ANNOUNCED EVICTIONS: Kampala minister Beti Kamya says Lord Mayor does not attend scheduled meetings. Photo credit/elections.co.ug
The Minister of Kampala Beti Olive Kamya has called upon government to amend the law governing Kampala Capital City Authority.
According to Minister Kamya, the amendments will help settle the leadership wrangles that hinder service delivery in the city. She cited examples where the Lord Mayor has on occasion declined to attend scheduled meetings.
Kamya said the Article 5 of the Constitution which states Kampala shall be governed by the central government, contradicts KCCA Act that mandates the Lord Mayor to be the political head of Kampala.
Kamya was accompanied by the two KCCA spokespersons, an indicator that the city executive clearly cooperates with the ministry as was the case during the Frank Tumwebaze’s tenure as Kampala minister.
Efforts to contact Lord Mayor Lukwago on the issue were futile by press time.
Since the creation of the KCCA the relationship between Executive Director Jennifer Musisi, Lord Mayor Lukwago and the two Kampala ministers Frank Tumwebaze and Beti Kamya, seems to be rocky, with all of them juggling for supremacy.
ATTACKED BY ODOI: Major General (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire
Leading politicians and public figures in Uganda have attacked the Inspector General of Police for allegedly instigating demonstrations aimed at thwarting his appearance before court, where he was summoned in connection to the beating of opposition kingpin Dr Kizza Besigye’s supporters on July 12 and 13.
Appearing on the NBS’s Front line talk show panelists including Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire, Democratic Party (DP) President Norbert Mao, the Uganda Law Society (ULS) President Francis Gimara and human rights activist Miria Matembe, all castigated Gen. Kayihura for the actions of the rowdy mobs at Makindye magistrate’s court on Wednesday, August 10.
The IGP General Kale Kayihura and ten senior officers are currently facing private prosecution for allegedly failing to supervise their subordinates
“I don’t encourage people rioting around court and if all us are going to bring to court our supporters whether to be tried or not to be tried, then it is going to be (rule) of the jungle. Those who were rioting there, they were acting illegally and I don’t approve what they were doing,” Gen. Otafiire said.
He added: “We must observe rule of law that has been the hallmark of society by the National Resistance Movement. Nobody should stop courts from doing their work. Supporters or no supporters, we should all go to court to plead our innocence, this hooliganism is unacceptable.”
RILED BY MOB CONDUCT AT COURT: ULS President Francis Gimara. Photo credit/uls.or.ug
For ULS’ Francis Gimara, Gen. Kayihura must appear before the court on the scheduled date, August 29.
“If what happened repeats itself on August 29, lawyers will sit down and agree on what to do. I can’t anticipate that,” he said, adding: ‘Government should ensure that subsequent appearances are devoid of what happened this week’.
According to Gimara, the police should explain why they opted to allow a demonstration within court premises, a thing he said, is ‘unprecedented and illegal’.
“How come this mob had a license to act the way they did? They even asked the magistrate why he was trying a General!” the ULS boss wondered.
WHO IS KAYIHURA? Human rights activist Miria Matembe asked.
And when Ms Matembe weighed in on the issue, she had no kind words for the IGP, saying he is not above the law.
COURT SIEGED: DP President Norbert Mao
“Kayihura has defied Parliament, the court… Who is Kayihura that he defies the law?” a charged Matembe asked, while DP’s Mao said the mobs at Makindye threatened the lives of the officers of court. “They were besieged,” he said.
The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces will not look on as its officers and men trample on the rights of Ugandans, the Chief of Defence Forces General Edward Katumba Wamala has warned.
Gen Wamala’s stern warning comes in the wake of the UPDF seeking to punish the men who took part in beating bystanders and supporters of the opposition’s Dr Kizza Besigye, who were lined up along the streets to welcome him from Luzira prison, where he had been incarcerated for two months on treason charges.
