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Germany gives EAC Euros 7m for preparedness and skills in digital innovation

By
Agencies
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EAC Secretary General Amb Liberat Mfumkeko and the German Ambassador Egon Kochanke. EAC Photo.

Germany and the East African Community (EAC) have signed a 7 million Euro agreement to strengthen pandemic preparedness in the region, and also for investment in digital innovation.

According to a release by the EAC, 3 million Euros will support the operationalization of the EAC Regional Contingency Plan and a regional risk and crisis communication strategy, while 4 million Euros will be invested in an Academic Center for Digital Innovation.

‘The project will support the set-up of a State of the Art Master programme focusing on embedded and mobile systems at an East African University, supporting the development of a skilled labor force in East Africa, the release says of the Art Master programme.

The EAC Secretary-General Ambassador Liberat Mfumukeko signed on behalf of the Community while Egon Kochanke, the German Ambassador to Tanzania who is also accredited to the EAC signed on behalf his government.
The projects will be implemented by the German International Cooperation Agency, GIZ.

‘’We have truly benefited from the German support which has catalysed other development partners to support our projects and programmes,” Amb. Mfumukeko said during the signing ceremony.

On his part Ambassador  Kochanke said: “Our support underlines that Germany wishes to further strengthen the long-standing and deep relationship it maintains with the East African Community in order to contribute to the well-being and prosperity of its citizens.”

Accompanying Ambassador Kochanke was the GIZ Country Director, Dr. Regine Qualmannand, the Deputy Head of the GIZ Program at the EAC Dr. Kirsten Focken as well as Counsellor of the Embassy, Mrs Lena Thiede. Others at the function were EAC Deputy Secretary General Finance and Administration, Jesca Eriyo and Deputy Secretary Productive and Social Sector Christophe Bazivamo.

Since cooperation began in 1998 the total volume of German support to the EAC amounts to over 240 million euro.

 

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Let all Ugandans stop politicking over Kasese bloodshed

By
Editorial
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Reports carried by The Daily Monitor that the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, Brigadier Charles Bakahumura told a closed session of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee that it is Power10, a campaign vigilante group of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, that is responsible for the Kasese incidents, is laughable and has little or no bearing whatsoever to modern intelligence gathering.

In fact the revelations beg a number of questions: with all the resources at his disposal, what would lead to the Kasese incident if the country had a credible intelligence network? Why would Brig. Bakahumura make such a revelation when he knows he is charged with gathering military intelligence for the country?

Is Brig. Bakahumura trying to run away from his responsibilities and trying to heap blame on another person or agency?  And in this case, there is no person/agency that has found P10 as an excuse?

Nobody disputes his ratings as a seasoned intelligence operative, having worked at Internal Security Organisation (ISO), but why would Brig.Bakahumura wait for P10 to cause havoc in order for him to come out and make such claims before Members of Parliament?

In fact Brig Bakahumura’s revelation could easily match allegations made by the FDC party and Dr. Kizza Besigye, all of who aver that the Kasese bloodshed was a result of a ‘protracted struggle’ between the FDC and government after the general elections in February in which the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party lost miserably at both the presidential and local government elections in Kasese. This, the FDC and Dr Besigye argue, prompted a witch-hunt by the defeated NRM local politicians in the now restive Kasese area.

So, as country is yet to realize what the cause of the chaos was, let those charged with running sensitive sectors like intelligence and security pay attention to their jobs and leave politics to the politicians. And anyway, what is the intention of Brig. Bakahumura’s making such revelations when the case is before court?

That noted, all Ugandans should not use the Kasese incidents to further their ambitions.

 

 

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Judiciary issues new rules on media coverage of Muslim clerics’ case

By
Hussein Musisi
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NEW GUIDELINES: The guidelines issued by the Judiciary to journalists and members of the general public

In a move that is likely to limit the timely dissemination of information to the public, the judiciary has issued new guidelines regarding the coverage of the ongoing case against 14 Muslim clerics charged with the murder of their colleagues.

The new guidelines come in the wake of a wave of killings ‘of both top Muslim leaders and other innocent people by unknown assailants’, the judiciary says.

In a release tagged ‘Revised guideline around the Uganda vs Sheikh Siraji Kawooya and 13 others’, the Judiciary through the Senior Communications Officer, says the guidelines are aimed at ensuring safety of all parties concerned.

The 14 clerics are facing murder charges before the International Crimes Division of the High Court, and among a raft of demands, journalists covering the trial will now have to get accreditation from the Judiciary SCO Solomon Muyita.

ISSUED NEW GUIDELINES: Judiciary Senior Communications Officer Solomon Muyita

The journalists will also have all their gadgets checked and no one will be allowed to take any still photos or video clips of any judge or witness. Also, live broadcast of proceedings will require clearance from the SCO.

