Parliament has approved Shs446 billion loan request from Standard Chartered Bank to finance the construction of Kitgum-Kidepo Road.

The approval followed Hamson Obua, government Chief Whip’s motion to suspend the rule requiring a report from the Committee on National Economy on the loan.

The loan approval comes at the time the Auditor General, John Muwanga, put Uganda’s total public debt as of June 30, 2023, at Shs96.16 trillion, comprising of domestic debt stock of Shs43.69 trillion and external debt stock stood at Shs52.472 trillion. Muwanga said in January 2024 that Uganda’s debt had grown by 107% within five years.

During the reading of this financial year’s budget, President Yoweri Museveni said the government is set to undertake the construction of 325 km of tarmac roads and airports in various areas to facilitate the tourism sector in Uganda.

The roads include Kitgum-Kidepo (116 km), Lake Bunyonyi-Kisoro-Mgahinga (74 km), Karenga-Kapedo-Kaabong (70 km), and Kisoro-Rubuguri-Muko (65 km). The airports will be established in Karamoja and others for the easy movement of tourists.

Currently, Uganda is deemed the best tourism destination, with various national parks such as Kidepo, Murchison Falls, Queen Elizabeth, Lake Mburo, Elgon, Rwenzori, Kibaale Forest, Bunyonyi, and many game reserves across the country. Uganda’s tourism sites rank highly among international media outlets and global tourism agencies.

In the next financial year, the government aims to strengthen wildlife conservation at Mgahinga National Park, Lake Mburo, Semliki, Kibaale, Murchison, Kidepo Valley, Katonga, Toro Semliki, and Queen Elizabeth.

The 2023 Tourism Uganda Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Antiquities performance report indicates a surge in the number of tourists coming into the country.

According to the report, Uganda registered 1,274,210 tourists in 2023, compared to 814,508 who visited the destination in 2022. Arrivals from Africa continue to dominate Uganda’s inbound tourism, with a share of 89.2%. Asia (4.4%), Europe (3.1%), and the Americas (1.9%) continue to be the biggest contributors to overseas tourist arrivals.

The growth was largely driven by an increase in arrivals from Mainland Africa and growth in the country’s traditional overseas source markets, such as the UK, USA, and India. At least 126,136 tourists arrived from overseas, while 1,136,216 came from various African countries.

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President Yoweri Museveni is set to officiate at International Labour Day celebrations.  The revelation was made by Esther Davinia Anyakun Esther, State Minister for Labour, Employment, and Industrial Relations.

Under the theme; ‘Improving Access to Labour Justice, a Prerequisite for Increased Productivity’, the day will be marked at Mukabura Grounds, St. Leo’s College, Fort Portal City.

The National Labour Force Survey 202l indicates that many workers are exposed to hazardous working conditions, including exposure to dust, fumes, and violence, with many lacking protective gears.

While 898, 000 workers had suffered accidents or injuries in the 12 months preceding the survey, data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority’s Annual Insurance Market Report 2022 reveals that only 30,555 lives were insured under 2,347 workers’ compensation policies in 2022.

“Workers in Uganda face challenges in accessing labour justice despite existing frameworks. Issues such as unfair dismissal, unpaid wages, and unsafe working conditions are widespread, particularly among vulnerable groups like women, youth, and informal sector workers. Many employers do not contribute to social protection, leaving workers financially insecure in old age,” she said.

She noted that the Ministry plays a crucial role in ensuring access to labour justice by formulating policies, enforcing legislation, overseeing dispute resolution mechanisms, providing capacity building and awareness programs, and collaborating with stakeholders to promote fair labour practices.

Amidst all this, Anyakun said the Ministry faces constraints such as a lack of a web-based system and national database for labour statistics, an integrated case management system for labour complaints and dispute settlement, as well as staffing shortages, insufficient tools, logistics, and court facilities.

“As we commemorate International Labour Day, it’s important to recognise and address the barriers that hinder workers from seeking redress for workplace disputes. The Ministry is committed to enhancing access to labour justice and seeks the support of Parliament in addressing the constraints,” she said.

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Lawyer to city businessman and company director at Taifa Partners Limited, Emmanuel Asiimwe who is accused of forging and uttering false documents told court on Monday that his client is suffering from acute diarrhea.

To win the sympathy of the Chief Magistrate – Buganda Road, His Worship Ronald Kayizzi, the lawyer’s tone reflected a fact that Asiimwe’s “kipindupindu” is so bad that he could not even be saved by diapers to appear in public. The soft-spoken Chief Magistrate had no option other than adjourning the matter to Friday May 3, 2024.

However, this left some of the witnesses very disgruntled and complaining that this could be one of the tricks used by Asiimwe to buy time and frustrate them.

One of the witnesses and a former shareholder at Taifa Partners Limited, Charles Okello travels from Gulu to Kampala every time there is a court session. He believes Asiimwe is playing some monkey tricks to drain him financially. “Asiimwe keeps looking for excuses to postpone the matter. He keeps changing lawyers to make the proceeding impossible as the new entrants ask the Chief Magistrate to give them ample time to study the file. He has done this more than four times. On sensing that the trick has lost its steam, a new lawyer in the matter has raised the issue of diarrhea. At this rate, Asiimwe’s lawyers will tell the court that their client is dead, pending resurrection to appear in court,” Okello jokingly said on Monday after the matter was adjourned.

