President Museveni greets MP Hajati Rehema Watongola, during election campaigns recently. Looking on is EALA MP Lydia Wanyoto (C). PHOTO BY SAM CALEB OPIO /Monitor
Fresh elections are set to be carried out in Kamuli Municipality after their recently sworn in Member of Parliament Hajjati Rehema Watongola was kicked out by Court over academic qualifications.
Ms Watongola becomes the 8th ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM) MP to be thrown out.
Following a petition by long-term opposition firebrand Proscovia Salaamu Musumba, Jinja High Court on Tuesday morning invalidated the voting of Hajjati Watongola on grounds that she lacked and or forged the academic requirements for one to contest as a Member of Parliament.
The petition, which was filed on March 29, show the Electoral Commission, Busoga University and the National Council for Higher Education as the other respondents in the case.
In the petition, Ms Musumba argues that the documents from Busoga University, which Ms Watongola used to get nominated, were obtained fraudulently.
For her nomination, Ms Watongola presented a Uganda Certificate of Education from Town Hall in Jinja, diploma and degree certificates in Public Administration and Management from the university.
Judge Godfrey Namundi ruled that the certificate upon which Hajjati Watongola had presented to be admitted to Busoga University to advance in her studies was investigated and found to be false and or a forgery.
Information streaming from Jinja however indicated that Hajjati Watongola has already instructed her lawyers on preparing and filing an appeal, saying all her papers were duly certified by the academic bodies and are legitimate.
Michael Kabaziguruka (R), MP for the Nakawa Division has been charged over his alleged links to a rebel group
Forum for Democratic Change’s Nakawa MP Michael Kabaziguruka, in and out of police custody, has been charged in an army court with offenses relating to security and treachery.
He was on Tuesday morning produced before new Makindye based General Court Martial Chairman Lt Gen Andrew Gutti on charges of treason.
At the beginning of June Mr Kabaziguruka was arrested from his home and taken to Special Investigations Unit at Kireka for interrogation over alleged subversion, but was released on police bond. However, at the time he said he was still under security surveillance as police maintained presence at his home.
Kabaziguruka has been accused with ‘others at large’ of plotting to assassinate the President. As a result, the UPC mobiliser for northern Uganda, Dan Oola Odiya, is in custody on charges of treason and attempts to subvert the government of Uganda. Also, an Air force Garrison Commander, Colonel Dan Opito Odwee, is in custody. Col Odwee, like 30 other soldiers, are linked to alleged subversive activities.
“Kabaziguruka is helping police with investigations in the same matter and I am sure all the others are helping with investigations. That’s the status,” the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura said recently.
Kabaziguruka’s close friend and political confidant Dr Besigye, who is indicted for also treason, is currently on remand at Luzira prison.
Bodies of four musicians who are among nine who drowned in Lake Victoria at the weekend have been retrieved.
Three of the bodies were retrieved earlier Monday while the fourth was retrieved later in the evening during a search coordinated by Kenya Maritime Authority officials.
Dozens of people – including affected family members – have been camping on the shores of Lake Victoria in Siaya County where the bodies are thought to be and where the search is concentrated.
As the search for the remaining five bodies continued, Sports, Culture and Arts Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario assured the affected family members that the government will fully support them.
Eight of the band members survived when the boat capsized on Saturday as they headed to an island for a performance.
A Catholic Church leader has condemned the South Sudanese government for its role in violence in the country’s second largest city Wau over the weekend, delivering an impassioned speech to worshippers on Sunday in which he called government leaders ‘devils’ and ‘criminals’ and belittled the new governor of Wau State as a ‘madman’.
Apostolic Administrator Rocco Taban spoke after Wau descended into violence late last week with a series of incidents that eventually led to serious fighting on Saturday morning between armed opposition and government soldiers. Thousands of people have been displaced and dozens killed amid reports of ethnic targeting of civilians.
Wau is a diverse city inhabited by people of many tribes including Balanda, Dinka, Jur, Fertit and others. Ethnic tensions have risen as the political and security situation worsened dramatically last week.
