With less than 24 hours for John Patrick Amama Mbabazi to be nominated as a presidential candidate, the loose opposition coalition, The Democratic Alliance has failed to zero-in on a joint presidential candidate to take on incumbent president Yoweri Museveni in next year’s elections.

Writing on his Facebook wall earlier today, official TDA spokesperson Wafula Oguttu said Mbabazi and Col Dr Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) would both contest in the elections as individuals.

‘Because of the time element, given that the Presidential nominations are due on 3 and 4 November, we agreed to move on and have the two candidates nominated while we continue the contacts and exploring the possibilities of future cooperation most especially on vote protection and resisting partisan and unconstitutional police actions during the ongoing electoral process,’ Mr Oguttu wrote.

For about four months now both Mbabazi and Dr Besigye have been engaged in a series of meetings aimed at choosing who among them would become the TDA official candidate.

And, over the past two weeks both teams held a series of meetings in the United Kingdom under the auspices of the Kofi Annan Foundation, attended by among others Kofi Anna himself and the former International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo.

Meanwhile, the talks held over two days in Uganda as a follow-up to the earlier talks in the UK were co-chaired by seasoned lawyers Medard Lubega Ssegona and Augustine Ruzindana, while the two teams were led by Ambassador Olara Otunnu and FDC president Maj Gen John Gregory Mugisha Muntu, for Mr Mbabazi and Dr Besigye, respectively.

‘When the negotiations hit a stalemate, FDC proposed alternative B as the fallback position; of both candidates testing the ground after nomination and then (the) two sides meeting again to review the situation. The Go Forward team said they would go back and consult on the proposal,’ Oguttu added.

According to the FDC Dr Besigye is a ‘better candidate’ who has withered the political storm in Uganda for the last 15 years and therefore should be given chance to lead the joint opposition.

‘Pushing for our candidate as the better option, FDC president Maj Gen Muntu argued that Besigye, who had been elected by the Party Delegates Conference, had for 15 years demonstrated his consistence in the struggle for democracy, had a more popular appeal, has millions of voters and supporters behind him despite being rigged out of victory, has strong party structures behind him and was unlikely to suffer any more surprising-state-trumped-up charges,’ Oguttu, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, adds.

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Presidential aspirants Col Dr Kiiza Besigye and John Patrick Amama Mbabazi have agreed on the principle of fielding a single candidate to face off with President Yoweri Museveni in the 2016 elections.

The two reportedly reached the agreement following meetings in the United Kingdom, held under the auspices of the Kofi Annan Foundation.

In a statement released October 29, the parties agreed on a number of issues. “We shall go into the elections, as agreed, as a single coalition with one presidential, candidate and we shall form an election protection mechanism,” reads the statement in part.

According to the statement, cabinet shall consist of the President, the vice president, the prime minister, the two deputy prime ministers, and other ministers.

The Prime Minister is to have the authority to perform executive functions as shall be provided for by the parties to the agreement, and under the agreement the President will have powers to appoint the Prime Minister but has no powers to remove him from office.

However, in the agreement it is not stated who will be the flag bearer in the elections that are slated for February next year.

But a source told The Eagle Online that Mbabazi was destined to become ‘Ceremonial President’, while Dr Besigye would become ‘Executive Prime Minister’.

Meanwhile, the two parties also agreed that the president shall appoint members of the cabinet whom the he will have agreed upon with the Prime Minister based on the principle of portfolio balance as shall be specified by the parties to this agreement;

“The removal of any minister of the coalition shall be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the parties to this agreement,” reads the statement.

It also says following the election, the government of national unity and reform shall, within the first year, carry out democratic reforms and provide for constitutional governance and free and fair elections within a period not exceeding two years.

“We wish to state, finally, that we are fully committed to unity and the fielding of a single presidential candidate,” reads the statement in conclusion.

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The marginalisation of social sciences and humanities in African universities has radically stifled scholarship.
This was revealed by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA ) at a five day workshop in held in Nairobi earlier this week. Scholars from the diaspora and from Sub-Saharan Africa heard that this had narrowed the region’s view on development.

“Attempts to improve Africa’s development prospects by focusing on scientific advances and the benefits accruing from them have masked the critical role of social sciences and humanities as torchbearers of African values, systems of power, production and distribution,” said Professor Ibrahim Oanda Ogachi, the CODESRIA coordinator .

