President Yoweri Museveni has stressed that Uganda needs more electricity to boost the manufacturing sector that will in turn provide employment to the country’s growing population.
“We want electricity now especially in the manufacturing sector. Our population is growing and we have to get jobs for them,” Mr Museveni said.
The President was speaking today while meeting a delegation of the Norwegian hydro power investors led by the Chief Executive Officer of SN Power Company Mr. Torger Lien.
Other members of the delegation at the meeting that took place at State Lodge in Fort-portal included Ambassador Johnny Carson, the Senior Vice President and Head of Exploration in the SN Power Company Mr. Torb Jorn E. Kirkeby_Garstad and the President of Sithe Global, Brian H. Kubeck.
Dr. Kevin K Kariuki, Head of Infrastructure Industrial Promotion Services (Kenya) Limited also attended the meeting.
The investors pose for a group photo
SN Power is in the process of taking over the development of Bujagali hydro-power station in Jinja from Sithe Global Company.
President Museveni thanked the Agha Khan group and partners for the initial development of Bujagali hydro-power station that helped in curbing load shedding.
He added that apart from peace and security, development of the railway line and good roads, electricity is another important element in the country’s economic development as it contributes to lowering costs of production and doing business in general.
Mr Museveni assured the Norwegian investors of a conducive investment environment in the country as well as government’s support to their venture.
President Museveni is on a security assessment tour in Bundibugyo district
President Yoweri Museveni, who is currently in the Rwenzori Sub-Region in Western Uganda on a security assessment tour, has directed the immediate increased deployment of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Police Force in the border district Bundibugyo after complaints from the people of the area about the deteriorating security situation in that district.
The President, accompanied by the First Lady Janet Museveni, who is also Minister for Karamoja Affairs, arrived in the region yesterday and went up to Lamia border post on the Uganda/Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border. President Museveni, who was also accompanied by the UPDF’s 2nd Division Commander, Brigadier Peter Elweru and the Rwenzori Regional Police Commander, immediately directed the UPDF and the Police to increase their forces in Bundibugyo in order to ensure that peace, security and sanity is restored in the district without further delay.
President Museveni addresses area residents in Bundibugyo
“That’s why I came here. I have heard your security concerns and I have directed the Army and the Police to deploy heavily and ensure peace and security returns and people go back to their homes. We can’t entertain banditry and we can’t negotiate with bandits. They either come out or we shall get them out of their hide outs,” Mr Museveni said.
The President addressed hundreds of people, both Ugandan and Congolese nationalities and also made inquiries and interacted with the people on the security situation at the Uganda-DRC border point and the neighboring areas in general.
Although not many complaints were raised on border security, Congolese nationals petitioned President Museveni to prevail over Uganda immigration officials who stop DRC nationals from freely crossing into Uganda to do business in the country.
President Museveni in Bundibugyo
President Museveni promised Congolese nationals that he will discuss the matter with the DRC authorities but added that he has no objection to the matter since Congolese and Ugandans are the same people.
“Ugandans and Congolese are one people with the same heritage and most of you at the border speak one language and are related. These are mere colonial boundaries. I don’t see why you shouldn’t work together freely,” he said.
Several people that the President talked to on the numerous stopovers that he made at Busunga border town, Kabutabure Trading Centre, Nyahuka Town Council, Kayengye Trading Centre and in Bundibugyo Municipality, complained of the presence of several criminals and bandits in the region who specially come from the mountainous Rwenzori areas to terrorize villages in the low laying land areas killing people, looting their property and causing unacceptable insecurity.
“It is only the towns that are peaceful but people have been terrorized and have abandoned their homes in villages to stay in towns where there is Police presence that is also not enough,” Bundibugyo residents told the President.
“Wrong elements have even disconnected the water supply system from the mountains cutting water supply to Bundibugyo Town,” the Resident District Commissioner of Bundibugyo, Geoffrey Mucunguzi told the President.
President Museveni at a hotspring
Earlier, President Museveni made a brief stop at Sempaya tourist site and toured Nyansimbi hot springs in Semuliki National Park. Mr. Moses Rukiza, a ranger at the Park, conducted him on the tour of the hot springs.
Rukiza told the President that the waters at the hot springs offer one of the most prominent tourist attractions in Semuliki National Park and boil up to 97 degrees. He also told him that the hot spring of Nyansimbi is historically known to be the ancestral origin of the Bamaga clan of the Bamba tribe of Bundibugyo district.
