Stanbic Bank
Stanbic Bank
25 C
Kampala
Stanbic Bank
Stanbic Bank
Home Blog Page 2254

NRM gets 300 cows in campaign support

By
Steven F Mandu
-
President Museveni who is also NRM party flag bearer receives gifts from supporters during campaigns.

National Resistance Movement candidate Yoweri Museveni has disclosed that party supporters have contributed 332 head of cattle, both local and exotic, and Shs38.5 million in campaign donations.

In a lengthy document titled ‘The joy of campaigning for the NRM 2015-2016’ issued on January 17, Mr Museveni detailed the various donations made by supporters at rallies he addressed in 196 campaign areas since his nomination on November 4 last year.

According to the NRM candidate, his supporters in Ibanda gave him 30 Friesian cows; those in Kazo 127 long horn cattle; those in Nyabushozi 120 long horn cattle); 50 Friesians in Kashongyi and 5 Freisians in Kitagwenda.

Other donors included a one Mrs. Muhindo in Kisinga; Ms. Sylvia Rwabwogo, the woman flag bearer of Kabarole and party supporters in Rubabo, Rukungiri district, who gave a cow each. According to Mr Museveni, the party supporters had also contributed goats, sheep, pigs and chicken, which he directed the NRM Secretariat to take the livestock to Ngoma Farm, ‘as we arrange for their long–term management and multiplication’.

Candidate Museveni also declared that the campaign kitty had received a monetary boost of Shs 25 million from the traders of Ntungamo; Shs 12m from the NRM Chairman of Nakapiripirit and Shs1.5 million from a yet to be identified youth from Bugabula South.

He however, decried poor funding by party supporters, noting that the rich exhibit a lackluster attitude toward funding party activities, including the construction of the party headquarters.

‘The only inconvenience has been the funding. Ugandans that are wealthy or not so badly off do not bother with funding the NRM,’ Mr Museveni wrote, adding: ‘I have told you before that I hear that there are six million account holders in Banks. If each one contributed, one time, shs.50, 000, we would collect shs.300bn, enough to fund comfortably this campaign and start on building the NRM House as well as paying for Kyadondo Plot 10.

According to Mr Museveni, even if only 5 million NRM sympathizers contributed Shs50, 000 each, the party would be Shs.250bn richer.

‘Obukorwa tibwiita bukombeera (The mongoose though tiny will kill a big animal by combining effort).  Small contributions from a large number of people will bring in more money than a few big contributors,’ he wrote.

He however, expressed gratitude to the big contributors, who he said, had ‘solely carried the burden’, before directing party officials to trace and acknowledge the contribution of the Bugabula youthful contributor.

He also said that with the limited funds, the party had only managed to pay for NRM flag bearers nomination fees.

‘With more funding, things would have been smoother. We would have organizationally consolidated the mass enthusiasm for the NRM to create more cohesion. It will still be done although it has taken longer’, Mr Museveni wrote.

 

 

 

Stories Continues after ad

Cranes in ‘traditional football math’ again

By
Julius Mwesigye
-
Crane Coach Milotin Micho.

The complex mathematics puzzle is here with us again: ‘Uganda Cranes can qualify for the quarterfinals if they defeat Zimbabwe by two goals in the last game and hope Zambia beats Mali’.

Yesterday, Uganda’s chances of advancing to the quarter-finals of the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) were thwarted by Zambia, after the latter beat Uganda 1-0 in a match dominated by the Cranes, played at the Umuganda Stadium.

The lone Zambian goal was scored by striker Christopher Katongo on the 41st minute, throwing Uganda into another one of its mathematics calculations in continental competitions.

Uganda has had a history of complex calculations at continental competitions, the last being during the Cranes of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers in 2013.

At the time, the Cranes needed only a draw against traditional regional rivals Kenya to qualify for the finals in South Africa.

Meanwhile, African giants Atlas Lions of Morocco will qualify for the CHAN quarter-finals if they beat Rwanda today. Rwanda, with six points, has already qualified for the Q/Finals.

 

 

Stories Continues after ad

US pushes AU leaders on Burundi peacekeeping force

By
Our Reporter and Agencies
-
U S Ambassador to the UN,Samantha Power.