CODESRIA in conjunction with the Carnergie corporation of New york has embarked on an ambitious project of mobilising African academics in the diaspora to work jointly with colleagues in African universities to re-establish intellectual traditions embedded in a scholarship and research culture.

It is at the workshop that the African Diaspora Support to African Universities project was launced. Ogachi said the primary objective of the project was to strengthen PhD programmes and curricula in the social sciences and humanities. The project will help scholars in the diaspora mentor and conduct PhD supervision in order to alleviate shortages of academics in the social sciences and humanities in African universities, and to bolster institutions with valuable international experience and insights.

“Currently there is under-enrolment in certain disciplines, as well as a prevailing perception that social sciences and humanities disciplines do not matter, especially in the debate on Africa’s development agenda,” Ogachi expressed.

In a keynote at the workshop, Emmanuel Akyeampong, professor of African history at Harvard University in the United States, noted that despite Africa’s fixation on the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics – STEM – the continent still had serious infrastructural and technological deficits.

“In the last 35 years, Africa’s share of global trade had also declined from 3.3% to 2%,” said Prof. Akyeampong. Adding, “for Africa to develop, what is required is not merely teaching STEM fields but acquiring competencies in knowledge, skills and attitudes, and understanding how to deal with migration, the environment, citizenship, employment, inequality, family and technology.”

While university education in Africa had expanded exponentially in the last two decades, expansion had not been followed by a proportional increase in staffing and academic supervision capacity, especially in the social sciences and humanities.

Consequently, CODESRIA’s current project to build capacity in African universities had been conceived with an understanding that most tertiary institutions are operating on threadbare physical infrastructure and human resources.

Presenting a project document on how to overcome brain drain from African higher education through partnerships with diaspora scholars, Professor Patricio Langa of the University of the Western Cape and Dr Samuel Fongwa of University of the Free State in South Africa showed the current low percentages of academics with PhDs in selected African universities.

Prof. Langa noted that only 17% of academics at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique have PhDs or other doctoral degrees, 42% at the University of Mauritius, 43% at Makerere University in Uganda, and 45% each at the University of Dar El Salaam in Tanzania and Kenya’s University of Nairobi.

Universities cited with improved PhD faculty proportions included the University of Ghana, Legon at 50%, the University of Cape Town at 63% and the University of Botswana at 65%.

He stressed that deliberate efforts should be made to provide flexible conditions for teaching, research supervision and thesis examination.

Ethiopia’s Dr. Amare Desta, a senior lecturer at London South Bank University, and Edwards Alademerin, an associate professor at Tai Solarin University of Education in Nigeria, revealed a plan to open an African doctoral and Masters academy with a view to developing capacity in African universities in information technology.“To date many universities in Nigeria and Ethiopia and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa are in a state of advanced decay, with most of the teaching staff leaving the country in droves in search of greener pastures abroad,” said Desta.

The aim of the proposed academy will be to connect academics and researchers in the diaspora to those resident in African universities, and to work together to improve the quality of higher education on the continent.

“They are investigating the impact of various student-instructor interaction formats in blended-learning in Ghana. “The primary goal of the project is to find out whether digital technologies increase learning outcomes and grades among Ghanaian university students,” said Tutu.

CODESRIA has raised the red flag of neglect and discrimination against social sciences and humanities within Africa’s development agenda. There is sufficient testimony to suggest that the skewed emphasis on natural sciences and technology needs to be balanced by inputs from other areas of human interest.

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The National Independent Electoral Commission has today finalized preparations for the nomination of candidates to contest for the presidential elections next year.

According to the NIEC chairman Engineer Badru Kiggundu, the nominations will be conducted on Tuesday November 3 and Wednesday November 4, 2015 at the Mandela National Stadium from 10.00am to 4.00 pm each day.

The commission says that out of the 40 aspirants who picked nomination forms, only 10 have managed to fulfill the requirements and have been issued with a certificate of clearance. Those cleared include Bwanika Abed  (Peoples’ Development Party), Charles Bbaale (Ecological Party of Uganda), Yoweri Kaguta  Museveni(NRM), Venancius Baramureeba (Independent), Dr Kizza Besigye (FDC), Joseph Mabirizi (Independent), Amama Mbabazi (Independent), Maj Gen (rtd) Benon Biraro (Farmers Party of Uganda), Nasser Ssebagala Ntege (Independent) and Faith Maureen Walube Kyalya, the only woman who is also running as an Independent.