Meanwhile, the public will also be subject to a new set of rules including among others, restricted access to the courtroom due to the security threats.

Recently, unidentified gunmen waylaid Sheikh Major Muhammad Kiggundu, a potential witness in the ongoing Muslim clerics’ trial, and rained a hail of bullets, killing him and his bodyguard Sergeant Steven Mukasa. A former rebel with the Allied Democratic Front (ADF), Major Kiggundu denounced rebellion about 10 years ago, was integrated in the UPDF and promoted to the rank of Major. At the time of his death he was also a preacher of Islam on Pearl FM.

Maj Kiggundu was married to renowned city herbalist Sophia Namutebi commonly known as Mama Fina.

 

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Sudan denies closing ‘Machar offices in Khartoum’

By
Agencies
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Rebel leader Riek Machar with his top commanders.

Sudanese government has denied reports that the government of South Sudan asked Khartoum to shutdown rebel offices in its territories.

This follows Kiir’s adviser, Tut Gatluak, saying Sudan should not support rebels because it is a member of the East African regional bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and that Khartoum should honor Juba’s request to close the armed opposition offices.

However, Khalid al-Mubarak, a Sudanese media counsellor at the Sudan’s embassy in London said that Khartoum has good relations with both sides, adding that his country is a leading member of IGAD and therefore cannot support any group.

“Leaders of both government and opposition in South Sudan own houses in Khartoum and have sons and daughters at school or university. As a leading member of IGAD reconciliation and mediation, the Sudan has got contacts with both sides; but no forces are allowed to use Sudanese territory,” al-Mubarak said.

Rebels responded to the allegations by saying they have good relations with Khartoum and no such reports as their offices are being closed.

“There is nothing like that, I am not aware of these reports. In fact there is no such development. Our relations with the Sudanese government are excellent,” SPLM-IO’s Secretary General, Tingo Peter Regbigo said.

The SPLM/A-IO officials in Khartoum said they were stunned by reports that their offices will be shut down allegedly by Sudanese authorities, and described the claims as a ‘government propaganda planned in Juba and at South Sudan Embassy in Washington, DC’ by known propagandists who are also government’s employees.

Reports of rebel offices closure and threat of deportation of anyone who supports the armed opposition while living in Ethiopia and Sudan arose after the publication of a report in which South Sudanese First Vice President Taban Deng Gai claimed his government’s plan to isolate Dr. Riek Machar in East Africa is being supported by Addis Ababa and Khartoum.

 

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‘Ankole King’ announces 19-member Cabinet

By
Francisco Adongo
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A storm is likely to erupt in the Ankole region, following the announcement by the ‘Omugabe (King)  Asiimwe Rubambasi Ntare VI of Ankole Kingdom’,  of the appointment of Professor Venansius Baryamureeba as the Prime Minister (Enganzi), to lead a cabinet team of 19 ministers.

‘King Asiimwe Ntare VI’ (second right) and his entourage while at a cultural function in Bunyoro Kingdom

‘I Asiimwe Rubambasi Ntare VI hereby appoint the Prime Minister (Enganzi), Secretary (Kihimba), Speaker, create ministries and appoint Ministers and County Chiefs (Abaami B’amashaza) to serve in the Ankole Kingdom as required of me by the cultural norms and rites of the Ankole Kingdom following the coronation ceremony on 29th October 2016 at Itaaba, Kyabanyoro, Mbarara’, the ‘King’ wrote in an embossed communication on December 7.

The ‘Omugabe’ has also appointed 15 County Chiefs (Abaami B’Abamashaza) to oversee all the counties in the Kingdom.

By press time efforts to get comment from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, which oversees issues to do with cultural institutions in the country, were futile.

But contacted on phone Prof Baryamureeba said he was set to address a press conmference about the issue later today.

However, the development is likely to stir emotive sentiments in sections of the Ankore commmunity since the coronation of the recognised Omugabe has been in balance after President Yoweri Museveni stopped all regal activities in the Ankole Kingdom in 1993.

At the time, a group of Ankole royals led by among others Generals Elly Tumwiine and David Sejusa (Tinyefuza) enthroned Crown Prince John Barigye but  President Museveni reversed the coronation and said he was the ‘Ssabagabe’. Interestingly, Mr Museveni’s decision about the coronation of the Omugabe followed the restitution of Kingdoms that had been abolished by President Milton Obote in 1967. The other kingdoms; Buganda, Bunyoro, Tooro and Busoga were all allowed to operate.

Recognised Crown Prince Barigye died in 2011 and was succeeded by his son Prince Charles Aryeija Rwebishengye.

