ANNOUNCED DATE FOR REFERENDUM: President Pierre Nkurunziza
A commission set up by Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza has said that most people in the country want term limits to be abolished.
Last year, the country was plunged into a political crisis after the president announced that he was running for a third term.
Street demonstrations were followed by a failed coup attempt.
The constitution limits a president to two elected terms, but Mr Nkurunziza’s lawyers successfully argued in the constitutional court that his first term did not count as he was appointed by MPs.
Reports say that the chairman of the presidential commission Justin Nzoyisaba said the majority of the people commissioners spoke to “want the president… to exercise more than two terms”.
Great Lakes problem
While Burundians spar over President Nkurinziza’s desire to remove term limits, Ugandans have a bigger battle already looming: whether the country will change its constitution to allow President Museveni to stay in power for life.
Museveni, 71, who came to power in 1986 and has endeared himself to the West by fighting Islamists in the region, is barred from the next election in 2021 because he will be past the constitutional age limit of 75 for presidential candidates.
On Wednesday, Uganda’s Parliament deferred presentation of a motion by a legislator, Robert Kafeero Ssekitoleko seeking leave to introduce a bill on constitutional amendments and raise the retirement age for judicial officers, among others.
Ideal the bill if passed would help the ruling party, NRM dominated parliament to remove the age cap of President Museveni’s office.
After months of blood and sweat including a link at Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers and trials at fellow topflight league club Aberdeen, Khalid Aucho has finally signed for a ‘lesser’ club.
Aucho left Nairobi for South Africa on Wednesday is now awaiting paper work to get his work permit as he hopes to make his debut.
Aucho signed an disclosed three-year-deal with Premier Soccer League (PSL) side Baroka FC.
The burly Uganda Cranes midfielder had an unsuccessful trial at Aberdeen – despite impressing The Dons technical team but will instead be linking up with national teammate Geoffrey Massa who has also just joined the newly promoted side.
Aucho, who recently attended trials in Scotland with Aberdeen, signed the deal on Wednesday as the team gets ready for the 2016/2017 season
“As a footballer it’s always a great moment moving up the ladder in your career. I believe Baroka have a vision that I share. I want to give my best for my new team at all times,” Aucho said on Wednesday.
The Jinja bred footballer is now waiting for his work permit before he will be able to make his debut for the newly promoted South African club.
Aucho, who has two goals in 17 caps for the Uganda Cranes, notably shone for Gor Mahia in the Kenyan Premier League.
For his parting shot message, Aucho, singled out the Kenyan champions for ‘special thanks’.
“Deal done. Thank God my new home is Baroka FC, South Africa. Thanks to all coaches that have brought me up. To all the team that I have gone through, Jinja, Simba FC, Tusker FC, Gor Mahia. Special thanks to Gor Mahia, my teammates the management and all the fans,” part of his social media post read.
Both Aucho and Massa are expected in the country very soon after being summoned for the must win Afcon tie against Comoros on September 4 at Namboole.
Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces has suspended its political commissar, Col. Felix Kulayigye
Col. Kulayigye’s suspension was announced by UPDF Spokesperson, Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda.
“Truth is Col. Felix Kulayigye has been suspended from office of Chief Political Commissar. Pending further inquiries about his conduct in the issue of gold business” Ankunda wrote.
Adding “However, Col. Kulayigye remains in Parliament as UPDF representative despite the suspension”
Kulayigye was accused of allegedly kidnapping employees of a private company and ransacking its premises after a gold transaction went bad. The three employees of Matrich Holdings Limited, a company which deals in minerals were also reportedly detained with 600 grammes of gold with Shs70 million.
Col Kulayigye, was accused by Mr Richard Kamugisha, the managing director of the Ntinda-based company who reported him to the army leadership.
Col Kulayigye has, however, refuted the claims but confirmed the lady, Ms Murungi, is his niece who contacted him reporting theft of her gold from the company premises in Ntinda.
Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, perceived by many to favour the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party’s interests, has today chaired a session where a private member’s bill was tabled to amend the Constitution to remove the age limit.
The bill, sponsored by Nakifuma MP Robert Kafeero Ssekitooleko, appeared on the order paper yesterday as part of parliament’s ‘business to follow’ and was tabled on Wednesday just before 5pm.
Oulanyah asked MP Ssekitoleko to make copies of his motion and circulate it to all legislators with immediate effect.
Nothing is known about his boss Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s whereabouts.
Since Oulanyah joined the NRM party in July 2006, he has earned himself as many Ugandan friends as he has earned foes, the latter who blame him for President Museveni’s lengthy stay in power that is now supposed to end in 2021.
