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MP Lyomoki warns Kadaga of death over shrine visit

By
Richard Wanambwa
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Dr Sam Lyomoki takes the parliamentary Oath of Allegiance as Workers MP

Workers Member of Parliament Sam Lyomoki has written to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and criticised her for visiting a shrine. He also warned her of dire consequences like death, for failing to follow God’s ways.

‘What you have done to worship those demons and spirits in Busoga is an abomination and a terrible defilement of the seat of Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, a God fearing nation with the motto “for God and our nation”! Let me pronounce this as a servant of God: if you don’t publicly apologize and repent to God then the judgment of God on you is at hand and very soon. When this happens then the people of Uganda shall know that there is God in Uganda, the  God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, the God of Isaac and the God of Elijah!,’ Dr Lyomoki wrote in an May 22 email copied to the staff of Parliament.

VISITED SHRINE: Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga
VISITED SHRINE: Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga

On Saturday Kadaga, a member of the Baisegaga clan, visited her ancestral roots on Nhenda Hill in Nakigo sub county of Iganga district, where she visited a shrine to reportedly ‘thank’ her ancestors for enabling her become the Speaker of the 10th Parliament.

By press time it was not clear whether the Speaker had received Dr Lyomoki’s email but the move has elicited mixed reactions from critics and supporters, who have given divergent views on the Speaker’s shrine visit, and Dr Lyomoki, who is reportedly a born again Christian, has given Kadaga biblical 18 examples of how God punishes those who offend Him and asked the Speaker to apologise.

However, according to Busoga traditional folklore, the Baisegaga are supposed to pay a visit to their ancestral shrine in Nhenda at least once a year for blessings.

ALSO VISITED SHRINE in MASAKA: Former Vice President Prof Gilbert Bukenya
ALSO VISITED SHRINE in MASAKA: Former Vice President Prof Gilbert Bukenya

Kadaga is not the first politician in Uganda to openly visit a shrine; in December 2004 then Vice President Prof Gilbert Balibaseeka Bukenya visited a shrine at Kassewalaga in Masaka, allegedly to get blessings from his ancestors that would ensure Uganda is peaceful and also that his boss, President Yoweri Museveni, gets elected for a third term.

At the time, just like now, Bukenya was ridiculed by many Ugandans who argued that his actions were in direct conflict with the Ugandan motto ‘For God and My Country’, which puts God above the traditional spirits that are revered by traditionalists.

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55 districts to share $130M NUSAF III money

By
Stephen Muneza
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Uganda will implement a third phase of the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF III) that programme to improve access to income-earning opportunities for the poor households in north and northeast Uganda despite earlier calls for disbandment.

About Shs7b was stolen in Karamoja sub-region during the first phase of Nusaf but that didn’t stop Nusaf II from being launched in 2009 before winding up in February of 2016.

Under the Community Demand Driven (CDD) approach, Nusaf II beneficiaries managed the funds themselves, which are directly disbursed on the sub-project community account. They did the procurement themselves and accounted directly for the funds received.

To prevent corruption and abuse of funds, Nusaf II integrated the office of the Inspector General of Government as a component.

Going forward, government will launch the activities of the programme on May 23rd 2016, at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala. The launch will involve a series of activities by the OPM, the Project Technical Support Team and the World Bank Task Team.

It will be implemented in the 55 Districts of Northern Uganda.

NUSAF III was approved by the Parliament of Uganda on 3rd September 2015.  This was followed by the approval of the financing agreement by the World Bank in March 14th 2015.  This will provide a funding IDA loan of 130 million dollars for the Project.  The move to the third phase of NUSAF is largely due to the outstanding success of the NUSAF2 and a response to requests by the communities of Northern Uganda for further NUSAF interventions.

The main focus of NUSAF III is on providing effective house-hold income support and building the resilience of poor and vulnerable people in Northern Uganda. NUSAF III will enhance livelihoods by enhancing household income generation, building resilience and fostering the long-term sustainability of the Project’s out-puts.

The launching of NUSAF III will involve a Project Start Mission, beginning with the orientation of technical teams from the Eastern Uganda Districts of Manafwa, Busia,  Sironko, Bukwo, Bulambuli and Kween (May 24th to May 27th in Mbale). There-after, similar teams from the Districts of Kapchorwa, Kumi, Bududa, Tororo, Budaka and Butaleja will be oriented (from May 30th to June 2nd, in Mbale). This first phase of the training will be followed by an expanded roll out to the rest of the 55 beneficiary Districts in Northern Uganda.

The purpose of the Project Start Mission is to orient, train and prepare Northern Uganda District Technical Teams for the smooth roll out of NUSAF III activities so that they yield maximum benefits to the target communities.

