Massa (in Red) will lead out Cranes against Botswana
Massa (in Red) will lead out Cranes against Botswana (courtesy photo)
AFCON 2017 QUALIFIER – Saturday
Uganda v Botswana
Venue: Namboole Stadium
Charges: 20,000/-, 50,000/- and 120,000/-
Geoffrey Massa has heard nothing to make him nervous wearing the captain’s armband for Uganda Cranes.
Cranes kick start their 2017AFCON qualifying campaign this Saturday against Bostwana with Massa as skipper deputizing in the suspended Andy Mwesigwa absence.
“Being captain of my nation is something is a massive honour, but nothing will change about my attitude with the armband or not.” Massa said.
“It’s just one of those things you have to deal with,” he added.
Last year, Massa captained Uganda against Togo (away), recently in a friendly game against Nigeria and Tuesday’s build-up game with Gambia at Namboole stadium.
Coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic has stated how impressed and hailed the striker’s leadership qualities.
“He talks, he’s loved by teammates and he will give the team 100 percent” Micho noted.
Recently the Cranes striker joined Premier Soccer League Bloemfontein Celtic from the University of Pretoria on a three-year contract.
Meanwhile Botswana (The Zebras) team is expected to arrive on today (Wednesday) evening at 7:05pm for the AFCON 2017 qualifier against Uganda this coming Saturday.
Uganda Cranes warmed up for the upcoming AFCON 2017 qualifier against Botswana Zebras with a one all draw against Gambia in international friendlyon Tuesday.
The Parliament of Uganda has over three hundred elected representatives of the people.
The MPs represent counties and are elected for a five-year term to make laws. However, the have instead taken to attending burials, weddings, fundraisings, in the process almost negating their core responsibilities that also include playing an oversight role by holding the executive accountable.
The number of bills pending debate in the august house is alarming, yet these people continue to drain our coffers through untimely monetary increases with reckless abandon.
During their initial days in the House, members of the Ninth Parliament indicated they would be a different breed of leaders; a group determined to serve the electorate. It worked for some time.
But in a strange twist, their raw instincts were manifested; first, they got money for cars, a whopping 130 million. Then came the clamour for increased remuneration, a development that sent Ugandans up in arms to protest against the offensive greed. The MPs back-pedalled but did not drop the idea altogether.
Now in their last year, the MPs revived their interest and in what appeared as a well-calculated ruse when the Parliamentary Commission first announced increases in remuneration for the staff at Parliament.
Then the big ‘heist’; they also announced their other chance of raiding the treasury for a 40 per cent increase on their travel allowances, orchestrated through a supposed increase in fuel prices.
The Ministry of Finance should scrutinize this recent ploy and act responsibly because the move is plain annoying, and surely the country doesn’t need people who behave like leeches!
But what is more annoying is that their level of debate is also suspect; this revelation was made by none other than the Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah, who sometime back decried the MPs poor debating standards in the House.
So, the question stands: Do we need a bloated Parliament?
In what appears as the latest and clearest indicator of former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’s political roadmap, his diehard sister-in-law Hope Mwesigye Ruhindi today, June 10 attended a meeting convened by the opposition to hammer out modalities of selecting a joint flag bearer for the 2016 elections.
Sources that attended the meeting intimated to the eagleonline that Ms Mwesigye, the fiery former Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, represented Mr Mbabazi at the meeting.
Mr Mbabazi has until now not come out openly to discuss his future political plans after he was relieved of his powerful posts both in government and the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement.
Last September Mr Mbabazi was sacked from the post of Prime Minister, following accusations by some NRM supporters that he was nurturing presidential ambitions. Later in December Mr Mbabazi, a long-time ally of NRM chairman Yoweri Museveni was also relieved of his duties as the party Secretary General. This move prompted questions from Mr Mbabazi’s supporters and also created anxiety in the general public as to the former premier’s next political move.
The ‘Mbabazi Question’ first sprung to national attention last February at a party retreat in Kyankwanzi, when he belatedly endorsed the sole candidature of President Yoweri Museveni as the NRM flag bearer. Since then there has been talk of his ambition to become president, but the man from Kinkiizi has kept the cards close to his chest, leaving many Ugandans anxious.
And, now with election temperatures rising even before the Electoral Commission declares the beginning of campaigns, his ‘representative’ Ms Mwesigye and officials from seven opposition political parties, civil society organisations and political activists convened at Hotel Africana in upscale Kampala under a new loose coalition dubbed the ‘Democratic Alliance’, to deliberate on how to oust the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government from power in next year’s elections.
The Democratic Alliance meeting drew officials from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Democratic Party (DP), Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and the Conservative Party (CP), Justice, Education, Economic Revitalization, Morality and African Unity (JEEMA), the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) of former NRM Minister Jaberi Bidandi Ssali and sources said the individuals would reconvene to concretise their political deliberations at a later date.