According to Rukiza, due to the importance that the clan attaches to the hot spring, the Bamaga clan members visit the hot spring annually in the month of November to seek blessings for their children, for wealth and many others supplications. The President commended the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) workers at Sempaya tourist site for their good work in the tourism sector in particular and to the country as a whole.
President Yoweri Museveni, who is currently in the Rwenzori Sub-Region in Western Uganda on a security assessment tour, has directed for immediate increased deployment of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Police Force in the border district Bundibugyo after complaints from the people of the area about the deteriorating security situation.
The President, accompanied by the First Lady Hon. Janet Museveni who is also Minister for Karamoja Affairs, arrived in the region yesterday and went up to Lamia border post on the Uganda/Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border. He addressed hundreds of people, both Ugandan and Congolese nationalities and also made inquiries and interacted with the people on the security situation at the Uganda-DRC border point and the neighboring areas in general.
Although not many complaints were raised on the border security, Congolese nationals petitioned President Museveni to prevail over Uganda immigration officials who stop DRC nationals from freely crossing into Uganda to do business in the country.
President Museveni promised Congolese nationals that he will discuss the matter with the DRC authorities but added that he has no objection to the matter since Congolese and Ugandans are the same people.
“Ugandans and Congolese are one people with the same heritage and most of you at the border speak one language and are related. These are mere colonial boundaries. I don’t see why you shouldn’t work together freely,” he said.
Several people that the President talked to on the numerous stopovers that he made at Busunga border town, Kabutabure Trading Centre, Nyahuka Town Council, Kayengye Trading Centre and in Bundibugyo Municipality, complained of the presence of several criminals and bandits in the region who specially come from the mountainous Rwenzori areas to terrorize villages in the low laying land areas killing people, looting their property and causing unacceptable insecurity.
“It is only the towns that are peaceful but people have been terrorized and have abandoned their homes in villages to stay in towns where there is Police presence that is also not enough,” Bundibugyo residents told the President.
“Wrong elements have even disconnected the water supply system from the mountains cutting water supply to Bundibugyo Town,” the Resident District Commissioner of Bundibugyo, Mucunguzi Geoffrey told the President.
President Museveni, who was accompanied by the UPDF’s 2nd Division Commander, Brigadier Peter Erweru and the Rwenzori Regional Police Commander, immediately directed the UPDF and the Police to increase their forces in Bundibugyo in order to ensure that peace, security and sanity is restored in the district without further delay.
The government of Uganda is contented with the pace and quality at the Isimba hydropower dam project that is under construction in Nampanyi village, Busaana Sub-county in Kayunga District after a thorough investigation.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Eng. Irene Muloni on Wednesday spent nine hours inspecting the 183MW $556m (about Shs1.8 trillion) dam after President Museveni ordered her to verify on defects and noncompliance with design specifications presented to State House by the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) – the state agency that is mandated with running completed power plants. The lead supervisor, Energy Infratech from India, is accused of failing to supervise Chinese firm China International Water and Electric Corporation.
“In the recent past there have been concerns in the media over defects and noncompliance at Isimba dam but as the government of Uganda we are satisfied with the quality of work. The rock at the site is very robust and the dam is safe,” Ms Muloni told Eagle Online.
“There is no cause for alarm, the tests were done and passed. More efforts have been made to have periodic tests in case there is need for them as we also continue to engage in regular consultative meetings with all the interested parties,” she added.
“Emphasis is being made to address any concerns and also observe the contracts. As government we think we hit a jackpot because we have many experts with all eyes open. We actually drove to Isimba to confirm whether the feared concerns are true but what we have found is that tests have been carried out for every batch of work and all is fine.
The Permanent Secretary, Eng. Kabagambe Kaliisa warned that the contractors to adhere to agreeable contractual specifications for quality work.
“We are grateful to find that there are no defects on the draft tube as reported in the press and if it were true that they existed before, we have found none and this means that you are correct whatever is viewed by supervisors as inaccurate,” he said.
Eng. Kabagambe also said that reports that the lead supervisor, Energy Infratech from India, failed to supervise Chinese firm China Water were untrue but what was observed differences in the implementation framework. The dam’s progression is at 27 per cent and will be completed in August 2018.
Traveling through Uganda is such an adventure, with every destination you set you stay amazed and more excited due to the different landscape and scenery changes. The most amazing of these beautiful nature given gifts in the country are the several waterfalls you can find in different locations.
