Shanita Namuyimbwa aka Bad Black is out of Luzira prison where she had been held for fraud and embezzlement. In 2012 Bad Black was sentenced to four years in jail after she was convicted of defrauding her ex-lover, British businessman David Greenhalgh of US$4 million. At one time Bad Black fled from justice by escaping to Rwanda, but her lack ran out when she was identified and held before being returned to Uganda in November 2013. One time a lady of the night, the former city socialite was known for spending millions of shillings in drink binges.
SPLA Maj. Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol (R) and rebel commander Peter Gadet were hit with US sanctions in May for their role in the South Sudan confli
SPLA Maj. Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol (R) and rebel commander Peter Gadet were hit with US sanctions in May for their role in the South Sudan conflict.
The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on six generals accused of fuelling conflict in South Sudan.
The generals, three from each side of the conflict, will face global travel bans and asset freezes.
On Monday, a UN report alleged that government troops had gang-raped and burned alive women and girls in the oil-rich Unity State, during an offensive against rebel forces.
South Sudan, the world’s newest state, has been hit by conflict since 2013.
Among those targeted by the sanctions is the commander of President Salva Kiir special guard, Maj-Gen Marial Chanuong Yol Mangok.
On the rebel side, they include Maj-Gen Simon Gatwech Dual, chief of general staff for the opposition forces and a key ally of rebel leader Riek Machar.
‘Self-interest’
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said the Security Council had demonstrated that those who committed atrocities and undermined peace would face consequences.
“South Sudan’s political leadership has squandered the international goodwill that accompanied its independence and pursued political and economic self-interest that has produced only violence, displacement and suffering for the South Sudanese people,” she added.
The conflict has dashed the high hopes at South Sudan’s independence
A UN report released on Monday described horrific violence in the latest fighting in Unity State.
It quoted witnesses as saying that the army had gang-raped girls and burnt them alive in huts.
Analysis: James Copnall, BBC South Sudan expert
The six generals are fairly well known in South Sudan, but are certainly not famous internationally. In some cases, they are fighting men who have hardly ever left their country.
Rebel and government supporters insist these men do not have foreign bank accounts, or plans to travel abroad. If this is the case, what’s the point of sanctions?
The decision was probably taken for two reasons: To punish men considered responsible for some of the worst crimes of a particularly bloody war, and to put pressure on their bosses.
The message to Mr Kiir and Mr Riek Machar is this: Hurry up, sign a peace deal – or you could be next.
Not everyone is convinced this will work: The International Crisis Group think-tank has already warned the sanctions risk compromising the peace process.
South Sudan will be marking four years of independence next week after it seceded from Sudan.
At least two million people have been left homeless by the conflict which erupted in December 2013 after Mr Kiir accused Mr Machar, his sacked deputy, of plotting a coup.
Mr Machar denied the allegation, but then formed a rebel army to fight the government.
Various efforts to mediate an end to the conflict have failed.
Earlier this month, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in the country, Toby Lanzer, was expelled by the government.
Reports say he was kicked out for highlighting the plight of those caught up in the conflict.
David Ssegulanyi spikes past Sport-S’ block during the 2015 Ndejje Open Volleyball Championship
editorial@eagle.co.ug
Kampala-The news of Tom Paul Amou’s likeliness to miss the National Volleyball League tie against Sky on Friday has put another star, David Ssegulanyi, in pole position as replacement.
The player says he is ready for the challenge if the coaches give him a chance.
“Of course I am ready,” Ssegulanyi told Nemostars.com. “Amou is a big player on the team, if he can’t be on court whoever steps in his shoes should be able to do the job and I believe I can do the job on Friday,” he added.
Just like Amou, Ssegulanyi’s strong points are reception, court cover and serving. He also possesses a high jump that can see him evade any block on court.
He has on two occasions played at the African Club Championship in Sousse, Tunisia, which he says are outings that prepared him mentally.
“You don’t go to such tournaments and remain the same. And I must say those two times I traveled out prepared me as a player,” he said.
Ssegulanyi and skipper George Aporu will be required to man Nemostars’ reception and court cover.
