Minister Mary Goretti Kitutu, the Karamoja Affairs Minister has confessed to diverting 3000 iron sheets that were meant for the unprivileged people in Karamoja.
while appearing before the Presidential Affairs Committee of Parliament, Kitutu accepted responsibility for the mismanagement of the process to distribute the iron sheets procured for the vulnerable in the sub-region.
“Some of the iron sheets were used to roof a boys’ dormitory in Situmi Primary School, Namisindwa district. The school lacked a store, hence storing them at a relative’s house,” she said.
She apologized to the committee and parliament, noting that she was never guided about the project.
Kitutu requested for 12,200 iron sheets to aid community mobilization and peace-building missions in Karamoja that has been plagued by cattle rusttling and hunger.
Her January 12, 2023, internal memo to the stores’ department at the Office of Prime Minister, read in part, “During community mobilization and peace-building missions, I usually meet vulnerable groups and karuchunas (reformed warriors) who are willing to dissociate themselves from rustling. As part of my intervention, I will be distributing iron sheets to such special vulnerable groups.”
Last month, security operatives nabbed Cotilda Kitutu, Michael Nabwaya, and Julius Wabule. The accused are the mother, brother, and nephew of Minister Kitutu. The three were allegedly selling OPM-branded iron sheets to residents of Namisindwa district, in eastern Uganda.
The ministers involved in the scandal include; Rebecca Kadaga, Jacob Oboth Oboth, Hamson Obua, Amos Lugolobi, Matia Kasaija and others.
Anne Juuko, the Chief Executive for Stanbic Bank Uganda
The Stanbic Bank market analysis shows the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dipped to 51.2 during February from 53.2 in January as business activity increased in the services, wholesale and retail categories, but decreased in agriculture, construction and industry.
However, the Ugandan private sector remained in growth territory at the midway point of the first quarter of 2023, with output and new orders continuing to increase. Less positive were a first reduction in employment in five months and continued price pressures.
Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show deterioration. The latest reading was lower than the average of 52.4 since the survey began in June 2016.
The Stanbic PMI is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 private sector companies. The sectors covered by the survey include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction, wholesale, retail and services.
Mulalo Madula, Economist at Standard Bank said, “PMI continues to show resilient economic performance in Uganda after seven consecutive months of rising demand. New orders continued to rise, supporting output, despite a second straight month of declines in new export orders and increases in input and output prices. Activity increased in the services, wholesale and retail sectors, but decreased in the agriculture, construction and industrial sectors.”
Helping to support the overall strengthening in the health of the private sector were sustained by increases in both output and new orders, with successful advertising and improving demand reportedly behind growth. Activity and new orders each rose for the seventh month running in February.
There were some reports, however, of extremely dry weather conditions limiting output growth. Hopes are that rains would come to alleviate these conditions as one of the factors behind an optimistic outlook for the coming year, alongside predictions of higher customer numbers and softer inflation.
Madula said, “According to some reports, extremely dry weather conditions have negatively impacted output. Employment fell in February, the first drop in five months. The decrease in hiring reflects a combination of resignations and efforts to manage capacity. Businesses are optimistic that production will pick up over the next 12 months given increased demand, lower inflationary pressures and expected rainfall.”
Although some companies raised workforce numbers in line with higher workloads, others reported that resignations and efforts to manage capacity had led employment to fall. Meanwhile, backlogs of work were depleted again.
Input costs rose further in February, with higher prices for electricity, water and purchases all widely reported. Wages were also up overall, but a reduction in employment led to a drop in staff costs at some firms.
The pass through of higher input costs to customers resulted in an eighteenth consecutive monthly increase in selling prices. Charges rose in the agriculture, industry and wholesale & retail categories, but fell in construction and services. Finally, suppliers’ delivery times lengthened for the third time in the past four months.
Growth of new orders encouraged companies to raise their purchasing activity again midway through the first quarter of the year. Input buying has now increased in each of the past four months. The agriculture and industry sectors raised purchasing.
Companies remained optimistic that output will increase over the coming year, with close to 68% of respondents predicting a rise. Higher customer numbers, softer inflationary pressures and the coming rains are expected to boost activity. Positive sentiment was signaled across all five monitored sectors.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has released the 2022 Uganda Advanced Certificate Examinations (UACE) where a total of 97,889 candidates registered for the examination from 1, 969 Centers of which the registered candidates, 42% were females while 58% were males.
