ISSUED STATEMENT: Mabior Garang de Mabior. Photo credit/upperniletimes.net
Embattled South Sudan President Salva Kiir has reshuffled six SPLM-IO ministers and fired Mabior Garang De Mabior, the former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Garang De Mabior, a son of the late Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) founding leader John Garang de Mabior and his wife, SPLM/A stalwart Rebecca Nyadeng Garang, has been replaced with Sofia A. Gai.
The younger Garang has also been fired alongside two deputy SPLM-IO ministers in a decision that many say has unclear effects on the country’s floundering peace deal.
The changes come after Lam Akol resigned as Minister of Agriculture, calling the peace deal dead. It was also unclear how much involvement the First Vice President Taban Deng had in Kiir’s decisions. Under the peace deal signed in August, the SPLM-IO were given a voice in which of their ministers were appointed.
But in a Decree, President Kiir relieved Alfred Lado Gore, the Minister of Interior and replaced him with Michael Tiangjiek Mut. Gore was named the Minister of Land, Housing, and Urban Development, replacing Mary Alfonse Nadio Lodira. Gore was one of the officials who appeared with Taban Deng when he announced he would replace Riek Machar as First Vice President.
Kiir also replaced Dak Doth Bishok, the Minister of Petroleum, with Ezekiel Lul Gat, while the former Minister of Higher Education Peter Adwok Nyaba has been replaced with Yien O.L. Tut.
Peter Marcello, the Minister of Labour, has been replaced with Gabriel Duop Lam.
The Deputy Minister of the Interior Duop Lam has been replaced with Rieu Gatliek Gai.
The Deputy Minister of Labour Elizabeth Achuei has been replaced with Allan Natake.
Gabriel Yol Dok has also been replaced as the Presidential Advisor for Social Service Delivery, and Michael Mario Dhuor has been named the Presidential Advisor on Reforms, Monitoring and Evaluation, while Ramadan Hassan Laku has been named adviser on Good Governance and Rule of Law.
JMEC chair former Botswana president Festus Mogae and his newly-appointed deputy Francois Fall of Guinea
South Sudan’s government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth has threatened to deny entry to the Joint Monitoring Evaluation Commission (JMEC) or to expel the group altogether unless they reopen their office in Juba and cease carrying on business in other places outside the country.
This comes after a meeting of diplomats of the JMEC Partners Forum – the guarantors of the August 2015 peace deal – held recently in Khartoum, as well as meetings by the JMEC Chairman Festus Mogae at the African Union summit and elsewhere.
Makuei, who is also an influential member of cabinet as information minister, was enraged by the holding of the partners meeting in Khartoum and by the evacuation of JMEC personnel from Juba. Festus Mogae decided to evacuate the secretariat personnel last month after days of fighting in Juba made it insecure. Since then, however, JMEC has called for the resumption of meetings of the parties together with JMEC in Juba.
But the information minister criticized the group saying: “It is high time for JMEC to come back or otherwise we don’t need it.”
“It is unfortunate that JMEC did not serve the objectives for which it was established and if JMEC wants to go back then they must come back with new understanding of the situation because after all we are the government of South Sudan and can even decide now and deny them entrance,” he said.
Makuei, who was behind the expulsion of the JMEC chief of staff several months ago, was opposed to the signing of the peace deal last year and he has also previously threatened the UN Mission in South Sudan with expulsion.
In his remarks Tuesday, Makuei accused the peace monitoring body of a ‘conspiracy’. His comments are in line with increasingly aggressive government posture toward international insitutions, particularly those involved in calls for sending more peacekeepers to South Sudan.
“Now they take themselves out, leave South Sudanese, they go and conspire in Khartoum in the name of JMEC… they go and conspiracy in Khartoum and they create a lot of dash against the events that are unfolding here,” he said.
He further criticized the peace group’s appeal to cease waging attacks on Riek Machar’s forces.
“There in Khartoum… they demand intervention and they call on President Salva to stop pursuing Riek Machar and then people go to Addis Ababa for talks. Why are we South Sudanese been sidelined or has it become a forum whereby things be done outside South Sudan?” Makuei said during a news conference at his office.
“I think there is something wrong with JMEC, JMEC must prove himself a Joint Monitoring and Evolution Commission, otherwise JMEC in its current situation is useless and will not serve the interest of South Sudanese and will not help the implementation of the peace agreement,” he said.