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Oxfam boss, Winnie Byanyima gives police hours to vacate her home

By
Badru Kasadah
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Winnie Banyima, the Oxfam boss and wife to former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye, has called on citizens to team up and force police off her Kasangati home.

“It’s 2am I arrive at our home and I can’t drive past a barricade, 4 policemen r sleeping! Is this my home?” wondered Winnie on her return home at the weekend. “Once again @IGPUGANDA lawless arrogant police are blocking me from entering my home. Even this will end,” she tweeted yesterday.

And now the fiery Byanyima has called on the masses to enforce the court order.

“If @IGPUGANDA lawless arrogant police is still here tomorrow, join me 2whip them out! Citizens defend constitution. Citizens can defend their constitution, in this case force police off our farm. Constitution empowers us 2 do so,” Ms Byanyima tweeted today, giving the police a one day ultimatum.

Police arrest main opposition leader Kizza Besigye, outside his home in Kasangati recently

According to Ms Byanyima, police had blocked the road leading to her house, a common occurrence since the contested presidential elections in February this year, in which her husband vied for presidency against incumbent President Yoweri Museveni.

All this, despite earlier court orders, ordering police off the Besigyes home, which the police had vacated some time back left only to return a few days later.

Meanwhile, the Kasangati court magistrate Prossy Katushabe has issued another court order, telling police to vacate Dr Besigye’s home.

According Ms Katushabe, the police’s detention of Besigye at his home had been lawful at first, but ‘it subsequently advanced into something else’ hence this application.

“The applicant (Besigye) was detained in a place not authorized by law that is his home and further detained for more than 48 hours without being produced in court by the Respondents. The Constitution of Uganda under Article 20 sets a new threshold for all organs of the State and Agencies and all persons to uphold and promote the fundamental rights and freedoms set forth in the Constitution,” she wrote.

The magistrate added: “Thus from the foregoing reasons, I find that the Applicants was unlawfully detained and in a place that is not authorized by law thus contravening the various Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. In conclusion the issue is resolved in the affirmative and the application is allowed.”

However, in spite of the ruling which was made last week, police has remained present at the home, blocking Besigye from leaving on several occasions and sometimes barring his visitors from getting in.

However, the Police told media that they haven’t been served with the order yet.

 

 

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Ugandan entrepreneur wins US$100,000 continental award

By
Our Reporter and Agencies
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Ms. Joyce Kyalema. She deals inpumpkins by drying and processing them into different products.
Joyce Kyalema, a Ugandan entrepreneur is one of the 11 winners announced for the second edition of the African Entrepreneurship Award.

The collective beneficiaries of the US$1 million annual prize award sponsored by BMCE Bank of Africa were announced at a ceremony presided over by President Othman Benjelloun.

The awardees are in three categories: education, environment and uncharted, in which Ms Kyalema with her ‘pumpkin food’ competed and won US$50,000.

Of the 37 finalists who participated to the Boot Camp held in Casablanca from November 30 to December 3rd, 2016, the 11 winners were selected by a presidential jury.

Morroccan President Othman Benjelloun

‘The African Entrepreneurship Award has been announced in November 2014, in Marrakesh, by Chairman Othman Benjelloun at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, in order to promote entrepreneurship and to inspire entrepreneurs to launch and scale up businesses, create jobs and improve lives in Africa,’ a release by Africa Press organization states.

The list of the 11 winners is as follows:

First Place $150,000

·         Environment: Mahmud Johnson – Liberia – “Oil Palm products”

·         Education: Jennifer Shigoli – Tanzania – “Reusable Sanitary Pads”

Second Place $100,000

·         Environment: Ernie Aylward – South Africa “Electric mini-cabs”

·         Education: AbideenAdelu – Nigeria – “Mobile application for students”

·         Uncharted: Joyce Kyalema – Uganda – “Pumpkin food”

Pioneer Awards, $50,000

·         Frederico Peres da Silva – Mozambique – “Connect blue-collar, informal workers to customers”

·         Achiri Nji – Cameroon – “Live status updates on road conditions”

·         Benti Gelalcha – Ethiopia – “Veterinary Ambulatory Clinical Services”

·         Murtula Sanni – Nigeria – “Online platform for skilled workers”

·         Omar Kadiri – Morocco – “Free phone credit”.

 

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Two children in two years for Zari!

By
Badru Kasadah
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NEW ARRIVAL: Zari being wheeled out of labour. On left is lady holding the new-born baby boy.

It’s now two years since Tanzanian entertainer, Diamond Platnumz met Ugandan socialite, Zari Hassan.

In those two years, the couple has been blessed with two children with the latest, and also her fifth child, being born on Tuesday at Net Care Pretoria East Hospital, South Africa.  It is a baby boy! zari’s three other children were born to South African-based Ugandan Ivan Ssemwanga.

