Inspector General of Police, Martin Okoth Ochola, has handed over office to his deputy, Major General Geoffrey Katsigazi Tumusiime, following the end of his six-year term. Deputy IGP Katsigazi will serve in the acting role until the appointment of a new IGP
According to the police spokesperson Fred Enanga said that the handover ceremony was held at the Police headquarters in Naguru and attended by the Police Advisory Committee.
Ochola was appointed as the IGP in March, 2018, to replace his then boss, Gen Kale Kayihura. However, when the first three-year contract expired in March 2021, President Museveni extended it for another three years which have expired today.
The force will now wait for President Museveni, who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces to appoint the next Inspector General of Police.
Police have applauded outgoing Inspector General, John Martins Okoth Ochola as one who helped improve the force’s efficiency.
“Mr.John Martins Okoth Ochola has led police to great success. In the past six years he has led police to higher levels of achievements with his talent and managerial skills. His tenure was marked by improved efficiency in police services and modernization of the force,” Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga said.
Biography
Born 1958, in Agumiti village, Mulanda sub-county, West Budama County, in Tororo District, Ochola attended Abweli Primary School, then Rock View Primary School and Kisoko Boys Primary School, where he sat his primary leaving examinations. He attended Namilyango College, where he obtained his high school.
He studied at Makerere University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1983.
The following year, he obtained a postgraduate diploma in legal practice, from the Law Development Centre.
Ochola applied and was admitted into police as a cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1988 to begin a journey in the force.
He would later in February 1989 be posted at Entebbe International Airport as the officer-in-charge of Airport Security and 10 months later, he was taken to Entebbe Police Station as a new officer in charge of prosecutions.
He didn’t last long in this position and a month later he was appointed as the officer in charge of prosecutions at Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court.
In 1993, Ochola was transferred to Kampala Extra region as the staff officer for the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) but was later transferred to the police headquarters as the acting assistant commissioner of police in the legal department.
In 1996, Ochola was promoted to the rank of superintendent of police and in 1998 he was promoted to senior superintendent of police.
Ochola was in 2001, appointed as the deputy director of criminal investigations until 2008 when he was promoted to commissioner of police.
The then Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura then elevated him to the position of the director of CID but remained in acting capacity until August 2008 when he was confirmed as director.
He was promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police in 2009.
In August 2011, President Museveni appointed him the Deputy Inspector General of Police, a position he served in until 2018 when he was appointed as Inspector General of Police.
President Yoweri Museveni has mourned the passing of former Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who died on February 29. While paying tribute to Mwinyi’s impactful life and leadership, Museveni recounted the late president’s significant contributions to Uganda and the East African region.
“Mzee Hassan Mwinyi, our comrade in the struggle, has left us,” Museveni said in a statement posted on X on Sunday, March 3, acknowledging Mwinyi’s long service in the successive governments of the United Republic of Tanzania during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Reflecting on the past, Museveni shared his personal connection with Tanzania’s struggle for freedom, noting that during the time Mwinyi was serving in various capacities in Tanzania, he and others were students and later freedom fighters against Idi Amin’s regime, seeking refuge and support in Tanzania.
A pivotal moment came when Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, before retiring as President of Tanzania, promised support to the Ugandan resistance. “I am glad Mzee Mwinyi implemented Mwalimu’s pledge,” Museveni stated, revealing how Mwinyi facilitated the delivery of crucial support to the National Resistance Army (NRA), aiding in their efforts against the oppressive regime of Idi Amin.
Museveni underscored Mwinyi’s role in the revival of the East African Community after 1986, portraying him as a key figure alongside Kenya’s President Daniel Arap Moi in rekindling the spirit of regional cooperation. He also touched on the bilateral cooperation between Uganda and Tanzania during Mwinyi’s presidency, including infrastructure development and peace initiatives in the region.
“During the Rwanda war, Tanzania played a constructive neutral role,” Museveni recalled, praising Mwinyi’s positive influence on the peace negotiations in Arusha and his broader contributions to peace and stability in East Africa.