Makuei further added that the office of JMEC has even evacuated the country and has remained closed. He said this is the time for JMEC to be around instead of leaving the country.
The peace monitors have recently called on the South Sudanese government and opposition to resolve their differences peacefully.
KEEP MASAKA TOWN CLEAN: The police and army have today embarked on cleaning Masaka town.
The Police and men and officers of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) have today embarked on cleaning the Central Business District (CBD) of Masaka municipality, a source has said.
By press time it was not possible to establish the scope of untidiness that had characterised the town but the source said heaps of garbage littered along the streets like Elgin and Kampala Road in the CBD had been cleared during the exercise.
Located in the central region Masaka, a town on the western shores of Lake Victoria with a population of about 104,000 people, has for long been plagued by grubbiness, prompting the district officials and the security organs to initiate the cleaning exercise.
Once the cleanest and biggest town and the business hub of central Uganda, Masaka town is currently famous for grasshoppers, which provide a source of livelihood to a big number of its residents, some of who earn as much as Shs50 million annually. Other activities include meat processing; and the manufacture of furniture, footwear, crafts and baked products. The town is about 140 kilometres from Kampala and visitors there have to cross the Equator, which is about 37 kms from the Masaka CBD.
Masaka was devastated during the 1979 war in which former President Iddi Amin was ousted and 35 years later it has failed to recover to its past glory.
President Yoweri Museveni and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir during their July 23 meeting at State House Entebbe.Photo credit/africanews.com
South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, has declared total rejection to the deployment of a regional force, backtracking on the earlier reported assurance he gave to President Yoweri Museveni during a meeting last Saturday, July 23, and also to Festus Mogae, the chairman of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), on July 25.
President Kiir and his officials argued that countries which have experienced foreign forces intervention have never regained peace and stability.
“I have heard some people have resigned. Okay let them go but if it is connected to pressure on the government to implement their agenda that will not work. South Sudan is a sovereign state and we will not allow foreign troops to come here no matter the amount of pressure and noise they will make. We don’t need foreign troops. Already we have enough of them here,” President Kiir told confidants on Monday after learning of the resignation of the minister of agriculture and food security, Lam Akol.
President Salva Kiir (R) with the Chief of General Staff Gen Paul Awan Malong (L). Photo credit/nyamile.co.
President Kiir, according to a presidential aide who spoke to on Tuesday, was commenting while in a meeting with the Chief of General Staff of the South Sudanese army, Paul Malong Awan, and the Minister of National Security, Isaac Mamur Mate.
Minister Mate later gave a statement in which he rejected a regime change agenda, citing a political and security situation in Somalia, Libya and Iraq as the basis of rejecting foreign intervention force.
“They want to destabilize this country to go the Somalia way. They intervened in Somalia, did they succeed. Has Somalia become a country now? What happened in Libya has Libya become a country? And Iraq what happened there? Did they succeed? We don’t want this regime change. A change must be peaceful and we have a legal and democratically elected government that should be consulted before making such decisions,” explained Minister Mate in a statement broadcast on Monday evening.
The top security official declared that any unilateral deployment of a foreign force will not be accepted.
Information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, also issued a statement on Tuesday denying clashes have taken place around Juba and that the government was not aware of the rapes carried out by its soldiers.
“The media has been abuzz with news of fighting throughout the country, however, we want to assure the region and the whole world that the ceasefire, which was recently ordered by the president, is firmly holding, and that all those reports are false and baseless. They are concocted to justify the demands of intervention force by the enemies of peace who are usually delighted in anarchy and perpetual unrest in the republic of South Sudan,” the August 2, 2016 president’s statement reads in part.
Lueth reiterated rejection of the government to welcome deployment of foreign troops in the country.
“The TGoNU [Transitional Government of National Unity] would like to urgently call on IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] member states to be cognizant of the fact South Sudan may slide into anarchy if the region military meddles in its internal affairs and that the repercussions of such a hasty undertaking will negatively impact the overall security of the region,” said Makuei, speaking to reporters at the ministry headquarters.
Previously, IGAD countries and African Union (AU) have approved request by UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon to send extra-troops to boost the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) in Juba with a new mandate to militarily fight the warring SPLM factions under President Salva Kiir and former First Vice President, Riek Machar, following outbreak of clashes early last month.
