Bishop Anthony Zziwa of Kiyinda-Mityana Diocese (R) and UTB Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Asiimwe address journalists at Uganda Media Centre on Thursday.
The Ministry of Tourism through the Uganda Tourism Board together with the Uganda Episcopal conference have teamed to give a boost to the faith-based tourism ahead of the Uganda Martyrs celebrations.
Preparing for the 3rd June Martyrs that attracts hundreds of thousands of faithful pilgrims visiting Namugongo, The UTB, Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife & Antiquities and the Diocese of Kiyinda- Mityana, the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church of Uganda have organised a “Walk of Faith” in preparation for the celebration.
In fulfillment of the key strategic objective of the Tourism Act 2008, UTB runs domestic tourism promotions campaigns to popularise attractions and events in Uganda. This UTB is working with the Catholic Church secretariat and other stakeholders to organise the Martyrs Walk. The theme of the walk is “Walking in the Footsteps of the Martyrs.”
Speaking at the press conference earlier today at the Uganda Media Center in Kampala, the UTB Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Asiimwe called upon Ugandans to embrace the pride of faith-based tourism and this is aimed at growing the brand of tourism in Uganda worldwide.
The UTB therefore has decided to team up with the Uganda Episcopal Conference to help attract global audience with a frontline of the 3rd June Martyr’s Day, a day that is internationally acclaimed and welcomes many tourists in the country.
The event walk that is scheduled to take place on Sunday May 22nd, 2016 in preparations for the celebrations of this year’s Uganda Martyrs Day has a different theme from the overall theme of the Martyrs Day. The Martyrs Walk starts at Munyonyo Martyrs Shrine at 8:00am and ends at St MAtia Mulumba in Old Kampala. After the walk, Bishop Anthony Zziwa of Kiyinda-Mityana Diocese will lead prayers at 3;00pm at the St Matia Mulumba Church.
The Spiritual Journey is to enable our Christianity today to “experience the martyrs’ pain and last moments on earth in a commemorative walk from Munyonyo to St. Matia Mulumba Church in Old Kampala”.
This walk is part of the grand plan to organise such a pilgrimage every year to officially launch the pilgrimage to Namugongo by people from all over the world. This year’s walk will be the first ever such an official event to be included on the Uganda Martyrs day celebration calendar intended to promote Uganda Martyrs trail further.
Just like President Yoweri Museveni had wanted, the status quo of the Ninth Parliament has been maintained.
Jacob Oulanya, MP for Omoro (NRM) and former occupant of the deputy speaker post has surprisingly beaten Kampala Central MP Mohammad Nsereko.
Mr. Nsereko an Independent who was recently kicked out of the ruling party caucus meeting at State House Entebbe polled 115 votes while his opponent got 300 with one vote becoming invalid.
It was a heated contest which even led President Museveni who had gone to attend the vote in the Parliament Conference hall get asked to move out briefly.
The President last week prevailed over seven NRM MPs who accordingly withdrew from the Deputy Speaker’s race.
Ms. Rebecca Kadaga was elected speaker unopposed on Thursday morning during the first sitting of the August House.
In her acceptance speech, Ms Kadaga promises to be speaker of all MPs.
An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea with 66 people on board was very likely brought down by a terror attack, experts said today.
The Airbus A320 left the French capital’s Charles De Gaulle Airport at 9.09pm GMT last night before coming down off the Greek island of Karpathos ten miles into Egyptian airspace at around 00.30am. Officials said there was no distress call.
There were 56 passengers on board including one Briton, 30 Egyptians, 15 French, one Belgian, one Iraqi, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi Arabian, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian and one Canadian. There were 10 crew on flight MS804 including three security guards.
Jean-Paul Troadec, the former chief of the BEA national investigation unit, said the lack of a live emergency alert suggested a ‘brutal event’.
He told Europe 1 radio station in Paris: ‘A technical problem, a fire or a failed motor do not cause an instant accident and the team has time to react.
‘The team said nothing, they did not react, so it was very probably a brutal event and we can certainly think about an attack.’
His comments came after a merchant ship captain reported seeing a ‘flame in the sky’ over the Mediterranean.
Lyzerakos told private Antenna television that controllers tried to make contact with the pilot 10 miles before the flight exited the Greek Flight Information Range (FIR), but the pilot did not respond.