If Parliament amends the Constitution and removes the age limit clause, President Museveni – currently 71 years – will be able vie again for the top seat to 2021.
The age-limit debate began in July after the Kyankwanzi district NRM conference, led by MP Anne Marie Nankabirwa, passed a resolution urging party MPs to move a motion in Parliament for the amendment of article 102(b) of the Constitution that caps the age of an in- coming president at 75.
During a meeting at the Kyankwanzi State Lodge at the National Leadership Institute, the Kyankwanzi district leaders told Museveni that they want the limit removed.
In response Museveni said that he would consult with the NRM Central Executive Committee and the NRM leadership.
Some of the MPs and members of the public who see this bill as a ruse point to early 2000s, when another innocent- looking constitutional review exercise ended up removing presidential term limits from the Constitution.
President Museveni has previously said that he would not rule past 75 years, although he has at times vaguely said that he will obey the Constitution.
Museveni was declared the winner of the last election in February with 60 percent of the vote. Kizza Besigye, who came second with 35 percent of the vote, said the election’s integrity was undermined by rigging, intimidation by security personnel and voter bribery.
In May, Besigye was arrested and charged with treason after a video circulated on social media of him in a mock swearing-in ceremony.
In 2005, lawmakers removed the two-term limit. But Museveni was accused of bribing ruling party legislators, an allegation he denies.
“Museveni has an absolute majority in Parliament. These legislators do not have the courage to resist what Museveni wants,” said Nicholas Opiyo, a political analyst and human rights lawyer.
Dubai-based airline flydubai has today participated in Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing’s (Dubai Tourism) first-ever East Africa roadshow joining 14 Dubai-based partners in showcasing a wide range of services and upcoming attractions. flydubai will then continue to Dar es Salaam on 30 August.
The roadshow is a great platform for local operators to meet directly with the airline and learn first-hand about the services and choices passengers from the market have when choosing to fly directly to Dubai for business or leisure.
Commenting ahead of the roadshow, Issam Kazim, CEO at Dubai Tourism, said: “The potential of Uganda and Tanzania as a source market is positive, and this roadshow provides us with the opportunity to directly interact with the operators here and showcase what Dubai has to offer. We look forward to making long-lasting and fruitful trade relationships during the trip to further grow the tourism market in Uganda for the benefit of all.”
flydubai was launched in 2009 to help create free flows of trade and tourism in the region and further support Dubai’s vision to become an internationally recognised aviation and tourism hub. flydubai’s reliable, affordable and high quality product offering with both business and economy classes, makes it possible for more people to travel more often to Dubai.
Sudhir Sreedharan, SVP Commercial Operations at flydubai (GCC, Africa & Indian Sub-Continent), said: “We are very pleased to take part in Dubai Tourism’s first-ever roadshow to East Africa and to showcase brand Dubai and flydubai. We are committed to opening up underserved markets and providing reliable, direct air links to destinations that previously had no or very few connections to Dubai. East Africa is a very important market that has shown significant growth over the past few years. We currently operate 82 weekly flights to 11 points in Africa, including 3 weekly flights to Entebbe and 4 weekly flights to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. These weekly frequencies will increase to 4 flights to Entebbe and 7 flights to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar from October.”
flydubai currently flies to 11 destinations in North and East Africa: Addis Ababa, Alexandria, Asmara, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Entebbe, Hargeisa, Juba, Khartoum, Port Sudan and Zanzibar.
Business Class is available on most of the routes on the flydubai network and the carrier has recently introduced WiFi and Live TV on select flights.
The carrier, which is the second largest operator out of Dubai International, has built a network of 90 destinations in 44 countries and operates more than 1,700 flights a week out of it is home in Dubai International (DXB), Terminal 2 and the newly opened Al Maktoum International- Dubai World Central (DWC).
Enterprise Uganda Executive Director Charles Ocici
Stanbic Bank has conducted a business mentorship programme for 210 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) businesspersons, with the best ten performers being rewarded today at a ceremony held at the Golf Course Hotel.
Conducted in conjunction with Enterprise Uganda, the year-long mentorship programme was aimed at improving the capacity of small scale businesses to become more self-sustaining by acquiring specialized skills on how to handle financial and administrative management and identify profitable investment for future growth.
Those rewarded include Michael Wamala, a crafts maker, Felix Gonzaga, a dealer in foodstuffs and agricultural services, Mary Asiimwe, a dealer in jewelry, Nickson Olama, a mobile money operator and James Mugisha, a dealer and distributor of agricultural products.
Others are Rose Nabawanuka, Florence Adong and Kenneth Wasswa, all of who registered improved profit margins compared to their previous earnings.
