Uganda’s Consul General in Dubai, Ambassador Henry Mayega has revealed that East African Consul Generals to Dubai and the Northern Emirates have resolved to jointly follow up on stranded and jailed nationals in the United Arab Emirates-UAE.
The resolutions were made during the quarterly meeting of East African Consul Generals to Dubai and the Northern Emirates at Kenya’s Consulate in Dubai.
According to The Observer, last year, UAE deported over 1000 Ugandans over expired visas, accumulated fines and lack of travel documents. This publication established that several nationals from East African Nations are still held up in various centers in Dubai and other places.
“The ambassadors resolved to celebrate the East African Community Day on November 30, 2023. The Day’s events will feature; exhibitions, celebrating Swahili as a unifying factor in the EAC and using it as a gateway to the Arab world since Swahili borrows heavily by 40% from the Arabic language,” he said.
During the meeting, they deliberated to jointly follow up on the preparations for 2023 UN Climate Change Conference that will take place from November 30, to December 12, 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and work closely with EAC countries’ liaison offices that do not have consulate representation in Dubai and the Northern Emirates like the DRC in order to deepen the EAC cooperation.
“We agreed to seek for inclusion and participation of all EAC countries in the Global Village event currently going on in Dubai as an entry point to that event that has put together the global business community that is taking part in the GV festivities,” he said.
The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Mathias Mpuuga, has urged the Chinese Ambassador to Uganda, Zhang Lizhong, to prevail over Chinese investors not to degrade Uganda’s environment but work towards its protection and preservation.
This was during an interaction between the LOP Chinese Ambassador, who paid a courtesy call on him at his office at Parliament.
Mpuuga said that the Chinese government needs to pick interest in reports of environmental degradation by Chinese investors, adding that while Chinese investments in the country are welcome, activities that degrade the environment are likely to negatively affect their projects.
“Sustainability of the projects depends on how well we protect Uganda’s environment. This being a small country but with a huge population, sooner than later, feeding our people will become difficult unless we preserve our environment,” Mpuuga told the ambassador.
The LOP further asked his guest to act upon reports of alleged mistreatment of Ugandans working with Chinese companies in various parts of the country.
“You need to encourage them to treat Ugandans with dignity. Ugandans need these jobs, but they should be handled as people, treated well, and respect their rights at employment,” Mpuuga said.
Shadow Ministers, Yusuf Nsibambi (Works and Transport), Francis Katabaazi (East African Community Affairs), Francis Mwijukye (Trade and Industry), and Joyce Bagala (Information and Anti-Corruption), who were in Mpuuga’s company voiced their concerns about the human rights situation in some of the Chinese companies mentioning among others, poor working conditions, sexual harassment of the female workers, and eviction of locals from their lands without adequate compensation.
The MPs further wondered why some infrastructural projects such as roads are poorly done and sometimes take long to get completed.
In response, Zhang Lizhong said that while the embassy endeavors to encourage Chinese investors to respect local laws and customs, it finds challenges in reaching the privately-owned companies.
“The embassy has maintained close contact with these companies, especially the state-owned companies [and some] private investors. We may not cover all of them because there are so many small investors that we may not be aware of but we try to reach out to them to help them to solve problems, and to guide them,” Lizhong said.
The meeting, the first between a Chinese diplomat and an Opposition leader, was requested by the Chinese embassy, was intended to exchange views on strengthening exchanges and cooperation between the legislative bodies of both Uganda and China.
Uganda Cranes and fans are set to receive cash incentives if they win their upcoming matches against Tanzania in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Uganda Cranes will play their home game against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium on March 24, at 5pm local time, before travelling to Dar es Salaam for the return leg on March 28, 7pm. This implies that if the team wins both matches, they will walk away with bonuses of Shs55 million shillings while they shall get half of the money if they win one game.
“If the Uganda Cranes win the game, all players that participated in the game will be rewarded Shs1.5 million each with an additional Shs5 million to be shared by the support staff,” Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Uganda, Somdev Sen said.
MTN Uganda will reward the most engaged Uganda Cranes fans with Shs100,000 each, based on their social media interactions and online content using the hashtag.
“We are very grateful for MTN’s continuous support towards Ugandan football. This kind gesture from MTN is very welcome. It motivates our players to give their best on the field,” said the Chief Executive Officer of FUFA, Edgar Watson.