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Mulindwa courting Onduparaka FC skipper Muhammed Shaban

By
Our Reporter
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Shaban Muhammed has been capped for Uganda at all under age levels

One of Muhammed Shaban’s teammate has confirmed talks between Uganda Premier League defending champions Vipers SC and Ouduparaka FC but insists nothing is signed. ‘I don’t know what will happen…’

Muhammad the new Fufa Big League MVP has been linked with the Buikwe side after over three years at current Uganda Cup semifinalists Onduparaka and his friend, Charles, revealed the talks but explained there isn’t a resolution yet.

“It’s true there are negotiations [with Vipers] but nothing has been finalised yet,” he said after Sunday evening’s 2-0 defeat to Kirinya-Jinja who will be promoted as Big League champions.

“He should be happy to have captained such a strong League at 18. He played so many games for Oudaparaka. Few at his age have done that. But it’s hard to refuse to play for Mr. Mulindwa (Vipers owner) because he has been educating him for free at St. Mary’s Kitende and has knack of paying millions of money to acquire the best players countrywide.

National Under-20 team striker Shaban’s teammates at Kitende Frank Tumwesigye, Pius Wanji, Bayo Ali are all already signed up by Vipers

“[Shaban] wants to keep in Arua but the club believes it will be hard to keep him after such a great season. Even Arua Municipality MP Bernard Atiku, Kachumbari who bankrolls the club is also ready to pay him for another year and help them do well in super league. It’s hard to find a club serious about young players a chance especially when they are still students. I don’t know what will happen.”

Shaban Muhammed (2nd left) skippers an Onduparaka side that formed the bulk of the West Nile Select team, who shocked Cranes 1-0 in an exhibition match.
Shaban Muhammed (2nd left) skippers an Onduparaka side that formed the bulk of the West Nile Select team, who shocked Cranes 1-0 in an exhibition match.(Photo/Fufa Media)

Onduparaka announced their arrival on the Ugandan soccer scene by eliminating title holders SC Villa in the Uganda Cup round of 16 last month before claiming another scalp in the frame of topflight side Soana 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

Proline return two years after demotion

Meanwhile, Proline Soccer Club became the third club to join the topflight league after winning the promotional play-off 4-1 against Lira’s Sporting United at Nakivubo Stadium.

Baker Mbowa’s side joined Onduparaka and Kirinya-Jinja S.S as the three sides promoted starting with the season of 2016/17.

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Louis van Gaal and his staff sacked by Manchester United

By
Our Reporter
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Van Gaal has paid the price for failing to secure Champions League qualification next season with Jose Mourinho set to replace him in charge at Old Trafford.

The 64-year-old Dutchman was given the news at a meeting at United’s Carrington training ground today — less than 48 hours after he led the team to FA Cup glory.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward swung the axe after two years of Van Gaal control, in which time United have struggled to compete for the title.

Woodward met with Van Gaal at Carrington on Monday morning, together with Paul Gilroy – the QC who works on behalf of the League Manager’s Association.

He has had the final year of his contract with the club paid up, worth around £5million, and will now head to retirement after a glittering career in management.

Former Chelsea manager Mourinho is the man who United will appoint now as they desperately try to restablish themselves as the best in the Premier League.

Despite spending almost £250million on players, the club is as far away from challenging for the title as they were under David Moyes and they risked being left behind further if they didn’t act.

In his two years, Van Gaal led United to fourth and then fifth place finishes in the Premier League.

He failed to get out of an easy Champions League group and was then knocked out of the Europa League by Liverpool.

Van Gaal had lost the support of the United squad, with several upset at his training methods and the way he tried to stifle their natural instincts during games.

Supporters had also grown tired of watching the slow, patient tactics the Dutchman preferred and had started to make their feelings known during matches at Old Trafford.

The fans made their views clear even in victory at Wembley booing Van Gaal as he approached the Royal box.

Mourinho has been linked with the United job ever since he left Chelsea late last year, and has been in position to take over since just before Christmas.

Every time it looked as though Van Gaal would be sacked, the United boss somewho inspired a couple of results to keep him in the job — but once it was impossible to finish in the top four his position became untenable.

@SUN

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‘Lockerbie lawyer’ now turns heat on Putin over Flight MH17

By
Agencies
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The wreckage of Flight MH17

The US aviation lawyer who won compensation for victims of the 1988 Lockerbie aircraft bombing and is now seeking $330 million (227 million pounds) from Russia for the downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 in 2014, says Russian President Vladimir Putin must be held responsible.

Jerry Skinner, who is leading Australian law firm LHD’s compensation claim against Russia and Putin in the European Court of Human Rights, says he is confident of success but admits the case, like that of Lockerbie, may take years.

The Malaysian Airlines’ Boeing 777 crashed in eastern Ukraine in pro-Russian rebel-held territory on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board, including 28 Australians.

