Football governing body Fifa has today announced the world rankings, with Uganda coming in at 75.
Through the Coca Cola monthly football rankings announced in Geneva, Switzerland, Uganda is the top-ranked country in East Africa despite dropping five places from 70th in the world.
The October rankings have also seen neighbours Rwanda in 93rd; Burundi in 113th, rivals Kenya in 131st and Tanzania in 136th.
Uganda, which garnered 455 points, is also ranked 18th on the African continent behind South Africa and Zambia, among others.
For the last three months, the Uganda Cranes have not lost a game having beaten Botswana 2-0, Tanzania 3-0 and Comoros 1-0.
Uganda last played at African Cup of Nations in 1979 where they lost to Ghana 2-0 in the finals played in Accra.
Meanwhile, Algeria remains Africa’s number one footballing nation and 19th in the world.
In Africa the North Africa nation is followed by African Champions Ivory Coast in the second position; Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Egypt and Nigeria that conclude the top ten positions in Africa.
On the global footballing scene, South American giants Argentina have retained the number one position followed by World Champions Germany, who have moved from 3rd to 2nd position.
Belgium, Portugal, Columbia, Spain, Brazil, wales, Chile and England wrap up the world’s top positions.
Somalia and Djibouti are the least ranked nations in Africa in 203 and 206 positions, respectively, while the Bahamas and Anguilla are last in the world.
The world’s newest state, South Sudan, was a surprise package as the war-torn country climbed 54 positions to clinch 144th position from 198th last month.
Giants of the Nile Special University Football League meet today for a mouth-watering encounter that is expected to draw huge crowds.
2014 finalists Kyambogo University and Makerere University Business School (Mubs) will square it off at the Kyambogo grounds, in a match many will liken to last year’s finals, where Mubs edged Kyambogo 1-0 at the Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.
The win against Kyambogo gave rise to rivalry, and many at Kyambogo are today bracing for revenge in the first leg of the quarter-finals, served at home.
Kyambogo coach Deo Sserwada in an interview with Eagleonline said: “We are well prepared for Mubs and my boys are in good shape ready to tackle any war. I know Mubs is a good team because we lost to them in the finals last year but that was then, now is today, we are ready”.
His opposite number, experienced Charles Ayiekoh commonly known as ‘Mbuzi’ said his team was ready for the away match.
“Kyambogo is a hard team to beat and the fact that, they are at home, the game will be tense but my notes are clear, face the game as it is and play as a unit. There is no time for excuses because my weapons are ready to attack and defend my territory,” Ayeikoh, who also coaches Azam Premier League side Soana FC said.
Today’s game will be the last game of the first leg of the UFL and action resumes next week as Makerere host KIU (2:1) and Nkumba host Ndejje (1:2) in the return and final leg of the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, both Kyambogo and Mubs have been cautioned against poor fan behavior and according to UFL Manager Anthony Tumwesigye, this time round the university competitions committee has improved on officiating and security through the deployment of police.
According to Tumwesigye, credit should go to the university officials and coordinators who have sensitized their teams and also strengthened the rules to include penalties against those found culpable.
In another development, the Nkozi-based Uganda Marty’s University beat the Mukono-based Uganda Christian University (UCU) 2-0, thanks to a Douglas Owor brace.
Prof.Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, having held the same position under former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He is Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He is co-founder and Chief Strategist of Millennium Promise Alliance, and is director of the Millennium Villages Project. Sachs is also one of the Secretary-General’s MDG Advocates,
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari finally submitted names to serve in his cabinet, four months since taking office and after announcing he intended to take personal charge of the country’s crucial oil portfolio.
The long-awaited list of nominees was submitted to Senate president Bukola Saraki at the National Assembly buildings in Abuja, the leader of the upper chamber of parliament wrote in a tweet.
Names of the nominees were not immediately disclosed.
Today is a public holiday in Nigeria to mark the 55th anniversary of independence from Britain, meaning senators will not reach a decision to approve the candidates before parliament resumes next Tuesday.
Buhari, who has been running the country with permanent secretaries (civil servants) at government ministries, on Tuesday evening said he would appoint himself minister of petroleum resources.
A junior minister will oversee the day-to-day affairs in the sector, which provides the majority of government revenue, his spokesman Femi Adesina confirmed to AFP.
Buhari, 72, has made stopping the rot in the oil sector a priority, as he seeks to cut graft and put the country’s crippled, crude-dependent finances on a firmer footing.
OPEC-member Nigeria — Africa’s number one crude producer and biggest economy — has been hit badly by a slump in global oil prices since last year, squeezing government revenue.
