Isa Luyima (L) talks to fellow suspects in court. Judge Owiny-Dollo is convinced he was the mastermind in charge of the attacks
Justice Alfonse Owinyi Dollo of the Constitutional Court, sitting on Thursday has found seven people who have been on trial guilty of terrorism and 76 counts of murder and attempted murder in the twin 2010 World Cup bombings.
Twelve of the suspects were charged with terrorism, belonging to a terrorist group and 76 counts of murder (including that of the two bombers) and attempted murder.
Kenyan nationals Hussein Hassan Agade and Idris ‘Christopher’ Magondu were convicted after being found to have ‘fully participated’ in carrying out the bombings. They become second and third suspects to be convicted respectively.
Five Ugandans, six Kenyans and two Tanzanians have been charged with terrorism and murder. All of them have pleaded not guilty.
However, it should be noted that prosecution failed to prove that the suspects belonged to Al Shabaab terrorist organization but discovered that the attack was ‘put together’ from Somalia, bombs came through Kenya.
Court found first suspect Isa Ahmed Luyima guilty and the mastermind and central character.
The Judge based on Luyima’s confession statement shortly after the bombings, this was coupled with other corroborating evidence adduced in court by the two key prosecution witnesses. He became the first suspect to be convicted. Call Data Records show a Kenyan number belonging to Luyima made calls to Somalian numbers at 1710hrs on July 10, 2010.
The explosions, which also injured about 70 people, ripped through a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant as football fans watched the last few minutes of the 2010 World Cup final.
The Somali militant Islamist group al-Shabab said it was behind the attack that also injured about 70 people.
The court has been adjourned until tomorrow when the judge will sentence them.
At long last the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has cast off its hard outer shell and submitted names of its team in Parliament; FDC President Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu has nominated Kasese Woman Member of Parliament (MP) Winnie Kiiza as the Leader of Opposition, with youthful Kira Municipality legislator Ibrahim Semujju Nganda becoming Chief Whip, while veteran politician, Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Atim Ogwal, was named a Parliamentary Commissioner.
The naming of the opposition team comes after an acrimonious debate that threatened to rip the FDC down the middle, with one group led by unrelenting party activist Ingrid Turinawe arguing that the FDC won the 2016 elections and that the party had no business naming an ‘opposition side’ to Parliament.
That however, did not deter party president Muntu from pushing on with his idea of taking the ‘change of leadership’ battle to Parliament, with his first step being the nomination of the opposition representatives in the House.
TAKES BATTLE TO PARLIAMENT: FDC President Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu
And in so doing, Gen Muntu has called upon the zeal and determination of Ms Kiiza to lead that charge in Parliament, a decision that will put to test the General’s ‘war instincts’ and discretion in light of the current political challenges facing the opposition in the country today. Politically, the opposition in Uganda is ‘besieged’ and has to look for solutions to exit this quagmire by engaging the ruling party MPs in constructive debate on a number of matters of national interest, without being overwhelmed by the cancer of the ‘tyranny of numbers’.
That notwithstanding however, the opposition representatives in the 10th Parliament have their work cut out for them, given that the 2016 election was the most challenging poll for the opposition in Uganda since the return to multi-partyism about two decades ago.
For starters, the new opposition team in Parliament now under the stewardship of LoP Kiiza is going to start its work when the opposition flag bearer in the 2016 presidential elections, Dr Kizza Besigye, is incarcerated in Luzira Prison on treason charges.
Their new tenure also comes amidst repeated calls by the opposition and some civil society groups, for changes to some laws especially those related to elections. However, this might prove problematic if the ruling party members come up with a contentious proposal to amend the Constitution to remove the age limit cap of 75 years.
Needless to mention however, the charge to lead, maintain and defend the opposition position in Parliament now lies squarely on the shoulders of the lady from Kasese, who has had a thriving political career that even diminished, in its vicious wave, the domineering political figure of the Kasese region, outgoing defence minister and Bukonzo West MP Dr Crispus Kiyonga.
Defence Minister and Former Bukhonzo West MP Dr Crispus Kiyonga
Indeed, Ms Kiiza is not mellow: the opposition Chief Whip in the 9th Parliament, in 2011 she and then LoP Philip Wafula Oguttu mobilised their colleagues to walk out of the State of the Nation address, with claims that President Yoweri Museveni and his government were not doing enough to fight corruption.
‘That one showed you the consensus we have as opposition. The issue over which we walked out was corruption. The opposition, through the Public Accounts Committee came up with a report pinpointing various leaders, who are now key leadership positions in the NRM government, as corrupt. When we put it to the head of state, he said those cadres are clean and we can’t do anything about them. So, the President says he is ready to fight corruption, and yet he is glorifying the corrupt. We said we’re not going to accept to be lied to in broad daylight and just keep quiet,’ Ms Kiiza told local media then.