The United States has urged African leaders to “work behind the scenes” before their annual summit next weekend to convince Burundi to accept a deployment of international troops in the tiny African state amid festering political violence.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said members of the African Union Peace and Security Council expected leaders to endorse its proposed deployment of 5,000 troops to protect civilians, despite a rejection of the force by Burundi.

“I didn’t get a sense from the African countries gathered in the room that they’re going to take that as a final answer,” Power told reporters after a meeting between the UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa.

“As well as the AU meeting (next weekend) to endorse it, we will need leaders to work behind the scenes to get the Burundi government to change its position,” she said.

Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza says the plan to send peacekeepers would constitute ‘an invading force’. Nkurunziza’s re-election for a third term last year sparked the crisis, which has raised fears of an ethnic conflict in a region where memories of neighboring Rwanda’s 1994 genocide remain fresh.

The UN Security Council traveled to Burundi on Thursday for one night, it’s second visit to the country in less than 10 months. The United Nations estimates the death toll at 439 people but says it could be higher. More than 240,000 people have fled abroad and the country’s economy is in crisis.

The African Union plans to seek UN Security Council backing for any deployment of troops. France will draft a resolution, Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alexis Lamek said, adding that an initial priority was to send some 100 AU human rights and military observers to Burundi.

Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said the situation in Burundi appeared to be improving, but not to the point where ‘we can say we should put it on the back burner’.

“For us it will be very difficult to oppose any resolution from the African Union because we always say that there should be African solutions to African problems,” he said of any request for UN authorization to deploy troops. Russia is a council veto power.

“There are no signs of genocide, but there is potential for genocide … but there is no imminent threat,” he said. Iliichev said on Friday that Burundi did not need peacekeepers and instead needed help increasing its police capacity.

During a meeting with the UN Security Council on Friday, Nkurunziza accused neighboring Rwanda of supporting rebels by training and arming Burundian refugees recruited on Rwandan soil. Rwanda has previously dismissed the allegations.

“It is in the interests of the Burundian government to consent to having an enhanced African presence in Burundi to monitor the border, to disarm those elements outside the traditional security forces and to help stabilize the situation,” Power said.

Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix – about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups.

 

Stories Continues after ad

Mugabe, Obiang in pre-AU meet

By
Jonathan Kamoga
-
President Obiang and Mugabe enjoying a moment at the previous AU Summit.

Two of Africa’s longest-serving presidents have held a meeting ahead of the Africa Union Summit in Addis Ababa, next week.

According to The Herald newspaper AU Chairman Mugabe, who returned home from vacation in the Far East on Friday after close to a month away, met Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who is on a three-day official visit to Zimbabwe, for consultations before the 26th African Union Summit.

Before his return to the country, rumour mill had it that Mugabe, 91, had ‘died’ after suffering a heart attack. The Nonagerian turns 92 next month and preparations by his party, the ZANU–PF to celebrate his birthday, usually held on February 21, are underway at the Great Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, the first and only post-Independence leader of Zimbabwe has been in power since 1980, while his guest Mbasogo came to power after ousting his uncle Francois Macias Nguema through a coup in 1979.

This year the two presidents mark 36 and 37 years in power, the latter being only 5 years shy of Africa’s longest-ever serving president, Col Muammar El Gadhafi, who ruled Libya for 42 years.

Stories Continues after ad

Germany gives EAC Euro37m grant

By
Steven F Mandu
-
Mr. John Reyels, Chargé d` Affaires of the German Embassy Dar es Salaam, signing the intergovernmental agreement with the EAC’s Secretary General Amb. Dr. Richard Sezibera.

The Federal Republic of Germany has signed an intergovernmental Euro 37 million grant agreement with the East African Community (EAC) to support the economic integration, regional health facilities and water resource management.

According to a release by the EAC, the money will cover the period 2016-2018 and highlights a strong commitment by Germany to support the integration process in East Africa.

During the signing ceremony, Ambassador Richard Sezibera, the EAC Secretary General, thanked the German government for her continued support to the Integration Agenda especially at a time when integration facing challenges across the world.

He said this particular financing agreement comes at the right time when the Community is finalising its New Vision 2050.

