President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday flagged off a group of 103 Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage, Hajj. Their trip was fully sponsored by the President and his Sudan counterpart Omar al-Bashir.

A statement from the NRM Secretariat indicates that the delegation is comprised of 68 men and 35 women, however, EagleOnline has learnt that almost all the beneficiaries of the sponsorship are NRM cadres who were instrumental in ensuring the re-election of President Museveni and among them is Senior Presidential Advisor Hajji Abbey Mukwaya, Kyotera Member of Parliament and State Minister for Microfinance Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo, former KCCA councilor Salim Uhuru Saad, former New Vision Journalist Ahmed Kateregga Musaazi, Mbale NRM party chairperson Mohamood Masaba Mutenyo and Rubaga NRM chairperson Ibrahim Kitatta.

On average the Hajj costs Ugandan pilgrims anywhere between US$4,000 and US$4,700 (approx. Shs15m), without pocket money.

Hajj is the fifth and last pillar of Islam, where Muslims all over the world make pilgrimage to the Holy city of Mecca.

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Many might have missed her tirades for sometime now after she flew out to South Africa for a research fellowship but the former Makerere University researcher, Stella Nyanzi, still has her minds back home in Uganda.

And so she began her Tuesday on a bitter note, scoffing at Ugandans born during the Idi Amin regime by referring to them as ‘foolish, impotent middle-aged Ugandans’.

Dr Stella Nyanzi, who undressed after her office at the Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) had been locked on instructions of the Executive Director Prof Mahmood Mamdani, now feels that the generation of Ugandans born between January 1971 and April 1979, of which she is part, have let down the country.

“My generation is a total sellout to our country. I was born in 1974. So I am referring to all those Ugandans who were born in the Idi Amin regime of the 70s. We are in our 40s or thereabouts. When it comes to Uganda, we are toothless, ball-less, zombies, Judases, docile puppets!, she ranted.

“How can we allow men (it is mostly men and a few eating women) in their seventies to comfortably continue messing up all the public institutions in Uganda? Who bewitched us? Who knocked out our teeth? Who castrated us? What will it take for us to embrace our role of redeeming Uganda and her public institutions? Aaaaarrrrggghhh!” reads her Tuesday post on Facebook.

She further adds that Instead of members of her generation ousting the ‘reigning menaces in our country and its public institutions’: “We say, “Yes, Boss!” “Okay please, Boss!” “I agree, Boss!” “You are right Boss!” Instead of challenging the tyrannical, corrupt, oppressive regimes that are rampant in our day, we idolise them, she adds.

“We are busy romancing with them in their own beds. Instead of organising to expose and kick the snakes out of the affairs of our land, we organise better ways of eating fatter bribes that buy our silence and complicity. Sellouts, just,” she further states.

Stella Nyanzi was among the people who criticized the conduct and results of the February 18 presidential elections; she supported and rallied her ‘followers’ to vote for Dr Kizza Besigye, the presidential candidate of the biggest opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

Indeed, many believe this cost her job at the public university, Makerere University, where she was as a researcher. She is currently working as a researcher at Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies.

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The Buganda Road Court has this morning committed former Kampala Central Police Station (CPS) commander Aaron Baguma and his co-accused have been committed to the High Court for trial over murder.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Baguma, who recently surrendered himself over to police following the issuance of a warrant of arrest against him, is being charged in connection with the murder of city businesswoman Donah Katushabe.

Ms Katushabe was reportedly killed by a group of people led by city businessman Muhammad Sebuwufu, a dealer in second hand cars and owner of Pine car bond on Lumumba Road,  after the deceased failed to clear a debt of Shs9 million. The other suspects include Stephen Lwanga, Godfrey Kayiza, Paul Tasingika and Phillip Mirambe.

According to the magistrate’s court, Baguma’s trial is at the discretion of the High Court, which will decide on the commencement of trial.

Following her killing, Katushabe’s relatives swung into action and ensured Sebuwufu was arrested and remanded to Luzira prison. However, Baguma, most probably using his powerful connections and influence, had since evaded arrest, prompting Katushabe’s relatives to protest to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Mike Chibita wa Duallo, who in turn wrote to the police asking them to ensure Baguma faces the law.