Amou is nursing a toe injury contracted during the 2015 Dr Aporu Okol Memorial International Tournament in Kumi last month.
Weekend Fixtures
Friday July 3:Nemostars (men) vs Sky – 8pm (Lugogo)
Saturday July 4:Nemostars (women) vs Ndejje Sharks – 12pm (Mubs)
Sunday July 5:Nemostars (Women) vs VVC – 10am (Mubs)
Kampala-The Chief Magistrate’s court in Mengo has granted an interim order restraining the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) from continuing with analogue to digital transmission. Private citizen Enoth Mugabi went to court challenging the manner in which digital migration is being carried out by UCC. The plaintiff filed a main suit challenging the process and also asked court to stop UCC from proceeding with the digital migration process until the matter before court is decided. Court then ordered the UCC to stop interfering with the telecasting of analogue signals until the main suit is decided. It also ordered that telecasters can now resume telecasting analogue signals and that any other aggrieved telecasters to enjoin in this case so all the issues are decided with finality.
Malcolm Lukwiya and Emmanuel Oneka who are arrested in Nairobi.
Malcolm Lukwiya and Emmanuel Oneka who are arrested in Nairobi.
editorial@eagle.co.ug
Nairobi-A Nairobi court has ordered two Ugandans detained for another 30 days over alleged links to a syndicate recruiting East African youth to join the ISIS terror group.
Malcolm Lukwiya and Emmanuel Oneka were arrested on Wednesday, July 1, in a hideout in Kabete, Nairobi, after allegedly sneaking into the country.
Police said the two left Uganda following the killing of Sheikh Hassan Kirya, a top Muslim cleric in the country.
They are believed to be trained assassins involved in the killing of other prominent people, police said in an affidavit presented in court on Thursday.
Police said an analysis of their phone call data revealed that they have been in constant communication with two known recruiters hiding in Tanzania and Sudan.
“The suspects are connected with a syndicate that is recruiting youth in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania who then go to Syria to join ISIS.
“They are connected with one Sebit, a Ugandan who is in Juba, South Sudan, a known recruiter who has been in constant contact with them,” Sergeant Ezekiel Luley of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) told the court.
He said the suspects were also connected to one Ali, “who is in Bukoba, Tanzania, also a known ISIS agent”.
“A suspect, Rajab Ssenabulya, an Alliance Democratic Front fighter, has been arrested in connection with the killing of the Sheikh and by the records of their phone call data it is noted that they have been in constant communication,” the ATPU officer says in the affidavit.
A heavy security detail accompanied Malcom, 20, and Oneka, 24, when they were brought before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo on Thursday.
“The first suspect just arrived from Uganda to hide in Kenya in a rented house (in) Lower Kabete fearing arrest after his accomplice was arrested,” the affidavit stated.
The court heard that they were a “security risk” and a threat to the public, owing to their alleged connection to ISIS recruiters.
Mr Luley’s affidavit stated further that Oneka’s mother is a Kenyan, now living in Lebanon.
It said both suspects are believed to be involved with Uganda’s rebel group Alliance Democratic Front, which has claimed responsibility for the killings of prominent personalities in the country.
“There is an ongoing investigation in Uganda in connection (with) the killing of Sheikh Hassan,” Mr Luley said.
The officer asked the court to treat the suspects as “dangerous to the security of the State” because “the two are trained in arms to carry out assassinations as is happening in Uganda.”
He said the ATPU intended to carry out extensive investigations stretching into Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan in order to arrest the suspect’s accomplices, who have been “aiding the two suspects.”
The suspects, who spoke with journalists, said they were “shocked” at the allegations being levelled against them.
In Uganda today and the world over, a lot of data is in flow, presented in diverse formats and by various agencies. But despite the data being in circulation, it is often difficult for ordinary citizens to make sense of it and as such a lot of it is not used.
Government decision making and planning processes are informed by key statistical information generated from activities such as the recent Population Census, National Population and Housing Census, the Census of Business Establishments and the Uganda Agricultural Census.
Other surveys currently being conducted to generate information for public, government, individual and education use include among others the Uganda National Household Survey, the Uganda National Panel Survey and the Uganda Demographic Health Survey.
