LUSAKA-Leading Zambian opposition party, the United Party for National Development (UPND), has to written the country’s Electoral Commission body asking it not to award a ballot printing contract to Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing Limited of Dubai, one of the companies which printed ballot papers for the recently concluded elections in Uganda.

Through their lawyers, the UNPD wrote to the Zambia electoral boss Pricilla Isaac to exclude the Dubai-based publishing company on grounds that it provided printing services in petitioned elections.

“Our clients categorically object to the award of the contract to Al Ghurair Printing Company for the following reasons: 1. Procedural Impropriety – Due Diligence and Litigation Status: our clients posit that ECZ did not conduct due diligence on this printing company because if you did, you know that this company, together with two other printing companies namely Paarl Media (South Africa), TALL Security Print Limited (United Kingdom) – provided printing services in the petitioned elections that saw the impugned victory of President Yoweri Museveni in the elections held in that country on February 18, 2016. Whereas the Supreme Court of Uganda upheld the outcome of the election results, the judgment of nine justices, read out by the head of the Supreme Court, Bart Katureebe, said they had found valid evidence of several malpractices including late delivery of polling materials…,” read part of the letter.

Zambia is headed for polls on August 11 and according to the UPND, the party does not want participation by a firm that was involved in the Ugandan presidential elections.

“Our clients object to subject the process of preparing and delivering ballot papers- for the forthcoming elections in this country – to any firm that participated in the just ended Uganda elections, which include Al-Ghurair Printing and Publishing Limited of Dubai,” the letter adds.

Al-Ghurair Printing and Publishing Limited of Dubai has been shortlisted on a list of companies to supply voting material in the oncoming Zambia national elections.

However, contacted for comment Uganda’s Electoral Commission (IEC) spokesperson Jotham Taremwa dismissed UPND’s assertions as speculative and inconsistent, devoid of any meaningful ground?

According to Mr Taremwa, the alleged late delivery of ballots in Uganda has nothing to do with the printing in Dubai.

The UPND is Zambia’s second leading party. Established in 1998 the party fielded Anderson Mazoka in the 2001 elections and he came second behind Movement for Multi Party Democracy’s (MMD), the late Levy Mwanawasa.

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The Ministry of Education has released the admission list for government sponsored students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST).

Government sponsors 2,500 students in the five public universities of Makerere, Kyambogo, Mbarara, Gulu and Busitema, with Makerere University taking the lion’s share of 2,000 students while 500 students are shared amongst the four other public universities.

Government has two programmes where it sponsors bright but needy students and these are; the quota system that targets students that are bright but can’t afford university tuition.

The second is a loan system, where government avails loans to bright students that qualify for entry into university but are unable to pay tuition.

Those enrolled under the loan scheme are supposed to repay the fees spent on their tuition two years after leaving university.

Click here to view the list

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A whistleblower has written to the Inspector General of Government, claiming that the process to recruit the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda National Oil Company is fraught with irregularities.

According to the complainant, several people who applied for the post and had the requisite qualifications were omitted from the shortlist, in preference for those working in the Petroleum Department of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

‘Your Lordship, the UNOC advertised for several (position) sic including the CEO of the company. We applied according to the criteria laid out in the advert attached hereby,’ the petition dated April 20 and copied to the Ministry of Finance and that of Energy and Mineral Development reads in part. The petition was received by the three addressees on April 25.

According to the petitioner, candidates for the job were required to have a Masters Degree in Engineering, Economic(s), Law, Business Administration, Finance and Petroleum Geosciences, with a minimum of 15 years’ experience, ‘ten (10 years) of which must have been in a senior position in a busy or successful company or organization. Experience in the petroleum industry is an added advantage.’

The petitioner further imputes that the set criteria was not followed and also seeks to know whether the UNOC Board of Directors approved the final shortlist.

Efforts to get comment from the energy ministry Permanent Secretary Kabagambe Kalisa were futile by press time as he was attending a meeting.

The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), also known as the National Oil Company of Uganda, is a limited liability petroleum company owned by the Uganda Government and established under the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Act, 2013 of Uganda. Its board of directors chaired by businessman Emmanuel Katongole was inaugurated on October 23, 2015 by President Yoweri Museveni.

Other Board members include Francis Nagimesi, a former chief executive officer of the defunct Coffee Marketing Board of Uganda; Francis Twinamatsiko, a principal economist in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development; Grace Tibwita Bagaaya, a physical planner; Irene Pauline Batebe, a chemical/refinery engineer in the Petroleum Directorate of Uganda; Godfrey Andama, a senior geoscientist; and Stella Marie Biwaga, a lawyer.

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The Chairperson of the East Africa Community (EAC) Election Observer Mission to Uganda Ali Hassan Mwinyi, recently handed over the final observation report of Uganda’s presidential elections to the EAC Secretary General Dr Richard Sezibera.

HE Mwinyi, a former President of Tanzania, led the 50-man team that was in Uganda from February 9 to observe the February 18 presidential elections and over the weekend presented to Amb Sezibera the report at his home in Dar es Salaam.

The Mission’s mandate was to observe the overall electoral environment, pre-election activities, the polling day, the counting and tallying of results.

H.E. Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Former President of the United Republic of Tanzania and Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera, EAC Secretary General in discussion

“I was very happy to observe the patience and orderliness with which the people of Uganda conducted her General Elections,” Mr Mwinyi said, adding: “These and many other things that have also been highlighted in the report can be used as benchmarks for which other countries can borrow good practices from.

Receiving the report the Secretary General thanked Mr Mwinyi for his leadership and commitment to the EAC Elections Observers Mission, and noted that: “the cooperation between the EAC and other stakeholders led to sustainable peace in the country.”

The report consists of recommendations to streamline and improve the electoral process for future in Uganda, and will be submitted to, among others, the Electoral Commission of Uganda, through the EAC Council of Ministers for consideration. 

The members of the EAC Election Observer Mission were drawn from different but complementary disciplines and include: members of the East African Legislative Assembly, delegates from four Partner States (Kenya, United Republic Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi), EAC Youth Ambassadors, Mission Leader, Mission Coordinator, one EAC Executive Staff and technical officers from the Secretariat as well as EALA.

The EAC Observer Mission was a response to the invitation of the Uganda Electoral Commission as well as the decision of the EAC Council of Ministers on observation of elections in the Partner States.

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