In response Mr John Reyels, Chargé d` Affaires of the German Embassy Dar es Salaam, said his country’s support underlines the importance given to the East African Community.

“The EAC is a role model and pace-setter in Africa and we are proud working closely with you in order to contribute to the well-being and prosperity of the citizens of this region,” Mr Reyels said.

Under the agreement signed earlier today, Euro 10 million in financial assistance will be invested in the establishment of a regional network of reference laboratories for communicable diseases.

The project is in response to an EAC request for support for the prevention and control of epidemic outbreaks in the region.

Another Euro 10 million in financial assistance will be used for Integrated Water Resource Management of Lake Victoria aiming at improving water provision and management of water resources. Both projects will be implemented by KfW development bank.

The agreement also provides for Euros 17 million in technical assistance to further support the economic integration process, including a contribution to the EAC partnership fund.

The programme is focusing on institutional strengthening of the EAC Secretariat and on supporting the implementation of the Customs Union, Common Market Protocols and Monetary Union. This includes the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers such as tax harmonisation as well as Mutual Recognition Agreements for qualifications.

At the same time Germany will support the EAC in promoting private investment especially in the pharmaceutical sector, including the establishment of a regional quality infrastructure for the pharmaceutical sector. These projects will be implemented by GIZ and PTB – German Metrology Institute.

Since cooperation began in 1998 the total volume of German support to the EAC amounts to almost Euro 213 million. Germany also has substantial bilateral cooperation with all five EAC Partner States of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

 

Stories Continues after ad

UN wants Al Shabaab financiers brought to book

By
Our Reporter and Agencies
-
Al-Shabaab Militants conducting training.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has called for increased vigilance to blacklist and punish the financiers of terror group Al-Shabaab.

The stance adopted by the UNSC comes in the wake of occasional attacks by Al-Shabaab, with the two most recent attacks involving the killing of several dozen Kenyan soldiers serving under the Africa Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom) and another one at a popular beachside restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu, which left about 20 people dead and injured.

‘The Council (also) paid tribute to the response of the Somali security forces to these attacks, and underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of such reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice; … those responsible for these killings should be held accountable,’ the Council stated.

Previously, there have been efforts aimed at curbing the proliferation of terror funds, and last year Kenya ordered the suspension of tens of money transfer companies with links to Somalia.

Meanwhile, in a related development Michael Keating, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, has condemned the attacks, which were perpetrated against a people attending a wedding party and a graduation celebration.

“This latest atrocity by Al-Shabaab is very deliberately intended to intimidate Somali civilians,” said SRSG Keating, adding: “We will do everything possible to ensure that al-Shabaab does not succeed in its desperate attempts to frustrate the hopes of the Somali people.”

Early this week the Al Shabaab raided the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) Amisom base at El Adde and later claimed it had killed about 100 KDF soldiers.

In response, the KDF carried out several sorties (air strikes) and later announced it had killed Mwalimu Janow, the alleged El Adde attack mastermind.

 

Stories Continues after ad

Uganda faces El Nino threat – WHO

By
Our Reporter
-
Ugandans have been warned to prepare for El-Nino such as this one.

The El Niño phenomenon that started last year poses a health threat to at least 60 million people in seven high-risk developing countries including Uganda.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), other countries that will be affected include Ethiopia, Lesotho, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Somalia and Tanzania, whose collective financial request for support has reached US$76 million.

As a result, the WHO and its partners predict a major global increase in health consequences of emergencies this year due to El Niño.

“From Ethiopia to Haiti to Papua New Guinea, we are seeing the damage from El Niño, and we believe the impact on public health is likely to continue throughout 2016, even after El Niño winds down,” said Dr Richard Brennan, Director of WHO’s Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response Department, in a press release.

El Niño is a warming of the central to eastern tropical Pacific Ocean which affects rainfall patterns and temperatures in many parts of the world but most intensely in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America which are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards. According to a new report by WHO, severe drought, flooding, heavy rains and temperature rises are all known effects of El Niño that can lead to food insecurity and malnutrition, disease outbreaks, acute water shortages, and disruption of health services. The health implications are usually more intense in developing countries with fewer capacities to reduce the health consequences.

