As Makerere University staff demand for arrears from government, the student guild contestants have had to wait for a re-election for over five months now, two developments that might affect the re-opening of the university.

The Makerere University Electoral Commission presented 13 students for the guild elections of the 2016/2017 academic year, and announced Basil Biddemu Mwota, a student majoring in Arts with Education, winner.

However, his close competitor Roy Ssembogga, former varsity EC chairperson, disputed Mwotta’s election and petitioned the Tribunal, which suspended the process.

In response, Mwotta sought reprieve in the High Court, which was futile, paving the way for the tribunal’s stand to hold sway. The tribunal comprises the Dean of Students Cyriaco Kabagambe, who is the secretary to the tribunal, a legal advisor, Imaam of the MUK mosque; the chaplains of St. Augustine and St. Francis chapels, and the Guild Speaker and his deputy.

“The elections in one of the polling centers, specifically the School of Education where the initial winner resides, had a lot of irregularities,” Ssembogga, a student offering Bachelor of Medicine in Surgery, said.

However, Mwotta denied any such allegations saying: “There cannot be vote rigging in Makerere since the votes keep around the polling centers and students safeguard their votes till when the results are announced.”

For the last five months the Students Guild is conducting its affairs through the Office of the Dean since the outgoing Guild Council was technically dissolved, but the incoming student leadership is yet to be sworn in due to the tribunal’s delay in resolving Ssembogga’s grievances.

Efforts by EagleOnline to get comment from the Dean of Students Mr Kabagambe were futile, as he hung up and did not answer repeated calls.

However, the tribunal had promised to communicate to the candidates the date for the re-election as soon as the university opens for the new semester. But this development has been affected by the strike by the non-teaching staff, who are demanding that the Ministries of Finance and Ministry of Public Service honor a pledge made to them by the President in 2015.

‘’The Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development and that of Public Service promised to pay the non-teaching staff in the next financial budget since they were not included in the 2014/2015 financial budget, however, the Permanent Secretary who had given this ultimatum has again tried to resort to the same trend of pushing our money to the next year which we are not allowing,’’ Pascal Kyalimpa, the Chief Custodian of Nsibirwa Hall said.

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Cabinet sitting at Parliament Buildings has today approved a US$71 million World Bank loan to finance the grid expansion and reinforcement project to strengthen the rural electrification strategy (RESP) for 2013-2022, a roadmap to increase power access to 26 percent by 2022.

The loan will finance a series of investments in power distribution and off-grid solutions in the northern districts of Gulu, Lira, Nebbi, Arua, Kole, Oyam and Nwoya.

Also approved by Cabinet was consideration and approval of a request from the Minister of Energy to allow her issue three petroleum production licenses to Total E&P Uganda Bv, over discoveries in exploration area one of the Albertine graben, that is, Ngiri, Jobi-Rii and Gunya to be operated by total E&P Uganda BV.

The ministers agreed that the production licenses to be issued have a 25-year duration and can be renewed for an additional five years as provided for in the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). The licenses also provide that where there are oil fields which extend across boundaries of license areas, the oil fields be developed as one unit.

‘The final investment decision is planned to be taken in 18 months after issuance of the production licenses and first oil is expected in the financial year 2019/2020’, they said.

According to the cabinet minutes, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda will regulate the licensed companies while the National oil company will participate in all licenses to take care of government’s commercial interests.

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The Cabinet has today deferred a US$50 million World Bank request from the Ministry of Finance, to support refugee hosting areas and communities.
‘While cabinet members appreciated the problem refugee hosting communities face, they noted the need for;  the loan to be comprehensive and cover all  refugee hosting areas of the country and a policy on how government can sustainably support refugee hosting communities with or without a loan,’ a release states in part.

The loan will be brought back to cabinet after wider consultations have been carried out on the areas cabinet raised.
Also discussed at today’s Cabinet meeting was the plight of Ugandan exporters to South Sudan market that suffered non-payment on account of the instability there.

As a result, the ministers directed the ministries of finance and foreign Affairs to liaise with the government of South Sudan on modalities for the repatriation of proceeds of Ugandan companies held in commercial banks and also pursue government of South Sudan to expeditiously form a joint cooperation commission to arbitrate the pending claims of Ugandans against South Sudan individuals.

‘A cabinet subcommittee comprising of Attorney General, ministers of Trade and finance has been tasked to oversee the whole process of negotiations of the modalities with the government of South Sudan,’ the release adds.

Meanwhile, that Cabinet today resolved that any future borrowing should never finance components of administration and capacity as these are always catered for in ministries’ domestic budgets.

The ministers also directed that loan beneficiary entities and Ministry of Finance -the contracting entity, should never procure or sign off any loan before all the preparatory activities are in place to avoid delayed implementation that results into financial penalties on un-utilized loans.

‘This is in furtherance of the resolutions of the recently concluded Kyakwanzi retreat that termed this tenure of government ‘Kisanja Hakuna Mchezo’, they noted.

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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.

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