Also, in that position Ms Kiiza ‘whipped’ her husband Yokasi Bihande Bwambale, then MP for Bukonzo East constituency, with arguments that there was nothing wrong in husband and wife being in Parliament.
But her steady demeanour could not deter her husband from dipping his fingers in the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
HUSBAND ‘WHIPPED’ by new former Opposition Chief Whip and new Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Winnie Kiiza
But for now, as the public waits the naming of more opposition MPs from the Democratic Party (DP) and the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), Hon Winnie Kiiza should start sharpening her skills acquired over her 20-year political career, in an effort to strengthen the future of parliamentary democracy in Uganda.
A man who was convinced that he would become rich by sacrificing a close relative has been apprehended by Uganda Police and ended up disappointed.
Herbert Were, a 21-year-old student of Lumino high school in Busia district, was arrested on Wednesday in Kajjansi on suspicion of beheading his brother after promising him that he would be recruited by the Illuminati. In a fit of confusion he was looking for the person who had promised to have him recruited in order to get wealth according to NTV.
Just days earlier, Were had taken his six-year old brother, Joel Ogema from his parents’ home in Busia and took him to Bugiri where he cut off his head. He has been charged with murder under file vide DEF03/20/2016 of Kabalagala police station. Were admitted the offence.
One of the messages on Were’s phone said the meeting was to be held at a club in Kansanga.
“We got information that there was somebody who was carrying a fresh human head in a bag. We immediately responded and got the person with a human head and arrested him,” Patrick Onyango the PRO of Kampala Metropolitan Police said.
“On interrogation he confessed to us (Police) that there was a businessman in Kampala whom they got connected with through social messaging app Whatsapp and his contact called Jefu that is yet to be identified had convinced Mr. Were that they will help him join the Illuminati group and would become rich. Among the requirements was that he was supposed to produce a human head of a close relative. This person killed his young brother and traveled to the city to meet his contact and it is then when we arrested him,” Mr. Onyango explained.
The suspect will first be taken for mental checkup before being produced in court and Police has already mounted a hunt for his contact Jefu to be charged together with the suspect according Benon Ayebare the Kampala Metropolitan South CIID commander
One of the messages on Were’s phone said the meeting was to be held at a club in Kansanga.
Rumour has it, music promoter Jeff Kiwa who owns the nightclub De Javu mentioned in Were’s text messages is also under investigations has obviously denied being part of the child sacrifice.
Mr. Kiwa was last year accused by family members of deceased musician Emmanuel Mayanja commonly known as AK 47 and managed by the promoter’s Team No Sleep who fell and died mysteriously at the same nightclub. His death was linked to human sacrifice.
Herbert Were’s confession at Kabalagala Police Station
“I met a man calling himself Jeffu Kiwa on facebook. We continued sharing and one day I asked him how I can also become rich because our family is very poor. He told me that he can help me join illuminati cult where I could get riches and I accepted because I wanted to save our family from stinking poverty
As we continued chatting on phone and on Facebook, Jeffu one day told me to send him Shs. 40000/- such that he can help me register with Illuminati, he also asked me Shs.30,000/- as request fee such that I can request Illuminati everything I want from them and I sent him the money through his mobile money,”
I informed him that I badly needed wealth and I wanted to buy expensive cars like my favorite Audi.
They sent me a message that to get rich I should to them a head of a goat. I did not understand what they meant but they also explained to me that when they mean goat’s head they mean a head of a child who is my family member or closely related relative. They also assured me that I would soon understand their language because sometimes I would not understand what they told me”
I thought about it for two weeks until I decided to take my young brother such that my family would get money,”
I felt bad when I saw my brother pleading with me not to kill him but I had to fulfill my mission. I cut off the head and wrapped it in the polythene bag and put in my bag while the other parts I dumped it into the trench.
I slept in the forest and left early Tuesday morning for Kampala to meet Jeff who had promised me riches.”
Brothers clean their fishing boat by Lake Albert. Kanara, Ntoroko district. Photo credit/international alert.org
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will contribute to expenses to be met in the burial process of the four Uganda Police Force officers killed at the border point in Ntoroko district by Congolese troops.
Appearing on the Kfm Hotseat talkshow yesterday, the Senior Presidential Assistant on Political Affairs Moses Byaruhanga said the Congolese government regretted the killing of the officers and that it would assist in footing some costs related to their burial.
The dead police officers identified as Sergeant Faruk Waiswa, Corporal Biral Opara, and Police Constables Moses Ocen and Bernard Isingoma, were responding to an illegal fishing incident on Lake Albert.