Murchison Falls
The most famous to foreign visitors, the falls are spectacular to behold with the resounding roar through the rocks carved between Lake Albert and Lake Kyoga in the Albertine region on the White Nile. The 43 metre high and 7 meters wide Waterfalls share their name with the Murchison Falls National Park that is located in the northwestern part of Uganda. The falls have tumbled into the victoria nile around the rocks and have several bird species that live around it making it a generally good destination for both bird watchers and other water related sport activities. You can access the falls through the national park which has several lodges within and outside the park.
Bujagali Falls
Commonly known as Budhagali falls by the Basoga in Jinja (the largest tribe in the area), this amazing beauty in the area still brings out nature’s beauty in Uganda. They might not be as high as they used to be due to electricity dam, but these rapids are sight to behold; they are also known as the source of the Nile. They are located just a few kilometers from Jinja town and the Kampala- Highway and must be the busiest water location in Uganda. There is a variety of activity on the rapids everyday with ranging from kayaking, white water rafting to bungee jumping.
Sipi Falls
Probably the most amazing fall views in Uganda, Sipi falls are located on the northern and western sides of the Mount Elgon in, Eastern Uganda in a scattered series of beautiful cascading structures scattered distances all over the mountain with each view more extraordinary than the other.
Sipi is divided into several falls with the; 5o metres high/ 7 metres wide simu & sisi falls in Soronko with the Ngasire and the Simba plunging several 87 meters and 69 metres respectively into beautiful streams extreme divers and swimming.
There are other waterfalls on the mountain; sisiyi, bulago and wanale according to the Uganda wildlife authority. All the waterfalls are a few kilometres from the Mbale highway and have several hotels in the vicinity for lodgings.
Ripon Falls
Located on the northern end of the Lake Victoria along the Nile, the falls were previously believed to be the source of the Nile and were submerged after the completion of the Owen Falls Dam.
Karuma Falls
These sequences of rock formations from the Victoria Nile forma beautiful ripple of waters that create a white foam that is beguiling to observe. Karuma falls are located between Masindi and Gulu district connected by the Karuma bridge that was constructed in 1963. The location is worth a visit and like the Bujagali falls is good for white water rafting and kayaking.
Owen Falls
The falls were among the best waterfalls in the country for sight seeing before they were submerged in 1954 when the Owen Falls Dam was completed and now they are heavy rapids on the White Nile that are located near Ripon Falls.
As the several rapids in Uganda, the Owen falls are very suitable for any regulated water sport such as; kayaking.
Authorities in Djibouti have expelled a team of BBC journalists who were in the Horn of Africa country to cover the presidential elections, slated for tomorrow, April 8.
The expulsion of the four has been condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which said that journalists should report on presidential elections without harassment or fear of expulsion.
“An election can be free and fair only if journalists can cover it without being harassed, detained, or expelled,” said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney.
He added: “The expulsion of a news crew after they had interviewed the foreign minister and an opposition figure is an act of censorship and casts doubt on the fairness and transparency of this poll.”
Meanwhile, the BBC said that it had written to the government of Djibouti inquiring why the Djibouti authorities had detained and expelled its team of reporters and producers, including the BBC’s Africa security correspondent, Tomi Oladipo.
The team of journalists was in the country ahead of presidential elections and was accredited to work there, Police detained the group after they interviewed Djibouti’s foreign minister and an opposition candidate on April 1, then put them on a plane the following morning, the BBC said. Oladipo described their ordeal in an interview.
According to the BBC, the Djiboutian government has not responded to a letter from the broadcaster seeking an explanation. Neither the office of the prime minister nor the minister of foreign affairs returned CPJ’s phone calls about the matter.
Available information indicates that President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who is seeking a fourth term in tomorrow’s elections, was first elected as President in 1999 as the handpicked successor to his uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who had ruled Djibouti since independence in 1977.
African Union guidelines for a free and fair elections hold that there must be freedom of ‘assembly, association, expression, and campaigning as well as access to the media on the part of all stakeholders’.
French soldiers hand over an unwilling Genocide victim to militiamen at a road block during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
French youth leaders and their other European colleagues have called upon the French government to take responsibility for France’s role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
The youth made the call through their organisation, the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement (EGAM).
EGAM is an umbrella of youth wings of political organisations and students’ unions.
In a document titled “Rwanda: Breaking silence” the youth called on the French government to hold leaders accountable for their actions during and in the build up to the Genocide, which have been well documented by various scholars and investigative journalists.
Their call comes shortly after former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe used his Twitter account in an attempt to absolve France role in the Genocide.
Juppe’s tweet, in French, read, “Faire procès à la France de porter une part de responsabilité dans le génocide aux Rwanda est une honte et une falsification historique”, loosely translated as ‘Implicating France in the Rwandan Genocide is a disgrace and a historical distortion”.