UNEB chairperson, Prof Mary Okwakol said the performance of the candidates has improved especially at the upper level of candidates obtaining 3 Principal passes. At the other levels, the pass rates are comparable.
“As was the case in the 2020 examination, female candidates have proportionally in terms of percentages performed better than the males at all levels, and have shown a lower failure rate. Even at individual subject levels, they have shown a better performance,” Prof. Okwakol said.
UNEB Executive Director, Dan Odongo revealed that an analysis of the overall performance in the examination shows that a very high percentage of candidates (99.2%) qualified for the award of the UACE, just as was in 2020.
“Forty thousand, seven hundred thirteen (40.713) female candidates registered for UACE2022 compared to 41,190 in 2020,” Odongo said.
Performance in Biology has again dropped below the 2020 level where it had risen. Examiners have attributed this to candidates having problems in questions on Genetics, Ecology and applications of biological concepts to the environment, Classification and inability to deal with simple mathematical computations in Biology.
“It should be noted that these percentages were lower except for Physics in the 2020 examination, and before. In other words, female entries for Mathematics and the Sciences are gradually increasing,” Odongo said.
In terms of percentages, female candidates performed better than their male counterparts at the principal level pass (A-E) in Arts (Humanities), Mathematics and Physics. Male candidates were better in Agriculture, Chemistry, Biology, Art and General Paper.
Female entries for the Sciences and Mathematics have remained lower than that of the males, consistent with the fact that overall female entry is lower than that of the males. Candidature was 29.6% for Mathematics, 6.1%% for Physics, 16.5% for Chemistry; and 15.9%% for Biology.
“Candidates at lower levels demonstrated adequate to basic mastery of the subject matter Their performance was undermined by misunderstanding of questions, inability to describe, explain, interpret, offer logical arguments or illustrations and specific examples to qualify their answers,” Odongo revealed.
Better answers were seen in parts of questions that are more direct. Some candidates rely on mnemonics in order to recall facts.
However, results of 113 candidates were withheld over issues of malpractice.
“In accordance with Section 4 (3) of the UNEB Act, 2021, the Board has withheld results of 113 candidates, and will accord the affected candidates a fair hearing before passing a final verdict,” Odongo said.
Emmanuel Omoding Okabe, who won the Serere by-election as an independent candidate, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work with the ruling party, National Resistance Movement in Parliament.
The pact was signed on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at the ruling party headquarters at Kyadondo in presence of the NRM Secretary General Mr. Richard Todwong and the party’s electoral commission boss Mr. Tanga Odoi.
“We congratulate you upon winning the election though we didn’t support you. In principle we supported our flag bearer but the people of Serere decided otherwise and as the NRM party, we welcome you,” Todwong said.
“We are happy to receive you because you have declared openly that you belong to NRM and you would want to work with NRM. You were elected as an independent Member of Parliament and this document (MOU) will enable us to relate with you officially. It doesn’t mean you have crossed to NRM but only to help us work with you as an independent MP,” Todwong said.
He also explained the NRM choice for Philip Oucor as the party flag bearer in the just concluded election, saying they could not go against the party’s constitution.
“Though we didn’t support you as a party, the people decided that you should represent the constituency. In principle, we supported our flag bearer which is something we couldn’t go against. Now that you have come, we are happy to receive you.”
In his remarks, Omoding said he was delighted that he will be working with the ruling NRM party as an independent MP to make the voices of the people of Serere county get heard.
The shilling opened the week trading at the 3715/3725 levels. The unit weakened marginally to trade at the 3720/3730 levels but later settled to trade at the 3695/3705 levels on Friday morning.
It was a relatively quiet week as clients worked out their requirements for the month. The few demand tickets during the week were outweighed by inflows from NGOs and commodity exporters. The unit is still likely to buoy within the 3660 – 3750 trading range in the near term as some companies prepare to purchase for dividends and flows should continue to trickle in from NGOs and other sectors.
