Celebrated city socialite and ex-convict, Bad Black real names Shanita Namuyimba, says she hates her name.
She has declared war on whoever calls her Bad Black and swears never to respond.
According to her, she had several problems last year and she blames this on her alias name, Bad Black, thus the need to drop it.
Apparently it’s a name for criminals and she believes she reformed.
She has since adopted a new name, Snail Baby.
Another Rwenzururu Royal Guard arrested last month has died.
Yosam Bagheni, a 65-year-old resident of Kyabalongira village, Kyabalongira Sub County in Kasese District apparently died from cerebral malaria and Meningitis, according to prisons spokesman Frank Baine.
Baine confirmed the death to the media, saying the deceased was sick for about a week before he died at Jinja Region Referral Hospital where he was admitted for treatment.
”He has been sick for one week. He was first treated at Kirinya Prison clinic in Jinja for three days and later admitted to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital where he died on Thursday morning,” Baine is quoted to have said.
Along with 151 others, Bagheni has been on remand at Kirinya Prison in Jinja on charges including treason, terrorism, murder, attempted murder, aggravated robbery and malicious damage.
He becomes the second guard to die under detention following the death of Bosco Mbusa Bwambale, 36, a resident of Lhuhwahwa village, Kisinga Sub-county, Kasese District who died last month from injuries allegedly sustained during the fight at King Charles Wesley Mumbere’s palace on November 27, police said.
President Yoweri Museveni is currently meeting members of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Central Executive Committee (CEC), the highest decision-making organ of the ruling party.
According to sources, the meeting is deliberating several issues including reporting back on the attack on Kasese and the recent saga involving oil money shared out between senior government officials.
In December last year, NRM Chairman Yoweri Museveni met the 22-member CEC and updated them on the attack on Rwenzururu king Charles Wesley Mumbere’s palace and his subsequent incarceration.
Since then, government has been on a collision course with MPs from the Kasese region, something that has culminated in the calling upon the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations against Museveni and two senior security personnel, UPDF Division II Commander Brigadier Peter Elwelu and the Police Director of Operations Asuman Mugenyi.
Contacted for comment Senior Presidential Press Secretary Don Wanyama confirmed the meeting was on but added that is was a party matter.
Meanwhile, today’s CEC was also expected to deliberate on the August 2016 sharing of Shs6 billion among 42 senior government officials including among others the URA Commissioner General Doris Akol and her predecessor Allen Kagina; the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance/Secretary to Treasury Keith Muhakanizi and, the former Attorney General Peter Nyombi and his deputy Fred Ruhindi. Others are former energy Permanent Secretary Kabagambe Kalisa, Lawrence Kiiza and URA Commissioner of Customs Dickson Kateshumbwa.
The last time CEC held a sensitive meeting was in December 2015, when members expelled former NRM Secretary General and Museveni confidant John Patrick Amama Mbabazi.
This was followed by the NEC meeting in Namboole, which endorsed the policy of the NRM chairman appointing the Secretary General and his/her deputy, the Treasurer and a few other senior party officials at the Secretariat.
The Obama administration has announced sanctions against the son of alleged 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden, stating that he is “actively engaged in terrorism” and poses a risk to national security.
Hamza bin Laden has been designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist after he was “determined to have committed, or pose a serious risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,” the US Department of State announced Thursday. Sanctions will now be imposed on Hamza bin Laden, nearly a year and a half after Ayman al-Zawahiri, his father’s successor as senior leader of Al-Qaeda, announced the younger bin Laden was an official member of the group.
All property which the young bin Laden has interest in and that is subject to US jurisdiction will be blocked under these sanctions. Citizens of the US are also “generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him.”
Bin Laden, who was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1989, made terrorist threats in audio messages on a number of occasions, according to the State Department.
Along with al-Zawahiri, he called for acts of terrorism in western capitals in August 2015, specifically, lone offender attacks against US, French, and Israeli interests in Washington, DC; Paris; and Tel Aviv.
Last July, he threatened revenge against the US and warned Americans they would be targeted both at home and abroad.
He also called on Saudi tribes to join Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to wage war against the Saudi Kingdom.
“Today’s action notifies the U.S. public and the international community that Hamza bin Laden is actively engaged in terrorism,” the State Department said.
Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan in 2011.
The State Department has also similarly imposed sanctions on Ibrahim al-Banna, a senior member of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leadership who served as AQAP security chief and provided military and security guidance to the terrorist group’s leadership.