Further, Mr Byaruhanga said security chiefs from the two neighbouring countries would meet under the auspices of the Ngurdoto mechanism, to resolve any outstanding issues between Uganda and the DRC.
By press time it was not possible to get a comment from the Uganda police spokesperson Fred Enanga about the compensation due to the slain officers.
Relations between Uganda and the DRC have intermittently been thorny, and in June last year Congolese officials moved the Vurra customs point barrier about 300 metres into Uganda.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed profound concern over reports of increasing political tensions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) linked to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the country’s electoral process.
In a statement from his spokesperson, the Secretary-General called for the ‘strict respect of the fundamental freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution’, urging all parties in the central African nation to exercise restraint and express their views peacefully, including in the context of demonstrations scheduled to take place today.
The Secretary-General called on all Congolese political stakeholders to ‘place the interests of their country above their own by engaging constructively in a meaningful political dialogue aimed at peacefully resolving their differences’, according to the statement.
The UN chief also urged the political stakeholders to extend their full cooperation to the African Union (AU) Facilitator for the National Dialogue in the DRC, Mr Edem Kodjo, and reiterated the full support of the UN for his efforts.
RETURN LAND TO OWNERS: SA Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa
President Jacob Zuma will be back in the spotlight when Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and other ministers field questions from MPs in Parliament.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs are expected back in the House after the expiry of their five-day suspension, following their ejection prior to the President’s question and answer session earlier this month.
The DA will ask Police Minister Nathi Nhleko for an update on a docket opened at the Nkandla police station pertaining to eight charges of corruption against Zuma ‘for his complicity in the alleged misappropriation of public funds to upgrade his personal residence’.
Nhleko will also be asked why he did not obtain legal advice during the compilation of his report into the security upgrades at Nkandla.
Ramaphosa will be quizzed‚ among other things‚ about how SA’s message was received at the recent World Economic Forum Africa meeting that was recently held in Kigali‚ Rwanda.
He will also be asked what steps the government has taken to ensure that state resources‚ in the form of food parcels‚ will not be abused again after the public protector found this had been done by the Social Security Agency in the run-up to the national elections in 2009.
Christof Heyns, Chair of the UN Independent Investigation.
The United Nations Independent Investigation in Burundi, which was set up to investigate human rights violations in the country since April 2015, has completed the deployment of a team of human rights monitors on the ground.
The UN Human Rights Council established the Independent Investigation team in December 2015 to investigate violations and abuses of human rights in Burundi, make recommendations on the improvement of the human rights situation, and engage in a dialogue with the authorities and other relevant actors in the ongoing crisis.
“Following our first visit to Burundi in early March, the deployment of human rights monitors is a new and important step forward in our investigations, and will help us collect meaningful information on human rights violations and abuses which have been committed in Burundi since April 2015,” said Christof Heyns, Chair of the Independent Investigation.
In addition to collecting information in Burundi, the team will also visit neighbouring countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The visits to neighbouring countries will allow the human rights investigators to meet with Burundian refugees and collect testimonies from those who have fled the violence.
“Now that the team is fully in place and operational, I hope that we will receive information and documentation from many individuals, groups and organizations on the human rights violations and abuses which have been taking place in Burundi since the crisis started, a year ago,” said Mr Heyns.
In addition to Mr Heyns, the team consists of two other independent human rights experts: Maya Sahli-Fadel and Pablo de Greiff.
The three experts plan to undertake a second visit to Burundi in June, and will present their final report to the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council in September 2016.
Fifty four humanitarian workers have been killed in South Sudan since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said.
The revelation follows the tragic killing of Sister Veronika Racková, a 58 year old Slovakian nun and medical doctor who was shot on 15 May 2016 in Yei, while on a humanitarian mission, and later succumbed to her wounds, prompting the Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, to strongly condemn the killing.
“I am deeply saddened by this senseless act and send my deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Sister Veronika Racková,”Mr Owusu said, adding: “I welcome steps being taken by the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and urge them to act swiftly.”
Sister Veronika Racková was driving an ambulance on her way back from a medical centre when she was attacked. Her death brings the number of aid workers killed in South Sudan since the beginning of the conflict in December 2013 to 54.
Mr Owusu said that violence against humanitarian workers and humanitarian assets is categorically unacceptable and must stop.
“I urge the Transitional Government of National Unity to endeavour to strengthen the safety and security environment for aid workers and will work intensively with them to achieve this,” Mr Owusu said.
In a related development Holy Mass in memory of Sr Rackova was held over the weekend at Yei’s Christ the King Cathedral in South Sudan. Sr. Veronika, a medical doctor at St Bakhita Health Centre in Yei, South Sudan died last Friday and could be buried in South Sudan.