And now Gen. Wamala has cracked the whip against impunity in the army and directed the Military Police to investigate and bring the errant soldiers to book. The said soldiers were deployed alongside the police to escort Dr Besigye to his Kasangati home after he granted bail by the High Court. And instead of carrying out their assigned duties diligently, some of the soldiers were captured on video beating up people, an oversight that has attracted vicious criticism from the public and the opposition in Parliament.
Indeed, the first victims of the public ire were the police, whose boss IGP General Kale Kayihura and ten senior officers are currently facing private prosecution for allegedly failing to supervise his subordinates.
This Wednesday Gen Kayihura was supposed to appear before the Makindye magistrate’s court to answer to the charges but he did not turn up. Interestingly, his absence was overshadowed by the presence of rowdy demonstrators, who caused chaos and brought activities at the court to a temporary standstill.
In a related development the officers being charged with the IGP, six constables and a ‘crime preventer’, one Dan Tandeka, are appearing before the police disciplinary court to answer to charges ranging from failing to supervise their subordinates to the physical beating of Dr Besigye’s supporters.
The Issue that caused the closure of Mseto.Photo credit/tanzaniatoday.co.tz
A Kiswahili weekly tabloid, Mseto, has been suspended for three years after the government accused it of running stories with the intention of inciting hatred against President John Magufuli.
This is the second newspaper to be banned this year after Mawio, a Kiswahili weekly tabloid that was banned permanently this year. The tabloid invoked the wrath of the authorities in an article published on August 4, this year, headlined “Waziri amchafua JPM”(literal translation, “Minister tarnishes JPM image” John Pombe Magufuli) the president.
It should be noted that president Magufuli has become the country’s favorite after changing a number of policies in the government ever since he assumed power and especially policies that look at cutting costs of expenditure by the government bodies and switching of the funds into infrastructural development of the country.
In a statement, Information, Culture, Arts and Sports minister Nape Nnauye said the story was seditious. The story was about former acting managing director of State Mining Corporation (Stamico), currently the deputy minister in the ministry of Works, Transport and Communications, Mr Edwin Ngonyani, and President Magufuli.
According to the article, Mr Ngonyani reportedly received financial support from foreign businesspersons to facilitate campaigns during last year’s General Election. It was reported in the story that some of the funds were used by Dr Magufuli during his presidential campaign, the claims the Head of State categorically denied. Early this year, President Magufuli said he never received financial support from both local and foreign businesspersons for his campaigns.
Mr Ngonyani considers the story to be seditious, saying it was aimed at creating misunderstanding or conflicts between him and the President.
According to the statement, the decision to suspend the publication of the newspaper, which started effectively on Wednesday, is under Government order No. 242 which calls for newspapers and tabloids to be truthful in their reporting and dissemination of information.
EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Mr. Charles Njoroge (right), flags off the 14 cyclists who are participating in a two month tour of the EAC Partner States at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
A group of fourteen adventurous cyclists who are on bicycling tour of the East African Community region were flagged off on another five-day leg of their long journey from the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania by the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Mr. Charles Njoroge.
The cyclists who left the Ugandan capital, Kampala on July 1, 2016 on a two month tour of the five EAC Partner States are on a mission to sensitize ordinary East Africans in addition to creating awareness on the EAC integration process.
The team – whose trip is dubbed Tour D’EAC passed through left Nairobi on 8th July, 2016 where they visited the State Department of East African Integration headquarters in Nairobi. They then came to Arusha via Namanga after several stopovers including Kajiado.
The group members who embarked on the trip without sponsorship do not spend the night in hotels but in public places including police stations, schools, churches and camps. They also prepare their own food. They endeavour to spend time with communities while educating and informing them about the integration process.
East African Bicycling Expedition Team Leader John Balongo speaking when they were received by the Deputy Secretary General (Political Federation), Mr. Charles Njoroge (seated right) at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
Briefing Mr. Njoroge on their itinerary, the group’s leader, Mr. John Balongo, said they had embarked on the trip after realizing that most East Africans including critical groups such as the media, police and students at all levels were ignorant about the EAC integration process.