“We are excited about this team, which is the strongest team we can field in this upcoming match against Tanzania, and we promise to do our best to make our fans proud. We thank MTN for their commitment to developing football in Uganda.”
In January 2023, MTN Uganda announced Shs19 billion shillings sponsorship, over five years, towards the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) to support seven properties or programs of the federation, namely: the Uganda Cranes, the Crested Cranes, the FUFA Drum regional cup, the FUFA Juniors League, FUFA Super 8 tournament, the FUFA Super Cup, and the FUFA Annual Awards.
The former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Science David Obong has accused the minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Dr. Monica Musenero of disappearing with accountability files intended to help the Auditor General’s investigations into the expenditures.
Obong said while appearing before the Public Accounts Committee to respond to the Auditor General’s forensic investigation report into government expenditures on #Covid-19 funds.
In 2021, Uganda embarked on developing its vaccine. Under the Presidential Scientific Initiative on Epidemics (PRESIDE), a brainchild of President Yoweri Museveni led by Dr. Monica Musenero, then a Presidential Advisor on Epidemics, government set aside Shs31 billion for the development of the country’s first-ever #Covid-19 vaccine.
Dr. Musenero told EagleOnline that she couldn’t respond to the allegations by Obong as she was attending the meeting but promised to call back.
was in a meeting but would
Prof. Vinanda Natulya, a medical researcher and Chancellor Busitema University told the committee that an impression was created that the #Covid-19 vaccines but the process takes time.
“I alerted the President that he should not think that we shall get a vaccine before developed countries because they were already ahead. What was important was to establish a national capacity to respond because #Covid-19 is not the last outbreak we are going to get,” said Nantulya.
He said #Covid-19 will come in periodic attacks. It is important that we continue the work on the development of vaccines against #Covid-19 including vaccines against other variants which are going to emerge.
The Assistant Director, Uganda Virus Research Institute Dr. Jennifer Serwanga said that development of the vaccine stalled due to complexities in accessing green monkey cells which are used to multiply the virus.
“You cannot access many of these biological things because they do not come to this part of the world. It took six months for us to get the green monkey cells and we are the first ones in Africa to get them. We have stocks of them, we now have enough vile viruses,” she said.
She re-assured the legislators that Ugandan scientists have the capacity to develop vaccines but she urged the government to plan for expansion of vaccine development facilities and invest in equipment.
Around 44% of the population in the African region suffer from oral diseases, and while the region has experienced the steepest rise globally in oral diseases over the last three decades, spending on treatment costs remains extremely low, a new report by World Health Organization (WHO) finds.
Oral health remains a low priority in many African countries, leading to inadequate financial and technical investment, which in turn undermines prevention and care services as well as oral health promotion. Around 70% of sub-Saharan Africa countries spent less than US$ 1 per person per year on treatment costs for oral health care in 2019, the latest year for which data is available.
Half of the countries in the region do not have oral health policy documents. In addition, the region’s oral health workforce is chronically lacking, with a ratio of just 3.3 dentists per 100 000 people recorded between 2014 and 2019, approximately one-tenth of the global ratio. Such shortcomings have only been further compounded by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Oral health is integral to general health and well-being, yet it has been neglected in the region for much too long, often with severe and lasting consequences,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa on World Oral Health Day marked on 20 March.
“While the most prevalent of noncommunicable diseases, oral health diseases are preventable and treatable. It’s crucial for countries to do more to increase access to affordable prevention and care services and ensure that people are equipped with the knowledge and skill on promoting oral health,” Dr Moeti said.
The Africa regional summary of the WHO global oral health status report released today serves as a reference for policymakers and a wide range of stakeholders. In addition, it guides the advocacy process toward better prioritization of oral health in the region to tackle this alarming oral health situation.
The African region has experienced an increase of more than 257 million in oral disease cases over the last 30 years, affecting people from early life to old age. The growing burden of oral diseases such as dental caries, gum diseases and tooth loss disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, reflecting wider inequalities in access to health services. An example is the persisting prevalence of noma, a disease that occurs in contexts of extreme poverty and is primarily found in sub-Saharan Africa. Noma destroys the mouth and face of mostly young children. If left untreated, it is fatal in 90% of cases.
Most oral health diseases can be prevented without medical assistance – through a healthy lifestyle, a well-balanced diet and good oral hygiene. In addition to oral diseases’ significant health burden, they also have a detrimental social and economic impact, restricting individuals’ participation in society and leading to productivity loss, as well as learning disruptions among school children.