In a speech at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Juba, the priest directed his fury at the government for its alleged role in the violence and for removing the recently appointed governor, who last week sought to calm the situation but was removed by presidential decree after a dispute with an army commander.
“More than 100,000 people are in the bush being displaced by their own government. This is the country we have chosen. This is the country we have voted for its independence so that our country displaces us. Our own country. We are ruled really by monkeys. We are ruled by monkeys. We have to be very clear: We are ruled by monkeys,” said Rocco.
“And the governor who was protecting people in Wau, who was loved by the people in Wau, General Elias Waya [was] removed by the presidential decree and being replaced by [a] madman,” he added. He was referring to the new governor Andrea Mayar, who was impeached as speaker of the legislative assembly in Wau last year but appointed governor in a late-night decree on Friday just hours before serious fighting erupted on the outskirts of Wau.
Rocco Taban leads one of the Catholic dioceses in South Sudan. He is apostolic administator of Malakal but he hails from Wau. Under the laws of the Catholic Church, apostolic administrators of dioceses have essentially the same authority as that of a bishop, meaning that Rocco Taban is a senior leader in the church administration.
He further criticized the president for saying nothing about the situation in Wau even as thousands were chased from their homes and many were killed. “Do we love our country? Do we love this nation? And so far the President of the Republic did not say even a word. In Australia three people were killed three days ago. The Prime Minister came out three times a day to make a statement. Because of three Australians.”
“They are eating and drinking and sleeping. Devils! These are devils! We are ruled by devils. And we are very sorry for them,” he said.
The priest concluded, “We don’t want to call fire on them, because we will go against Christ. But they have to understand that they are devils. And they are devils. And they are ruling us with evil powers. They are criminals. Praised be Jesus Christ.”
Sources said that dozens of bodies have been found since this weekend in the open in the city of Wau, which is controlled by the government. One source said that the civilian casualties were the result of cross-fire, while others said they were deliberately targeted on an ethnic basis.
This is not the first time for Rocco Taban to speak out against violence in South Sudan. In a homily in late 2014, during the first year of the civil war, he appeared to suggest to South Sudanese Christians that they should disobey the two war leaders Riek Machar and Salva Kiir, telling them not to act as ‘cattle’, and he slammed politicians for provoking violence and inciting ‘uneducated’ security personnel.
“Who here is a cow of Salva? Or a cow of Riek? I think that we as Christians in the Catholic Church we are people who have dignity because we are creatures made in the image of God and we do not accept imperialism and provocation and insult and insecurity and inequality in the society,” said the priest in November 2014.
FDC’s frustrations could also be aligned to the fact that their kingpin Dr Besigye, who was the runner up in the February 18 presidential elections, is on remand at Luzira prison on separate charges of treason
Uganda must have a UK-style referendum on its membership of the regional integration bloc EAC, the political party which gave President Yoweri Museveni a bloody nose in this year’s general elections insists.
The East African Community, comprising six countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, agreed to an expanded free trade area including the member states of all.
And yet the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) says ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) are plotting to adjust the rules of procedure to prolong the term limits.
Speaking at their weekly press briefing, FDC party leaders shared their envy of United Kingdom which last week voted out of the European Union to defend the country’s interests, and confirmed they would be pushing for a similar move in Uganda.
“As a party we are concerned that the character of dismantling the Constitution has become the character of the NRM. The matter we should be looking at is now leaving the EAC; we need to discuss whether Ugandans are actually benefiting from EAC because no one knows how many Ugandans identify with anything about the Community and have ever appreciated its relevance.” FDC’s Deputy Secretary General for Harold Kaija said on Monday.
EALA assembly session in progress
FDC maintains that Uganda initially rushed into the East African federation in the early 1960s and failed.
“A referendum is the only way Ugandans can truly express if they want to stay in the EAC, if they want to stay in the unfair trade bloc dominated by Kenyans.”