Youths from the ruling ZANU-PF party hold portraits of President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace during the 'One Million Man March'. PHOTO CREDIT/nehandaradio.com
President Robert Mugabe has thanked Zanu PF youths for what he claimed was a ‘resoundingly successful’ march organised in his honour, adding that party members must shun divisions.
Mugabe was the last to speak after youth leaders, his wife Grace and the two vice presidents, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko during the Africa Day one million men march in Harare.
The veteran leader urged the youths not to be “confused by confusionists” who are bent on dividing the party into factions for personal power.
He condemned what he termed ‘little groups meant to promote so and so’ and urged the war veterans to desist from organising themselves from outside Zanu PF, saying they should air their grievances from within the ruling party. Those ‘little groups’, Mugabe said, are ‘treasonous’.
“We want you inside the party with your grievances and criticisms. Differences should be solved from within the party,” said Mugabe before calling for “unity, unity, unity and unity.”
Mugabe attacked party members who give stories to independent newspapers about other fellow Zanu PF members, saying by so doing they were ‘giving life’ to ‘little papers’. He condemned ‘gossip and rumour mongering’.
And in what seems to be currently resonating in Africa, the Zimbabwe strongman also found time to take pot shots at the opposition and the western nations saying they should forget about persuading him to resign. He said the MDC had no agenda apart from calling on him to go.
“Why do they want Mugabe to go? Is it because they feel pity for me or they are scared of Mugabe? I am sure they are scared of Mugabe,” he said.
He added: “Where do you want me to go? I am not a Briton. I am not a Yankee. I am a Zimbabwean. That’s why I told Blair to keep his England while I keep my Zimbabwe.”
“To all those who say I should go I say go and hang; go and hang yourself.”
Mugabe also thanked God for “a glorious day” claiming that no one was forced to attend the march. “One thing I insisted on during the preparation for this day was that there should be no violence,” said Mugabe.
Thousands of people attended the event and, according to reports, many people, including students, were forced to attend from all over the country.
While our neighbors in Kenya have Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o as their star representative in Hollywood, Ugandan born Florence Kasumba is currently making the rounds in the global film industry.
Although Kasumba’s name may not sound familiar, the Ugandan beauty has starred in a variety of projects ranging from foreign films Ik ook van jou (2001) and Tatort – Borowski und das Meer (2014) to the small screen series “The Quest,” where fantasy meets reality as 12 contestants engage in epic challenges in the world of “Everealm.” She’s been filming in English, German, and Dutch since 2000. In other words, we expect she’ll bring something pretty magical to the fantasy reboot.
Most recently, Ms Kasumba appeared in Captain America: Civil War which crossed the $700 million worldwide mark in under a week and a half. With such an eclectic background, we can only imagine the magic that she will bring to the fantasy world in NBC’s upcoming drama, Emerald City and BlackPanther.
While they weren’t called out by name in Civil War, we did get an intriguing tease when an unnamed character played by Florence Kasumba told Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), “Move. Or you will be moved.” Although Black Widow steps aside, T’Challa admits that he’d be interested to see a fight between Kasumba’s security chief and the Russian ex-spy.
Not much is known about Ms Kasumba who wikipedia says was born on October 26, 1976 (age 39) in Kampala and has been filming in English, German, and Dutch since 2000.
Florence Kasumba as the Wicked Witch of the East in NBC’s “Emerald City”
Something tells that, given audience reactions to her commanding moments in “Captain America” and a more prominent role in “Emerald City,” Ms Kasumba might be on the verge of becoming a Hollywood favorite!
The Germany based actress will also be seen in the upcoming “Wonder Woman” movie.
A Kenyan policeman clobbers a protester. Photo Credit/en.rfi.fr
Kenya’s main opposition coalition has today said it would suspend its weekly protests against the election commission to give calls for dialogue a chance.
Three people were killed on Monday in clashes between demonstrators and police in Nairobi and other cities during rallies against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), led by opposition leader Raila Odinga’s CORD coalition. Clashes also flared during three other protests.
The next presidential and parliamentary polls in Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, are not due until August 2017 but politicians are already trying to galvanise supporters in a country prone to political strife. Violence erupted after the 2007 vote and the opposition disputed the outcome in 2013.
The opposition accuses the IEBC of bias and wants its commissioners to be replaced. IEBC members dismiss the charges, while the government has accused the opposition of criticising the IEBC because they cannot win via the ballot box.
On Tuesday, U.S., British and other Western ambassadors called for talks to resolve the issue.
“CORD has resolved to temporarily suspend demonstrations that were scheduled for next Monday 30th May, 2016 to give dialogue and peace a chance,” an opposition statement said.
The suspension of the protests, which have been staged each Monday since April 25 bar one, would expire on June 5 if the ruling Jubilee coalition does not agree to talks, CORD said.