President Museveni recalled the profound impact of Mwinyi’s support during Uganda’s critical times, stating, “Indeed, the 20,000 rifles we used to liberate Kampala, contained the 5,000 ordered by Mwalimu as already pointed out and implemented by Mzee Mwinyi.”
As Museveni offered his condolences to Mwinyi’s family and the people of Tanzania, he encapsulated the sentiment of a region in mourning, yet grateful for the legacy of a leader who played a significant role in its history. “May his soul rest in eternal peace,” Museveni reflected a testament to the enduring respect and admiration for Ali Hassan Mwinyi’s contributions to his country and his neighbors.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has advertised 132,943 jobs ahead of the National Population and Housing census due in May.
UBOS is currently seeking 114,460 census enumerators and 18,483 census enumeration supervisors in the online recruitment exercise ongoing until March 15.
“UBOS is seeking dynamic, experienced, and competent persons for the following positions to carry out the census exercise,” reads in part the job advert released on Friday.
According to UBOS, census enumeration supervisors will undertake effective census supervision of the enumeration exercise in the assigned supervision area, while enumerators are to conduct census enumeration in all the enumeration areas assigned.
UBOS is a semi-autonomous body that will be implementing the enumeration exercise of the National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) 2024 from May 10th to May 19th, 2024 with May 9th as census night.
“The census results will provide bench-mark socio-demographic data at all administrative levels necessary for general administration and the planning process,” the job statement read
Mr Didacus Okoth, the spokesperson of UBOS, said already prepared for the recruitment exercise.
“We are prepared because as we have already stated that it is going to be online recruitment, we already have the infrastructure in place to ensure people are ready to apply and the system can run in terms of selection,” Mr Okoth said.
He explained that there will be training for district officials who will be responsible for recruitment at the district level and will be able to select those who will have gone through the process.
Mr Okoth revealed that after the recruitment exercise, the successful applicants will be taken through training on how to use the census gadgets as the exercise will be strictly online.
“After the selection, we shall have those who successfully went through, trained. We shall have training at the national level, district level, and at sub-county level. Those who will be trained at the national level, will train those at district level, and then those will train the other ones at sub-counties on how to use the gadgets,” he said.
Mr Okoth said that since the job recruitment exercise will be done online, they don’t expect any cases of bribery before cautioning the district leaders to be transparent and honest in the exercise.
He also noted that they are going to sensitize the community to avoid incidences during the recruitment exercise to ensure that the entire process is transparent.
“We understand that such incidents (bribes) will be there but we have urged the leaders at district level to try to be as honest as possible, we are also going to ensure that we sensitize the population,” he said.
Uganda last conducted the National Population and Housing Census in 2024.
This will be the first census to use digital technology to collect and process data.
According to UBOS, the digital system will enable them to produce accurate and timely demographics social and economic statistics
The former Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mathias Mpuuga, has declined the National Unity Platform’s (NUP) call to resign his position as parliamentary commissioner.
Yesterday, NUP asked Mpuuga to resign after he was particularly fingered for having directly and personally received Shs500 million in cash.
He is at the centre of attention in an ongoing social media exhibition after leaked documentation revealed that Mpuuga and the other three parliamentary commissioners irregularly awarded themselves taxpayers’ money, christened the Service Award.
“My attention has been drawn to an unsigned document purportedly attributed to my party, the National Unity Platform, calling for my resignation, inter alia, based on falsehoods and terrible misapprehension of facts, including basic ones,” Mpuuga said.
He said the duties and roles of the Parliamentary Commission are well stipulated in the laws of the land and explained in basic language. An issue I shared and laboured to educate my comrades with whom we interacted in an informal conversation at the party offices.
LOP’s office takes care of the welfare of ordinary members and their leaders in Parliament, including determining the range of legally permissible payments, which may be salary, allowances, gratuity, honoraria, and car grants, among others. Every decision of the Commission to confer or reward anyone under its charge is subjected to the relevant committees of Parliament for legality, feasibility, sustainability, and relevancy.
He stated that to call any such payment corruption is the highest level of spite, double standards, and deliberate misrepresentation to the public and membership in the party on a purely selfish mission. If such payments amounted to corruption, all current and previous MPs would be compelled to refund to the public coffers monies paid as gratuity or honoraria since no MP, current or previous, was not paid gratuity at the determination of the parliamentary commission.