The aircraft, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, the Dutch Safety Board concluded in its final report.

Skinner said he had no personal issue with Putin, but that the Russian president had opened himself to liability through his extensive control over the Russian state.

“Nothing happens in Russia that he doesn’t approve of, therefore vicariously he’s responsible,” Skinner said in an interview today in Sydney.

Skinner said evidence from witnesses, videos, photographs, radar, air traffic control tapes supported his compensation case.

“All of that stuff is available and even without the Russian’s contribution I am confident in saying that it was the Russians who caused this event to occur,” he said.

The LHD lawsuit is on behalf of 16 victims from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia, and 33 next of kin. Each claimant is seeking $10 million in damages.

Skinner won similar compensation for the victims of Pan Am Flight 103 which was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people.

Skinner said international political pressure was needed to uncover the truth behind the downing of MH17.

“I’m hopeful that the Australian government gets involved. We need the leverage of one of the governments whose hands are clean,” he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Monday echoed the sentiment for an independent investigation.

“However painful and however difficult and traumatic it is for them to deal with the loss of their loved ones aboard MH17…we will work very hard to ensure that a system is set up, a mechanism is set up, to hold those responsible for this atrocity to account,” she said.

 

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North is jealous of her brother: Kim Kardashian

By
Our Reporter
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Reality TV star Kim Kardashian says her two-year-old daughter North is a “little jealous” of her four-month-old brother Saint.

The 35-year-old says North doesn’t like it when she spends time with Saint, reports hollywoodlife.com.

“My daughter is still in the little jealous phase and that’s really hard for me because she gets so jealous when I try to do anything with (Saint), so I sneak moments with him or have my husband entertain her, and I have to separate it sometimes,” Kim told reporters here at a nightclub.

“North gets into the groove and realises that it’s all going to be ok. There’s enough attention and love for everybody,” she added.

IANS

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Israeli MP ‘fights against’ military supplies to South Sudan

By
Agencies
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ADVERSARIES: South Sudan President Salva Kiir with his former First Vice President Riek Machar

An Israeli lawmaker is pushing a lawsuit seeking to block transfer of spy equipment from Israel to South Sudan after it emerged that Juba uses Israeli surveillance technology to track down political dissidents and journalists.

The petition was filed by Tamar Zandberg, a member of the Israeli parliament who has also spoken out about Israeli arms transfers to South Sudan government, which fought a devastating civil war against rebel groups for over 20 months.

“Surveillance is one of the mechanisms being used in that civil war,” Zandberg was quoted saying, adding: “This is part of the war crimes and part of the crimes against humanity being used.”

The lawmaker’s lawyer, Eitay Mack, however, said that Israel’s support to the South Sudanese National Security Service (NSS) is not limited to hardware and software.

“The South Sudanese don’t have the technicality and the professional personnel to operate the [surveillance] systems, so as far as I know there are Israelis actually on the ground in Juba and are operating the system by themselves,” he said.

Last year, a United Nations panel of experts said the South Sudanese army used Israeli weapons to fight its civil war.

According to the UN report, evidence showed the South Sudanese military using the Ace, an advanced version of an assault rifle reportedly produced by Israel Weapon Industries and that its security forces used the Ace, in its battle against local rebels.

A previous UN report had accused the two warring sides in the South Sudanese conflict of committing human rights violations, mainly in the oil-rich Unity state of the country.

Data on Israeli arms sales to Africa reportedly increased dramatically in the years after South Sudan’s independence. In 2009, Israeli media reported the country sold just $71 million worth of weapons to the continent. In 2013, that number is said to have more than tripled to $223 million, and it reportedly reached $318 million last year.

Tens of thousands of people were killed and nearly two million displaced during the South Sudan’s civil war, which began in mid-December 2013, between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar, now the country’s first vice-president.

 

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Grace Mugabe ‘fails to return home’

By
Our Reporter and Agencies
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FAMILY IN TROUBLE! Grace Mugabe with her husband Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe failed to return home last week and instead President Robert Mugabe followed her to Singapore where she has been holed for over a month.

In early May Grace, who is 40 years younger that the 92-year old Mr Mugabe, slapped her husband in public, leaving his aides agape and shell-shocked. This raised public speculation that the fiery First Lady had left the country after the embarrassing public spat.

But on a visit to Gutu on May 13, Mugabe told his relatives that Grace would be back home early last week after taking care of his daughter Bona, who gave birth last month.“Doctors said he [Bona’s son] can only fly after a month so they should be here this month,” Mugabe told members of the Gutu clan, his maternal uncles.

Information ministry’s principal director Regis Chikowore refused to comment on Mugabe’s trip, referring questions to his spokesperson George Charamba. However, Charamba was not reachable on his mobile phone.