“Ugandans are not looked at as people who have a stake in deciding their destiny; which shouldn’t be the case. For this we are therefore calling for a referendum. They should be given a voice. They must be asked what they want.If they want to these EALA members to cling longer onto their seats.”
All the current six NRM EALA members are serving their second and last term: Dorah Byamukama, Nusura Tiperu, Dan Kidega, Mike Sebalu, Margaret Nantongo Zziwa and Bernard Mulengani. This means all six NRM slots are up for grabs. And already, several hopefuls have come out to state their intentions.
Old troubles
NRM in 2012 forced Parliament to charge the criteria for selection of EALA representatives, they resolved that members must be based on numerical strength thus leaving the five opposition parties with only three seats.
President Museveni addressing Parliament
The regulations provided that the election of members to EALA shall take into consideration the various political parties and organizations represented in Parliament, shade of opinion, gender and other special interest groups.
Elections of Uganda’s representatives had stalled following an order by the East African Court of Justice to the Uganda Parliament to amend its rules to conform to article 50 of the treaty establishing the East African Community.
Members of the Opposition distanced themselves from the decisions made by the house and stormed out of the chamber protesting the failure to adopt proposals made by then Leader of the Opposition Mafabi.
The LoP had indicated they are to petition the East African Court of Justice to reign in Parliament of Uganda to ensure its rules conform to the EAC treaty.
The pace of implementation varying from country to country is slow amongst all; at least not fast enough, according to Kaija. He cites the removal of non-tariff barriers which has taken long to be fully implemented due to unawareness.
Besigye battle
FDC’s frustrations could also be aligned to the fact that their kingpin Dr Besigye, who was the runner up in the February 18 presidential elections, is on remand at Luzira prison on separate charges of treason.
Prosecution claims Dr Besigye and others at large between February 20 and May 11 this year in diverse places in Uganda formed an intention to compel by force or constrain the government of Uganda as by law established to change its measures or counsels as to the lawfully established methods of acceding to the office of president.
Frustrations
Uganda’s opposition insists they don’t know how many Ugandans expected that the EA community would lead to the abolition of national borders, creation of one nation and people would settle anywhere, abandonment of Uganda’s seat at the United Nations and African Union etc; surrender of foreign affairs responsibility; abandonment of all languages in favor of one East African common language.
They say Ugandans were under the impression that they were by and large following the European Union model of building from the bottom, sector by sector and ending up with a political union or federation. European countries would form the United States of Europe similar to the United States of America with state and federal structures. Ugandans thought East Africa would follow the same model.
More importantly, in Uganda, there has been a tendency to view EAC integration in isolation, with no link whatsoever to the country’s development agenda. The sector plans and budgets of most ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have not mainstreamed the EAC agenda. Their strategic plans and budgets framework papers do not refer to EAC integration and do not reflect EAC matters, even where decisions have been reached at the EAC council levels.
Gen. Guti being sworn in while as other Court Martial members look on.
Lieutenant General Andrew Guti, has today sworn in as chairman of the Makindye based Court Martial.
Lt. Gen. Guti was appointed last month as Court Martial boss after Maj. Gen. Levy Karuhanga passed on.
Before his appointment, Gen. Guti served as the Uganda’s contingent commander to Somalia, before being moved as head of Senior Command and Staff College at Kimaka where he has been until the latest appointment.
A land dispute case that was resolved two years ago by the High Court Land Division has found its way back in the judiciary, this time filed at the Nakawa High Court, prompting investigations.
According to sources, a city businessman is trying to circumvent the judicial system by filing an application in a matter that was resolved by the High Court in 2014.
The matter, Misc. Application 218 of 2016, which is being pursued by Gollapalli Naga Mohana Rao against Sulamain Abdu Muhabuka and four others, was put to rest by Her Worship Susan Kanyange, the Deputy Registrar of the Nakawa High Court, who ruled that the matter is Res Judicata.
Mr. Gollapalli Naga Mohana Rao is the boss of JCB Company that imports heavy machinery on 7th street industry opposite city tyres.
He has refused to pay Mr Sulamain Abdu Muhabuka as directed by court in 2014.
