Prof. Nixon Kamukama has been appointed new Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST). He has the instruments of power and he assumes his duties in 2016. The new Deputy Vice-Chancellor was appointed by the Mbarara University of Science and Technology Council On December 2015. He replaces long-serving former Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Pamela Kasabiiti Mbabazi.

Prof. Kamukama, is currently the Head of Department of Procurement and Logistics Management in the Faculty of Computing and Management Science. The university is one of the eight public universities and degree awarding institution in Uganda.
The Dean faculty of Computing and management Science Assoc. Prof. Moya Mosa said, “I am confident you will continue to hold MUBS flag high along side MUST flag, be MUBS ambassador and MUBS shall remain proud of you”.

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Starting next year, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) says it will introduce road user fees levied on all vehicles accessing the city.

KCCA Executive Director,  Jennifer Musisi says this is one of the ways of reducing traffic congestion within the city centre.

Musisi notes that some of the roads entering the city, majorly connecting from the major highways are sequentially damaged due to the heavy vehicles like trailers and trucks that carry heavy load.

She says the fees collected from the vehicles will be allocated towards rehabilitation and construction of city roads. Charges are expected to be levied according to the vehicle weight and distance traveled.

Musisi said it is a practice allover the globe for developed cities to charge parking fees as well as road user fees to generate revenue to maintain the city roads and services.

Musisi was however non-committal on the roads where the user fees will be charged, saying the final details will be released at the beginning of January, 2016.

In 2008, government scrapped the road license fees, charged on all motorists and incorporated into fuel prices remitted to the road fund set up to manage road construction and rehabilitation.

“Our revenue collections have not been very good this financial year. Government also cut Shs 35bn from our budget so we need to find means to raise revenue,” Musisi says.

Musisi says the authority is also considering increasing street parking fees within the centre. The proposals are contained in the Kampala Physical Development Plan (PDP), which covers the city’s development between 2012 and 2040.

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The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged authorities in Ethiopia to release news anchor Fikadu Mirkana.

Fikadu, who works for the state-run broadcaster Oromia Radio and TV, was arrested at his Addis Ababa home on Saturday morning.
CPJ could not determine the reason for Fikadu’s arrest. It comes as Oromia Radio and TV has, in recent weeks, covered protests against a plan to expand the Ethiopian capital, in a move that campaigners say would displace hundreds of thousands of farmers. Dozens of protesters have been killed during clashes with police during the unrest in the regional state of Oromia, according to Human Rights Watch.

“Journalists have a vital role to play in ensuring the flow of information, both from the Ethiopian government and also, critically, from those who will be affected by its decisions,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Sue Valentine in New York. “We call on authorities to release Fikadu Mirkana immediately.”
It is not clear where Fikadu is being held and neither his family nor his lawyers have been allowed access to him, an Addis Ababa-based journalist, who has spoken with Fikadu’s family and who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told CPJ.

The Ethiopian authorities in Addis Ababa and the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for details about Fikadu’s arrest.

In recent weeks, the Ethiopian government has used anti-terror rhetoric against campaigners, with the communications minister, Getachew Reda, branding them ‘terrorists’ and ‘demonic’, according to a column by Awol Allo, a fellow in human rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science, published Saturdayon Al-Jazeera’s website. This language usually presages a crackdown on dissenters, the column said.

Media reports indicate that protests in Oromia, a region that stretches across central Ethiopia and is home to a third of the country’s population, have affected at least 30 towns and prompted the arrest of more than 500 people since mid-November.

Ethiopia is the third largest jailer of journalists on the African continent, with at least 10 behind bars on December 1, CPJ’s 2015 prison census shows.

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Somalia’s Federal Government has banned Christmas and New Year celebrations in the capital Mogadishu, saying the celebrations are not Islamic.

Director General of Somalia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow and the Vice Chairman of the Supreme Religious Council (SRC), Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan made the announcement on Tuesday at a press conference in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

“All events related to Christmas and New Year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture, which could damage Aqidah (faith) of the Muslim community,” Sheikh Kayrow was quoted as saying by the media.

‘’All security forces are advised to halt or dissolve any gatherings. There should be no activity at all,’’ he added.

“We Islamic scholars are warning against the celebration of such events which are not relevant to the principles of our religion. Such events give also al-Shabaab to carry out attacks,’’ Sheikh Gurhan, the SRC deputy chairman, said.

The announcements by the minister and religious cleric come in the wake of fears that the Al Shabaab could strike during such festive days like happened last year, when members of the Islamic extremist group launched a deadly attack on the African Union (AU) force headquarters in Mogadishu during a Christmas party, killing 12 Ugandan soldiers and other foreign nationals.

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The United States embassy in Uganda has spoken out against the violence that seems to be gaining currency in the ongoing campaigns for the 2016 general elections.

‘The US Embassy notes with concern what appears to be an increasingly tense campaign environment in the lead up to the 2016 elections in Uganda,’ the Embassy wrote in a statement released on December 22.

The US Embassy reaction comes in the wake of violent clashes in Ntungamo and in Omoro County in Northern Uganda, where scores of people were hurt.

‘Several recent campaign-related events, including the violence at Ntungamo and its aftermath, have the potential to undermine the potential for a free, fair and peaceful election. We urge all parties to exercise restraint, uphold the rights of all Ugandan citizens, and commit to resolving differences through peaceful dialogue,’ the release adds.

Following the Ntungamo debacle, President Yoweri Museveni weighed in and warned that those involved in the attacks against the National Resistance Movement (NRM) supporters in the south western Uganda town would face his wrath.

Subsequently, about two dozen ‘Go Forward’ supporters of presidential aspirant John Patrick Amama Mbabazi have been arrested.

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The United Kingdom has joined the United States in criticizing Rwanda over the way the East African country handled its just-concluded Referendum on amending the Constitution to allow President Paul Kagame become eligible for a third term.

According to a release on December 21, 2015 by the UK Africa Minister James Duddridge, his country is concerned about the ‘constraints on political space and the media in the run up to the Referendum’ held on December 18 and 19, for the Diaspora and home voters, respectively.

‘I acknowledge the broad participation of the Rwandan people in the referendum and its outcome. However the way in which it was conducted has damaged Rwanda’s international reputation. The short timeframe between the announcement of the referendum and the vote did not allow sufficient time for voters to consider and debate the proposed changes and for the case for and against to be made. A copy of the revised constitution was only made available less than one day ahead of the referendum, Mr Duddridge wrote, and added that” ‘it is vital that issues of such importance are debated freely and without fear’.

Citing the UK’s contribution to Rwanda’s economic development and stability, Mr Duddridge says Rwanda ‘is rightly held in high regard at home and overseas’.

He however, pours cold water on the developments attained so far, arguing that the change of Constitutions to benefit incumbent leaders (like Kagame) is recipe for disaster.

‘The UK believes that a leader who willingly cedes power and enables a peaceful and democratic transition will always be held in high regard by both their people and the rest of the world. Changing the constitution for the benefit of the incumbent risks serious damage to long-term stability and Rwanda’s reputation as a world leader’ Mr Duddridge wrote, noting that ‘the Referendum and the elections in 2017 mark a critical juncture in Rwanda’s history’.

Over the past few months Rwanda has been under global lens following a nationwide agitation by the citizens for Parliament to amend Article 101 of the Constitution that mandates a President of Rwanda to serve two-seven-year terms.

As a result, the Parliament and Senate debated and upheld the peoples’ demands to amend the Constitution before calling for a Referendum on the issue.

The Referendum held last week returned an overwhelming Yes verdict of 98 per cent, clearing the last hurdle for a possible Kagame presidency up to 2034.

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