Local media said Mugabe, who has blown millions of dollars travelling around Africa and overseas this year, had gone on a private visit. Mugabe.

On Friday he was in South Africa and spent a few hours back home before leaving for Singapore.

Singapore has been his favourite destination amid speculation that he is receiving medical treatment there.

 

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Kasese’s Kizza emerges frontrunner for Leader of Opposition

By
Stephen Muneza
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Winifred Kiiza (Kasese Woman) is among the FDC members who supported Mugisha Muntu

The leader of the opposition in the 10th parliament will be decided by leading opposition party Forum for Democratic Change soon amid a view in the party that either Kasese Woman MP Winnie Kizza or Dokolo woman MP Cecilia Atim Ogwal should occupy the post.

“There is a tradition of election in the main parliamentary opposition party. After the ruling party’s speaker and deputy elections, FDC can now appoint the leader of the house and the chief whip and apparently two senior women MPs who i can’t name are front runners,” a party insider told EagleOnline on Monday.

Section 6B(1) of the Administration of Parliament Act (2006), provides for the election of the LoP from an Opposition party with the greatest numerical strength. FDC has 36 MPs, DP 14 and the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) six MPs. The entire Opposition is in control of only 56 parliamentary seats. On the other hand, NRM has more than 280 MPs, with the majority of the Independent legislators also siding with the ruling party.

While a section of the party feels it is only Ms. Kizza, 46, on whose name a consensus can be built among all MPs for the post of the leader of the August House, the name of senior leader Prof.  Ogenga Latigo, MP for Agago North for the post is also doing the rounds.

Kizza is the current FDC Women’s League leader. She has served on the parliamentary committee of Local government Accounts, Gender,Labour and Social Development and the Business Committee. Ms Kiiza has been in Parliament since 2006.

“I have the capability and competence to be the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament because I have acted in that position for a long time when I was Chief Whip,” Kizza said when asked why about her interest in the job.

“That gave me enough experience that I now want to put in practice. For the last 10 years, that post has been taken up by men and I think we should give it a feminine touch. I wouldn’t want to think my party would want to disappoint its women by denying them a chance to serve,” she added.

Other FDC members who are likely to vie for the LoP job include Mr Elijah Okupa (Kasilo), Samuel Odonga Otto (Aruu County), Abdul Katuntu (Bugweri) and Hassan Kaps Fungaroo(Obongi).

The party has already made it clear that any change for the post of the party’s leader in parliament, where outgoing Bukooli Central legislator Wafula Oguttu was occupying it, will be made only after consulting him.

While there is no problem for Cecilia Ogwala in getting the post of leader of the opposition as she can get the requisite numbers, its ability to get the same in FDC- leaning independents has come under scrutiny as Winnie Kizza is seen as is a younger option of an experienced legislator having risen from the opposition back benches to successfully serve in key roles including Chief Whip in the 9th Parliament and previously as the Deputy Chief Whip.

Ms. Kizza is considered as former FDC presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye’s blue-eyed eyed girl and has support from party President Gen. Mugisha Muntu and senior Oxfam boss Winnie Byanyima who is actively campaigning for her “Winnie Kizza would be an effective Leader of Opposition.  I hope FDC will endorse her,” Byanyima the party’s deputy Chairperson said.

However, party leaders have been maintaining that while there are some statutory requirements to get the perks of the leader of the opposition, there is “absolutely no legal bar” on the next LoP coming from the northern part of the country like two of the only three.

“We are still carrying out consultations among the members of FDC; the 10th Parliament caucus is still carrying out consultations so we are waiting to hear their views on it. We have been carrying out consultations before and we will make our final decision very soon,” Gen. Muntu said.

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Vietnam: Obama in another historic visit

By
Our Reporter and Agencies
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US President Barack Obama (left) and Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang reviewing a guard of honour at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo credit/straitstimes.com

US President Barack Obama seems a man with a mission to accomplish before he leaves power in January next year: make peace with your erstwhile foes, he seems to insinuate. Obama arrived in Vietnam today for a three-day trip aimed at sealing the transformation of an old enemy into a new partner to help counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

Four decades after a war with Vietnam that deeply divided opinion in America, Obama aims to boost defense and economic ties with the country’s communist rulers while also prodding them on human rights, aides say.

His visit has been preceded by a debate in Washington over whether Obama should use the three-day visit starting today to roll back an arms embargo on Hanoi, one of the last vestiges of wartime animosity.

Serving his last year in office, Obama has tried to mend fences with America’s old and enduring foes, and in March this year he visited Cuba, becoming only the first US sitting president to visit the island state in over 80 years. “My lifetime has spanned a time of isolation between us. I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas,” Obama was quoted as saying during the Cuba visit.

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