Mr. Balongo said they had noted that knowledge about the East African integration was limited to a select group of top government officials but not the people at the grassroots who have no information on what the integration entails.
“We have come across security personnel and students who don’t know what the EAC is all about. Many do not even know what the EAC Partner States are. We therefore need to actively involve communities in the integration so that they can own the process,” said Balongo.
EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Mr. Charles Njoroge (fourth right, front row), with the 14 cyclists before he flagged them off on the next phase of their journey to Bujumbura, Burundi. All photos/Courtesy of EAC
He said their ambition is to make the event biannual in addition to involving cyclists from the other four Partner States to make participation in the event fully regional.
Receiving the group, Mr. Njoroge described their initiative as novel, brave and inspiring saying it would go a long way in marketing the EAC integration to the people at the grassroots.
The DSG said the initiative was in line with various directives by the Summit of EAC Heads of State to the EAC Secretariat and Partner States’ governments to educate the ordinary folk on the integration.
Mr. Njoroge said the EAC would look at ways of supporting the initiative including financing making it an annual event in collaboration with other stakeholders. Mr. Njoroge later on flagged off the group whose next destination is Bujumbura, Burundi.
The team is expected in Bujumbura on Sunday, August 21, 2016 and Kigali, Rwanda on Thursday, August 25, 2016. From Kigali, the group will travel through Kabale, Mbarara, Masaka in Western Uganda before arriving at the Sudanese Embassy in Kampala on August 31, 2016.
Thursday, September 1, 2016 will be the grand finale of the tour with a Closing/Awards Ceremony in the Ugandan capital city.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir with his deputy General Taban Deng Gai.
The Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) has echoed the call by IGAD for the newly appointed First Vice President of South Sudan, Taban Deng Gai, to step down for his embattled predecessor Riek Machar.
The resolution passed at the 616th meeting of the AU’s PSC in Addis Ababa stated that Machar, who was First Vice President until July 24 this year, should be reinstated upon his return to the national capital Juba. It
The AU body expressed concern over the ongoing fighting around Juba and in other parts of the country which sparked on July 7 when rival soldiers clashed in Juba and also called for deployment of a third party protection force to take charge for the security in the capital.
NEW VP: Gen Taban Deng Gai. Photo/sudaneseonline.org
“The decision encouraging Dr. Riek Machar to re-join the peace process and the commitment by General Taban Deng Gai to step down upon the return of Dr Machar with a view to returning to the status quo are in line with the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS),” partly reads the communiqué.
The statement called upon the parties to the August 2015 peace agreement to embrace mutual trust and to implement the accord and supported the IGAD ‘call for the UN Security Council (UNSC) to extend the Mission of UNMISS with a revised mandate including the deployment of the Regional Protection Force’.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the IGAD Regional Chiefs of Defence Staff is scheduled to take place today in Addis Ababa. The meeting comes in the wake of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) announcing it will meet today to decide on the deployment of a 4,000-strong peacekeeping force to Juba, a position strongly opposed by the government of South Sudan.
NO TROOP DEPLOYMENT TO SOUTH SUDAN: Chief of Defence Forces-Gen.Katumba Wamala.
Uganda will not send peacekeeping troops to South Sudan, the Chief of Defence Forces General Edward Katumba Wamala, has revealed.
While appearing before the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee of Parliament chaired by Judith Nabakooba, Gen Wamala also revealed that Sudan, the northern neighbor, will not send troops to the country that attained Independence just five years ago.
During the 27th African Union Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, it was resolved that five countries, namely Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia contribute troops for the South Sudan mission, but according to Gen Wamala, Uganda was now only ready to provide logistical support to the other troop-contributing countries.
Also, during the IGAD Heads of State summit held in Addis Ababa last week, it was reiterated that the bloc deploy a ‘third party regional force’ to the South Sudan capital, Juba.
However, Uganda and Sudan are considered to have interests in South Sudan, with the former having sent troops to the troubled country in December 2013, when troops loyal to rivals President Salva Kiir and then Vice President Riek Machar, went to war.