In a bid to reinforce oral health promotion, oral disease prevention and control in Africa, WHO Member States adopted a historic resolution in 2021 that set out a bold vision for universal health coverage of oral health services by 2030. WHO has since developed a comprehensive Global Strategy on Oral Health, which was adopted by countries at the 2022 World Health Assembly.
In collaboration with different partners, the Organization has supported countries technically and financially in implementing regional and global oral health strategies, as well as building health worker capacity and strengthening integrated surveillance.
WHO has also supported 11 priority countries in developing, implementing and monitoring an integrated national noma control programme, financially supported by German NGO, Hilfsaktion Noma e.V. Additionally, more than 3600 primary care workers have been registered for a WHO online training course on noma since July 2022.
“I urge countries to prioritize oral health as part of noncommunicable disease and universal health care agendas and increase political and financial commitment. This requires a paradigm shift from treatment-oriented oral health care into more prevention and promotion approaches to address oral health inequality,” said Dr Moeti.
101 staff members of Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) have completed leadership training at National Leadership Institute (NALI) Kyankwanzi in preparation for the national population census scheduled for August this year.
Speaking during the pass out of 101 staff after one month training at NALI on Friday, the Executive Director of UBOS, Dr. Chris Mukiza, said their staff needed training in transformation leadership so as to be able to handle the field tasks during the enumeration exercise.
He said that a number of their staff are statisticians, Economists, information technology experts with very little understanding of leadership hence the need for training.
“I am sure they have understood the skills and also when they are in the field they need to have a self-defense mechanism so that they are not intimidated,” Dr Mukiza said.
While at the institute, the team was trained in leadership skills, patriotism, self defence skills, and geography of Uganda, attitude and social economic transformation, skills at arms, Kiswahili, drills and physical training among others.
UBOS plans to deploy 110,000 enumerators and that the recruitment exercise starts in June this year.
The Director (NALI) Brig Gen Charles Kisembo said that the team has been equipped with tools of knowledge to enable them to penetrate the essence of things to have the eyes and mind that see and perceive things beyond the ordinary.
Brig Gen Kisembo said that the knowledge they acquired will help them to build cohesion and ethics code at their work place, be patriotic and committed staff in execution of duty.
He urged the trainees to exercise the skills they acquired to do things differently saying that the country looks up to them as it walks towards the middle income status.
“Be resilient, committed and patriotic in service of your country, love one another, love Uganda and Africa and that is where prosperity and strategic security lies,” he said.
Schoolchildren and activists scramble up a bridge Monday after police try to break up a protest with tear gas at the Langata Road Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenyan riot police fired tear gas Monday to disperse demonstrators gathered in Nairobi for a day of action called by the opposition to protest the country’s punishing cost of living crisis.
The government of President William Ruto has vowed to take a tough stance over the demonstrations, which opposition leader Raila Odinga vowed would go ahead despite not receiving police authorization.
Demonstrators also hurled rocks at anti-riot police outside government offices in the capital, while about two dozen people were arrested, including two opposition MPs, correspondents at the scene said.
“I want Kenyans to come out in large numbers and show the displeasure of what is happening in our country,” Odinga, who narrowly lost last year’s election to Ruto, told supporters on Sunday.
Kenyans are suffering from surging prices for basic necessities, as well as a sharp drop in the local shilling against the U.S. dollar and a record drought that has left millions hungry.
Nairobi police chief Adamson Bungei said Sunday that police received requests to hold two demonstrations only late Saturday and early Sunday, when normally three days’ notice is required for public rallies.
“For public safety, neither has been granted,” he said.
‘Skyrocketing’ cost of living
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki warned Sunday that anyone inciting public disorder or disturbing the peace would be prosecuted. Many businesses in Nairobi were shut ahead of the demonstrations, with some employers telling their staff to work from home.
Odinga said he called the demonstrations to protest the “skyrocketing” cost of living and the “stolen” election last August.
“Since Mr Ruto was sworn in six months ago, he has continued to run the country with a lot of contempt,” he said, highlighting the high cost of basics such as fuel, cooking oil, school fees and electricity.
Odinga, leader of the Azimio la Umoja party, has long protested that the August election was fraudulent and denounced Ruto’s government as “illegitimate”.
According to official results, Odinga who was making his fifth bid for the presidency lost to Ruto by around 233,000 votes, one of the closest margins in the country’s history.