“The campaign to character assassinate me is deliberate, and I am perfectly aware. It’s well orchestrated and well-funded. I am ready for the worst if it takes this sacrifice to return sanity and common sense to our politics. I am available as ever to help this young party rid itself of any form of corruption from its rank and file, especially that ingrained at the base of the party,” he said.
“I accordingly decline the cowardly call on me to resign as a parliamentary commissioner, based on spite, envy, and deliberate misrepresentation. The general public is aware and alive to the internal intrigue and machinations unfortunately within this young party over the last two and a half years, during my occupation of the coveted office of the LOP. It became the official style of different party leaders to undermine my work, including the hiring of bloggers to abuse and insult my person,” he said.
Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL) has appointed Grace Semakula as the new Chief Executive for SBG Securities Uganda Limited (SBGS) and by virtue of that position, an Executive Director on the company Board, effective March 1, 2024.
Semakula who was previously with UMEME replaces Joram Ongura, the SBG Securities founding Chief Executive who left the role last May.
He has a wealth of expertise and experience spanning nearly 20 years of practice in the sectors of Asset Management, Brokerage and Energy & Infrastructure, 12 of which have been at Executive and Board leadership level.
Commenting on his appointment, Francis Karuhanga, the SUHL Chief Executive said, “after a long search, we have appointed Semakula from a long list of good candidates. He possesses a diverse skill set that covers financial modeling, private equity, fixed income, equities, and investment banking; his holistic understanding of the financial landscape, coupled with analytical dexterity and strategic acumen, means he has what it takes to lead SBG Securities on the next frontier of growth.”
Grace Semakula said: I am pleased to join Stanbic Uganda, the leading financial services brand in the country. I am looking forward to making my contribution to its purpose of driving Uganda’s growth in my capacity as Chief Executive SBG Securities.”
SBG Securities, which offers Securities and Asset management services, served over 38,000 clients, as of May 2023. In 2021, it played a lead role in the MTN Uganda Initial Public Offer IPO, the largest in sub-Saharan region and the first green IPO in East Africa.
SBG Securities is one of the subsidiaries operating under SUHL (Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited), a member of the Standard Bank Group, a listed entity on the Uganda Securities Exchange. The other SUHL subsidiaries are Stanbic Bank Uganda, Stanbic Properties, Stanbic Business Incubator, and FlyHub.
Gloria Kyarisiima was one of the winners of the sixth season of DFCU Bank’s Rising Woman Initiative. She is the founder of GBK Super Cleaning & General Services Ltd., a distinct cleaning, landscaping, waste management, and pest control company.
Gloria shares an inspiring story about her business and how she has benefited from participating in the Rising Woman Initiative.
Please tell us about your background and the journey that has led to where you are today as a Rising Woman Winner.
My journey started when I saw the call for women entrepreneurs to participate in the 2024 Rising Woman competition. The competition called for people who were already engaged in business with the interest of creating social impact in their communities.
GBK is sustainable-driven, and I felt the need to participate in Rising Woman because my major aim is to close the unemployment gap and end poverty while offering efficient and professional services to the corporate sector.
The timing was perfect for me to participate. I wrote my proposal and fortunately made it to the top 20. I was then invited to defend my proposal and pitch my business, and I ended up among the top 10 winners.
In what industry are you building your business, and why did you choose that specific industry?
I am building my business in the institutional and industrial cleaning industry. We clean and maintain a healthy environment for commercial establishments of all sizes and types. I chose this industry out of a passion for clean spaces as well as to satisfy the rise in demand for professional cleaning services, especially after the COVID season.
What inspired you to become an entrepreneur? Are there specific experiences or moments that shaped your path?
This business started during the COVID pandemic. I am a teacher by profession, and during that season, schools were closed, and as educators, we lost jobs. Fortunately, with COVID came the opportunity and demand for cleaning services. That said, I am very passionate about cleanliness, so I quickly realised that there was no better person to jump at this opportunity. That is how GBK Super Cleaning and General Services was born.