However, when the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) generates this data used for planning and policy formulations, it is often in percentages and forms that the media has to break down for easy consumption by the average Ugandan.
According to Deputy Chairperson National Planning Authority, Dr. Abel Rwendeire, the country continues to be faced with poor quality administrative data and limited coverage and usability of statistics.
In an attempt to address this issue, Dr. Rwendeire today July 2nd launched a programme called the Development Data Hub, at Protea Hotel, Kampala. The purpose of this data provider is to attempt to gather data from different sources, analyze it and present it in visuals, text and other formats that are easily interpreted by everyone through the search engine; devinit.org/data.
According to Dr. Rwendeire, there is also need to strengthen the production of key statistics including unemployment and under employment rates and human capital, and also develop indicators relevant to our type of socio-economic conditions.
“For example if we could trace the deforestation process from 1962 to date in 2015, we would be able to ascertain the rate at which we are losing forests and natural vegetation and what contribution this is causing the climate change. Then the Ministries of environment, energy and agriculture would design relevant policies to address these factors,” Rwendeire said.
A Mr. Davis Adieno, the Capacity Development Manager of Development Initiatives, the company under which this programme is operating, said the Development Data Hub at the moment has national and sub-national information on Health, Education and poverty numbers in Uganda.
The news that mobile phone use in Africa has surpassed the 900 million mark is a welcome development on a continent that is better known for all the wrong reasons. The better news however, is that most of the users are not idling away on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram but they are busy improving their businesses through ‘smartphone technology’.
According to a survey dubbed Ericsson Mobility Report for 2015, “most of the mobile users are now walking around with powerful smartphones that give them access to applications and information to enhance their businesses.”
In fact the report emphasizes that today an employee can deliver results in real time using a tablet/smartphone and working from anywhere in the world.
It is important to note that over the last twenty years the mobile phone has ‘revolutionalised’ the way we carry out most of our day-to-day activities, making the small, portable gadgets an integral part of our daily life. Indeed, the gadget has brought us in close contact with technology, and in the process helped us in advancing our thought processes, to ease work.
Not surprisingly therefore, these days it is not uncommon for one to come across university students of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Computer Engineering coming up with applications that have over time, managed to change the lives of people engaged in farming and agriculture, health and finance, among other undertakings.
So, given its cross-cutting nature, technology should now be placed at the centre of our country’s strategic planning. We can start by introducing computer use to pupils in lower primary school. This is not rocket science, Kenya is doing it and we can borrow a few lessons from our eastern neighbor because the benefits of such a development are immense.
Then secondly, we can introduce ‘internet bars’ in the rural areas where youthful villagers can go and learn how to operate the applications that facilitate agriculture. If this is done government will not have only empowered the rural youth but will also have helped scale down rural-urban migration.
It should be recalled that in February this year Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda launched the use of National IDs across their countries.
It should be recalled that in February this year Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda launched the use of National IDs across their countries.
Tourists and visitors to Kenya will now take about seven days to know if they can enter the country.
In a string of 11 guidelines that take effect today, July 2, East Africa’s biggest economy has taken digital transformation a step further, introducing the electronic visa.
In a release, government indicates that payments for the visas must be made by debit card, while one needs also to scan and dispatch (to Immigration) the details on the main page of their passport. According to the guidelines, visa acquisition is not automatic after submission of data. Also, it is forbidden for one to engage in employment, if he or she is a visitor.
Though it is not clear why the government chose to follow this path, the security situation in the country has not been good, raffled by terrorism. Also, it is not known how the tourists will react to the new measure, despite most of them being the target for terrorists.
That notwithstanding, in the past two years Kenya has been the target of the Somali-based Al Shabaab militants, who have killed several people in sporadic attacks carried out mostly at the coastal town of Mombasa and in the North East, near the border with Somalia.
The attacks have touched the raw nerve of President Uhuru Kenyatta, forcing him to shake up the security establishment, with the first victim, former interior minister Joseph Jama Ole Lenku, fired in 2014.