The current El Niño from 2015 to 2016 is predicted to be the worst in recent years, and comparable to the El Niño in 1997-1998 which had major health consequences worldwide. In Eastern Africa, as a result of the El Niño in 1997-1998, WHO found that rainfall patterns were unusually heavy and led to serious flooding and major outbreaks of malaria, cholera and Rift Valley Fever.

Meanwhile, the WHO expects more countries will seek financial support to respond to El Niño effectively. Part of the response will be to provide additional health services to those in need, such as increased surveillance and emergency vaccination.

 

Stories Continues after ad

Nkurunziza backs Museveni for Burundi talks

By
Jonathan Kamoga
-
Presidents Nkurunziza and Museveni. The two were some of the 'first' African presidents to send congratulatory messages to US-President-elect Donald Trump.

Embattled Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has expressed confidence in his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, to continue chairing the mediation efforts in his strife-stricken country.

Addressing the press shortly after meeting with a 15-man UN Security Council delegation, Mr Nkurunziza said Museveni understands the problems of his country. “We told (the Security Council) that he is somebody who knows very well the problems of Burundi,” Nkurunziza was quoted as telling reporters.

In June last year President Museveni was appointed by the East African Community (EAC) to mediate between the warring factions in Burundi, which have previously held meetings in Uganda. However, Mr Museveni’s tenure as mediator has faced challenges from different actors, prompting the US to call for a change the stewardship of the talks and venue to Arusha.

Meanwhile, the US to the United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power has said little was achieved during the two-hour meeting with Mr Nkurunziza in Gitega, on the outskirts of the capital Bujumbura. It is the council’s second visit to Burundi in less than a year.

“In this meeting we did not achieve as much, frankly, as I think we would have liked. But we never give up, the cause of peace in Burundi is too important to give up,” Ms Power told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting came a day after rebels in the tiny African state raised the stakes in the crisis by declaring a general who led a failed coup in May as their leader, deepening concerns that Burundi is sliding back into conflict after its ethnically charged civil war ended in 2005.

On Thursday the rebel group, FOREBU, announced that it was now commanded by the former intelligence chief, General Godefroid Niyombare. The group said it welcomed international mediation but also called for Burundians to support their fight against Nkurunziza.

But Ms Power has made it clear that the Council wants to see more dialogue and an enhanced UN presence in Burundi.

Nkurunziza’s re-election for a third term sparked the crisis, which has raised fears of an ethnic conflict in a region where memories of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide remain fresh.

The government insists there is no ethnic bias, but opponents say districts of Bujumbura where many Tutsis live – and which were also hotbeds of protest against Nkurunziza last year – have been targeted with some Tutsis singled out.

The UN estimates the death toll at 439 people but says it could be higher. More than 240,000 people have fled abroad.

“This development shows why the UN Security Council is concerned about the risk of a downward cycle of violence,” British UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said.

Burundi’s government has accused neighboring Rwanda of supporting a rebel group by training and arming Burundian refugees recruited on Rwandan soil. Nkurunziza raised those accusations again on Friday with the Security Council. “The threat is not from within Burundi, it comes from outside,” he told the council. “The Rwandan government must be told to stop.” Rwanda has previously dismissed the allegations.

“We’ve expressed concern about the allegations of external interference … and it’s very important that nobody support armed opposition groups no matter what they assess the history,” Power said.

Meanwhile, Nkurunziza has persistently rejected the deployment of an African peacekeeping force, saying the troops would constitute ‘an invading force’.

The contentious issue that also seems to have put the West, Russia and the African Union in conflicting positions is expected to be a focus for an AU summit at the end of January.

“It’s not peacekeepers that the Burundians need. What they need is to increase their own capacity, especially their police capacity,” Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Petr Iliichev said.

“Maybe what we need is some kind of policing mission, either advisors, either trainers or maybe formed police units that will be deployed in Bujumbura … from the African Union or the UN,” he said.

Regional Western diplomats say the government has set too many conditions about who can attend talks to make them meaningful. They also say rebels may believe they can make more gains through force of arms than at the negotiating table.

 

 

 

Stories Continues after ad

Mogae takes on Mugabe over gays

By
Our Reporter and Agencies
-
Festus Mogae

Former Botswana President Festus Mogae has urged Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe to accept and respect gay rights.