How has the mentorship and support from the Rising Woman initiative influenced your journey and impacted you?
It has been very great to meet fellow entrepreneurs through the Rising Woman initiative. Through the mentorship programme, I have learned so many lessons, but what I can highlight is learning to separate myself from the business and creating processes and systems. I have also learned how to create strategic goals and write them down, as opposed to keeping them in my head. Through Rising Woman, I have also learned how to manage conflicts within my company and business partners. I am so grateful to DFCU Bank, Nation Media Group, Uganda Airlines, and other partners for the opportunity.
What advice would you give to other women aspiring to make a mark in your industry, especially with the challenges that might exist?
My advice to women aspiring to excel in the cleaning industry is to first and foremost focus on learning. Learning never ends. I would also tell them that the cake is big enough for everyone. They should not feel like they aren’t capable of doing or achieving anything.
You recently travelled to Nairobi for a study tour, courtesy of Rising Woman. What was your experience and what was your most defining moment of the visit?
The trip to Nairobi was very enlightening and eye-opening. I enjoyed networking with many female entrepreneurs who are doing great things in Kenya. The trip made me realise that there are better business practices that women doing business in Uganda can adopt. One of the key lessons for me was the power of collaboration with other entrepreneurs in the same industry. Women in Kenya work together. They do not only see one another as competitors but as people to collaborate with; they refer work to one another whenever they are unable to deliver a piece of work to a client.
Another lesson was to price my services appropriately. Since I can deliver high-quality services, I should not be shy about charging appropriately.
In addition to that, I am in business to make money. It is very important to understand and track our business finances. We often make money but cannot figure out where it has gone, and in the long run, we can lose our businesses.
The Rising Woman Award celebrates not just individual achievements but also the potential for positive change in communities. How do you give back or contribute to causes that are important to you?
Definitely. I wish we could change how we handle and dispose of garbage in this country. I would like to start a few community initiatives to have coded garbage bins in trading centres to separate our garbage so that we can recycle. This will also help us counter the climate change that we are currently facing.
What advice do you have for a female entrepreneur who would like to participate in the Rising Woman Initiative?
If I had it my way, I would have every woman in the country come and participate in the Rising Woman Initiative. This is not just about winning money. There is a lot to learn from the initiative that can propel any woman who is interested in starting and running a successful business, such as writing a proposal. On its own, the ability to write a proposal can move your business from one level to another.
Japan has donated 2,000 metric tonnes of rice to 50,000 newly arriving refugees in Uganda. The rice, worth $2.2 million, was received by the World Food Programme (WFP).
WFP supports 1.4 million out of the 1.5 million refugees in Uganda with monthly food and cash assistance, but the gap between humanitarian needs and funding availability has grown steadily in recent years. WFP in Uganda requires $134 million to support refugees in 2024.
In the face of limited resources, WFP is now prioritising the most vulnerable refugees for food assistance, a difficult decision reached after extensive consultations with refugees and key stakeholders.
The refugee households categorised as very vulnerable receive 60 percent of the size of regular food rations. Less vulnerable families receive 30 percent of the minimum food ration, while those categorised as not vulnerable have been weaned off food assistance and connected to long-term livelihood opportunities. All new arrivals receive a 100 percent food ration for the first three months.
“We are targeting new refugees in reception and transit centres because the time right after the fleeing crisis is of extreme difficulty and vulnerability,” Hidemoto Fukazawa, Ambassador of Japan to Uganda, said. “This contribution is in line with Japan’s commitment to provide humanitarian support to Uganda at a time when the region is facing an influx of refugees and multiple crises.”
Last year, 130,000 refugees arrived in Uganda. The country hosts a total of 1.5 million refugees, the highest number in any African country. Many of the newly arriving refugees are fleeing conflict in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and more recently, Sudan, reaching the border by foot or by bus.
Uganda’s refugee population has tripled in less than a decade. Despite a progressive refugee policy, refugees in Uganda have limited livelihood opportunities to sustain themselves and continue to depend on humanitarian assistance.