Others who attended the meeting included former Vice President Professor Gilbert Balibaseeka Bukenya, former NRM stalwart Joseph Mulwanyamuli Ssemwogerere, who represented pressure group Ssuubi, and political activists Godber Tumushabe and retired Anglican bishop Zac Niringiye.
This development comes in the wake of another meeting convened in Nairobi, Kenya early last week, where leading opposition figures met for the umpteenth time to chart ways of fielding a joint presidential candidate.
Efforts to get further details from Bishop Niringiye were futile, but a source that attended said the Hotel Africana meeting was a follow-up of the one in Nairobi where, the opposition stalwarts also reportedly deliberated on how to strengthen the push for political reforms ahead of the 2016 elections.
Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus’ multi-million dollar mentoring program is launching its first Social Business Accelerator Program in Sub-Saharan African in Uganda.
Carried out under the flagship of Yunus Social Business (YSB), the Accelerator Program that commences today will feature 15 participants, who will be involved in ten-week activities that include training, testing, refining and ending with an Investor Demo day.
The ‘acceleratees’ are drawn from the health, education, renewable energy and the agribusiness and value-addition sectors, and during the course conducted by YSB experts, participants will cover a wide range of topics.
Yunus Social Business (YSB) is a global organization founded by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus with three other colleagues and focuses on sustainable investment in the new Social Business Enterprise (SBE) sector.
“Yunus Social Business’s aim is to support sustainable economic development in the markets in which we operate with the conviction that SBEs are a crucial catalyst for social development and poverty alleviation,” a release by the organization states in part.
Born in 1940, Professor Muhammad Yunus is a highly regarded Bangladeshi economist and social entrepreneur who won the Nobel Peace Prize alongside the Grameen Bank in 2006.
He is the founder of the Grameen Bank and together with Saskia Bruysten, Sophie Eisenmann and Hans Reitz, co-founded the YSB in Febraury 2011.
In 2008 the Foreign Policy magazine listed Prof Yunus as number 2 on the list of ‘the Top 100 Global Thinkers’.
Makerere University Main Building, the seat of authority at Uganda's oldest institution of learning.
Makerere University Main Building
Kampala-Makerere University is to kick start the search process for a new Chancellor as Prof. George Mondo Kagonyera’s term of office expires in January next year.
The communication was made by the University Council Chairman Dr. Wana Etyem during the 135th University Council meeting that took place last month.
”This is to inform the Council that the Chancellor’s term expires early January 2016, before the next graduation. I shall be drawing the attention of the appointing authority to this effect so that a search process may begin,” he said.
The Chancellor is the titular head of the University and presides over all ceremonial assemblies of the University, confers degrees and other academic titles and distinctions.
The Chancellor is appointed by the President, who is also referred to as a Visitor, on recommendations of the University Council for a four-year renewable term.
Prof Kagonyera replaced Prof Apollo Nsibambi, who was the first non-president to become university Chancellor. Before that, it was the norm for the reigning President of Uganda to hold that office. Meanwhile, at the time of his appointment Kagonyera, then Deputy Managing Director of National Social Security Fund (NSSF) vied for the post with the then Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya,.
In 2008 Museveni zeroed in on Kagonyera, making him the seventh Chancellor in the history of the university, to serve his first four-year term. Then in 2011 he was re-appointed for a second term, which ends January next year.
Section 30 (2) of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act, states that the Chancellor shall hold office for a period of four years, but shall be eligible for re-appointment for one more term.
How one becomes a Makerere University Chancellor
The interviewing committee/search committee considers factors like integrity, knowledge of local and international education issues, commitment to serve the university, the financial status, level of education as well as the personality of the candidate. The President is guided by the Council’s recommendations, which clearly show the performance of candidates.
Other Chancellors
The other Chancellors of Makerere University include Milton Obote, Iddi Amin, Professor Yusuf Kironde Lule, Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, Tito Okello Lutwa and Yoweri Museveni and Prof Appollo Nsibambi.
Of these however, Yusuf Lule and Tito Okello didn’t preside over any graduation ceremony at Makerere as their regimes collapsed just after two and six months, respectively.
Kampala-“The Boda Boda Thieves” a film written and directed by Ugandan script-writer Donald Mugisha is making it big internationally. Inspired by Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 drama ‘The Bicycle Thief’, the film gives a vivid look into the life of a Ugandan teen on a mission to save his family’s livelihood.
The film Director Mugisha treads new territory by telling his story squarely from the perspective of Goodman’s 15-year-old son Abel.
The debuting main actor Hassan Insingoma, who acts as Abel, is a young thrill-seeker itching for mischief. His parents want him to go into town to find a job; instead he’d rather hang out gambling with friends.