Lyzerakos said controllers continued trying to contact the pilot until 0.39am GMT when the plane disappeared from the radar, around 10 miles into Egyptian airspace.
Egypt’s state-run newspaper Al-Ahram quoted an airport official as saying the pilot did not send a distress call and that last contact with the plane was made 10 minutes before it disappeared from radar.
EgyptAir said the plane sent an emergency signal, possibly from an emergency beacon attached to the plane, at 2.26am (GMT) two hours after it vanished.
In water crashes, an underwater beacon attached to the aircraft’s flight recorders starts to emit a signal or ping which helps search and rescue teams to locate the crash and find the black boxes.
A French security source told the Telegraph: ‘We cannot rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack.’
Egyptian military aircraft and navy ships were taking part in a search operation off Egypt’s Mediterranean coast to locate the debris of the plane, which was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two babies, and 10 crew members.
Greece also joined the search and rescue operation, officials at the Hellenic National Defense General Staff said.
A radar map shows the plane’s path travelling from Paris and then stopping in the Mediterranean Sea before reaching Cairo, where it lost contact with air traffic control
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault offered to send military planes and boats to join the Egyptian search for wreckage.
‘We are at the disposition of the Egyptian authorities with our military capacities, with our planes, our boats to help in the search for this plane,’ he said.
He spoke after French President Francois Hollande held an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace.
Later, the French military said a Falcon surveillance jet monitoring the Mediterranean for migrants had been diverted to help search for the EgyptAir plane.
Military spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said the jet is joining the Egypt-led search effort and the French navy may send another plane and a ship to the zone.
Mr Hollande has spoken with Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi by telephone and they agreed to ‘closely cooperate to establish the circumstances’ in which the EgyptAir flight disappeared.
The government statement cited Hollande as saying he shares the anxiety of families.
Speaking on RTL radio, he said the Paris airport authority has opened a crisis centre to support the families coming to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
He said ‘no theory can be ruled out’.
Search and rescue teams have been sent to a specific location believed to be 40 miles from the Egyptian coast.
Greece has also joined the search and rescue operation.
Two aircraft, one C-130 and one early warning aircraft have been dispatched, officials at the Hellenic national defence general staff said.
They said one frigate was also heading to the area, and helicopters are on standby on the southern island of Karpathos for potential rescue or recovery operations.
Ahmed Abdel, the vice-chairman of EgyptAir holding company, said no distress signal had been sent, as far as he knew.
He added that there had been no reported problems with the plane when it left Paris.
The captain of the plane, Abdel said, had more than 6,000 flying hours. This includes 2,000 on an A320.
He also said there was no special cargo on board and the airline was not informed about any dangerous objects on board.
As the plane was in Egyptian airspace, their air traffic controllers should have been in contact with the flight team.
However, it does not necessarily mean the plane was over land at the time, as Egyptian air space stretches over the Mediterranean Sea.
According to flight schedules, it was the plane’s fifth flight of the day.
Shortly after news of the disappearance broke, the Egyptair website crashed.
The Airbus A320 is a short-to-mid range aircraft and is one of the most commonly used in the world that first entered circulation in 1986.
It has a capacity of 150 passengers and a range of more than 3,000 miles.
An EgyptAir plane was hijacked and diverted to Cyprus in March. A man who admitted to the hijacking and is described by Cypriot authorities as ‘psychologically unstable’ is in custody in Cyprus.
The incident renewed security concerns months after a Russian passenger plane was blown out of the sky over the Sinai Peninsula.
The Russian plane crashed in Sinai on October 31, killing all 224 people on board. Moscow said it was brought down by an explosive device, and a local branch of the extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for planting it.
In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 1990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, killing all 217 people aboard.
U.S. investigators filed a final report that concluded its co-pilot switched off the autopilot and pointed the Boeing 767 downward.
But Egyptian officials rejected the notion of suicide altogether, insisting some mechanical reason caused the crash.
President Yoweri Museveni has arrived at Parliament on Thursday to supervise the election of Deputy Speaker during the opening of the 10th Parliament.
Kampala Central legislator Muhammad Nsereko is battling Omoro County counterpart, Jacob Oulanyah who has been the Deputy Speaker for 9th Parliament
According to the Clerk to Parliament, Jane Kibirige, during the inaugural session, a Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be unveiled before the August House.
MPs have given Speaker Rebecca Kadaga her seat back through a secret ballot even backed by the fact that her Deputy Jacob Oulanyah stepped aside for her after an agreement with ruling NRM party top leadership.