Speaking at the ceremony Kevin Wingfield, the Head of Personal and Business Banking at Stanbic Bank, that SMEs, which constitute the bulk of private sector investments, form the backbone of the economy. He also said SMEs are one of the largest employers and generate a considerable amount of tax revenue.
He noted that the majority of the business owners in these companies have never been formally trained to run their companies professionally, and as a result many of them struggle over time and as a result they collapse after just after a few years.
“Our objective as Stanbic Bank, working through Enterprise Uganda, is to help bridge the skills gap in the SME sector, by equipping the business proprietors with basic business leadership, administrative and people- management skills they need to enable them sustain a profitable long term enterprise,’’ Wingfield said.
Charles Ocici, the Executive Director enterprise Uganda said the initiative is aimed at ensuring the long term success of SME’s.
“This is a direct contribution to economic growth of the country’’ Mr. Ocici said.
The 2015 Global Entrepreneurs Monitor (GEM) report indicated that Uganda had the best Entrepreneurship Growth rate at 28% but the challenge of sustaining these businesses is immense since more than half of the businesses started do not live to celebrate their first anniversary.
This could easily be as a result of poor book keeping and lack of proper guidance on how to run a business, and the uncertain financial muscle backed by high level of competition can not be underestimated.
Ruparelia group, which is owned by East Africa’s rich man Sudhir Ruparelia has started construction works on his state of the art sports arena at Lugogo.
Sudhir signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kololo Senior Secondary school to develop the sports ground formerly belonging to Kololo SSS.
The school administrators and Ministry of Education signed the MoU that allows the two schools, Kololo SSS and Kampala Parents’ School to use the modern facility once complete without any hindrance.
This project is one of the latest construction projects which includes a state of the art sports complex.
The sports complex whose name is yet to be publically announced will possess state of the art football fields, running track, a swimming pool and a lounge for athletes to relax after engaging in sports.
Construction has begun on the large piece of land behind the Naguru Mosque which is behind Panamera bar and the Ruparelia owned Kampala Parents’ School. The land formerly housed Bush court. The acquisition of Bush court facilitated the expansion of the land that will house the sports park.
Currently the Ugandan has not invested heavily in sports infrastructure and some professional athletes have urged investors to set up state of the art sports training facilities. It is therefore humble to appreciate Sudhir’s construction project of a sports park.
By the time of publishing, graders had graded part of the land and part of the fence had been erected around the park. It is a work in progress but one of the caretakers hinted at the project being completed soon.
We shall be covering the progress of this project until it is complete and be sure to find the story of it’s completion on Eagle Online as soon as it’s opened.
Dubai-based airline flydubai has today participated in Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing’s (Dubai Tourism) first-ever East Africa roadshow joining 14 Dubai-based partners in showcasing a wide range of services and upcoming attractions. flydubai will then continue to Dar es Salaam on 30 August.
The roadshow is a great platform for local operators to meet directly with the airline and learn first-hand about the services and choices passengers from the market have when choosing to fly directly to Dubai for business or leisure.
Commenting ahead of the roadshow, Issam Kazim, CEO at Dubai Tourism, said: “The potential of Uganda and Tanzania as a source market is positive, and this roadshow provides us with the opportunity to directly interact with the operators here and showcase what Dubai has to offer. We look forward to making long-lasting and fruitful trade relationships during the trip to further grow the tourism market in Uganda for the benefit of all.”
flydubai was launched in 2009 to help create free flows of trade and tourism in the region and further support Dubai’s vision to become an internationally recognised aviation and tourism hub. flydubai’s reliable, affordable and high quality product offering with both business and economy classes, makes it possible for more people to travel more often to Dubai.
Sudhir Sreedharan, SVP Commercial Operations at flydubai (GCC, Africa & Indian Sub-Continent)
Sudhir Sreedharan, SVP Commercial Operations at flydubai (GCC, Africa & Indian Sub-Continent), said: “We are very pleased to take part in Dubai Tourism’s first-ever roadshow to East Africa and to showcase brand Dubai and flydubai. We are committed to opening up underserved markets and providing reliable, direct air links to destinations that previously had no or very few connections to Dubai. East Africa is a very important market that has shown significant growth over the past few years. We currently operate 82 weekly flights to 11 points in Africa, including 3 weekly flights to Entebbe and 4 weekly flights to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. These weekly frequencies will increase to 4 flights to Entebbe and 7 flights to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar from October.”
Flydubai Boeing 737-800
flydubai currently flies to 11 destinations in North and East Africa: Addis Ababa, Alexandria, Asmara, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Entebbe, Hargeisa, Juba, Khartoum, Port Sudan and Zanzibar.
Business Class is available on most of the routes on the flydubai network and the carrier has recently introduced WiFi and Live TV on select flights.
