The National Resistance Movement (NRM) has postponed its primaries for the selection of parliamentary candidates.

According to a source, the primaries that were scheduled for Friday, September 25 have been pushed to September 30. Other posts to be competed for include the district and LCIII chairpersons.

There are over 112 districts in Uganda, including the capital Kampala, which is led by an elected Lord Mayor.

According to official records the ruling NRM has 263 Members of Parliament, with the Forum for Democratic Change coming in second with 34 MPs. These are followed by 43 Independents, the Democratic Party (12); Uganda Peoples’ Congress (10) and, the Conservative party and JEEMA, both of which have only 1 MP apiece.

And, going by the demographics, the race for NRM MP is billed to be the most challenging for the ruling party aspirants, oftentimes leaving a huge trail of ‘casualties’, most of who opt to stand as Independents.

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The much-anticipated announcement for the joint opposition flag bearer of The Democratic Alliance has been delayed yet again, raising the tempo as the summit members continue holding incessant meetings.

Addressing journalists, the TDA official spokesperson Wafula Oguttu said that the recall of Parliament had affected their schedule but hastened to add that the summit would reach consensus on the official candidate.

“We have postponed the meeting because some of the participants of the whole process are Members of Parliament and we need to attend the parliamentary session then the discussions will resume,” he said.

The contenders for the TDA ticket FDC flag bearer Dr Kiiza Besigye, Democratic Party’s Norbert Mao, Professor Gilbert Bukenya and NRM leaning Independent Amama Mbabazi.

However, it seems that the battle has zeroed down to Dr Besigye and Amama Mbabazi, with the each of them trying to convince the summit that they are the most suitable to lead the opposition in defeating President Museveni.

According to Mbabazi, he has been a close associate of President Museveni and he thinks with this, he can give President Museveni a run for his money. Mbabazi also reasons that having been the Secretary General of the NRM, he built structures for the party and traversed the country, something that made him popular. With this background, Mbabazi says that the TDA summit should consider him best suited for the position.

Besigye on the other hand argues that he is the one best suited to oust a regime that is unwilling to hand over power in a free and fair election. It is against this background that Besigye is calling for electoral reforms before the election.

Besigye also contends that he has distinguished himself as the most powerful opposition leader with the highest capacity to defeat President Museveni.

Some of the people who are fronting Mbabazi also reason that Besigye has contested and lost thrice against President Museveni and therefore, people would be happier to see a new face in the campaign.

They argue that Mbabazi is a better candidate because of his ‘connections with many senior National Resistance Movement (NRM) members and other people in security and UPDF’.

“The vote that he brings from the Movement to opposition works in his favor of him,” one of his enthusiasts in the TDA summit said on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, another summit source says they have not yet come up with a harmonized position, but hastens to add that there is a suggestion to have both Dr Besigye and Amama Mbabazi on the ballot paper come 2016.

TDA was formed a few months ago with the aim of fronting a joint candidate in the opposition to run against President Yoweri Museveni in the 2016 Presidential elections.

However, it now seems difficult for the Alliance to reach the consensus, with both contestants reluctant to cede ground.

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Indian court rules that divorced woman must never have sex with another man if she is to continue receiving financial support from her ex-husband

• Ruling was made by high court judge in Madras, on the east coast of India
• Reportedly said a woman having sex after divorce was virtually the same as adultery
• Human rights activists have already attacked the decree as ‘regressive’

An Indian court has ruled that a divorced woman can only continue receiving financial support from her ex-husband if she never has sex with another man.

A high court judge in Madras, on the east coast of India, said that a woman having sex after divorce was virtually the same as adultery, it has been reported.

Justice S Nagamuthu passed his judgment after a case in which a husband said his wife had been living a ‘wayward life’ while she retaliated by accusing him of ‘illicit intimacy’ with his own niece. Human rights activists have attacked the decree as ‘regressive’.

Despite stating that financial support was there to help divorcées, he added that women must also remain faithful to their former partners to merit being given the money.
The Times reports the judge as saying: ‘Even after a decree for divorce is granted, if the wife wants to retain her right to claim maintenance from her former husband, she is expected to continue to maintain the same discipline as she was expected to maintain during her marital ties.

‘Since the man carries the obligation to maintain his divorced wife, the woman also carries the obligation not to live in a relationship with another man.

‘If she commits a breach, she will suffer disqualification from claiming maintenance. If she wants to live in a relationship with another man, she may be entitled for maintenance from him and not from the former husband.’

The Times says activists have taken to social media to attack the decision with the South Asia branch of Human Rights Watch calling for the ruling to be overturned.

She said that such judgements from state courts can sometimes be voted down by India’s Supreme Court which takes a ‘more enlightened views’

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A Prisons officer chose to take his work frustration to his superior’s Facebook wall, drawing mixed criticism from his boss’ followers and a way forward response from the boss himself.

Writing on the Prisons Commissioner General Johnson Byabasaija’s wall, Walter Okot noted, “Sir my OC decided not to deploy me and when I went to him to ask why I am not deployed he had my door broken and all my things were taken to the store,” he writes.

Okot says that having been evicted from the prisons house, he had no accommodation and decided to pick his bag and go back home where he is currently living.

In a post written on 16 September, largely in shorthand, Walter further asked the Police chief whether the actions of the officer in charge tantamount to him being dismissed from the prisons force.

“I decided pick ma bag go home and right now am at home I need ur (sic) help sir. sh’d I say OC Bushenyi has dismiss (sic) me?” he asked.

Three days later, the Prisons boss was the first to respond saying Walter was obviously having issues and advised him to write to him through the right channels.

“Highly unlikely, you must be having issues. You better write about it to the CGP,” he said.

The commissioner’s drew comments from a wide range of his followers some in support of Okello and others blaming him for lack of decorum.

Ephraim Kasozi, a journalist with Daily Monitor chipped in in support of Walter saying he could have wanted his boss to get the information so quickly.

“I don’t see anything wrong with the media, unless you are trying to hide something. Actually your statement amounts to threatening violence,” he said in response to an earlier comment by RachealIchodu who warned the likes of Walter to “NEVER AND NEVER discuss such issues in the media.”

However, MrByabashaija supported Ichodu’s warning saying, “We have Superintendents of Prisons to handle such, it doesn’t help to go to the social media as he did but still we will have to follow the service doctrine.”

In a detailed exchange with the Commissioner’s followers, Okot revealed that he is suffering because of a disagreement with his superior in Bushenyi over a girlfriend and that many officers have deserted the service because of mistreatment.

“This year only 6 people deserted.an many are still following me how can u break some bodies house because of girlfriend? It was too much I had nowhere sleep,” he said.

Asked whether the Okot‘s case will not be swept under the carpet just because he has complained on face book, Byabashaija was quick to answer; “We have elaborate redress procedures. The case can never be swept under the carpet,”

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The High Court in Kenya has suspended the order by the Ministry of Education to close private schools in the country.

The ruling by Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi followed a petition by the Kenya Private Schools Association filed by lawyer Muturi Kamande, indicating that about 2 million of the pupils and students would be affected by the closure that was ordered on Friday last week.

In her ruling Justice Ngugi noted that private schools were not part of the strike.

The order to close the schools in the country followed three weeks of persistent non-teaching by the striking teachers, who got a reprieve from Supreme Court, ordering government to pay them a 60% increase in salary, something the government says is not sustainable.

Already, President Uhuru Kenyatta has weighed in on the matter, asking the teachers to reconsider their labour action, adding that government was seeking a solution to the labour dispute that has crippled the education system.

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