Oil accounts for some 90 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings.
The president has vowed to recover “mind-boggling” sums of stolen oil cash, starting with a drastic overhaul of state-run oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
The NNPC has become a byword for corruption and last year was accused of failing to remit $20 billion (18 billion euros) in revenue to the central bank.
The former military ruler Buhari has vowed that corruption and the corrupt will have no place in his government and vetting of candidates has been seen as delaying his nomination of senior ministers.
Buhari has prior experience of dealing with the oil industry. In 1977, he was oil minister under General Olusegun Obasanjo and helped establish the NNPC.
He was later in charge of the Petroleum Trust Fund during the time of General Sani Abacha in the 1990s.
A committee advising Buhari on policy before he took office has recommended he streamlines the number of ministries and ministers.
He has already moved to revamp the NNPC, sacking the entire board, announcing a probe into opaque accounting practices and appointing a new boss to make the company more transparent and profitable.
Malte Liewerscheidt, senior Africa analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said Buhari’s decision “furnishes him with maximum power to push through necessary reforms” in the oil sector.
It also demonstrated the importance he places on overhauling the industry but the analyst cautioned that concentrating powers “could send the wrong signal for the reform path ahead”.
“Concentration of powers is among the chief reasons for the poor performance of Nigeria’s oil sector governance,” Liewerscheidt said in an email.
“Buhari will need to make clear that combining the roles of president and petroleum minister will only be an extraordinary and temporary measure to accelerate reforms.”
Obasanjo also oversaw the oil ministry when he was civilian president from 1999 to 2007 and Buhari will have to guard against the perception of a potential for abuse.
“Buhari’s self-appointment is a high-risk strategy, as it links his fate as president with successful reform of the oil and gas sector,” he added.
“If he fails to deliver tangible successes soon, there will be no minister to shift the blame to.”
President Yoweri Museveni has held a bilateral meeting with the King of Jordan Abdullah II at the sidelines of the 70th United Nations General Assembly.
The two leaders discussed the security situation in the Horn of Africa and Uganda’s contribution to the task force to tackle the threat of Al shaabab in Somalia and the region.
President Yoweri Museveni said Uganda is ready to be part of the task force and would be willing to contribute to its efforts through the African Union. He extended an invitation to the King to visit Uganda.
King Abdullah II consoled President Yoweri Museveni and the people of Uganda upon the loss of Gen. Aronda Nyakairima.
The meeting was attended by Uganda’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Okello Oryem and Uganda’s Permanent representative to the UN Dr. Richard Nduhuura.
President Yoweri Museveni has held a meeting with Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Cities-Climate change.
The meeting held at the sidelines of the 70th United Nations General Assembly meeting at Uganda House. The two leaders discussed various issues concerning US-Africa relations and climate Change.
Michael Bloomberg, a three term Mayor of New York is a billionaire businessman and also Chairman of the Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Bloomberg Philanthropies are some of the major sponsors of the US-Africa Leadership Summit.
KAMPALA-The US has awarded six Ugandan military generals with prestigious medals for commanding African Union troops that have been fighting the Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of al-Qaida in Somalia.
A statement issued by the Ugandan army spokesperson, Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda Wednesday the generals were given Legion of Merit, a US military award issued for exceptionally meritorious performance.
“The Government of the United States of America has decorated six UPDF Generals in recognition of their exceptionally good contribution in the fight against terrorism and pacification efforts in Somalia,” Lt. Col. Ankunda said.
Gen. David Rodriguez, the Commander of US-Africa Command based in German, decorated the officers at Uganda’s military intelligence headquarter in Mbuya.
“I represent my Country to say thank you,” he said after a citation signed by the US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter.
Gen. Katumba Wamala, the Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces was decorated for his role as the former Land Forces commander whose role was to oversee Ugandan military operations in Somalia.
Others are; Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti and others Major Generals, Levi Karuhanga, Nathan Mugisha, Francis Okello and Fred Mugisha.
Gen. Rodriguez said less than 200 of the awards have been given to foreign leaders and that the six are the first in Uganda. “It’s the efforts and tremendous leadership that has been demonstrated by the Ugandan leaders in AMISOM,”
Breaking: Fire has gutted Gazaland, an arcade that accommodates hundred of small scale businesses that range from boutiques to salons that trade in mainly weaves for ladies. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
Mwesigwa Rukutana is seen as the most available minister to defend his boss and government policies.
Despite changing names from Francis Mugasha to Mwesigwa Barati Rukutana, the academic qualifications are mine
The Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana and Minister of State for Constitutional Affairs has said that his father registered him under different names in a bid to avoid computer hitches that would impact negatively on his education after repeating Primary Seven.