Major General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the current Commander of the UPDF Special Forces Command will grace the inaugural Azam Uganda Premier League (UPL) Awards on Friday evening at Kampala Serena.
Gen. Muhoozi replaces Education and Sports Minister Janet Museveni who league manager UPL CEO Paul Kabaikaramu had confirmed to be the chief guest.
But on Thursday UPL chairman Arinaitwe Rugyendo said Gen. Muhoozi’s presence was a big statement for Ugandan football.
“The SFC Commander, Maj. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, will preside over the UPL Awards at Kampala Serena tomorrow. Let us support Ugandan football,” Mr. Rugyendo tweeted.
“We hope that the patriotic life of the first son (Maj. Gen Muhoozi) and his presence at the award ceremony will inspire our sports men and women as well as organizations take up sports seriously,” he told EagleOnline.
KCCA’s Joseph Ochaya, Erisa Ssekisambu of Vipers and URA’s Robert Ssentongo are jostling for the Player of the Year award and also drive away from Serena Hotel, Kampala in a Subaru Forester registration numbers UAZ 038F that was yesterday at Namboole presented before the media.
The top prize is a brand new Subaru Forester
The awards slated for Friday will assemble Uganda’s finest past and current sports personalities as well as who is who in the private and government sector in what is projected to be the Oscars of Sports in the country. Other prizes include plaques, smart phones and flat screen television sets.
ASKED FOR REWARD: URA Commissioner General Doris Akol
The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has suspended foreign travel for all its staff, pending review and improvement in revenue collections.
According to a source, the decision that has since stunned workers was made a few weeks ago by the management of URA led by the Commissioner General Doris Akol, in an effort to cut down on operational costs of the revenue collection body that employs 2900 people.
“It is true; we can longer travel abroad, leaving us less informed that we cannot even put up informed debate with our colleagues like those from the Ministry of Finance, who travel abroad a lot,” the source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the EagleOnline.
According to the source, the situation was made worse by the URA’s failure to meet its targeted revenue in the last fiscal year.
By press time efforts to contact URA public relations office were futile.
However, media reports indicate that URA registered a shortfall of over Shs242 billion between January and March this year, a period characterized by electioneering. The shortfall was mostly pronounced in domestic taxes’ dips.
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe has said there is need for those summoned or with cases before third arm of government to respect court.
UPSET BY MOB CONDUCT AT COURT: ULS President Francis Gimara. Photo credit/uls.or.ug
Responding to public outcry from the Uganda Law Society (ULS) and the populace on what transpired yesterday when a disorderly mob of supposedly would be supporters of the Inspector General of Police, Gen. Kale Kayihura, stormed and disrupted activities in the precincts at the Makindye magistrate’s court, Justice Katureebe said the incident should be thoroughly investigated and its promoters brought to book.
“Those who have been summoned to court should come alone to court and not with organized mobs,” said the head of the judiciary.
He added: “Court premises should be protected. We ask for protection and let courts do their work. What happened at Makindye was uncalled for and wrong. Institutions should be allowed to work.”
On its part, the ULS has called for the probe into the incident in which some of its members who were representing the plaintiffs were beaten and their vehicles vandalized.
“Uganda Law Society condemns the acts of unlawful interference with court process orchestrated by demonstrations under the watch by police officers. The court of judicature should be allowed to perform its functions without interference and threats,” Francis Gimara, the ULS president, told the media at their officers on Acacia Avenue in Kampala this morning.
Meanwhile, Legal Aid Uganda, a civil society organization (CSO), has also weighed in on the matter and asked Gen. Kayihura to resign his post as IGP. This, they argue, will pave the way for the due process of the law to take its course.
WEIGHED IN ON THE MATTER: Dr Kizza Besigye
Similar concerns have also been voiced by opposition kingpin, Kizza Besigye who says: “Kayihura can’t be the head of the police and be arrested by the same police. He should resign pending trial.”