Abel’s father Goodman runs a boda boda (motorbike) business while his wife breaks and sells rocks for a living.
After being so irresponsible and not heeding his father’s advice, Abel is finally forced to pick up his old man’s (Goodman) boda boda so as to provide for the family. In a city (Kampala) that’s full of corruption and high crime, Abel realizes he needs more than courage to survive, something that makes him run into more trouble. He loses something very important and he has to find it.
The story is fast paced and offers moments of comedy to punctuate the overall dramatic tone and camerawork used is solid; Mugisha uses handheld shots with complex shots to tell the tension in Abel’s life.
“The Boba Boda Thieves” was produced through the Pan-African film making collective ‘Yes! That’s Us Films,’ and it has featured at many International Festivals, the latest being the Seattle International Film Festival. It was filmed in Kampala.
Although “The Boda Boda Thieves” is not yet on distribution, be sure to get one when it is released. It’s a must watch.
KAMPALA, (Xinhua) — Kenya’s national cricket team is pitch camping in Uganda ahead of their International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League (WCL) match against the Netherlands.
Head coach Steve Tikolo told Xinhua on Monday that the heavy rains in Kenya could not give them chance to train well and therefore they decided to come and prepare in Uganda and also have a series of matches.
Tikolo, a former international said they expect the Ugandan teams to give them good practice.
“We are determined to perform well in the World Cricket League and this training in Uganda
means a lot to the team,” he said.
For the Ugandan side, Justine Ligyalingi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Cricket
Association told Xinhua that playing with Kenya provides a good test to the Ugandan players.
Besides Kenya, the other teams taking part in the WCL include Scotland, the United Arab
Emirates, Hong Kong, Papau New Guinea, the Netherlands, Namibia and Nepal.
The Kenyan team has the following players Rakep Patel (captain), Shem Ngoche, Morris Ouma,
Collins Obuya, James Ngoche, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Nelson Odhiambo, Patel
Coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic says he will pick positives from Tuesday’s (yesterday) friendly encounter against Gambia at Namboole stadium.
Micho saw a wasteful Cranes side draw 1-1 ahead of Uganda Cranes first 2015AFCON qualifier game against Botswana on Saturday; however the Serbian tactician remains hopeful.
“I saw good things; we created enough chances and that’s a positive am carrying into Saturday’s game,” Micho told the media at Namboole.
Cranes took the lead in the 62nd minute thanks to some brave play from substitute Brian Umony who rose higher to beat Gambian custodian Modou Jode to the ball, nodding down for striker Robert Ssentongo (also substitute) to score.
Subsitute striker Sentongo was on target for the Cranes (courtesy photo)
While Gambia got the equalizer from substitute Omar Jagne in the 84th minute after Cranes defender Shaffik Bakaki lost possession failing to control the ball.
Cranes missed numerous chances in either half of the game, striker Farouk Miya missed a sitter from a Alex kakuba cross, the Portugal based defender also set-up skipper Geoffrey Massa who was denied by Gambian’s goalkeeper Jode.
A minute later Miya shot wide before Kakuba sent in another inviting cross, only for striker Yunus Ssentamu to head the ball on the woodwork.
Ssentamu had another opportunity to make it 1-0 but it was Jobe who denied him, the resulting corner from Brian Majwega met Kahlid Aucho whose short cross was connected by Ssentamu’s head but still Jode was in the right place.
Before the interval, there was a scary moment when Cranes first choice goalkeeper Dennis Onyango collided Gambian defender Barry Hamza, both required treatment for over 10 minutes.
Cranes will kick off the 2017AFCON qualifiers against Botswana this Saturday at Namboole Stadium
Uganda Starting XI: Denis Onyango, Denis Iguma, Alex Kakuba, Isaac Isinde, Richard Kassaga, Derrick Tekkwo, Yunus Sentamu, Khalid Aucho, Geoffrey Massa, Farouk Miya, Brian Majwega
Mr Sudhir Ruparelia (Right) exchanges the signed MoU with Dr James Nkatta (2nd Left), the Chairman Board of Governors Kololo SSS. Looking on is Ms Margaret Watuwa (2nd Right), Head teacher Kololo SSS, Alex Rezida (Center), Lawyer Kampala Parents & David Nkojjo (Left), the Kololo SSS, Chairman Parents Teachers Association (PTA)
Mr Sudhir Ruparelia (Right) exchanges the signed MoU with Dr James Nkatta (2nd Left), the Chairman Board of Governors Kololo SSS. Looking on is Ms Margaret Watuwa (2nd Right), Head teacher Kololo SSS, Alex Rezida (Center), Lawyer Kampala Parents & David Nkojjo (Left), the Kololo SSS, Chairman Parents Teachers Association (PTA)
Kampala-City property mogul, Sudhir Rupaleria under his companyPremier Academy Ltd, the proprietors of Kampala Parents School 2004 and Kololo Senior Secondary School have signed an “access and usage” Memorandum of Understanding that among others details how the two schools will share a modern sports complex, to be built by the latter in land, previously owned by Kololo S.S.