Other senior security figures that have lost their jobs include the former Director General of the National Security and Intelligence Services (NSIS) Maj Gen Michael Gichangi and the former Inspector General of Police David Mwole Kimaiyo.
Meanwhile, in light of the East African Community’s protocol on the free movement of people, goods and services, the Eagle Online could not readily establish if citizens of the EAC, who can also use their National IDs to travel across the region, would also be affected by the new visa rules.
It should be recalled that in February this year Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda launched the use of National IDs across their countries.
Indeed, at the time both Kenyatta and Kagame visited Uganda to hold talks on key cross border issues, and presented their National IDs in lieu of the travel documents.
Gulf Petrochem Group has acquired Essar Petroleum East Africa Ltd and changed its name to Aspam Energy (Kenya) Ltd, in a deal that seeks to enhance the group’s integrated services and products for the downstream supply chain in the oil and gas sector in East Africa.
Gulf Petrochem Group secured the due approvals from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the Competition Commission and other regulatory bodies, and Aspam Energy (Kenya) will now have license to market petroleum products through outlets earlier serviced by Essar.
According to officials, the company, with offices located in upscale Parklands ‘intends to develop storage and retail infrastructures as part of its long term goals in East Africa along with the expansion of retail networks through organic and inorganic routes of growth’.
Aspam is part of Gulf Petrochem Group, which has a trading arm active in trading Fuel Oil, Gas Oil, Bitumen, Base Oil, etc. and will now naturally focus on these products in East Africa.
“With the global market for bitumen expected to reach $95.77 bn by 2020 according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. our group has recognized the potential for business growth within the African continent. Through this acquisition, ASPAM Energy (Kenya) will allow us to efficiently cater to East African customers and capitalize on a market which we plan to make our East African Hub”, said Gulf Petrochem Group Managing Director, Mr. Sudhir Goyel.
He added: “Prior to our acquisition of Essar (Kenya) Ltd, the company enjoyed roughly a 1.1% market share. With our experience, market knowledge, portfolio and global reach we hope to significantly increase that market share and consolidate the group’s offering in East Africa.”
Gulf Petrochem Group is a leading player in the oil industry, specializing in Oil Trading and Bunkering, Oil Refining, Grease Manufacturing, Oil Storage Terminals, Bitumen Manufacturing, and Shipping and Logistics.
Headquartered in United Arab Emirates, Gulf Petrochem has a presence in South Asia, the Far East Asia, Africa and Europe.
TIGHTEN GUN LAWS: Jimmy Akena, one of the faction leaders of the UPC.
Uganda People’s Congress UPC has confirmed Jimmy Akena as the new UPC party president.
Uganda People’s Congress UPC has confirmed Jimmy Akena as the new UPC party president.
During a consultative delegates meeting held at UMA Show Grounds in Lugogo, UPC Electoral Chairman Mr Edward Ssegane announced Akena as the new president.
“He emerged winner in the district elections having won by a third of the total number of the districts that participated in the elections at district quota level,” Mr Seggane said adding, “I hereby pronounce him head of UPC”.
Out of the 110 districts that participated in the district elections, Akena managed to win in 67 districts beating off competition from other contestants like David Pulkol with four districts and Edward Kakonge who won in two districts.
Akena, who also doubles as the MP for Lira Municipality, has come under fire since being announced winner with claims that he intimidated the electoral commission officials and forced them to announce him winner.
“I am the true president and this is because the people chose me to lead them, we did everything according to the party constitution and therefore nothing is illegal,” Akena, son to UPC founder Dr Apollo Milton Obote, said.
He becomes the third member of the Obote family to take up the position of UPC party president after his father Apollo Milton Obote and his mother Miria Kalule Obote.
Meanwhile, during the meeting the former UPC president Olara Otunnu was castigated by party officials for incompetence and mismanagement of funds.
In 2013, they said the UPC received Shs86 million in donations which money has not yet been accounted for. Also, the members said during the 2011 general elections, the Electoral Commission gave the party over 309 million shillings and 111 million was later withdrawn just after nine days to cater for the delegates on their nationwide travels but they reportedly did not receive the money.
