting of the Court of Isabakungania and Executive members of the Busoga Clan Leaders Assembly held today 2^nd-02-2017 at Bugembe: Clan Leaders noted the intention of His Excellency The President of the Republic of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, to appoint His Royal Highness Isebantu Kyabazinga William Nadiope Gabula IV, to the office of Ambassador Special Duties. The Clan Leaders agree with His Excellency that in the person of William, Busoga and Uganda have someone of high integrity, high sense of responsibility and purpose; one eager to transform one’s people from poverty to middle income level,” reads the letter.

However, they don’t agree with his appointment to the position of Ambassador.  “It is not reasonable or correct for Isebantu the Kyabazinga to be placed in a position that may require, compel and or oblige His Highness to take instructions other than from the Olwekobaano Lwa Busoga, The Royal Chiefs’ Council or The Clan Leaders’ Court. The appointment is inconsistent with the Constitutional position implied in the legislation above mentioned which bars a Cultural leader to engage in partisan politics, have or exercise any Administrative, Legislative or Executive powers of Government or Local Government,” the statement adds.

Stories Continues after ad

The Ugandan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem has ruled out military intervention in South Sudan, saying Kampala has no more interest in sending troops back to the war-torn country.

“We were misunderstood by the international community and all hell broke out – we were being accused of everything under the sun and being told to leave. We’ve told them we are not going to go back. Uganda has no more interest in sending its troops and boys to South Sudan,” he said. Oryem also said Uganda would reject any attempts at imposing South Sudan under UN trusteeship.

The Minister’s statement is a clear response to recent and past suggestions that the best way for the war-torn young nation would be to put it under a joint United Nations and African Union Trusteeship. He described the idea as ‘colonial mentality’.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. That’s a colonial mentality. If an attempt was made to have trusteeship in South Sudan, then I think even the (Riek) Machar side would resist it and fight it,” Oryem said adding: “that’s an idea that should not be mooted.”

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is a staunch supporter of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and has publicly defended Kiir both military and diplomatically.

Stories Continues after ad

Relatives of a woman who was burnt to death over four years ago at Royal Suites, a plush hotel in the leafy Bugolobi suburb, have cried foul over the way the proprietor of the facility is treating them.

Family sources said the proprietor Mathias Malanda Kizza had reneged on mutually-agreed-to promises of compensation, following the death of Harriet Christine Apio at his hotel in May 27, 2012.

“We have been trying to talk to this man but he is elusive, even the promises he has made for compensation are not forthcoming and he has resorted to threatening us,” the relative, who spoke to the EagleOnline on condition of anonymity, said.

Ms Apio had been hosted at the hotel by a German expatriate friend, Dr. Christoph Larsen, when a gas cylinder exploded, burning both of them and one hotel worker, Patrick Obbo. Unfortunately the woman died on June 7, 2012 while undergoing treatment at the Kampala International Hospital, while Dr. Larsen and Mr Obbo were later treated for severe burns in Nairobi and Kampala International Hospital, respectively.

In his submission Dr. Larsen said the hotel staff was not knowledgeable about firefighting and that the hotel’s firefighting equipment was not operational.

Since then Apio’s family, Dr. Larsen and Kizza are embroiled in a tripartite battle that has also drawn in the hotel’s insurers, AIG insurance company. The police also carried out investigations and made a report about the fire, citing the burns suffered by the three people.

However, when the EagleOnline went to the hotel in Bugolobi to see Mr Kizza and get his side of the story, he was adamant, telling his Secretary not to allow us in.

“I have no time to meet them; let them go and write,” he was overheard telling his Secretary.

Stories Continues after ad

The Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa has refuted claims that while sitting in Ethiopia this week, the heads of African states under their umbrella body, the African Union (AU) resolved to quit United Nations International Criminal Court (ICC) en masse.

While addressing media Friday morning at the Uganda Media Center, Kutesa, the former President of the 69^th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) said there wasn’t any such resolution, though he admitted there were plans by African countries to pull out.

“With ICC, you join willing and you can pull out at any time of wish,” he said adding that countries are free to pull out. “We discussed about it but we never resolved to all pull out at once. We can pull out one by one.”

On why they are mooting plans to pull out, he said whereas they condemn impunity against Africans, they are pulling out because ICC ‘is a discriminatory court’.

He also said that despite the heavy funding, the ICC had failed to finalise more than four cases.

“I saw this for myself while I was president of the UN General Assembly,” Kutesa said adding that plans are underway by AU to start a court, the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, that will be trying similar cases like ICC.

“Once such a court is in place, we (Uganda) will be the first subscribers to it…..” This would be followed with the pulling out of ICC, he added.

Asked about government’s submitting Justice Solome Balungi Bossa as its candidate for the post of judge of ICC which Uganda doesnt believe in, Kutesa said: “there is no contradiction at all. We are still members at ICC. We haven’t pulled thus we are entitled to send any person of our choice to ICC”.

Justice Bossa is competing with two judges from Lesotho and Benin, and elections for the post will be held in December 2017.

Meanwhile, speaking out on the just concluded AU elections in which Kenyan foreign minister Ambassador Amina Mohammed was one of the candidates, Kutesa denied reports that Uganda had not voted for the Kenyan candidate.

He dismissed the claims as ‘not only baseless but also annoying’. “I personally was in Addis Ababa campaigning for Amina before elections. How then can she say we didn’t vote for her? Anyway, if we were not going to vote for her, we would have told her. It’s not a crime and it’s not a must for us to vote for her. It’s our choice but just to clear the claims, we voted for her.”

However, a high level diplomat in South Sudan, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed on Tuesday that neighbouring Kenya could not get full support it requires from the leadership of the country to win the African Union chair due to difference between the team members.

He added that Burundi, Uganda, Djibouti, and Sudan voted against Kenya.

According to a South Sudanese diplomat, Juba also joined the East African countries that broke their pledges and supported the Chadian foreign minister of the central region at the expense of the candidate eastern region.

Amina lost by only three votes (28-25) with one abstention.

Stories Continues after ad