Premier Academy Limited was issued a 99-year lease (Leasehold Register Volume 4456, Folio 4) by the Uganda Land Commission on September 6, 2013 on condition that they re-develop part of Kololo S.S.S land located on Plot 8-12 Saddler Way into a modern sports complex to be shared by both schools. This followed a no-objection from the Education Ministry.
Although the two schools had a mutual understanding and have always shared the undeveloped 6-acresports grounds, the MoU now paves way for the re-development of the land into a state-of-the-art sports complex.
Dr James Nkatta, the Chairman Board of Governors, Ms Margaret Watuwa, Head teacher Kololo SS & David Nkojjo, Chairman Parents Teachers Association signed on behalf of the school, while Mr Sudhir Ruparelia, the Proprietor, Kampala Parents signed on behalf of his school.
The Solicitor General, represented by Mr Ben Turyasingura in a June 2, 2015 letter to the Chairman, Board of Governors, did not object to the MoU.
Facilities
The proposed Lugogo sports centre comprises of multi-game facilities such as a standard size football pitch, a 25 meter swimming pool and 2 running/athletics tracks (200 meters and 400 meters). It will also have modern basketball, volleyball, lawn tennis and badminton courts.
According to the MoU, these facilities will be shared by both schools on an agreed time-table, to be periodically drawn and agreed upon by a management committee that consists of persons seconded by both parties.
The committee shall have a chairperson and vice chairperson who shall be elected from and by the management team on a yearly basis and on a rotation basis “such that at no time will the chairperson and vice chairperson be from the same party”.
The facility will also have a fitness centre, sports cafe and restaurant, a martial arts, boxing, dance and gymnastics studios, 50 meters and 25 meters shooting ranges, climbing walls and multi-purpose rooms for meetings.Both parties agreed that these will be available to the public on a commercial basis, so as to allow the developers raise revenues to support maintenance of the facility.
Kololo SSS will also be allowed a 10 percent finder’s commission for all business brought in for the commercial facilities.
Kampala Parents will entirely finance the development of the center at a cost of US$5 million approximately (Shs15.5 billion). According to Mr Sudhir, construction works will start in the second half of this year and will be complete by December 2016.
Dr. Nkatta hailed the initiative as significant for not only the two schools, but also for the communities around and the sports industry in Uganda.
“Kololo SS has been known as a sports giant for especially football and cricket. This world-class facility will improve our sports talent and make us even shine more. Such a facility will raise the profile of the school and make us a sports hub not only in Uganda but in the region as well,” he said.
He also reassured all stakeholders of the school that the school’s interests had been well catered for in the MoU.
For his part, Sudhir hailed the initiative as a milestone for the two schools and children.
“Other than Lugogo indoor stadium, the whole of Kampala does not have anyother multi-discipline sports facility. I see this as a win-win for our schools, the surrounding communities and the people of Kampala who will be able to have access to these world class facilities.”
L-R David Nkojjo, Kololo SSS, Chairman Parents Teachers Association (PTA), Ms Margaret Watuwa Head teacher Kololo SSS, Dr James Nkatta, the Chairman Board of Governors Kololo SSS and Mr Sudhir Ruparelia sign the “access and usage” MoU.
Edwin Ekiring Africa and Uganda’s number one seed will participate in the 2015 Yonex US Open Championship which takes place June 16-21 in New York.
Simon Mugabi, the Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Badminton Association (UBA) confirmed the development to eagle.co.ug
“We have entered Ekiring in a bid to secure early qualification for the 2016Olympic Games in Brazil” Mugabi stressed.
Mugabi explained that after the Yonex US Open, Ekiring will partake in the Sri Lanka Open and Mauritius event which the Ugandan has won behalf.
“We think entering Ekiring for all these tournaments will brighten his Olympic Games qualification chances and prepare him to international standards ahead of the 2015 All Africa Games in and August.
According to the Badminton World Federation and the International Olympic Committee qualification guidelines, only the top ranked African players gain automatic qualification for the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Mugabi has also revealed that he has been forced to withdraw five players from the Yonex and Mauritius International Championship slated for June 11-14 after government said there was no money to support the team.
The UBA was hoping to use the tournament to prepare the team for the 2015 All Africa Games slated for Congo Brazzaville.
The players withdrawn from the event include Jacob Kasirye, Bridget Shamim Bangi, Daisy Nakalyango and Aisha Nakiyemb.