“I remember what they told us was that if you used the same names, the computer would chew the results and so my father went and enrolled me using my young brother’s names Mwesigwa Barati Rukutana,” the Minister said.
According to the Minister, as a 14-year old boy, his father changed the names from Francis Mugasha to Mwesigwa Rukutana, borrowing one name each from the father and brother, Mwesigwa Barati.
“I was admitted for senior one at Old Kampala and at that time (1973), I was only 14 years and my father was a poor man so he said to me: “you are still very young to go to Kampala and I don’t have money to afford a private school in Kampala.”
“He said you repeat so that you can get marks to take you to a nearby government school and I did adhere to the advice and I repeated,” he said.
“That time computerization had just been introduced and everybody who studied at that time will tell you that the advice was that when you repeat Primary Seven (P7) you would not use same names you used in a previous year,” the Minister said and named some of the people he studied with. “I remember Stanley Ampaire, he is a secondary teacher at Ruyonza Seed Secondary School, Rev Emmanuel Mujuni, church priest, Jackson Tugume, Fredrick Toroto, now a qualified primary teacher,” the Minister said.
He also named other P7 peers but from different schools and among them are Dan Mugarura Bakagyi, the Chairperson of Forum for Democratic Change party Electoral Commission and Stephen Tashobya, the Member of Parliament for Kajara County and Chairperson of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in Parliament.
The Minister’s clarification follows a petition by a one Julius Twesigye Kyobwe of Kayonza, Rushenyi who, on September 11, wrote to the NRM Electoral Commission boss Dr Tanga Odoi accusing Mwesigwa Rukutana, the party’s aspiring candidate for Rushenyi County, of using academic documents that are not his.
In the letter Twesigye said that the Deputy Attorney General is actually called Francis Mugasha and not Mwesigwa Rukutana, a name Twesigye says belongs to someone who passed his exams but could not proceed with is education.
The petitioner now wants ‘Mwesigwa Rukutana’ to be blocked from contesting in the forthcoming parliamentary elections and according to Dr Odoi, the matter was being handled by relative party organs.
Rukutana’s full narrative regarding his name
I was born on November 15, 1959 at a place called Ruyonza village, Nyanka parish, Rubaare sub-county Ntungamo district but by then it was Bushenyi district.
In 1966, when I was seven years old, I started going to school at Ruyonza Church School, a school with only three classes and that is to say P.1, P.2 and P.3. The school had upper classes but with the help of other parents, my father suggested that we keep on being promoted to other upper classes. He also suggested the school should open up to P7 and indeed they did and my teacher was Raphael Mukwikwi, who I think was a Senior Four drop out.
I sat for Primary Living Examinations in 1972 but got a second grade like everybody that year, given that that was the first time the school was partaking in national exams. Naturally, all of us failed to get grade one but I was the best in grade two as I got 180 marks.
I was admitted for Senior One at Old Kampala (Secondary School) and at that time in 1973, I was only 14 years and my father was a poor man so he said to me “you are still very young to go to Kampala and I don’t have money to afford a private school in Kampala”.
He said you repeat so that you can get marks to take you to a nearby government school and I did adhere to the advice and I repeated and at that time computerization had just been introduced and everybody who studied at that time will tell you that when you repeated primary seven (P7) you would not use same names you used in the previous year.
And I remember what they told us was that if you used the same names, the computer would chew the results and so my father went and enrolled me using my young brother’s names, Mwesigwa Barati Rukutana. Actually, the Rukutana name belongs to our father.
My young brother Mwesigwa Barati never went to school at that time because my father could only afford to take one child to school. Mwesigwa Barati actually went to school much later but dropped out in Primary Four.
And so back to the point; I repeated and did PLE at that church school (Ruyonza) in 1973 and I did perform well given that this was the second time the school was sitting national exams. I performed better and became the best in Western Region with 257 marks out of 300.
The people I sat (exams) with whom I remember are Stanley Ampaire, he is a secondary teacher at Ruyonza Seed Secondary School, Rev. Emmanuel Mujuni, church priest, Jackson Tugume and Fredrick Toroto, who is now a qualified primary teacher.
Other contemporaries in primary seven although from different schools are Dan Mugarura Bakagyi, the current chairman of Forum for Democratic Change party Electoral Commission, Stephen Tashobya, the Member of Parliament for Kajara County and Chairman of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in Parliament.
So in 1974, I was admitted at Mbarara High School for Senior One on scholarship. For 1978-1979, I did study Advanced Level at Kigezi High while 1980-1983, I did study for a Bachelors Degree in Law at Makerere University.