The lack of serious action by Paris today, the youth point out, implies that current top French leaders are endorsing responsibilities which are, however, not their own, but those of some of their predecessors during the 1990s. “They perpetuate a silence that multiplies the suffering of survivors, which undermines the democratic functioning of institutions, which transmits ideologies that led to the massacre and prevents justice from working. That is why we must break this silence,” the French youth said.
They also called on the current French president to in have frank conversations based on truth about the role of his country in the Genocide.
“This discourse of truth must be accompanied by strong symbolic actions, such as declassification of all records, without exception, concerning the engagements of France in Rwanda between 1990 and 1995, including all those on the operation “Turquoise,” regarded as a key support tool for the genocidal regime of the time in Rwanda.
The French youth also urge their Ministry of Foreign Affairs to stop obstructing the actions of civil society groups committed to speaking the truth about the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, in 1994.
EGAM delegation at Kigali Genocide Memorial center
“This will help to put an end to the exploitation of the state apparatus in favor of impunity.”
Their call is signed by 20 French deputies, 11 European deputies, and numerous mayors and representative of political, youth and anti racist European associations.
They add that ever since the movement launched the initiative dubbed Génocide contre les Tutsis : la vérité, maintenant!” (Genocide against the Tutsi: The Truth, now!) the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly cut off their funding.
Since 2014, the youth have traveled to Rwanda in April, to join Rwandans in commemorating the anniversary of the 1994 Genocide.
The suspected ivory dealers appearing at the Buganda Road court
Two UPDF soldiers and three civilians have been charged with illegal possession of 12 pieces of ivory at Buganda Road magistrate’s court.
Major Allen Rutagira and Corporal Collins and the three co-accused were charged with unlawful possession of protected species and, accepting and conspiracy to commit a felony.
Prosecution led by the Resident State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya, avers that the accused conspired to commit the crimes and were arrested on March 24 at Hotel Africana while in possession of the ivory pieces weighing 19 kilogrames, valued at Shs 129 million.
Buganda road court Chief Magistrate James Ereemye granted Corporal Kamugisha Collin cash bail of Shs2 million but remanded Maj Rutagira after finding inconsistencies with his sureties’ introduction letters and national identity cards.
The three civilians, Simon Mbonye, Alex Sande, and Silva Kiiza were also denied bail since they had no lawyers and their sureties lacked documentation.
Hunting and trading in wildlife and wildlife products without authorisation is prohibited by law.
President Museveni alights from the presidential Gulfstream 5
State House has refuted ongoing reports that it is in the process of procuring a new jet for President Museveni.
Speaking on to the EagleOnline this morning, State House comptroller Ms Lucy Nakyobe said there is no way they can buy a jet for the President without Parliament’s approval.
She also noted that the current jet is still in good shape and can fly to any far destinations. “We are not planning to buy any jet, it can fly to far places like Japan and Australia without making any stopover, we are not going to buy a new jet for the president,” Ms Nakyobe said on phone.
Earlier reports had indicated that the government intends to sell the current presidential jet, a Gulf stream 5, and top up the proceeds and acquire a new Gulf stream 6.
In 2009 government acquired the Gulf-stream 5 at a cost of Shs88 billion, sparking off harsh reactions from the opposition legislators.
President Museveni alights from the presidential Gulfstream 5
KAMPALA: State House is in negotiations with a German company to procure a new presidential jet for president Museveni.
The current Gulf Stream V will be sold to top up and acquire a sophisticated Gulfstream G650 that costs over $60m. “The negotiations are almost done,” the government source said.
The current presidential jet cost government $40m in 2011. It was purchased to replace a Gulfstream IV which was bought at Shs60 billion in 2000.
It’s not clear how much the current one will be sold but sources say the new jet to be procured is needed to reduce on stopovers the president makes when on long flights.
This planned procurement may cause a backlash from the opposition who think this is unnecessary expenditure for a poor country like Uganda.
Functions of Gulfstream G650
At a long-range cruise speed of Mach 0.85, the Gulfstream G650 flies 7,000 nautical miles/12,964 kilometers nonstop with eight passengers.
Its interior design
An 8 foot 6 inch /2.59 meter-wide cabin, the largest in its class, helps create an exquisitely comfortable environment for 18 passengers.
Sixteen large Gulfstream panoramic windows, each 28 by 20.5 inches/71 by 52 centimeters, allow abundant sunlight into the cabin, even in the galley. Every window has been repositioned higher on the fuselage to maximize viewing comfort.