The commission maintained that access to the nomination venue will be restricted and advised aspirants to use two vehicles whose occupancy should not exceed 20 persons. Each of the vehicles shall bear a police sticker.

Prior to their clearance the candidates were required to submit the proof of age which should not be less than 35 years or more than 75 years; proof of possession of minimum academic qualification which is Advanced Level or its equivalent and also proof of payment of a non refundable nomination fee of twenty million Uganda shillings.

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Uganda has been ranked 7^th most influential country in Africa, with the army, the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) lauded for its efforts in peacekeeping.

“Uganda army may not be the most advanced in Africa but it is the most courageous and it has proved itself better than most force (sic) from the rest of Africa from 1993 when it (participated) in stopping the Rwanda genocide, protected Kenyans in 2008, fought the Rwandan rebel in Congo up to date, when its keeping peace in southern Sudan and largely in Somalia which was abandoned by most Africa great powers like the South Africa and the African Arab countries,’ How Africa states in a blog released October 29.

According to How Africa, Uganda was also able to maintain GDP growth at between 6.5 and 7 percent during the period 1990s up to 2010.

‘Uganda was among the first sub Saharan countries to embrace market reforms in the late 1990s and graduated as a mature reformer in 2006 with sound economic fundamentals and much improved governance. Real GDP growth accelerated from an average of 6.5 percent year-on-year in the 1990s to over 7 per cent during the 10 years leading up to 2009-10. Not surprisingly, Uganda qualifies as one of the few durable African success stories,’ Africa How states.

Top on the list released October 29, South Africa is ranked No.1 on the continent, followed by Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria. Others are (Uganda), Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Algeria.

‘South Africa is the only African country that is a member of the G20 and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa grouping) and the only country of of the EU’s 10 global strategic partners,’ How Africa says of South Africa, the continent’s top ranked country.

Surprise package Zimbabwe, ranked No.9 is credited for standing up to the western powers.

‘The only that has not followed the conventional development strategies as directed by the western countries… the advantage is localization of the vast economic wealth/dividends moving forward as opposed to recording good GDP when in actual fact the country is nothing but a western resource extraction ground,’ How Africa says of the country that has been ruled by one man, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe, since Independence in 1980.

Neighbouring Kenya at No.4 has been singled out for educational prowess, while Rwanda at No.8 is credited for its UN peace keeping efforts among other credentials.

‘Kenya is a powerhouse in human resource capital. With the most educated population on the continent it also (has) the fastest growing ICT hub on the continent,’ Africa How says of Uganda’s neighbor to the east, Kenya.

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African warlord Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army rebels in Congo are killing elephants for their ivory, which they trade for supplies in Sudanese-controlled territory.

According to a new report released Monday by the watchdog group Enough Project, the ivory is trafficked from Congo’s Garamba National Park, where the animals are poached, to Kafia Kingi, an enclave controlled by Sudan. “The rebels deal with Sudanese merchants to get food, uniforms and ammunition,” says the Enough Project report. The findings are based on interviews with defectors from the rebels.

One group of rebels based in the park poaches elephants and secures the ivory, and then another group transports the ivory from northeastern Congo through Central African Republic to Kafia Kingi, the report charges.

“The tusks are likely trafficked to Nyala, South Darfur, and on to Khartoum for export abroad, primarily to Asia,” it said.

The report adds that rebel commanders, under direct orders from Kony, have also traded with Sudanese military officers.

Sudan has faced persistent accusations that it is aiding Kony’s group, charges the Khartoum government denies.

Kony is being hunted by a joint African force of troops from Uganda and Congo. U.S. advisers are also deployed to the jungles of central Africa to help the force trying to capture or kill Kony and his rebels.

Last week President Barack Obama reauthorized U.S. support for the mission against Kony.

Kony himself is believed to be hiding in Kafia Kingi, where he has eluded the international forces searching for him. His rebel group originated in Uganda in the 1980s as a tribal uprising against the government, eventually gaining notoriety for the sexual enslavement of girls and the recruitment of boys. By 2006, a Ugandan military assault had forced all the rebels to flee to Congo and to other parts of central Africa.

According to Enough Project, only about 120 Lord’s Resistance Army rebels remain in the bush.

AP

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