City Tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia has thrown a surprise birthday party for Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala.

The surprise Birthday treat was held at the residence of the Cardinal at Nsambya and was attended by 60 people who included businessman Ephraim Ntagand, City lawyer Alex Ruzida among others.

Cardinal Wamala this week turned 96 years.

He is the only surviving Catholic Cardinal in Uganda.

Sudhir told Eagle Online that he organised the party because of the good dids of the Cardinal.

“He is a symbol of unity, he led the faithful well and was never segregating.”

Sudhir Ruparelia is a Ugandan business magnate and investor of Indian origin. He is the chairman and majority shareholder in the companies of the Ruparelia Group. His investments are mainly in the areas of banking, insurance, education, broadcasting, real estate, floriculture, hotels, and resorts.

Emmanuel Wamala is a Ugandan cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and former Archbishop of Kampala from 1990 to 2006. He is currently serving as the Cardinal-Priest of Sant’Ugo, appointed in 1994.

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI, but lost the right to participate in any future conclave as a result of passing his eightieth birthday. He was succeeded in Kampala by Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga.

Stories Continues after ad

Residents of the eastern district of Mayuge in Busoga sub region have been urged to remain vigilant during the festive season.

Mr Trevor Solomon Baleke, the deputy Resident District Commissioner told reporters on Tuesday that security agencies would intensify patrols in Mayuge to rid the area of criminality.

Baleke says they [security chiefs] have already briefed the local leaders on the tightening of security across the district “and any criminal planning to carryout out any illegal activities in Mayuge should stand warned.”

The warning follows the surging cases of theft of livestock and house break-ins being reported in Mayuge.

In the last two months, at least four suspected thieves have been lynched and two motorcycles on which they traveled burnt by angry mob in two separate incidents.

In the latest incident, two men travelling on motorcycle Bajaj Boxer Reg No. UFD 584F carrying a calf suspected to have been stolen from Lwabala village in Imanyiro sub county were on Monday lynched by an angry mob in Bufulubi trading centre.

Enraged residents intercepted their motorcycle to interrogate them about a calf they were carrying. On failure to explain, the mob lynched them and set ablaze their motorcycle. It was later confirmed that the duo had actually stolen the calf.

In Mayuge town council, people continue to lose their valuables to thieves as Christmas draws closer.

Baleke who condemned acts of mob justice assured the residents of good security during and after the festive.

“We are on ground, 24/7 and we shall carryout operations at a time least expected.  Our people should remain very vigilant and report to us any individuals acts suspected to be criminal. We shall swing into action.

“A suspected thief should not be killed by the mob. Hand them over to our security teams such that they can assist us in identifying their accomplices,” he said.

“We have deployed enough informants who shall work with us and we have a standby team on top of those patrolling the areas both on foot and pickups and on uniform and plain clothes.”

The Deputy RDC also said that the police in Mayuge have been instructed to embark on a community sensitisation drive in a bid to restore sanity.

Stories Continues after ad

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Jane Frances Abodo, has preferred charges of aggravated kidnap against an American couple, who are ordinarily residents in Kampala.

The couple, Mackenzie Leigh Mathias Spencer and Nicholas Spencer have been on remand for mistreating a 10-year-old child, who was one of the children in their care. According to the amended plaint or charge sheet, the couple reportedly adopted a 10-year-old boy, whom they then mistreated on grounds that he was obstinate.

The couple is also facing charges of Aggravated torture.  Prosecution avers that Spencer aged 32 and his wife Mackenzie, a 32-year-old, volunteer, fostered three children, including Kayima John, in 2018, from Welcome Ministry, in Jinja City.

The suspects came to Uganda in 2017, and started working with Akola Project, based in Jinja. The couple joined the Motive Creation Agency, and moved with their children to Upper Naguru, where they have been staying together.

It was however, realised that between the year 2020 and December 2022, the couple constantly tortured  Kayima John, a 10-year-old pupil of Dawn Children’s Center in Ntinda, which attracted the attention of neighbours.

The couple kept the victim barefoot, and naked throughout the day, would occasionally make him squat in an awkward position, with his head facing the floor and hands spread out widely, he spent his nights on a wooden platform, without a mattress or beddings and was served cold meals from the fridge.

The suspects came to Uganda in 2017, where Nicholas started working with AKOLA Project based in Jinja. In 2018, they fostered 3 children including the victim from Welcome Ministry – Jinja. They moved to Kampala when they joined Motive Creation Agency, with their three children.

Stories Continues after ad

The Uganda Revenue Authority enforcement team in Busia received intelligence from Brand Guard, a partner tipping them about the garages and bars which were involved in selling illicit goods. This prompted an impetus operation which unearthed consolidation centers for smuggled high end spirits, whiskeys and wines.

The busted group was vending wines and spirits without the URA Digital Tax Stamps (DTS) in garages and bars. Simon Ssentale Wasswa, a customs officer in Busia reported that they recovered 90 boxes of assorted wine, spirits and whiskeys from shops and bars in Busia Town.