The Supreme Court dismissed his appeals, with its judges giving a unanimous ruling in favor of Ruto, finding there was no evidence for Odinga’s accusations.
Ruto for his part declared that he would not be intimidated by the opposition demonstrations, saying: “You are not going to threaten us with ultimatums and chaos and impunity.”
“We will not allow that,” he said, calling on Odinga to act in a “legal and constitutional manner”.
The distinctive livery of the world’s largest international airline, Emirates, has undergone a refresh. Eagle-eyed plane spotters and fans will immediately notice changes to the tailfin and wingtips.
In this latest design, the UAE flag on the Emirates tailfin is much more dynamic and flowing with a 3D effect artwork, and the wingtips have been painted red with the Emirates logo in Arabic calligraphy “popping” out in reverse white. Passengers onboard with a window view will see the UAE flag colours painted on the wingtips facing the fuselage.
Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: “Aircraft livery is the most instantly recognisable brand real estate for any airline. It’s a visual representation of our unique identity, something we wear proudly, and display in all the cities we fly to around the world. We’re refreshing our livery to keep it modern, without losing the key elements of our identity such as the UAE flag on our tailfin and the Arabic calligraphy.”
The signature gold “Emirates” lettering across the main body in English and Arabic is also bolder and 32.5% larger. On the aircraft belly, Emirates has retained its iconic red branding which it introduced in 2005. The website URL “Emirates.com” has been dropped from the design.
This is the 3rd iteration of Emirates’ official aircraft brand colours. The original livery unveiled with the airline’s launch in 1985 had its first refresh 14 years later, with the delivery of Emirates’ first Boeing 777-300 at the 1999 Dubai Airshow.
The first aircraft to sport Emirates’ newest livery is A6-EOE, an Airbus A380, which has rolled out of Emirates Engineering this week after its makeover. Its first deployment will be to Munich on 17 March as flight EK51.
The new livery will be gradually applied across the rest of the existing Emirates fleet with 24 aircraft, including 17 Boeing 777s, expected to sport the refreshed livery by the end of 2023. All new Emirates aircraft, from the first Airbus A350 entering the fleet in August 2024 will be delivered in this new livery.
Emirates’ original livery in 1985 was designed by UK design company Negus & Negus. All of the airline’s subsequent aircraft colours were created by its inhouse design team. Over the years, Emirates’ numerous colourful and eye-catching aircraft livery have included bespoke designs to drive sponsorship brand association, and for special occasions such as the UAE’s 50th Jubilee livery, and Expo 2020 Dubai.
The Ministry of Health in partnership with Kids Operating Room, a global health charity, on Thursday, 16 unveiled the first ever Children Surgery National Plan, a five-year strategy aiming at scaling up pediatric surgical services to regional referral and general hospitals as well as training of pediatric surgical workforce.
Uganda currently has eight pediatric surgeons in the whole country all who work at Mulago National Hospital and Mbarara Referral Hospital. Further, most of the Regional Referral Hospitals do not have enough workforce or adequate infrastructure to conduct surgery for children effectively.
While officiating the ceremony, Health Permanent Secretary Dr. Diana Atwine acknowledged the shortage of both human resources and equipment stating, against this background, the Ministry of Health has put significant focus on expanding access to services for pediatric surgery and developing tertiary units to manage complicated cases.
“This includes the establishment of the Entebbe Children’s Hospital, renovation and equipment of operating theatres across referral and district hospitals, establishment of the ICUs across all regional referral hospitals, training of more general surgeons and support staff among other initiatives.”
Echoing her statement, Head of Director of clinical services Dr. Charles Olaro, noted that it’s possible to build comprehensive surgical services for every child in Uganda and this strategy outlines how.
“The plan is to have a well-established network of hospitals across the country as well as adequate local expertise,” said.
He added, “From the taskforce convened, recommendation is to develop a Super Hub (Mulago National Referral Hospital,) Hubs and Spoke model whereby at least 21 pediatric surgeons and their associated teams will be trained and employed by the end of 2027.”
The Super Hub- Hubs- Spoke model will ensure that there is sharing of resources, continuous mentorship and better communication through referral networks with lower healthcare level facilities.
In this model, a Super Hub is equipped with better resources to provide specialists and super specialists care. A Hub has all the required resources to provide general pediatric surgery while receiving support from the Super Hub with the option to refer patients needing more advanced to the Super Hub hospital. Hub hospitals will in-turn support the Spoke hospitals – those district/general hospitals who do not have qualified pediatric surgical teams but who do provide surgical care for children.