ADMIRING: Tanzanian crooner Daimond Platinumz admires his new-born baby boy.

“Thanking everyone for your prayers, we are all doing fabulously. He a made his grand entrance into the world this morning on the 6th Dec 2016 03.35am,” Zari alerted her fans via social media.

It ought to be remembered that Zari had her fourth child in August last year, a birth rate some like Bukedde have likened to that of a rabbit.

However, some people have come to her defence.

Jojo Bats Nissi The good thing she has never been @ bukedde asking for pampers, powder and school fees…

Annie Williams How does that concern you. Has she ever come out and asked for your help to take care of her kids. It’s her decision. I am sure somewhere there is a barren woman admiring her. Bukedde learn to respect people’s decisions and write about more important issues affecting the country other than sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.

 

 

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Samsung survive US400m ‘infringement penalty’

By
Agencies
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An assortment of different models of Samsung mobile phones

The US Supreme Court has overturned a $399 million patent infringement penalty imposed on Samsung for copying Apple’s iPhone design, in a case watched for its implications for technology innovation.

The shorthanded justices ruled 8-0 that Samsung should not be required to forfeit the entire profits from its smartphones for infringement on design components, sending the case back to a lower court.

While the ruling was short on specifics, analysts said it was likely to curb litigation from patent holders expecting to reap big profits from infringement on a component.

The 11-page ruling found that the $399 million penalty — one element of a major patent infringement case — was inappropriate because it represented ‘Samsung’s entire profit from the sale of its infringing smartphones” for copying the iPhone’s “rectangular front face with rounded edges and a grid of colorful icons on a black screen’.

But the court stopped short of delving into details of how the lower court should determine the penalty.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the opinion that ‘doing so would require us to set out a test for identifying the relevant article of manufacture… and to parse the record to apply that test in this case’.

The court sent the case back to the appellate court in Washington to resolve the details.

The case is one element of the $548 million penalty — knocked down from an original $1 billion jury award — Samsung was ordered to pay for copying iPhone patents.

Observers had been watching to see how the court — which had not taken up a design patent case in more than a century — would tip the balance between technological innovation and protecting intellectual property.

Dennis Crouch, a University of Missouri law professor and co-director of the Center for Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship, said the ruling may leave both sides disappointed.

“Although the case offers hope for Samsung and others adjudged of infringing design patents, it offers no clarity as to the rule of law,” Crouch said in a blog post.

Crouch said the court allowed for damages at the component level but also indicated that the product as a whole is ‘an article of manufacture’, leaving the matter open to interpretation.

“Thus, it will be up to courts to figure out which level (of damages) applies in particular cases,” he wrote.

Samsung won the backing of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, claiming a strict ruling on design infringement could lead to a surge in litigation.

Apple was supported by big names in fashion and manufacturing. Design professionals, researchers and academics, citing precedents like Coca-Cola’s iconic soda bottle.

Reacting to the verdict, an Apple spokesman said in an email, “Our case has always been about Samsung’s blatant copying of our ideas, and that was never in dispute… We remain optimistic that the lower courts will again send a powerful signal that stealing isn’t right.”

Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Yahya Jammeh will be prosecuted-opposition

By
Agencies
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ON NOTICE: Gambia's Yahaya Jammeh

Gambia’s outgoing President Yahya Jammeh will be prosecuted for alleged crimes committed during his rule, a leading member of the coalition which defeated him in last week’s election has told the UK-based Guardian newspaper.

Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang said there was no question of immunity for Mr Jammeh:

“He will be prosecuted. I’m saying [within] a year but it could be less than that. This is my personal opinion – it might have taken three months because we really want to really work fast.”

In the interview, Ms Jallow-Tambajang said Mr Jammeh had the “bunkers and treasure” to start a rebellion from his farm in KInali, near the border with Senegal.

We don’t trust him. The longer we leave him, the more possibilities he has to leave the country, to escape from the country and to even do an insurgency. He is capable. The man is capable.

She told the newspaper that Mr Jammeh was barred from going abroad:

“He can’t leave. If he leaves, he’s going to escape us. We are stopping him from leaving. We are negotiating. He said he wants to go to Kanilai. Any day he tells us he wants to go abroad, then we say no. It’s the presidential prerogative.”

After his shock defeat at the hands of property developer Adama Barrow in last week’s election, Mr Jammeh said he intended to retire in Kanilai.

He seized power in a coup in 1994 and is accused of leading one of the most repressive states in Africa where his opponents were jailed, exiled and allegedly killed.

He strongly denies the allegations and says he improved the living conditions of Gambians.

 

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