Mogae was responding to reports that some African leaders were of the view that gay rights were un-African, after they applauded Mugabe when he declared at the UN 70th  General Assembly that Africans were not gay.

“In my long interaction with LGBT [lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-sexual] groups and extensive research, I have come to the realisation that we are limited in our knowledge and must be open to new discoveries. I have been converted; I used to hold the same beliefs as my counterparts. President Mugabe has said that he hates homosexuals and is on record as saying they are worse than pigs and dogs. That is still his position,” a tough-talking Mogae said before accusing Mugabe of self-aggrandisement and a raft of other human rights violations.

‘Stop hiding behind sovereignty, while abusing people,’ Mogae said in a recent interview with a United Nations online magazine, Africa Renewal, adding: “Sovereignty has limits like any other right. A leader cannot kill and harass his people and hide behind sovereignty. A true leader does not kill, but protects his people.”

The fire-spitting Mogae, who is a business partner of Zimbabwe second Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko in the Choppies Supermarket group, also accused Mugabe and his Zanu PF administration of ‘thinking they are more important than his country’.

“We still have leaders in Africa who think they are indispensable, larger than life and more important than their countries. That must stop. If a leader loses control, the world will and should intervene to save the people,” Mogae said.

Mogae, who was recently in Zimbabwe for the official opening of a Choppies Supermarket in Chitungwiza by Mugabe, further said the Zimbabwean leader should dump ‘outdated beliefs’.

“While I admit that the West often push their agendas on Africa, which we must be wary of, I also believe we must, as Africans, admit that the world is changing and we must move with the times,” he told the magazine, and added: “This means often abandoning some of our long-held convictions about life, if the need arises.”

Reacting to Mogae’s attacks, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Christopher Mushohwe said he had read the interview but that no mention had been made of Mr Mugabe’s name.

“I read it, he did not mention the President by name, but if indeed he was referring to President Mugabe, it is unfortunate. He said it while he was in America, maybe he wanted to please the New Yorkers. Why does he wait to be in America to say it? Why not say it while he is in Africa? He was here a few days ago, why didn’t he say it? If he couldn’t do it here, he could have said it while in Botswana. That is the problem with most African leaders, they think if they are in Europe, they are Europeans, if they are in America, they are Americans.”

Botswana has remained a lone voice in the region against Mugabe’s perceived excesses including gay rights abuse, demanding a return to legitimacy and respect of human rights in Zimbabwe, much to the chagrin of the veteran Zanu PF leader.

Current Botswana President Ian Khama has also clashed with Mugabe on several occasions on various issues.

Gay rights remain a contentious issue in Southern Africa with South Africa being the only country to recognise homosexual marriages.

 

 

Stories Continues after ad

Museveni is not worth US$13billion-Saleh

By
Our Reporter
-
Gen Salim Saleh

Senior Presidential Advisor on defence Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho aka Salim Saleh has refuted claims that president Yoweri Museveni is worth US$13billion.

Gen. Saleh who is also the young brother to President Museveni wrote on Ugandans At Heart (UAH) Facebook group rubbishing the allegations by one of the members on the forum that Mr Museveni was worth US$13.

“Mukulu Semuwemba, This platform is a useful tool for sharing ideas. I want to state that the President of Uganda does not have assets worth even 13 billion Uganda Shillings so when I see US$13 billion being suggested on the platform, I wonder how this impression can be corrected.” Gen Akandwanaho wrote.

Last year President Museveni said despite being one of the least paid Presidents in Africa, he is a rich man because of what he earns from Agriculture. Museveni is considered one of the largest cattle keepers and traders in the country.

“Your President is one of the least paid on the continent. Although I earn little from your government, I’m a rich man from agriculture. When I tell you that commercial agriculture is wealth, am telling you what I know,” he said.
Mr Museveni referring to a report by the Africa Review that compiled and analyzed salaries of African leaders to try and see the relationship between those in power and the governed.

 

Last year similar allegations were made by a Nigerian magazine that ranked him among the richest president but its findings were dismissed as their sources of the allegation were unknown.

Stories Continues after ad
1...2,2532,2542,255...2,409Page 2,254 of 2,409

© Eagle Online. All rights reserved.

About Us

Popular Category

Editor Picks