The carrier, which is the second largest operator out of Dubai International, has built a network of 90 destinations in 44 countries and operates more than 1,700 flights a week out of it is home in Dubai International (DXB), Terminal 2 and the newly opened Al Maktoum International- Dubai World Central (DWC).
Now suspended Denis Guma dons a worried face in a previous Uganda international engagement. His spot has been taken over by London born fullback Bevis Mugabi now at Yeovil, who finished 19th in League Two last season
The timing couldn’t have been better. A few hours after putting up a spirited performance for his new club Yeovil Town FC against Premier League club Everton at Goodison Park, defender Bevis Mugabi has earned his maiden call up to the Uganda national football team.
Cranes head coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredejovic on Wednesday announced Mugabi and a team of 31 other players for the two upcoming matches involving Kenya and Comoros. Cranes, who last appeared at Afcon in 1978, are tied on 10 points with Burkina Faso and can progress as either Group D winners or as best runners-up.
Mugabi turns out for League Two club Yeovil Town and was previously on the books of Southampton.
Mugabi who a few weeks was transferred from his childhood club Southampton FC to Yeovil, is anticipated to be a direct replacement of Lebanon based defender Dennis Iguma who has been suspended for the game for accumulating cautions.
Now at his third top club, Mugabi joined Southampton in July 2011 after being let go by Fulham, with whom he had progressed through the ranks. His form for the Under-18 side saw him named on the standby list for two England Under-17 squads.
The 21 year-old who can play at right-back or centre-back, is expected to accept the Uganda national team call up and EagleOnline understands that Cranes coach Micho has been holding extensive talks with the Mugabi and his family.
Mugabi was also named man of the match in Yeovil’s previous game, a 1-0 loss against Morecambe in their league opener.
Bevis Mugabi while still at Saints passes the ball upfield against the Chelsea U21. Internet PhotoBevis Mugabi in training
On the provision Cranes squad, there are 16 professionals and 16 locally based players. Official training starts on Thursday at Paradise Fitness Gym, Acacia Mall.
Match day tickets for Kenya and Comoros games go officially on sale by Wednesday, 24th August 2016.
Uganda Cranes will play Kenya on Tuesday, 30th August 2016 at Nelson Mandela National Stadium in an international friendly match.
The match will be used to fine tune the squad in preparation for the crucial AFCON 2017 qualifier against Comoros.
Uganda Cranes Team summoned:
Goalkeepers: Dennis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns, South Africa), Salim Jamal Magoola (El Merriekh, Sudan), Benjamin Ochan (KCCA, Uganda), Ismail Watenga (Vipers, Uganda)
PROTESTORS: East Africans demonstrate in London, UK against BIDCO Africa. APO Photo
East African protesters have taken to the streets of London to demonstrate against banks that do business with Bidco Africa, which has reportedly deforested 18,000 acres in Uganda, highlighting the connection between global financial institutions, the Prince of Wales and widespread deforestation in Africa.
Barclays and Standard Chartered saw their London headquarters picketed due to their funding of Nairobi-based Bidco, a company that cuts down thousands of acres of pristine rainforest in Uganda, and engages in human rights and tax violations in Kenya and Tanzania.
The Bidco Truth Coalition, an activist alliance, has revealed that the Banking Environment Initiative (BEI), based at Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership under the patronage of The Prince of Wales, is failing in its mission to lead the banking industry in collectively directing capital towards environmentally and socially sustainable economic development.
The BEI’s nine member banks are Barclays, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Lloyds, Northern Trust, RBS, Santander and Westpac.
By signing up to BEI’s ‘Soft Commodities’ Compact, the nine banks have committed to only direct capital towards sustainable business models and achieve zero net deforestation among their client companies.
Under BEI guidelines, member banks must drop clients that don’t measure up to socially and environmentally responsible policies.
Bidco Africa, which has engaged in multiple human rights, labour, tax and environmental violations, has publically stated that it does business with Barclays, Standard Chartered, Citibank, Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank.
Bidco owns an oil palm plantation that has deforested 18,000 acres of rainforest in Uganda, and the company has also reportedly grabbed land from over 100 smallholder farmers.
The environmental impact of the palm oil project has led activists to call on the UN Global Compact to eject Bidco from its roster of members.
In 2004, the World Bank pulled out of Bidco’s Uganda project, citing violations of the World Bank’s anti-deforestation policies.
But BEI has remained silent, and Barclays, Standard Chartered and other banks continue to do business with Bidco Africa.
The Bidco Truth Coalition calls on BEI, its patron, The Prince of Wales, and BEI’s nine member banks to publicly state that they will no longer do business with Bidco and other companies that destroy the environment.