Al-Banna wrote an article in AQAP’s English-language magazine, Inspire, describing the 9/11 attacks as “virtuous,” and threatening Americans both in the US and abroad. Al-Banna is also subject to a US government bounty of up to US $5 million.
Parliament is 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.
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.
“Parliament is going to demand that all those people who got the money should explain because they employed by government and earn a salary,” Mr Obore said.
He added: “The house will also investigate the Cosase (Commission on Statutory and State Enterprises) report relating to how money from UNRA was wired to China when it was meant to compensate people affected by the road projects undertaken by UNRA.
Meanwhile, in a related development, after learning of the imminent investigations, the parties named both in the URA and UNRA sagas have reportedly ganged up and formed an ‘alliance’ to hamper parliament’s investigation process by maligning the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, Mr Obore has said.
“Those supposed to be investigated are now spreading rumours that the Speaker (Kadaga) is going to purchase a helicopter to divert attention from themselves,” Mr Obore told EagleOnline.
He added: “This is just trying to divert the attention after this oil cash bonanza; there is nothing like the Speaker purchasing the helicopter, has it been budgeted for? All in all, this is another white elephant.”
BELOW IS CHRIS OBORE’S STATEMENT:
Parliament has learnt of a scheme to divert public attention from the current debate on the cash share out by senior government officials. The schemers want to divert the public from discussing the payout by URA to allegations that Parliament is planning to buy a helicopter for use by the Speaker. Parliament has also learnt that sections of the media is being courted to give publicity to the alleged nonexistent plans to buy the helicopter. Part of the scheme is to also water down parliament actions when it resumes next Tuesday. Parliament intends to summon all the beneficiaries of the cash bonanza to answer questions and explain their actual role in the Tullow case. In addition, parliament wants to debate the UNRA report and ask senior government officials why and how public funds amounting to Shs67bn ended up in Chinese contractors account in China. To make parliament investigation look less significant, the schemers want to propagate a falsehood that discussions are taking place to buy a helicopter for the Speaker. There is no such a discussion and there is no budget for it. The Speaker’s office is indeed a busy office and most times she attends more than four functions a day in different districts. She borrows a police helicopter whenever need arises. The talk of buying a helicopter is diversionary. While there is a need for it for the office of the Speaker, no one has budgeted for it. Let the public allow parliament to ask government bureaucrats hard questions in regard to public spending, for that is the legitimate duty of Parliament. In any case, if the helicopter was bought for the office of the Speaker, it would remain public property unlike the cash bonanza orchestrated by public servants to their personal benefit.
The Electoral Commission (EC) last year asked for Shs37.5 billion to enable it conduct Local Council (LC) 1 and 2 elections that were last held during the election round of 2001.
According to the Commission, the money is needed to conduct elections in over 57,842 villages in the country, basing on the EC 2016 voter roadmap. These villages constitute 7,431 parishes in 1,403 sub counties.
However, it appears the elections are likely to be delayed again, at least for a couple of more months or even years, after government announced it can only raise Shs10billion for the exercise, leaving a shortfall of over Shs27 billion.
And even this would come after the ‘necessary amendments’ are in place, the Minister for Finance in charge of General Duties David Bahati said today, while appearing before the parliamentary local government committee.
“As the Minister of Local Government has said, we have come so far to look back at this process. If the process is concluded, if all the necessary amendments are put in place, we shall look for the necessary funds to implement what the people’s representatives will have decided,” Bahati said.
Government last year set January 2017 as the deadline to hold the two bottom grassroots elections.
Bharti Airtel, (Airtel), a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa, today announced the appointment of Rajeev Sethi as the Chief Commercial Officer for its Africa operations. He will report to Raghunath Mandava, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa.
In his new role, Mr Sethi will be responsible for the formulation and implementation of customer-centric commercial strategies across all the 15 African countries where Airtel operates. His key focus will be across Consumer and Enterprise Businesses covering products and pricing, distribution, brand and customer experience.
Announcing his appointment, Raghunath Mandava said: “We are delighted to welcome Rajeev to Airtel Africa team. With his vast experience across a range of developing markets, Rajeev will contribute immensely in accelerating our growth journey. I am confident that Rajeev will take the Airtel brand to greater heights”.
Rajeev brings with him over 21 years of diverse experience across several sectors such as Telecom, IT, Paints and Petroleum. Till recently, Rajeev was at the Telenor group where he served for more than 7 years. In his last assignment, he worked as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Grameen Phone, the largest operator in Bangladesh.