But in the midst of all the hullabaloo, police chief General Kale Kayihura reshuffled his officers in the Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) area, in the process sending Baguma for a six-month ‘refresher’ course at the Police Senior Command and Staff College (PSCSC), Bwebajja, along Entebbe Road.

That was until last week on Friday, August 30. But this was not before the same relatives led by Mr Alex Masereka Epafura made a U-turn, and asked the DPP to drop the charges against Baguma.

“Your lordship, my name is Alex Masereka Epafura, I am the heir to the late Epafura Kule of Kasese, the late father to the late Donnah Katushabe, the deceased person in the above matter. Culturally, I am the head of the family and the father to the late Donnah Katushabe.

We  do appreciate all what you have done in the management of this file so far despite the numerous challenges that came with it due to the high profile of some of accused person” reads the letter from Mr Masereka.

Mr Masereka said that after a serious heart and mind searching, the family agreed and request you (DPP) for one favour.

“Your Lordship, we request that SP Aaron Baguma be dropped from among the accused persons and this of the because following reason: From the day we got to know about the death of our sister, it was Aron Baguma who as DPC of CPS who helped us uncovering the rot that some other officers in police had done in ensuring that the murderers of our sister walk away scot free” reads to letter to DPP.

“It is Baguma who helped us in assembling some of the witnesses that came forward amidst fear and intimidation to volunteer evidence that is now on the file,” the family added.

The family further said it was Baguma who helped them in accessing the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Gen. Kale Kayihura, who in turn helped them find a team of new investigators when the ‘former team had been grossly compromised’.

“It is Baguma who arrested Mr Ssebuufu when he had already planned to leave the country to leave the country and had been assigned police escorts to help him on his mission. How we wish we had mandate to drop him from the charge sheet but because it’s only you with the said mandate, our humble prayer to you is that you find within your powers to do so,” the relatives added.

The effort was futile, with the DPP saying Baguma was ‘not above the law’.

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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is one of the leaders expected to attend the 53^rd Summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the Somalia capital Mogadishu over the weekend.

War ravaged, Mogadishu, once described as the ‘most dangerous capital on earth’, will for the first time in over 30 years, host a summit of such magnitude, that will focus on among other issues progress registered in Somalia including the forthcoming 2016 general elections between September and October, and the political crisis in South Sudan.

Other leaders expected to join Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud in Mogadishu include Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan; Hailemariam Desalgne of Ethiopia; Omar Bashir of Sudan and Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti.

“It is the first time Mogadishu or Somalia in general hosts such a high-level summit for more than 30 years. We see it as a historic signal and message to the world saying, ‘Somalia is coming back,’” Somalia’s Foreign Minister Abdisalam Omer Hadliye said, adding “this will be a historic moment for Somalia.”

However, Hadliye cited his country’s security concerns, occasioned by terror group Al Shabaab, which has carried out attacks inside Somalia and also outside in countries like Kenya and Uganda.

Just a week ago, a car bomb killed at least 25 people near Somali’s presidential palace, but Hadliye says security in Mogadishu has been heightened ahead of the weekend summit, with day and night patrols.

There is a 22,000-member African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM), mandated with assisting the federal government in its war against al-Shabaab, stabilizing the country, and providing security for the country’s major installations.

Mogadishu’s gradual return to normalcy did not begin only with the ousting of al-Shabaab in August 2011, but also with a series of visits by presidents and diplomats from around the world.

Among the top figures who visited the city was Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who first went to Mogadishu in August 2011 with his wife and daughter, his cabinet ministers and their families, just as the country was suffering from a drought and famine. He visited again this year to open the Turkish Embassy, the largest in the world.

In May 2015, US Secretary of State John Kerry paid an unannounced visit to the city.

Western diplomats and top military commanders also visit the city, although most of them do not leave the city’s heavily fortified perimeters of the airport, the adjacent African Union base and the presidential palace for official meetings.

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