However Kampala Central MP Mohammed Nsereko says he is determined to replace Oulanyah as Deputy Speaker.
This has reportedly angered President Museveni who had earlier persuaded both the NRM Central Executive Committee and party MPs to retain Oulanyah as Deputy to Speaker .
The installation of the Speakerwas presided over by the Chief Justice Bert Katureebe after which moment the elected Speaker will then preside over the election of the Deputy Speaker
According to reports, Oulanyah is afraid that Nsereko could beat him in a secret ballot. He believes some ruling NRM MPs are out for revenge.
President Museveni will administer the oaths to the Speaker and Deputy Speaker according to Article 82(10) of the Constitution.
The number of legislators has increased from 386 to 458 following the creation of new districts, municipalities and constituencies by government. The previous legislators had request for a budget of more than Shs2 billion for rent.
Minister David Bahati’s biggest rival Henry Musasizi was the last Member of the 10th Parliament to take oath and conclude the three day exercise amidst wild cheers and ululations.
Hon. Musasizi is representing Rubanda East constituency was meant to be sworn in on Tuesday according to the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure but turned up House minutes before climax as the sun set over Kampala.
“It was not a mix up,” House communications director, Chris Obore tells EagleOnline. “Many MPs not necessarily Hon. Musasizi had personal engagements thus asked for permission to be sworn in earlier or on the following day.”
Gen Elly Tumwine was also the last of 10 Uganda Peoples Defence Force representatives to be sworn in.
Parliament administration also disregarded the Attorney General’s office advice not to sworn in Theodore Ssekikubo as the Lwemiyaga county legislator. Recently, the Electoral Commission and Parliament sought legal advice from the Attorney General on whether or not to swear in Ssekikubo following a petition by his rival, Patrick Nkalubo challenging the decision to gazette him.
Speaking shortly after swearing in, Ssekikubo said his election was legitimate. He accused unnamed government officials of using the Electoral Commission to fight him.
One of the missing Chibok schoolgirls has been found in Nigeria, the first to be rescued since their capture two years ago.
Amina Ali Nkeki was found carrying a baby by an army-backed vigilante group on Tuesday in the huge Sambisa Forest, close to the border with Cameroon.
She was with a suspected member of the Boko Haram Islamist group.
In all, 218 girls remain missing after their abduction from a secondary school in north-east Nigeria in April 2014.
The girls were taken by militants from Boko Haram.
Amina was found with a four-month-old baby
Amina, now 19, was reportedly recognised by a civilian fighter of the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), a vigilante group set up to help fight Boko Haram, and briefly reunited with her mother.
The Nigerian military named the suspected Boko Haram fighter as Mohammed Hayatu. He said he was Amina’s husband.
He has been arrested and taken to the regional capital Maiduguri, along with Amina and her baby, for medical attention, the military said.
Sessegnon (left) and Anichebe both joined West Brom in September 2013
Midfielder Stephane Sessegnon and striker Victor Anichebe have left West Brom after reaching the end of their contracts at The Hawthorns.
Sessegnon, 31, has scored eight goals in 92 games for the Baggies since joining for a then-club record fee from Sunderland in September 2013.
Anichebe, who signed at the same time in a £6m move from Everton, scored nine times in 63 appearances.
“They worked really hard and were as good as gold,” said boss Tony Pulis.
Anichebe wished the club well on Twitter before confirmation of his departure, writing: “Thank you to all the fans for the support during my time at the club. I wish you all the best for the future.”
Only bottom side Aston Villa scored fewer than West Brom’s tally of 34 Premier League goals this season.
“We have to have that little bit more in the final third,” said Pulis after their final-day draw with Liverpool.
PROF.Bukenya, who once discribed as 'Mahogany' is back.
Former Vice President and Busiro North legislator, Prof. Gilbert Balibaseka Bukenya has bounced back in cabinet.
According to highly placed sources, “mahogany” as he once described himself, is set to return as Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.
Bukenya, himself as successful farmer who championed the growth of upland rice across the country will help President Yoweri Museveni in his quest for prosperity for all programme which is supposed to oversee every homestead increase household income.
It is said that Prof. Bukenya’s decision to bounce back is informed by his love for farming and therefore, agreeing to serve the docket of agriculture is because the passion for the sector.
