Aruu County Member of Parliament Odonga Otto has given former FDC presidential candidate Kiiza Besigye five hours to to ask his wife, Winnie Byanyima, to withdraw from the murder case of child activist Kenneth Akena.
Otto’s outburst followed Byanyima’s standing surety for murder suspect Mathew Kanyamunyu at the High Court in the morning.

“Dr. Besigye should have waited for government to complete investigations before he sent his wife as surety. How many have died in Norther Uganda because of him?” Otto said.

Mathew, his girlfriend, Cynthia Munwangari and brother Joseph Kanyamunyu appeared at court today for their bail hearing, and as the norm is, they had to present their sureties and among the sureties presented was Byanyima, an aunt to the Kanyamunyus.
However, that didn’t go down well with Otto, who was among the people in attendance.

Speaking to media after court, Otto, who has been among the MPs that have been following the case since its start, said he had given his former party president only 5 hours to tell his wife to withdraw from the case. He threatened to exhume Akena’s body and take it to Besigye’s home if the Kanyamunyus are granted bail.
High Court Judge, Justice Elizabeth Kabanda, adjourned the case to 5pm to rule on the application.

The trio is accused of shooting of Kenneth Akena on November 12, 2016 along Jinja road in Kampala.  Akena later died at Norvik hospital where he is alleged to have confided in his cousins that it was Mathew Kanyamunyu who shot at him after he accidentally knocked his car.

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The royal family in Rwanda has named Prince Emmanuel Bushaiyija as the new King of Banyarwanda.

To be known by his royal names King Yuhi VI, the new King is the son of Prince Theoneste Bushayija and grandson of King Yuhi V Musinga. He now succeeds Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, who ascended the throne in 1959.

Yuhi VI had his formative years in Uganda before moving to Kenya and later returning to Rwanda in 1994 after the Genocide. In 2000 the new king migrated to the United Kingdom, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Aged 57, King Yuhi VI is the successor to King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, who passed away on October 16, 2016 in the United States.

After a protracted family misunderstanding over where to inter the King’s remains, a court in Virginia, USA, ordered that the body be returned to Rwanda for burial.

Subsequent to the court ruling, the King’s remains were yesterday returned to Rwanda and will be laid to rest at his former palace in Nyanza.

By press time it was not possible to establish when the body will be laid to rest and whether the deceased King will be accorded a State Funeral by the Rwanda government.

Sources say that before his death King Kigeli had previously expressed the desire to return home but the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) government under President Paul Kagame insisted he was only free to return home as an ‘ordinary citizen’, something that reportedly did not go down well with the monarch, effectively stopping him from returning to Rwanda.

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First son Major General Muhoozi Kainerugaba has been appointed the Special Presidential Advisor in charge of Operations, in a military command reshuffle that has seen the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Edward Katumba Wamala join cabinet as the Minister of State for Works.

In the reshuffle made by the Commander-in-Chief last night, former Land Forces commander (CLF) Major General David Muhoozi is promoted to full General and becomes the CDF, while the former Chief of Staff Maj Gen Wilson Mbadi becomes Lieutenant General and Deputy CDF, taking over from Lt. Gen. Charles Angina, who now becomes Deputy Commander of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), in what many say is a demotion.

Former Division II Commander Brig Peter Elwelu, the man who commanded the recent attack on Rwenzururu king Charles Wesley Mumbere’s palace has been promoted to Major General, and becomes the CLF, taking over from Maj. Gen. David Muhoozi.

Former military spy chief Brig.Charles Bakahumura becomes the Chief of Logistics and is replaced by Col. Abel Kandiho, who has been promoted from Lieutenant Colonel, while Brig. Gervas Mugyenyi has been promoted to Major General and becomes the Chief of Air Defence.

Lt. Col. Don Nabaasa, who has been Deputy Commander of the Special Forces Command (SFC), is promoted to Colonel and becomes acting commander in charge of the elite force replacing the First Son, while Brig. Sam Okiding, who is just fresh from commanding the Ugandan peacekeeping troops in Somalia under AMISOM, has been promoted to Major General and becomes the Commander of Field Artillery.

Others appointed include Brig. Sam Turyagenda, who was made Major General and Presidential Advisor on Airfoce Matters; Brig. charles Lwanga Lutaaya promoted to Major General and appointed Commander Airforce; Brig. Otema Awany, formerly Chief of Lgistics and Engineering (CLE) promoted to Major General and appointed General Officer Commanding the Reserve, while Major General Nakibus Lakara, the former Deputy Commander Wealth Creation (OWC), goes back to Heaquarters for redeployment.

The reshuffle comes a few months after the former Chief of Staff Land Forces (COC/CLF) Brig. Leopold Kyanda, who was reportedly embroiled in a fake arms deal saga involving billions of shillings was relieved of his duties and sent for a one-year course at the National Defence College in India.

Meanwhile, Gen Katumba Wamala becomes the second serving UPDF officer to be named to cabinet, following his predeccessor Gen Robert Aronda Nyakairima (RIP), whose appointment as Minister for Internal Affairs in 2013 raised a constitutional brouhaha, with arguments that serving UPDF officers are by law barred from being ‘partisan’.

APPOINT MENTS, TRANSFERS AND PROMOTIONS IN THE UPDF

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Justice Steven Kavuma of Court of Appeal has issued an interim order restraining Parliament and any other citizen from investigating or inquiring about the oil cash bonanza shared out among the top government bureaucrats.

A one Eric Sabiti petitioned Court of Appeal seeking to stop any discussion on the share loot.

“An interim order is hereby issued restraining Parliament, any person or authority from investigating, questioning or inquiring into the impugned bonus payment sand or staying all proceedings of whatever mature. If any, which may be pending before any forum whatsoever arising from the impugned payments, until the main applicant No 06 of 2017 has been heard and determined”. Reads Kavuma’s order.

He added “The registrar of this Court is directed to ensure that all pretrial steps are taken in good time and fix hearing of the main application and the constitutional petition without delay in the next convenient session. The costs of this application and the constitutional application No6 of 2017”

Parliament was due to start debating the oil cash bonanza tomorrow.

Last week parliament said it was  to investigate circumstances under which over 30 senior government officials shared Shs6 billion, part of the US $434 million ‘saved’ following the conclusion of litigation involving the Uganda government and two oil prospecting companies.

According Parliament’s Director of Information and Public Affairs, Chris Obore, MPs, upon return from the recess, will investigate the ‘oil cash bonanza’ and the Shs67 billion Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) money that was illegally wired to China by Chinese constructors and yet the money was meant for compensating land owners.

“Nobody will derail parliament from inquiring into the “handshake “. The Speaker is the boss of the House. She is a lawyer of repute capable of making sound decisions. She will guide the MPs tomorrow. It’s the duty of parliament to do oversight on government and the matter is of public interest”.

Uganda government won an oil case against Heritage Oil Company in London and US $700 million was paid to government coffers.

However, upon winning the case, civil servants involved in the case awarded themselves Shs6 billion, a matter that has caused a public outcry given that some key services in the country are wanting.

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