Lieutenant General Andrew Guti has replaced departed Major General Levi Karuhanga as the Chairman of the Military General Court Martial (GCM).

Gen. Karuhanga died last month after serving at the GCM for two years. He replaced Brig. Moses Ddiba Ssentongo. Earlier, he had served as Commander of the Reserve Force and also at the head of  Africa Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), respectively.

As for Gen. Guti, is a seasoned soldier whose experience, having served in many command positions including Force Commander of the Amisom in Somalia between May 2012 and December 2013.  Gen. Guti served as Commandant of the Senior Command and Staff College in Kimaka.

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The National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have signed an agreement to construct community-level grain stores in 10 districts of Uganda over the next four months.

Under the agreement, NAADS will provide US$1 million for WFP to construct and equip the warehouses in the districts of Adjumani, Hoima, Kibaale, Kiboga, Kiryandongo, Kyenjojo, Masindi, Mubende, Nakaseke and Napak.

Each unit will have a storage capacity of between 200 and 300 metric tons and is expected to support up to 4000 small-scale farming households access to quality produce markets.

“NAADS has been focusing on providing seeds and this has helped to increase production country-wide,” the NAADS Executive Director, Dr. Samuel Mugasi said, adding: “However, this partnership with WFP will take us a step higher in the value chain. It will enable NAADS to achieve its purpose of assisting farmers to reduce post-harvest food losses – including through modern storage – benefit from group marketing and improve their household incomes and livelihoods.”

Dr Mugasi maintained there was no better choice of partner than WFP.

“WFP has built a good reputation in grain handling, mobilizing farmers for production and supporting agriculture value chains. It has a good model in place and we are excited to be part of it. Under the MoU, WFP and NAADS will also jointly support small-scale farmer groups with soft skills and other capacity building for group marketing.”

WFP’s Country Director, Michael Dunford, said the agency’s role in Uganda is to primarily support the vision of the government, working with capable entities such as NAADS and Operation Wealth Creation in building agricultural capacity.

“Good infrastructure empowers farmers to access markets, gives them control over when they get to sell their grain and, as such, protects them from hunger,” Dunford said.

NAADS and WFP plan to work together to build another 10 stores next year. WFP has already established 60 storage facilities countrywide – using mainly funding from the United States — and farmers trading through them have been selling their grain more profitably.

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 75 countries.

NAADS works with Operation Wealth Creation to transform the lives of Ugandans through improved agricultural production.

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Ugandan and Kenyan officials led by Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Uhuru Kenyatta will have to up their ante and shuttle diplomacy if their countries are to realize the fruition of joint projects discussed earlier with the three other East African Community (EAC) member states.

This follows an announcement on Sunday by Rwanda finance and economic planning minister Claver Gatete that his country had opted to develop the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) through Tanzania, arguing that the route is cheaper and shorter than the one transiting through Kenya and Uganda. In 2013, Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda agreed to link up to the port of Mombasa along a standard-gauge railway estimated to cost US$ 13 billion.

However, the SGR change announced by Rwanda, which is a huge infrastructural development setback for East Africa’s largest economy, comes in the wake of Uganda also shifting stance against Kenya and opting to build a US$4 billion oil pipeline to transport crude oil from Hoima to the Tanzanian port of Tanga, with the same arguments Rwanda is advancing.

Meanwhile, studies on the SGR by EAC member states showed Tanzanian option would cost Rwanda about US$ 800 million (Sh80.5 billion) to US$ 900 million (Sh91 billion) while the Kenyan one would go for US$ 1 billion (Sh101 billion), according to Rwanda’s East African Community Affairs ministry .

“We opted for the route transiting to Tanzania during the construction of our railway line because the Kenyan route would be expensive and time consuming,” said Gatete.

The Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali/Keza-Musongati (DIKKM) standard gauge railway (SGR) project is expected to be completed by March 2018 and is estimated to cost the three countries US$5.2 billion (Sh523.1 billion).

Jules Ndenga, acting special project implementation unit coordinator at the Rwanda ministry of infrastructure, said Rwanda and Tanzania had already held joint technical monitoring committee meeting to fast-track the project.

“We are conducting a joint development of the standard gauge railway with our counterparts from Burundi and Tanzania. We have agreed contract terms and conditions and the Rwanda Transport Development Agency, will procure it on behalf of the three countries,” he added.

Meanwhile, speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to the SGR in Uganda said the changes by Rwanda will affect the infrastructural development plan of both Uganda and Kenya.

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