In addition, the assorted wines, spirits and whiskeys mostly originate from United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, India, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. They include Four Cousins, 4th Street, Jameson, John Walker, Singleton, Jack Daniels, Chrome, Richot, Cpt. Morgan, Baileys, Kenyan cane spirit, Famous Grouse, Grants Scotch Whiskey, Pure Heaven, Chamdor, Black and White, Bond7, Oak Cask, Zappa, and Gordons gin among others.

The operation lasted for eleven hours with support from the District Police Commander, Officer in Charge CID, detectives and armed personnel aboard a URA pick-up truck and Police Patrol. Some team members were also deployed at five shops and two famous clubs in Busia business center to monitor and curb the illicit goods.

It was noted that most of these drinks have affixed DTS from other countries, implying that they were smuggled into the country thereby causing a deficit to URA on import duty and other taxes. Therefore, it was established that the perpetrators are liable to pay the lost taxes amounting to Shs30 million, including penalties and affix DTS before the wines, spirits and whiskeys are released.

Digital Tax Stamps were introduced on November 1, 2019 to protect compliant taxpayers (manufacturers and importers) of gazetted products from smugglers and counterfeits. Wines, Spirits and Whisks are among the 13 product categories that are required to affix Digital Stamps.

Section 19B of Tax Procedures Code imposes a penalty of a minimum of Shs50 million on a taxpayer who fails to affix a tax stamp on gazetted products.

Stories Continues after ad

The European Union (EU) has rewarded winners who took part in a climate change trivia that run on the Delegation’s social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter.

The campaign than ran for eight days, detailed a total of 24 trivia questions, with four published daily, concluded successfully on December 13th 2022.

Nadia Cannata, the Head of Sustainable Development at the EU presided over the handover ceremony and noted that the online quiz was a creative avenue to sensitize young people in Uganda on the ways to combat the effects of climate change in the country and around the world.

“Climate change has been referred to as the greatest threat facing the planet today and we as #TeamEurope thought it important that the youth lead the way in taking action to counter its adverse effects. The quiz is one of the sensitization efforts that we took to create more awareness on the subject and situation,” she said.

Key areas that the EU Delegation is focusing on in terms of climate action, are “Green and Climate Transition”, Ms Cannata said, as well as “Access to Green Finance”, which are part of the “European Green Deal”—a package of policy initiatives which aims at setting the EU and its partners to a green transition. The ultimate goal of this package, which includes interventions supporting the private sector in Uganda to go green, she said, is to reach climate neutrality by 2025. 

Ms Cannata noted that the EU Delegation had approved at least 60 million Euros (about Ugx 232 billion) in financing in 2022 to support the inclusive green economy in Uganda. 

“We have so far approved 40 million for forestry and 15 million for climate finance and 5 million for bio-diversity support,” she said.

Emmanuel Gyezaho, the EU Press and Communications Advisor noted that the online quiz took a format of multiple-choice questions and rewarded daily winners who posted correct that gathered the most engagement on their social networks. Each day’s winner received a gift pack comprising a flash disk, power bank, umbrella, and hoodie. 

Sarah Mazirwe on Twitter, was declared the overall winner of the competition and took home a brand-new Samsung Galaxy S22 on top of the other gift prizes. She registed a total of 2,354 total engagements—which included likes, retweets, shares, comments e.t.c)

Mr Gyezaho said the quiz presented an excellent opportunity for a change in the way social media users have over time been responding to posts from the EU.

“For all the posts we publish, there are always social media users that tend to flood our pages with vitriol with political connotations. This campaign was a breath of fresh air and showed that young people in Uganda are concerned about climate change and are happy to participate in initiatives that create awareness and share knowledge,” Gyezaho said. 

He explained the rationale of involving young people in climate change campaigns as the fact that it threatens lives and livelihoods of many, particularly future generations. 

Stories Continues after ad

The Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya has launched a Follow-up Unit in the Inspectorate of Government.

The six-member Unit will be responsible for following up and ensuring that all that all Inspectorate of Government (IG) Recommendations and Court Orders arising out of IG prosecutions are implemented.

The Unit will be headed by Mr Victor Acidri, who is at the rank of Manager and will report directly to the IGG.

The other members of the Unit include Mr Simon Ariko, Ms Zawedde Jemimah, Ms Juliana Nantale Batte, Mr Winfred Gumisiriza and Ms Diana Nakkazi Mirembe.

The IGG noted that the members of the Unit were carefully selected based on competence, hard work, and integrity and incorruptibility.

She asked members of the public, especially public officers and political leaders who have been ordered either by the IG or Court to perform any function arising out of IG investigations to report to the follow-up team and update their records.

“Some people were ordered to refund money in a given period, some were ordered to fire, interdict, suspend, demote, transfer or warn suspects but they did not. Some people were ordered to confiscate, caveat or dispose of property, some were ordered to report back to the IG on actions taken, many of these people, mainly public servants, have ignored the orders because there was no follow-up mechanism,” she said.

She added, “If you fall in any of the above categories, you are advised to report to the IG Follow-Up Unit and update your response to the orders in a period not exceeding two months from today, after which names of debtors and defaulters will be published in the media and vigorous collection done at the defaulters’ cost.”

Public officers who do not carry out IG Recommendations or Court Orders arising out of IG prosecutions will be charged with incompetence, insubordination, neglect of duty, abuse of office or abuse of authority.

Stories Continues after ad