In 1984, I enrolled for Law Development Centre and I did so well that the administration of LDC asked to retain me and I lectured there until I joined politics.
I don’t know where this whole thing of me using someone else’s papers is coming from but I remember I did explain to someone in Parliament in 1994 during the Constituent Assembly.
However, it is a waste of time by those who think they can dislodge me using such malicious propaganda.
The Supreme Court has today rejected an appeal by former Arua Municipality MP Hussein Akbar Godi against conviction for murder.
Godi was in 2011 handed a 25-year sentence by then Mukono High Court Judge Lawrence Gidudu after being found guilty of killing his 19 year old wife Rehema Ceasar Nassur in 2008.
According to Gidudu, prosecution adduced enough evidence to show that Godi had murdered his wife and held that the 30 prosecution witnesses produced by the state then led by the late Joan Kagezi directly linked the former legislator to Ms Nassur’s murder.
former Arua Municipality MP Hussein Akbar Godi
Court also held that the two bullet cartridges found at the murder scene, came from the pistol owned by Godi, and that the soil sample got from his shoes was similar to that found at the murder scene.
Godi first appealed against the sentence in 2013, but his appeal was rejected, forcing him to seek reprieve in the highest court.
Today’s judgment was delivered at the Kololo-based Supreme Court by a five member panel of justices John Wilson Tsekooko, Esther Kisakye Mayambala, Galdino Okello, Jotham Tumwesigye and Christine Kitumba.
In a 4-1 ruling, the Coram upheld the Court of Appeal ruling, in effect sending Godi back to Luzira to serve his jail term. “We have carefully looked at evidence on record by the High Court and Court of Appeal and have found there is no basis for the appeal,” read Justice Tsekoko, who read the SC ruling said.
He added: “We have not found any merit on all the three grounds of the appeal; we therefore uphold the decision of the Court of Appeal and upholding the sentence.”
However, the former Arua Municipality legislator, who was all along calm during the court session, told journalists that he was not satisfied with the Supreme Court’s decision.
“Everyone knew the outcome of my case when the President went public and said that I had to be jailed. All will be said but the fact and history will always remain that I became an MP at a tender age,” Godi said.
He said the sentence will enable him read extensively to broaden his understanding.
“Since age is on my side, I will bounce back,” Godi asserted.
Even after refusing to join a group of parties and individuals seeking to wrest power from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), the Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) has said that The Democratic Alliance (TDA) protocol failed because its members placed self interest above matters of the coalition.
Speaking to the journalists during the weekly press conference held at the party headquarters in Kampala today, UPC spokesperson Michael Osinde Orach noted that TDA, a loose association of those opposed to President Museveni and the NRM, had good objectives but was crippled by individual selfish interests.
“TDA was good but individuals put personal interests first and distorted the alliance’s goals,” Mr Orach said adding: “Don’t think about taking power yet people are dying of hunger every day, put country first.”
Last week, TDA failed to reach a consensus on who would carry the coalition’s flag in next year’s presidential elections, and Mr at the press conference Mr Orach warned UPC adherents that taking part in TDA activities could have implications for some of them.
“TDA will have implication on whether Electoral Commission will take you on as a UPC member,” he said adding: “If you pick nomination forms under TDA and not UPC, the Disciplinary Committee will convene.”
He also warned TDA not to fly the UPC flag at their headquarters in Naguru, arguing that the party is not in the coalition. “We will take them to court if our flag is flown again at TDA offices,” cautioned Mr Orach.
In a jibe at Dr Olara Otunnu, Mr Orach ‘advised’ the ‘former’ party president to contest on the TDA ticket only if he has a following.
“TDA is not about individuals who carry briefcases around town, it’s about those that have a following,” Mr Orach said before dismissing claims that UPC party president, Jimmy Akena was siding with Kizza Besigye, the FDC flag bearer.
“Those are baseless allegations; FDC can follow us if they want but we have never followed them. Our foundation is focused on our party structures not in their individual goals.”
Meanwhile, Mr Orach has also blamed government for failing to fight poverty, adding that the youth had fallen victim.
“Poverty has led to exploitation of the youth; this is a huge matter that must be handled before 2016,” he said and also attacked government and other stakeholders for not promptly responding to the famine-stricken Teso and Karamoja regions.
“We call upon government, WFP and all stakeholders to treat the hunger with urgency. Instead of helping the affected communities, they are fighting on how to retain power,” he noted.
Last week government sent relief aid to Karamoja after it was reported