Mr. Abdirahman Meygag, WFP Uganda’s Country Director and Representative, commended the Government of Japan for their timely contribution. “This comes at a critical time when WFP needs sustained donor support to continue providing monthly food assistance to refugees fleeing conflict,” he said.
“When refugees receive a hot meal on arrival, it is a relief after long, often difficult journeys with no food or water for days. This marks the beginning of recovery and hope as they then settle to find ways of rebuilding their lives,” he said.
CEO of Uganda Development Bank, Patricia Ojangole.
The country’s national development finance institution has released its 2023 (unaudited) results, indicating an 8% growth in assets from Shs1.52 trillion in 2022 to Shs1.64 trillion last year.
This growth was driven by the increase in gross loans to customers, which inched up by 24 percent to close the period at Shs1.6 trillion.
Consistent with Uganda Development Bank’s (UDB) strategy to support the key sectors of the economy, the bulk of this approved funding, i.e., 59%, targeted the industry sector (agro-industrialization and manufacturing), with Shs409 billion approved for this sector alone. A sum of Shs19 billion was allocated to fund primary agriculture activities, while Shs223 billion was approved to boost the infrastructure sector.
In the same year, actual funds disbursed amounted to Shs610 billion for various projects across the country. Industry took the lion’s share, accounting for Shs391 billion and representing 65 percent of the total disbursements, while primary agriculture accounted for Shs38.5 billion, representing six percent, and the balance was disbursed to finance other sectors, including infrastructure and services, including health, education, and tourism.
UDB has continued to make significant strides towards facilitating Uganda’s socio-economic development. On this front, 18,558 jobs are expected to be created through the approved projects, in addition to generating Shs11.39 trillion in additional output value, Shs615.96 billion in tax revenue for the government, and Shs3.3 trillion in foreign revenue earnings.
To enhance development in the underserved segments of the country, including SMEs, youth, and women, the bank continues to effectively implement several strategies dubbed special programmes, specifically tailor-made to support their development.
During the reporting period, the bank approved Shs22 billion to support 118 enterprises in this segment and disbursed an additional Shs17 billion to these segments.
Following its first deployment of private equity and venture capital in December 2022, UDB invested another Shs9.9 billion (with an additional Shs25.3 billion approved) in innovative startups with high impact in sub-sectors like vaccine manufacture, electric mobility, local paint manufacture, leather value addition, and eco-friendly building materials.
The private equity and venture capital portfolio caters for the needs of SMEs or other entities, such as startups, that face challenges in accessing debt financing and require patient capital.
Uganda ranks highly globally as having an entrepreneurial population. Albeit 70 percent of Ugandan enterprises never make it to their second year, some of the challenges faced by SMEs today are bookkeeping, governance, sustainability planning, access to markets, access to credit, and financial literacy.
“During 2023, we delivered a strong set of results, consistent with the performance trend over the last couple of years and in line with our role as the country’s Development Finance Institution. The Bank continues to make progress on its strategy implementation, fulfilling our primary mandate of generating tangible development outcomes that propel the country’s socio-economic progress. We remain resolute on carefully balancing these efforts with the need to be a financially sustainable institution,” said Patricia Ojangole, the UDB Managing Director.
Ojangole further reported a slight uptick of 5 percent in borrowing and grants, reaching Shs245 billion from Shs232 billion in December 2022. At least Shs466.5 billion was collected in loan repayments and reinvested to fund disbursements to various enterprises during the year.
“Through our Business Accelerator for Successful Entrepreneurship (BASE) programme, we extended business training to more than 500 enterprises across the country in 2023, of which 291 are to be incubated for funding in the year 2024. 61 percent of the enterprises trained were in the agriculture sector,” Ojangole said.
Adding to that, under the Bank’s Business Acceleration Programme, the Bank has supported 40 projects across the agricultural sector (mainly farmer groups), SMEs, youth, and men. The supported projects represent about 5,000 beneficiaries that have benefited from business advisory support, which has enabled them to catalyze and further grow their businesses.
The Bank has to date committed Shs5.066 billion towards the preparation of various projects and targeted funding initiatives,” Ojangole said.