Rajeev holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (1997) and is an Electrical Engineer from Gujarat University (1993).
We last year we informed you about the sell-off of the building that houses Club Silk in Industrial Area.
The building was sold off by its owner Elvis Ssekyanzi to next-door neighbours The New Vision, and gave it just a few months to vacate the building. The time seems to have elapsed.
However, the EagleOnline learnt that in addition to Silk Liquid in Bugolobi, Elvis Ssekyanzi is to open up two more clubs in Kampala under the Club Silk franchise.
One of those has been taken to Metroplex Nalya, while the other is to be opened at Forest Mall.
This follows the closure V-pub lounge, initially located on the same building. V-Pub closed shop late last year after registering losses for most of the time it has been in operation.
What do you think about the relocation of Silk?
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has issued a release, indicating that the payment of billions of shillings to government officials involved in a commercial dispute involving two oil campanies and the government of Uganda followed standard procedure, including among others, presidential approval.
In August last year, the URA paid out Shs6 billion to 37 senior government officials from different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) including URA, and the ministries of Finance, Energy and the Attorney General’s chambers.
According to Ms Sarah Birungi Banage, the URA Corporate Affairs Manager, the team brought in a combined total of US$700m into government coffers after a series of Court battles in Uganda’s Tax Appeal Tribunal, High Court of Appeal and High Court of London, Court of Appeal of UK and two international tribunals.
URA says the money, dubbed a ‘presidential handshake’ was disbursed to the officials following their successful ‘saving’ government from losing US$434 million, as Capital Gains Tax (CGT), accruing from the sale of concessions between Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil companies.
‘It is standard international best practice for employees to receive bonus payments/or honoraria for exemplary performance in both the public and the private sector. Equally under the Ugandan Constitution, the President has a prerogative as a fountain of honor to reward exemplary performance and this has been exhibited in the fields of health, academia and sports to mention a few’, Ms Banage wrote.
She added: ‘For the record the payments went through the necessary approval as required by the public finance management act as amended. The Commission General was duly appointed as an accounting officer to disburse respective payments to designated beneficiaries after deduction of applicable taxes and other statutory deductions. The Auditor General duly issued an audit warrant to authorize spending. In accordance with the accounting officer’s mandate, designated beneficiary received their payment.’
According to Ms Banage, prior to payments being done, all payment underwent the necessary approval processes as provided for under the Public Finance Management Act as amended for close a year.
‘The presidential handshake granted to the multi-disciplinary and multi sectorial team of officials was not illegal and followed all due government processes. It was meant to appreciate the professionalism and patriotism exhibited by the team members, especially their ability to resist all pressure and compromise given the magnitude of the figures involved,’ Ms Banage concluded.
However, despite URA’s efforts to clear the air surrounding the saga, a big number of Ugandans have castigated the move, saying the officials led by current URA Commissioner General Doris Akol, acted in ‘bad faith’ by asking Mr Museveni to give the team ‘monetary rewards’.
“There is nothing patriotic about a few people pocketing billions while pupils, while pupils, even in their home districts, still study under trees,” one senior government official told the EagleOnline, on condition of anonymity.
He added: “They should have built about four schools and named them after the lead performers.”
Celebrated city entertainers will hardly forget Tuesday, following what befell them on that day.
Initially carried out on weekends, police for the first time conducted its midweek operation against drunken drivers (kawunyemu) and cars in Dangerous Mechanical Condition (DMCs).
One of such operation was in Industrial Area, home to various hangout joints like Club Silk, Guvnor and Play among others.
And here, many entertainers were netted among them renowned city DJ Slick Stuart who was found driving without a driving a permit. The DJ, who plies his trade with KFM, slept behind bars.
Similarly, musician Jamal Wasswa of the ‘Abakyala Baziira’ fame was also nabbed driving without a permit. He pleaded with the officers to let him free, saying he had left home in a rush and forgot to carry his permit. He was pardoned but the officers warned him against driving while not in possession of his permit.
Galaxy FM and Club Amnesia DJ Nimrod also survived jail by a whisker.
Following pleadings with police officers for close to an hour, he was finally let free. However, he has since taken to chiding his colleagues who slept in prison.
“When they read my name Nimrod they where happy to meet me coz they love my mixes and happen to be my big fans so we ended up charting for like 20 minutes and also took lots of selfies and also asked for my mixes. Mukulu Deejay Roger ngambila Jamal Wasswa and Stuart tukolenyo amanya.(Let them try to build their names),” he took to Facebook.