Speaking to Catherine Kijjagulwe, the Head of Trading at Absa Bank Uganda said Money Markets were fairly liquid during the week as overnight yields continued to trade within the 11.50% -12.50% levels. Bank of Uganda held a Treasury Bill auction on Wednesday and yields in the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day tenors traded at averages of 10.384%, 10.512% and 12.302% respectively. There is no government securities auction scheduled during the week.
Dollars remain scare in the Kenyan market with the currency continuing to weaken. Tea flows were seen during the week but bid at high levels as dollar buyers continue to look for dollars. The unit is expected to trade within the 127.00 -137.00 trading range in the near term.
She said yields in the US Treasuries edged upward during the week. Jobless claims data declined to 190k indicating an improvement in the labour market and further cementing view that the Fed will hike rates. The dollar remained strong against most major currencies.
The Euro weakened on Thursday to touch lows of $1.0600 as the dollar strengthened. Inflation in the Eurozone softened to 8.5% versus 8.6% in January as market players gear up for a possible 50bps rate hike by the European Central Bank.
The Pound also weakened during the Thursday session as the dollar strengthened, touching lows of $1.1924 before closing the session at $1.1946. There is speculation of a halt or slowdown in rate hikes by the Bank of England.
Brent Crude traded at $84.61 a barrel, West Texas Intermediate traded at $78.04 a barrel. Positive China factory activity had boosted oil prices during the week however there are still concerns about the continued build up in US oil inventories.
Court has ordered Absa Bank formerly Barclays to pay Shs5.2Billion for selling off Progressive Group of Schools. The group sought for a Shs1.3 billion loan however only Shs400 million was given to them.
The bank pretended that their client failed to service the loan and sold the group properties to Luyanzi Academic Foundation.
In 2009, the group through their lawyers, the group, Ab’mooti Investments Ltd and Kaahwa Erisa Amooti dragged the bank and Luyanzi Academic Foundation for fraudulently taking over School properties. In 2019 High Court Judge Wangutusi ruled in favor of the respondents. The applicants however appealed against the court ruling.
Appearing before court, a panel of judges led by Justice Richard Buteera, Catherine Bamugemereire and Stephen Musota set aside the high court ruling and ordered the respondents to pay Shs400 million for the 13 years.
“The sale, transfer of the applicant’s suit properties by the bank and Progressive Group of Schools is set aside and the registrar of titles is hereby ordered to cancel the transfer and registration of Luyanzi Academic Foundation and reinstate the appellants as the registered proprietors of the suit properties who shall be entitled to vacate possession thereof,” Court ruled.
KAMPALA- President Yoweri Museveni has commissioned 782 cadet officers at Kaweweta military training school in Nakasekke district.
Among the commissioned officers are 702 male, 77 female officers who had been undergoing training for six months.
Previously, the officers would train for one year to graduate when the recruits were civilians but the UPDF later stopped recruiting civilians to do cadet training.
The cadet trainees are now recruited from the serving soldiers or Senior Non-Commissioned Officers and that’s why the training time was shortened to six months.
Money lending apps in Uganda are taking advantage of borrowers in need of emergency funding to exploit them and lend the money at exorbitant interest rates, which is paid in a very short period.
A number of victims who have talked to the Eagle online say the operators of these apps operate virtually and do not fulfil the promised lending regulations, especially lending periods.
“They operate the way they want and lend money at insanely high interest rates. It’s so unfortunate that Ugandans have been left be preyed on by these thugs,” David Okello who has borrowed from one of the apps.
Okello says that some apps give borrowers eight days to pay the borrowed money back but they start sending threatening messages two or three days before the deadline.
“For example if you borrow Shs410,000, the money received will be Shs310, 000. That means the interest is Shs100,000 and you are expected to pay this money within eight days,”
But Okello says that these Moneylending apps start sending threatening messages on the fifth or sixth day and they expect the borrowers to pay on the seventh day.
The borrowers are complaining about apps like ; ManguCash, Mara, LoanGo, QuickSente, OKLoan, FairCredit, Cashbase, Dovecash, Isente, CashX and others.
Mr JM who wants to be named by his initials says he has received abusive and threatening messages from ManguCash, OkLoan, Mara even when the agreed time of payment had not elapsed.
He says he has been compiling all these threatening messages to show the dates when he receives them in correlation with the deadlines of payment.