As the country continues to recover from the devastating effects of Covid-19 and other constraints, there has been a surge in economic activity, culminating in a rising demand for long-term credit to catalyse investments in the country. The demand, as has been the trend recently, outstrips the resources available to the bank.
“I am happy to report that both capitalization and funding towards the bank grew, meaning we were enabled by the government to realise our strategic goals. The bank’s funds inched up year-on-year by 12 percent, from Shs1.23 trillion to Shs1.38 trillion, attributed to capital injections by the government during the period and retained and reinvested profits from the prior years, with these sources complemented by additional funding from funding partners. We continue to explore all options to improve our funding base to reach more enterprises, thereby expanding our impact,” Ojangole said.
In 2023, the Bank rolled out several new initiatives aimed at propelling and facilitating equitable growth and working towards achieving a market-driven economy. These included a special-purpose vehicle with a unique and specific focus on financing, unlocking, and catalyzing private sector investment in local green sectors that drive green impact and financial inclusion.
The Bank also launched a digital solution that offers both a savings and lending option for small-holder farmers in Uganda and targeted financial and non-financial support to improve the competitiveness of emerging and existing Ugandan contractors.
In a bid to expand its footprint across the country, UDB set up the first regional office in Gulu City in 2023 to act as a liaison point for all the districts that constitute Northern Uganda.
To further improve efficiency and deepen financial inclusion across the country, the bank is establishing five regional offices. These offices will be strategically located in various districts of the country, which include Mbale for Eastern Uganda, Hoima for the mid-west region, Arua for West Nile, Mbarara for Western Uganda, as well as the Gulu office, which is already operational.
In 2024 the Bank is poised to solidify the gains achieved and remains committed to advancing its ambition of supporting private sector enterprises that address crucial societal needs. The objective is to amplify our impact by enhancing the quality of life for the people of Uganda.
President Museveni hands over the UPDF Authority to CDF Gen. Mbadi.
KAMPALA- President Yoweri Museveni has said the army is becoming corrupt again and warned he will take action against the corrupt officers.
The president, who was addressing a thanksgiving ceremony organized by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces at Kololo Airstrip, warned that corruption has “creped in” in the military.
He described the corrupt officers who steal resources and those involved in land eviction as “pollutants” that will be removed from the military.
Corruption had been a big problem in the army in the 1990s and 2000s but during the reign of the late Gen Aronda Nyakairima, the vice was fought and reduced.
But the president said corruption is back, especially stealing fuel, army officers getting contracts to supply the military at inflated prices.
Some of the biggest corruption scandal cases in the 1990s was the procurement of junk choppers and undersized army uniforms.
UPDF officers have also been involved in selling fuel and food meant for soldiers in Somalia. The recent reshuffle in the UPDF was reportedly connected to corruption in UPDF training schools and top two army officers who were involved in grabbing land in Mubende district.
President Museveni said those involved in corruption are those managing the army resources. “I know them but it’s just a matter of time,” he said.
Bank of Uganda has with immediate effect suspended Licenses of M/S Pivot Payments Limited under Section 13 of The National Payment Systems Act, 2020 a Payment Service Provider and a Payment Systems Operator citing threats to financial stability.
In a statement released today, Michael Atingi-Ego, Deputy Governor said, “In exercise of its powers under section 13 of the National Payment Systems Act, 2020, the Bank of Uganda has effective today February 29, 2024, suspended the licences of M/S Pivot Payments Limited as a Payment Service Provider and a Payment Systems Operator.”
He added that Bank of Uganda through its oversight role has established that M/s Pivot Payments Limited is conducting business in a manner that is detrimental to the best interest of the public and endangers the stability of the financial system.
Atingi-Ego guided, “All existing Pivot Payments Limited wallet holders are requested to report to Pivot Payments Limited premises located at Kololo at Plot 17, Golf Course road, Kampala to verify the wallet balances and Know Your Customer (KYC) information starting today,”
The Deputy Governor, Michael Atingi-Ego, emphasized that the Bank of Uganda should provide oversight and protection of payment systems in Uganda. This commitment is crucial to maintaining the integrity and security of the financial landscape, assuring the public that stringent measures are in place to address any threats or irregularities in the payment systems.