In her 7-page ruling Ms Kanyange said the application for an interim injunction filed by Mr Mohana Rao in respect to land comprised on LRV 3463 Folio 4 Kyadondo, Block 236, Plot 338, and LRV 3462 Folio 5 Kyadondo Block 236, Plot 1047 in Bweyogere, Wakiso District, is res judicata, meaning it had already been heard and determined by a competent court.
In the application Mr Mohana Rao had sought the intervention of court, praying that the respondents, Mr Muhabuka, Uganda Investment Oil and Transporter Company Limited, Eastern and Southern African trade Development Bank, Mr Paul Wasswa and the Commissioner for Land Registration, be restrained from carrying out further developments on the suit land.
However, Ms Kanyange averred that Lady Justice Elizabeth Kabanda had earlier pronounced herself on the matter, M/A No. 479 of 2012 arising from HCCS No. 233 of 2012, in 2014.
‘When the matter came up for hearing counsel for the 1st respondent raised a preliminary objection that the application was Res Judicata. He submitted that on May 20, 2014 the High Court made a decision regarding the application No.479 of 2012 for temporary injunction seeking to restrain the Respondent from interfering with the Applicants quiet possession of the suit property. That the trial Judge Justice Kabanda in her ruling found the 1st Respondent to be the registered proprietor of the land in possession therefor,’ Ms Kanyange ruled.
‘This court thus can’t try the same issue between the parties and I do not agree with counsel for applicant that construction is a new issue, rather they are trying to bring up the issue in a new way,’ Ms Kanyange ruled.
She added: ‘I find that the parties are the same in regard to the applicant and the 1st Respondent. Though others are mentioned the objection was in regard to the 1st Respondent only’.
In conclusion, Ms Kanyange ruled: ‘Thereby the application of the 1st Respondent is dismissed as its res judicata. Costs in the cause. I so rule,’ she ruled.
By press time efforts to contact judiciary spokesman Solomon Muyita over the matter were futile but on March 15, 2016 Mr Mohana Rao wrote to the Commandant Land Protection, seeking intervention.
‘The above matter was fully investigated by your office as per attached documents. Surprisingly, the same suspects have gone ahead to disrupt our developments on the land.
This is to call upon your good offices to go ahead and have them produced in courts of law and also avail us with protection as we develop the land,’ Mr Mohana Rao wrote in a communication also copied to the Regional Police Commander (RPC) Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) East, the District Police Commander (DPC) Kiira Division and the Officer in Charge (OC) of Bweyogerere.
When the matter was concluded, Mr. Mohana’s lawyer, Mr Mulema Mukasa of KSMO advocates requested that the file be moved to the head of land division of the High Court. He said he was dissatisfied with the way his application was handled and informed Court that he was going to appeal. It should be noted that the dispute which had been initially filed in the land Division was moved to the Civil Division upon request by Mr Mohana’s lawyers.
Mr Muhabuka says he believes all these are desperate tactics by Mohana and his lawyers to try and manipulate the Court system to steal his land.
This News Website couldn’t get a comment from Gollapalli as he remained elusive with his cellphone off. However, efforts to trace him from his industrial office remained a nightmare as his office security detail couldn’t allow this reporter access office.
Principal Judge Yorokamu Bamwine, as head of lower courts is likely to cause an inquiry into this case.
This is not the first time Mohana is being accused of wayward dealings in land and a complaint was filed at police against him. An example is the registered property in Bugolobi which was taken on February 23, 2013 at 8.44 am and recorded as 480-765 which was transferred three times in different names before it is finally transferred into Mr. Gollapalli Naga Mohanar Rao of address P.O. Box 5213 Kampala as an investor. The said Bugolobi property originally belonged to a one Jean Rwomuiju Kuhirwa on plot 78 Luthuli Avenue. This case is among the many land cases Mr Mohana is allegedly involved in.