Despite having all the core witnesses in court whenever the matter comes up, the trial that started last year has continued to slow down.

Asiimwe is cognizant that he has a very bad case with evidence all over to pin him.  During the presentation pending cross-examination last year Okello pinned his co-director Asiimwe on forging his signature and making special company resolutions without his knowledge, and certified documents were submitted to the Chief Magistrate and put on court record.

Okello is a former worker at Asiimwe’s other company, Integrated Agritech Uganda Ltd as a mechanical engineer and was appointed director after he bought 5 percent shares in Taifa Partners Ltd. He told court that after allotting him 5 shares, 10 shares were also allotted to Assa Tumwesigye (also director with powers of attorney) and Asiimwe was appointed the Managing Director with 85 shares in the company. While serving as the Managing Director, he made a special resolution on November 23, 21 and appointed Okello a company secretary. After a short time, he made another resolution transferring the 10 shares meant for Tumwesigye to himself. He possibly did this to acquire 95 percent shares to make it difficult for other shareholders to demand a poll in making decisions. As a Managing Director with a sole signatory role, he accessed all the company accounts. At some point, Asiimwe recalled Okello from upcountry and told him to raise money so that they further grow the company but the latter was not in position to. Asiimwe coerced him to sell his 5 shares and they were allotted to another investing company, Dapanti Union. With Okello and Tumwesigye ceasing to be directors at Taifa Partners Limited, Dapanti Union came on board. Later Okello was stripped of the role of company secretary. He continued working as a mere company mechanical engineer till February this year when he ceased to have any business with Taifa Partners Ltd.

As the matter is adjourned to May 3, 2024, Asiimwe remains in trouble since the matter of forging resolutions to give self-powers of attorney, once prosecuted very well, attracts a life sentence.

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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has said Africa needs socio-economic transformation to develop not sustainable underdevelopment.

“Africa does not need that sustainable underdevelopment; Africa needs socio-economic transformation. You cannot have quantitative growth and you think you are doing anything,” he said.

The President made the remarks yesterday during the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA)- Africa Heads of State summit held in Nairobi, Kenya.

President Museveni emphasised the importance of socio-economic transformation and the need for loans that propel prosperity.

He further attributed the current crisis in Africa to persistent philosophical, ideological, strategic economic mistakes that have been in place since the 1960s and advocated for a paradigm shift towards socio-economic transformation and the need to transcend mere quantitative growth and focus on achieving qualitative change.

“When you see the crisis in many African countries, the collapse of the State, we predicted this in the 1960s. But I was very happy to hear the President of the World Bank talking about prosperity instead of profiteering. These were his own words. This has been the problem; aid has been for profiteering. The World Bank people and other groups have been talking about sustainable development, even in your document I have seen those words there. I’m now going to be 80 years old. I have never seen a sustainable pregnancy; that a woman is pregnant this year, the pregnancy continues next year, 3 years and 4 years, it never happens,” he said.

“In life, pregnancy develops sustainably in the womb of the woman quantitatively. The baby is growing bigger and bigger but at some stage, quantitative growth must be transformed into qualitative change. The pregnancy must become a baby. If the pregnancy remains a pregnancy, the fetus will die. Therefore, I would even ask you to change those words in your documents.”

President Museveni also highlighted the main reasons why there’s no growth in Africa. He said this is so because the growth factors like the private sector-led growth are not funded.

“In order for the private sector to grow, it needs low cost of production in transport, electricity and low-cost funding for manufacturing,” the President urged.

“If you are serious, talk about low cost funding for manufacturing and funding for irrigation to stabilise agriculture. A loan for seminars is very quick to get but for agriculture is hard to get,” he added.

President Museveni also informed the participants that one time he tried to look for foreign funding to help the 39 percent of Ugandans to join the money economy, but he failed because the available funding had conditions. He said he ended up using the country’s limited financial resources to kick off the Parish Development Model (PDM) initiative.

“Uganda is a very rich country but one of the problems we were having is that most people were outside the money economy, they were only producing for eating so I was looking for money to give coffee seedlings to this group so that they can start producing for the economy but I could not get money from anybody because the loans are for capacity building but we funded it ourselves. Each year we spend 300 million USD of our own to make these villagers join the money economy by producing for the stomach and the pocket.”

The President also pointed out the challenge of neo-colonialist civil servants who talk about money for import support that undermines the economic development of any African country.

“But I don’t want to import, I want to export, why don’t you talk to me about import substitution and export promotion?” he inquired.

President Museveni also reiterated his message on the need for Africa to stop exporting its raw materials but instead add value at source in order to steer development.

“This Haemorrhage of Africa must stop. The crisis you see in Africa is because of stagnation of the last sixty years, since independence. The population is increasing and yet the economies are not,” he remarked.

The International Development Association (IDA) is a development finance institution which offers concessional loans and grants to low-income countries. The IDA is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States.

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