President Salva Kiir, his First Vice President Taban Deng Gai and Second Vice President James Wani Igga after the swearing in of Taban Deng as FVP. Photo credit/nyamile.com
The UN Security Council is deliberating the possible intervention force – a move opposed by President Kiir and supported by Machar. SPLM In Opposition faction in Juba has replaced Machar with Taban Deng Gai – a move dismissed by Machar’s supporters as illegal.
Minister Lueth said the government has not succumbed to regional and international pressure as reported by the media.
Lueth also dismissed claims by SPLM-IO faction loyal to Machar that the government was spearheading Taban Deng’s appointment.
“Dr. Riek Machar is neither the SPLM/A IO nor the Agreement and therefore we are moving forward with the implementation of the agreement for the overall interest of the people of South Sudan,” he said.
WEIGHING IN ON KAYIHURA PROSECUTION: City lawyer Nicholas Opiyo of Chapter Four, a civil society organisation, appearing on the 'Morning Breeze' talk show on NBS TV.
Two top city lawyers and the police spokesperson Fred Enanga have said that the police legal team cannot defend the Inspector General of Police General Kale Kayihura, who has been summoned by the Makindye Chief Magistrate’s court to answer to charges related to ‘police brutality’.
Last week, 20 lawyers led by Abdullah Kiwanuka instituted criminal proceedings against the IGP and other senior officers for reportedly failing to supervise their juniors who beat up Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential flag bearer Dr Kizza Besigye’s supporters as they lined the Gayaza and Entebbe roads in the Kampala suburbs to welcome him from a two-month remand in Luzira maximum security prison.
DPP CAN INVESTIGATE THE MATTER: Top city lawyer Oscar Kihika, who also heads the National Resistance Movement (NRM) legal team. Photos/nbstv
Debating the matter the two lawyers, Mr Oscar Kihika, and Nicholas Opiyo noted that Gen Kayihura had been sued as an individual and that as such he cannot benefit from the services of the police legal team.
“The Uganda Police legal team can’t defend Kayihura; he is in court as an individual. The police team doesn’t have such a mandate,” Mr Opiyo, who was appearing on NBS TV talk show ‘Morning Breeze’ alongside Mr Kihika, said.
Weighing in on debate Mr Kihika concurred with his ‘learned colleague’, noting that: ‘There’s no better exercise of the law and evidence on how far we have come than this Kayihura case’.
Mr Kihika further noted that this is not the first time a senior police officer has been dragged to court, adding however, that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) could take over the case, investigate and establish whether there is enough evidence for prosecution to proceed.
‘This case will be an interesting addition to our jurisprudence; the DPP may decide to take over this prosecution given that this is a private case. That remains to be seen,’ Mr Kihika, who also heads the National Resistance Movement (NRM) legal team said, adding: ‘It’s no remarkable case; this has been done before. IGP going to court is not an indictment of the entire police force. This is not the first time a senior police officer has been dragged to court’.
And, contacted for comment on the matter police spokesperson Enanga reiterated their legal team would in no way involve itself with the private investigators’ case against Mr Kayihura.
“Of course, our legal team is out of this; true. He is being sued as an individual and he will have his legal team represent him. However, what is important to know is that he has not been served (with summons); the secretary at the office and even (people) at his home (can attest to that),” Mr Enanga said on phone today.
Meanwhile, in a related development Mr Opiyo of Chapter Four, a civil society organization that deals with legal matters, said the move by ‘private investigators’ to sue Mr Kayihura is indicative of the progress made in the rule of law in Uganda.
‘The level of civic courage, the kind that brings private prosecution against Kayihura, demonstrates how far we have come,’ Mr Opiyo, a former Secretary of the Uganda Law Society (ULS), said.
Asked who can dare arrest the IGP in case he ignores court summons, Opiyo said: ‘Anybody. Everyone is empowered to arrest anyone and handover to the police’.
He added that if Kayihura ignores the summons, court can either issue fresh warrants or even an arrest warrant.
‘Kayihura is a lawyer. He should subject himself to the due process of the law. What better way to prove one’s innocence?’ Mr Opiyo challenged.
Dr.Kizza Besigye addressing the press conference today at his home in Kasangati.
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential flag bearer Dr Kizza Besigye has chided his avowed ‘tormentor’ General Kale Kayihura, who has been dragged to court for allegedly failing to superintend his subordinates who were involved in beating the opposition kingpin’s supporters and bystanders.