He says some apps promise to extend the payment period to two or three weeks but they never fulfil their promises.
He showed one of the threatening messages sent to him by one Christine Akuyo from OkLoan and yet the deadline for payment had not elapsed.
“The government should really intervene and cause an investigation and expose these selfish people,” he said.
Some of these apps are regulated by the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority but the borrowers say these money lending apps need more regulation.
The Telecom companies like Airtel and MTN are paid a fee when financial transactions are being made. “I’m told these telecom companies can’t do much because they also get money,” Simon Serugo, another digital borrower said.
Another issue the borrowers are raising is about the safety of their personal information given to these apps when borrowing.
Ronnie Kalema, a member of the FUFA Executive Committee has revealed that Video assistant referee (VAR) is set to be used in the Uganda Premier League in the near future.
While appearing on the morning Sports show, NBS Sport in the morning, Kalema said that the federation has intentions to introduce VAR in Ugandan football leagues.
“We have a discussion about introducing VAR in our Ugandan league. We want to be the number one nation to have VAR in Africa,” said Kalema.
However, he did not provide more information on when the federation hopes to roll out the process for the introduction of VAR.
This comes at the back of the controversial decision of FUFA’s Disciplinary Panel that has ordered the replay of the Stanbic Uganda Cup match between Bul FC and SC Villa.
SC Villa petitioned FUFA complaining about their disallowed goal in the match that was played on February 17 2023.
After investigations, the report from the Referee’s Disciplinary panel indicated that the Assistant Referee Muyanga Khalid admitted that he had erred in his decision of denying SC Villa their equaliser.
This is not the first time match officials are being held liable for incorrect decisions in Ugandan football leagues, and the idea of VAR may as well be a solution.
The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee. Operating under the philosophy of “minimal interference, maximum benefit”, the VAR system seeks to provide a way for “clear and obvious errors” and “serious missed incidents” to be corrected.
The VAR automatically checks every on-field referee decision falling under the four reviewable categories. If the VAR does not identify any mistake during the check, he or she will communicate this to the referee. This is called a “silent check” and requires no further action, usually not causing any delay to the game. At other times, a VAR check may cause the game to be delayed while the VAR ascertains whether or not a possible mistake has occurred. The referee may delay the restart of play for this to occur, and indicates an ongoing check by pointing to his or her ear.
KAMULI-The fastest means by which Uganda can kick homosexuality out of the country is by fighting the vice at family level. This can be achieved when every parent keep their eye on their children and spouses to detect any signs of evil doings.
The call was sounded on Sunday by Namayingo district Deputy Resident District Commissioner, Trevor Solomon Baleke while addressing mourners at the send off his neighbour Nubuwat Nabirye at Buwala village, Wankole sub county, Kamuli district.
“If you are a parent and your son dresses like a lady or wears makeup, earrings etc and you’re quiet about it, you could be having a gay in your house.”
“If your daughter behaves like a man and you are not questioning her, you too could be unintentionally promoting homosexuality, he said adding that, “flash back home. Go and take up your responsibility of parenting by discouraging your sons and daughters from any behaviors related to homosexuality.”
Baleke turned to the local leaders and urged them to keep their eyes open and report to higher authorities any person in their communities suspected to be gay.
“Homosexuality is illegal under the Penal Code Act and it carries a possible seven-year sentence for those caught in the same sex relations,” he explained.
He also warned parents against people and organization trying to attract children into homosexuality by promising them money and sponsorship.
“Please have sizeable and manageable families. Don’t just produce because you are fertile but be sure you are capable of looking after your children,” he said.
The time is now for parents and local leaders to be very vigilant and inquisitive when it comes to who promises free things to their children.
Addressing the same mourners, Mayuge Deputy RDC, Nagaya Amisi Kiganira who spoke immediate after his Namayingo counterpart urged whoever is involved the fight against homosexuality not to base their campaigns on religion and tribe.
Kiganira lauded religious leaders in Uganda for speaking the same language against the gay community.
“Now the challenge we have are politicians. It is now only president [Yoweri] Museveni who has so far come out openly to castigate homosexuality. Where are these other political party leaders to also give us their opinion on this vice?,” he asked.