Also at the occasion, chairperson and co-founder of Kids Operating Room, Gareth Wood, acknowledged the role and impact this plan is envisioned to bring:
“We are privileged to be part of this first ever pediatric surgery roadmap in Uganda. This will help more children get the right care, at the right time and in the right place, something we should all be extremely proud of. If fully implemented, it will save thousands of lives in the years to come,” Gareth said.
As outlined in the strategy, with the existing population of 21 million children in need of surgical care, it should be argued that Uganda needs 210 pediatric surgeons with their associated anesthetists and wider teams. This is informed by international standards that recommend 1 pediatric surgeon per 100,000 children. If successful, this model ought to prevent inappropriate referrals and keep as much care close to home as is safely possible.
The strategy will complement other ongoing efforts to specifically include the needs of children in the wider health agenda in Uganda.
The Cross Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) an organization that champions the promotion and preservation of culture has urged the government to expedite the passing of the Museums and Monuments Bill, 2022 which will go a long way on protecting heritage and cultural sites and museums in the country.
The call was made by the CCFU Executive Director, Barbra Babweteera Mutambi during the launch of the 5th Annual National Heritage Awards 2023 in Kampala.
The Uganda National Culture Policy reviewed in 2019, Policy objective 5.1, aims ‘To promote respect for the diversity of cultural expressions and raise awareness of its value at the local, regional and international level’.
Clause 19 Article 2 of the Museums and Monuments Act 2022 stipulates that ‘a relevant actor including civil society, media, private sector and academia may promote or advocate, for the protection of heritage resources.
This Bill was passed into law by Parliament but the President referred it back to Parliament to reconsider the listed heritage sites in the second schedule of the proposed law for ‘economically’ viable sites listed.
Babweteera noted that in the abuse of the law, a number of museums, cultural sites, historical buildings will continue to vanish in the name of modernity and development.
“It’s our humble appeal that Parliament quickly handles the changes that have so far been made to the listed heritage sites and send the bill back to the President for assent,” Babweteera said.
The CCFU boss noted that despite several engagements and promises from the leadership of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) for an ordinance to protect historical buildings and sites, this has not been done 5 years down the road.
“If the Bill is passed, it will provide for protection of built heritage in Kampala which is being destroyed or planned to be destroyed, for example the Watoto Church management that plans to demolish the historical structure formerly known as Norman Cinema, to put up a ‘modern’ structure,” Babweteera said.
She noted that despite the challenges faced, efforts to promote and protect cultural heritage, whether by individuals, families, organisations or communities, are slowly but steadily growing.
“The growing numbers of community museums, artistic productions, ethnic cultural galas, innovative ways of transmitting cultural values, cultural centres and cultural troupes attest to; however, these passionate efforts are however often hampered by the lack of support and remain isolated endeavours, unrecognised and unpublicized,” She added.
Jackline Nyiracyiza Besigye, the Ag. Commissioner Museums and Monument in the Ministry of Tourism and WildLife Antiquities, commended CCFU for championing the promotion of heritage, committing to continue working with the organization to the similar agenda.
“It’s important to protect our heritage sites, we have rich heritage that needs to be safe guarded. Yes we have laws in place and we need more laws but we need each one of us to act and save our culture, let’s cooperate and empower our communities to preserve the priceless heritage sites in the country,” Nyiracyiza said.
Speaking about the awards, CCFU ED noted that these will be held on Wednesday, 24th May, 2023 in Kampala as part of the activities to commemorate the World Culture Day, an international day that celebrates Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
“The main objective of the Heritage Awards is to raise awareness about the importance of safeguarding our nation’s cultural heritage for future generations to access, enjoy and express. These awards are held every 2 years and individuals, institutions or groups of people that have consistently contributed to the safeguarding of Uganda’s heritage are appreciated,” Babweteera said.
She has appealed to the general public to submit nominations of an individual, family or institution that has preserved Uganda’s cultural heritage.
The heritage could be a historical site, a historical building, indigenous knowledge, practice, skill or tradition.
Nominations should be dropped at CCFU offices, the Department of Culture and Family Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development and at the Uganda Museum; or nominated online.
6 awards will be presented to the successful nominees during the Awarding Ceremony. A special Heritage Press Grant has also been prepared. Journalists should submit evidence of their previous work regarding heritage promotion and a brief for a proposed project.