Addressing a presser at his Kasangati home this morning, Besigye said that time has caught-up with those who have been traumatizing him, his supporters and innocent civilians, as witnessed by the indictment of Gen Kayihura.
“Things have changed; I am out of court and Kayihura is in,” the retired army colonel said.
Dr Besigye also scoffed at government over the proposed land legislation that is being mooted to give the state powers to take over land when it deems fit without compensating the current occupants. Besigye also revealed that currently most conflicts in the country are due to land related woes and therefore, if government insists on takeover of land ownership, it would culminate into a countrywide civil war.
“Most of the conflicts arise from land that isn’t registered. Our people have no knowledge about land registration as our land systems are not only weak but are bedeviled by systemic corruption,” he said.
Asked by reporters on what he thinks about the proposed scrapping of the constitutional age limit as suggested by Anne Maria Nankabirwa, Kyankwanzi district woman legislator and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party district chairperson, viewed by many as a move to pave the way for President Yoweri Museveni to contest in the 2021 general elections, Dr Besigye said: “It is a gimmick, it is Mr Museveni’s project.”
MIDRAND, South Africa: Members of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) sitting in Midrand, South Africa, have condemned the increasing attacks on them and demanded heightened security for legislators.
The Members also demanded for the relocation of the PAP headquarters from South Africa to a country where members’ security can be guaranteed if the host country cannot give assurances of their safety.
The debate by legislators on Tuesday August 2, comes on the heels of an attack on a Senegalese legislator of the continent’s legislative body. Mr. Aissatou Sow Diawara was shot at and critically injured on July Thursday, 28 while on the way to her hotel from OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg. In the same vehicle were three other PAP members from Namibia who were robbed off their belongings. They later returned to Namibia.
“We are not escorted by police and there is no protection provided to us in our hotels. Are you, Mr President, waiting until one of our members losses their life in order for measures to protect us to be implemented? We would like to review the headquarters agreement and negotiate another headquarters,” said Mr. Haidara Aichata, from Mali.
Mr. Idris Yousif (Sudan) said there was need for political will in order to address the security of MPs. “The last time we were told ‘measures will be taken’. We need to accept that we are living in a situation of insecurity and we cannot continue our work in those conditions,” he said.
There have been reported attacks on legislators between August 2015, October 2015, March 2016, May 2016 and most recently July 2016.
Mr. McHenry Venaani, (Namibia) wondered why there was no apology forthcoming from the South African government.
“Why are we not hearing an official apology from South Africa on this matter? South Africa must host PAP with all conditions that come with it,” he said to applause from Members.
Fortune Charumbira (Zimbabwe) told the Assembly the government in South Africa had withdrawn certain privileges that members had and that is why they were now susceptible to attacks. He said the host country agreement had lapsed and that there was no obligation on the host government to provide elaborate services to the legislators.
PAP President, Roger Nkodo Dang, reassured house that the security of the MPs had been stepped up but could not divulge details. He urged members to take their security seriously saying, “Security is an individual matter first before being a collective matter.”
Speaker, Roger Nkodo reminded them that insecurity exists throughout the world and that there are always hotspots of insecurity everywhere.
Founded in March 2004, The Pan African Parliament comprises five members from each of the 47 of the 54 African Union member states.
Uganda’s delegation to PAP include: Jacquiline Amongin (NRM, Ngora); Prof. Ogenga Latigo (FDC, Agago North); Anifa Bangirana Kawooya (NRM, Ssembabule); Felix Okot Ogong (NRM, Dokolo South) and Babirye Kadogo (Ind. Buyende).
Uganda’s delegation will take oath and be sworn in as members of the continental legislature in October 2016 in Egypt where the next session will take place.
UPSET BY MOB CONDUCT AT COURT: ULS President Francis Gimara. Photo credit/uls.or.ug
The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has reiterated its commitment to ensure that the errant police officers who recently participated in the indiscriminate beating up of Dr Kizza Besigye’s supporters, and their supervisors face the law.
TO OFFER FREE SERVICES TO VICTIMS OF POICE BRUTALITY: ULS president Francis Gimara (centre with robes) with his Executive Committee members.
According to the ULS President Francis Gimara, the lawyers’ body will seek to legally pursue the individual police officers implicated, in line with the October 2015 Constitutional Court ruling in which Justices Augustine Nshimye, Richard Buteera, Eldad Mwangusya, Prof. Lillian Tibatemwa and Fredrick Egonda-Ntende held that ‘police officers and other state agents implicated in the violation of human rights will be held liable as individuals and not as institutions’.