SC Villa president Ben Misagga (left) shakes hands with new coach Sserwadda (right) on Sunday. (Monitor Photos)
Deo Serwadda’s recent coronation as SC Villa’s new head coach has created a buzz on the blue half of downtown Kampala. An appointment to grab the vernacular media headlines, the aggressive announcement of Old Boy ‘Kajambia’ shows Villa mean business.
Embattled club president Ben Misagga says he is determined to make a statement and the list of candidates he courted to succeed Ibrahim Kirya, which included Lweza’s talented Joseph Mutyaba, showed how determined the dubious billionaire was to bring in an exciting new era at Villa Park.
Though we are yet to see pictures of Serwadda conducting training at their dusty Uganda Railways yard base, work has already started behind the scenes to ensure this campaign lives up to expectations.
Though Misagga as a developed a Roman Abramovich-like coach sacking habit, Sserwadda has the job for the next two years with a backroom staff consisting of Shafic Bisaso as his assistant and Christopher Lobbo as goalkeeping coach.
Here EagleOnline highlights three issues that the former Villa leftback will need to address.
SPEND WISELY
Misagga has unfailingly backed his coaches and in the past two years Villa have smashed their transfer many times. Even in June 2015, Kirya was given over UShs 22 million to sign Umar Kasumba, who spent time doing double sessions at Villa Park to get a head start after an underwhelming start and took over 17 games to end his goal drought.
Umar Kasumba in action against URA FC in the league. He scored his first goal in SC Villa colours against JKU. He did score in March 2016 against a poor JKU in the CAF Confederations Cup as the Jogoos walloped their opponents 4-0 at Namboole.
But what Villa have not been able to do, though, is spend big with great frequency. Finance was one of the reasons they passed on the chance to fully retain Erisa Sekisambu 12 months ago who had just inspired them into dreaming about a league and cup double that season but, with Misagga committed to bankrolling significant investment that will no longer happen.
Serwadda will have access to a modesty transfer kitty but that doesn’t mean he should spend for the sake of it. Villa need reinforcements in several areas, such as a new goalkeeper, in defence and up front, and Serwadda needs to be shrewd.
MAKE NAKIVUBO ROCK AGAIN
When Godfrey Lwesibawa scored the only goal against Sudan’s Khartoum Al Watani in the CAF Confederations Cup preliminary round, the noise inside Nakivubo Stadium was remarkable, an ear-splitting, senses fuddling din. When the old stadium is like that, there aren’t many better places to see football in the country.
But when it is quiet? It is inhospitable and the tension is palpable. Towards the end under Ibrahim Kirya, as results failed to improve, it became intolerable.
Jogoo fans had become bored by the methodical way Kirya wanted his side to play and Serwadda needs to appreciate that while the home crowd want to see attractive football, they want it to have a tempo that unsettles the opposition and creates an energy in the Kirussia stands.
Jogoo fans can nolonger lay claim to being the loudest after a huge crowd, rarely seen at most local games, turned up to cheer Onduparaka in the Uganda Cup final.
Villa last season found themselves playing catch-up in the league because of their involvement in the Caf competition. Surprisingly, they went 360 minutes in continental football without conceding a single goal but also scored seven in four games. Most of the league games they were supposed to play earlier were postponed, which had repercussions, as seen in the fatigue they had to endure.
Serwadda is not walking into a club that is on its knees and requires major surgery just to stabilise. He is taking over one of the best institutions in the land with history and a solid fan base that just needs t be awakened with good results. Providing he makes the right moves, he has the chance to make them a force once more.
TRANSFORM THE ATMOSPHERE
A change of coach always provides a lift but Serwadda will be aware of how much work needs to be done to get the bounce back at Villa Park. It is not wrong to say that, during the first three months of the campaign just gone, the mood around the club was appalling.
Even the most level-headed players had lost faith in Antonia Flores’ project and it made what has traditionally been a lively, vibrant place of work become a centre of disenchantment. For that reason alone, Villa’s hierarchy had to take action, promote Kirya and then fire him after stabling the boat.