According to sources, Bukenya who is also a longtime friend to Gen. Salim Saleh was reached out due to the fact that Wakiso district where Bukenya hails from posted ‘bad results’ in the recent general elections where majority of the Members of Parliament are opposition and even those that made it on National Resistance Movement (NRM) card like Peter Ssematimba are either young or have questionable academic issues.
Bukenya also listened to Mr Museveni’s pleas when he ditched the coalition opposition forces under the umbrella of the Democratic Alliance and defected back to NRM. The opposition, had hoped to use Bukenya to mobilise in Buganda and other parts of the country like Northern Uganda particularly West Nile where he had eaten into the regime.
It might have occurred to you as you stepped over someone passed out on the roadside on a Friday night that Uganda has a bit of a drinking problem.
That’s why when it comes to African countries with the biggest dependence on alcohol, Uganda is only beaten by Nigeria using a statistical calculation of the liters consumed per year.
Actually if not for the respect of statistics and the heavy population of Nigeria, Uganda would have easily become the Drunkest Nation in Africa by a million miles.
The survey
Ugandans drink 11.93 shots of liquor per year on average, which is the second most in the Africa. And of 10 other countries analyzed by US based Moguldom Media Group arm AFKinsider, none comes anywhere close. The Kenyans, the third biggest in AFKindider’s sample, down 9.72 shots per year; Rwandans drink roughly 9.10 liters per year; and Tanzanians consume only 7.7.
Uganda’s unparalleled liquor consumption is almost entirely due to the country’s love for home-made waragi and Ajono topping the alcohol menu. Just 4 per cent of consumption comes from beer and 2 per cent from wine, with the “other” category a resounding winner at 94 per cent of consumption. The generic term for domestically distilled beverages is UBL’s famous Ugandan Waragi, which contain around 42% of alcohol making it one of the most alcoholic spirits in the world.
A recent CNN study also ranked the country 8th in the world and first on the continent in liquor intake.
The study says patrons generously drink “waragi, also known as war gin because it was once used to fortify troops. Though drinking too much inevitably leads to surrender.”
Donning the hard alcohol crown can be problematic at times. Uganda’s alarming alcohol consumption has led to outbreaks of drunken violence and unemployment because from 24 hours to 7 days of a week at every time people are always in the pubs consuming alcohol.
John Minani stumbles back to his hut after another all night drinking session. He has no money, but somehow manages to buy waragi.
Intake of colossal amounts of potent gins and other forms of crude liquor in mostly poverty-stricken rural communities of Ankole, Busoga and urban slums has raised health alarm amid declining productivity by affected youth.
Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze is trying to introduce a private members Bill to regulate the production and consumption alcohol countrywide dubbed “Alcoholic Drinks Control Bill 2016”.
In a Ugandan kafunda (bar), crude waragi is served and Shs500 will get you drunk.
The Bill intends to repeal the “Enguli Act” which provides for the regulation of the manufacture, licensing and sale of ‘enguli’ and for other purposes connected therewith. Nambooze said the Enguli Act promoted other beers manufactured by the colonialists, but controlled production of waragi, the local brew produced by Ugandans. Enguli is defined as any spirits manufactured in Uganda but does not include refined spirits (such as Uganda Waragi) or any other spirits produced locally by the exclusive licensee.
According to her, many students are being initiated into alcohol through the sachets, which some students sneak into school to sell. “In Uganda it’s as if drinking has no restrictions,” she said.
Drinkers enjoy a central pot of home-made alcohol in a kafunda
Burahya County’s new representative Hon. Margaret Muhanga Mugisa is the only legislator who missed taking an oath on the final day of swearing in of MPs of the 10th Parliament.
Ms. Muhanga missed out as 426 of 427 MPs swear in three days.
Parliament publicists didn’t disclose why in the former Kabarole district woman MP didn’t not show up. The incident may not be related to reports at the end of last year when Hon. Muhanga a household name in Tooro disclosed that she was living in panic following threats of killing her.
EagleOnline‘s efforts to reach the vibrant legislator were futile as all her known telephone numbers were unreachable.
A sister to Andrew Mwenda and Brig. Kayanja Muhanga, the former UPDF Commander in South Sudan and currently in charge of fourth division, Muhanga is highly connected and synonymous with powerful people including heads of State both in and outside Uganda.
A powerful supporter of the ruling Party and with already tested leadership, Muhanga is highly expected to attract the cabinet appointing authority.