Judges of the Constitutional Court at a previous session.Photo credit/76crimes.com
‘… the time has come for legal practitioners to consider in cases of this nature (brutality) adding as parties the perpetrators and their supervisors of challenged actions in their personal capacity so that they can face civil consequences for their willful disregard of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people of this country,’ the five-panel Coram unanimously decided. Previously, the Attorney General, the principal government legal advisor, would take on the liabilities of all government officers implicated in rights violations.
Mr Gimara’s comments come in the wake of reports that a group of lawyers led by Abdullah Kiwanuka and acting as ‘private prosecutors’ had sued the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura and his subordinates, all who have been summoned to appear before the Makindye Chief Magistrates Court next Wednesday.
Top KMP officers appearing before the police administrative court.
The officers, some of who are already facing charges before the police administrative court, include Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP) Andrew Kaggwa and Samuel Bamuzibire, the former Kampala Metropolitan Police south commander and the former KMP Field Force Unit (FFU) commander, respectively. Others are Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) James Ruhweza, the KMP Operations Commander; KMP South operations Commander Wesley Nganizi, former KMP North deputy Commander Geoffrey Kaheebwa; and Moses Nanoka, the District Police Commander Wandegeya Police Division.
Further, Mr Gimara said the ULS, which has a membership of over 1800 lawyers, would offer free legal (pro bono) services to the victims of the recent police brutality.
Police Spokesman CP Fed Enanga.
In a related development, Police Spokesperson Fred Enanga has said that IGP Kayihura and his subordinates are yet to receive any court summons. Enanga also argued that the officers were not acting in their personal capacity but as police officers working under an institution, the Uganda Police Force (UPF).
However, Mr Kiwanuka, who is leading the private prosecutors, claimed that the individual police officers had refused to receive the summonses, opting to be summoned through the IGP.
YET TO RECEIVE COURT SUMMONS: IGP General Kale Kayihura
By press time it was not possible to establish what would happen in case Mr Kayihura and the other police officers snub the court summonses.
Over the past one month the police has come under severe criticism from the public for its excessive use of force that included beating civilians with shepherd canes (Kiboko) and most recently, the screening on social media of a police driver knocking down a man who was by the roadside. The man, who fell on the tarmac, was also kicked in the ribcage by a plain-clothed man suspected of being a security operative.
Two students from Ugandan universities are set to participate the University Karate Championships due August 10 in Bragal, Portugal. It will be the first time the Ugandan university Karate team crosses the borders since their last attempt in 1995, which flopped due to inadequate funding.
A team of four: an official and the coach, and two participating athletes, a male and female will represent the country in the Japanese sport to compete with between 24 and 29 representatives from other participating countries.
The two athletes drawn from Makerere University Guju Kai Karate Dojo (MGKKD) are Daniel Mutembesa, a master’s student at Makerere University who has six years of experience in Karate, and Joyce Bako, a fresh graduate from Ndejje University.
“We expect to be surprised and challenged because this is our first time, but we are confident. The skill we have is impeccable and on international standard,” Mutembesa asserted.
Coach Ronald Mwanje reiterated Mutembesa’s assertions, saying the team, though small, is ready to represent the nation.
“They have been training; they know the moves. We are definitely ready.” Mwanje reassured the press.The team will set off for Portugal on August 7.
The message posted by Bebe Cool, blocking cartoonist Chris Ogon.
Recently, Chris Ogon one of the famous cartoonists in Uganda, drew a cartoon depicting the ‘slight difference’ between Bebe Cool’s recent single Kabulengane and Navio’s Njogereza, which was released earlier this year.
Navio’s song fused African beats with the much loved modern beats as well as fusing dances and languages that appeal to the local population and the international community, making Njogereza an instant hit and common song on many African Music channels.
Then enter Bebe Cool’s Kabulengane, which was released much later; one music enthusiasts have said is ‘a seeming copy’ of Njogereza, with the ‘difference only in words’.
The ensuing pursuit of comparison of the two songs caused diverse debate on whether Bebe Cool imitated Navio’s song, and for cartoonist Chris Ogon it was a time to depict Bebe Cool as ‘Uganda’s Melanie Trump’, now infamous for plagiarising Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech at the Democratic National Conference.
Angered, Bebe Cool blocked the cartoonist on Twitter.