Former SC Villa Nigerian striker Victor Emenayo controlling the ball with his chest in the 1-1 draw with SCVU that hurt the club’s title bid in May 2015
One of Villa’s strengths over the last two decades has been the unity within. Paul Hasule assembled a squad that worked relentlessly for one another and never got carried away and every incoming chairman has always endeavoured to ensure that everyone adheres to tradition. Before then, an all-conquering Villa side of the 1990s that played in two Caf event finals (1991 Africa Club championship and Caf Cup) fell to Tunisia’s Club Africain (3-7) and (1992 Caf Cup) Shooting Stars (0-3) of Nigeria.
Serwadda cannot be overlooked because he comes with a wealth of experience having coached many of the top sides in the country. He famously led URA to their first league title in 2006 and had a brief spell at Villa in the late 2000s.
He is a Caf License B holder and has been handling fourth division side Police Mobile (Police’s junior team) and Kyambogo University.
Axed junior ICT Minister Nyombi Thembo has been coy about why he applied to head the Rural Communication Development Fund at the Uganda Communications Commission … but on Monday he involuntarily revealed to every Ugandan’s worst fee .. he had a family to feed.
That said, Nyombi whose wife Prisca Mashengyero died in 2012 in an accident at Bwebajja on Entebbe Road, also said that he had become a street boy after the people of Kassanda and President Museveni had put on the street.
“I was dropped by my constituency and the President himself yet I still have a family to feed and I can’t do that when I don’t have a job,” Nyombi told CBS FM. Now I am a private person and I am free to apply where I see a job.”
When asked if being an ex-boss to the UCC hierarchy would not cause conflict of interest in his quest to get the job, Thembo replied, “Ugandans are not used to educated ministers and I tell you, UCC is very independent, using a highly-qualified consultancy to carry out the recruitment and I cannot not Influence its decisions.”
Our in-house political expert though insists Nyombi is a far cry from the typical Ugandan politician who views politics as a do-or-die affair because of the lucrative ministerial posts and Parliamentary seats involved. Actually Ugandans were thrilled when graciously conceded defeat to former Police spokesman Simeo Nsubuga in the NRM primaries for Kassanda South in Mubende District. To add to that, he wrote a nice article in the media stating that there is life after politics.
It unclear whether Nyombi will get the job using his vast qualifications including a diploma in project planning and management from Bradford University (UK) or his credentials of being a good NRM cadre.
We’ve reached out to the UCC camp … so far no word back.
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron during a bilateral meeting.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is travelling to Brussels and London today for talks on the future of the European Union and the fallout arising from the June 23 Brexit vote.
A senior US official said that at the EU leaders meeting in Brussels Mr Kerry would stress the importance of other EU members not following Britain to further weaken the bloc.
Through a referendum held on June 23, citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU and Mr Kerry’s travel to the EU headquarters comes as the European Parliament’s chief urged UK Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU as early as Tuesday.
EC Parliament Chief Martin Schulz
Martin Schulz said that a period of uncertainty over Brexit would “lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs”.
“Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British conservatives hurts everyone,” he said.
“That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time.”
The four biggest groups in the European Parliament are also reported to have drawn up a draft resolution calling for the Prime Minister to begin the process of the UK leaving the EU.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond
But the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “There is no imperative on us to serve Article 50 at any particular time. We’re under pressure from our EU partners to do it quickly, but the timing is entirely up to us.”
One of the leading Brexit campaigners, Conservative MP Liam Fox, insisted talks should begin with the aim of the UK leaving the union by the beginning of January 2019.
“What we want to be doing is seeing a process that means we can leave the European Union on 1 January 2019. That seems to me like a reasonable timetable,” Mr Fox said.
The Prime Minister said in the wake of the referendum result that he would step down by October and leave negotiations on Brexit to his successor.
To begin the withdrawal process, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon treaty, which has never been used before.
The EU’s summit on Tuesday and Wednesday will discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.
Mr Schulz’s demands came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there is no need to be ‘nasty’during talks to discuss Britain’s exit.
She told a news conference it “shouldn’t take forever” for Britain to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the European Union but made it clear that the matter is in London’s hands.
