Over 490 vocational students are set to be trained in ICT at Uganda Institute of Information and Communication Technology (UICT).

The training is accredited by Amazon Web Services (AWS) following a partnership between AWS, a leading cloud services provider and Absa Group in 2021.

Collectively a total of 500 people will be funded to receive AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification.

“Education and skills development remains a key focus for the bank, with support for youth to access education through various programmes like the Absa Scholarship Programme where 69 students have been awarded scholarships, and the Ready to Work employability initiative where over 1,500 youth in institutions of higher learning have so far been trained for work readiness. As we work towards realising our ambition to be a digitally forward bank, we are passionate about providing youth with the skills they need to remain competitive in an increasingly digital world. Thus, through this partnership, we will enable and fully fund nine trainers at the institute to provide ICT skills certified by Amazon Web Services to 491 students,” said Mumba Kalifungwa, Managing Director, Absa Bank Uganda.

Dr Fredrick Kitoogo, the Principle of the Uganda Institute of Information and Communication Technology, appreciated Absa for the support, which will enhance the delivery of ICT training to students.

“This partnership will enable us to provide globally recognised training and certification to our students, improving their career prospects. The labour market has evolved and requires candidates with relevant digital capabilities, even more so with the government’s focus on vocational training as a solution to the unemployment gap.”

The initiative supplements the bank’s efforts, such as the Absa Ready to Work Programme to empower young people with the training and tools they need for employment and entrepreneurship in the future workplace.

“It is essential to equip our youth with the full range of skills, knowledge and attitudes being sought after by employers and that they need to be employable. We do this with a demand-led approach, and our initiatives support the development of their technical, vocational, social, and digital skills in line with the requirements of the key growth sectors,” he said.

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The Ministry of Works and Transport has resorted to the use concrete sleepers over the steel ones in restoration of the railway to curb vandalism.

Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, the Minister of Works and Transport, made the revelation while appearing before the Committee on Government Assurance and Implementation on Wednesday, August 31, 2022.

The committee chaired by MP Joseph Ssewungu, is investigating the status of the implementation of government assurance on rail works in the country.

During his interaction with the committee, Katumba Wamala revealed that when government reclaimed the railway from Rift Valley Railways (RVR) in 2018 after the concession had ended, the equipment and property were in a sorry state.

“We practically received a shell of an entity because most of the infrastructure; you talk of the railway line, locomotives and wagons were all gone. In the process, some lines have been vandalised because of lack of attention to them, for example, for the Kampala Kasese line, there is no railway line,” he said.

For Busoga and Kasese lines, the minister said the routes were vandalised with nothing to start from and that also 90 percent of the land had been encroached on.

For the Tororo-Gulu line, he said that the community along the line respected the railway line including the reserve and that to their astonishment, even the materials that had been removed and stored at the station warehouses for years were still intact.

In the case of Mukono-Namanve-Kampala railway line, the minister said the Uganda Railways Corporation had resorted to using concrete railway sleepers to replace the metallic ones that have been vandalised.

“The sleepers on that section are going to be concrete as opposed to steel sleepers because that section has been highly prone to vandalism. It is proved that concrete sleepers have no market,” he said.

Katumba Wamala told the committee that best way to save the road network was to move 90 percent of the cargo onto rail and water. He also said that the Kampala-Malaba line will be completed by October 2022 and that plans were in high gear to procure two more vessels to aid water transport.

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Kyaliwajjala-based Jaro Hospital has been dragged to Court for allegedly detaining a 15-year-old boy after his family failed to clear a medical bill of Shs4.8 million.

Robert Ssentongo was involved in a motor accident while on a bodaboda around GP Petrol station along Namugongo road on July 23rd, 2022. He was run over by a speeding car and rushed to Jaro hospital for treatment.

According to Ssentongo’s father, Raymond Mugerwa, he was informed of his son’s accident and rushed to the health facility. Upon arrival, he requested that his son be referred to a more affordable public facility but health workers informed him that his son was in critical condition and could not make it since he needed an emergency operation to stop internal bleeding.

“My son walked himself to the theatre and the operation was successfully conducted on the 23rd of July 2022. In fear of huge medical bills, on 25th July 2022, my wife and I pleaded for a referral to a public facility but our request was turned down,” reads part of the documents before the High Court Civil Division.

He added that on August 4th, the hospital gave him an invoice of Shs 4,423,000 and a good samaritan offered to pay Shs1.5 million and draw a payment plan with the hospital for later payment but they declined the offer and demanded full settlement.

Mugerwa narrates that since August 24th, the hospital has detained his son without food and basic needs of life on account of their inability to pay Shs4.8 million. He adds that his son was due for discharge from the hospital when they locked him up and secluded him in a room without access to medical care and supervision of any medical personnel.

In a joint suit filed together with the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development against the hospital and its Director Dr. James Odongo, Mugerwa argues that the decision by the hospital to detain his son is a violation of his right to health and freedom of liberty.

He says the hospital has since denied him and his wife access to their son despite his efforts to secure his release on the condition that he would make a partial payment and stake his residence as collateral.

Through their lawyers at the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) Legal Aid Clinic, Springs Advocates, and Tangle Advocates, the applicants want the court to order Ssentongo’s immediate release so that he returns to school on September 4th, 2022. They also want the hospital to pay him costs for their actions.

The court is yet to summon the hospital to file its defense before the matter is scheduled for a hearing.

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Parliament has asked government to develop mechanisms that will ensure the country returns to a low risk of debt distress.

During plenary on Tuesday, 30 August 2022, Parliament approved two reports of the Committee on National Economy on the State of Indebtedness, Grants and Guarantees and another one on the performance of the economy.

According to Mr. Robert Migadde, the vice chairperson of the committee, the total public debt has increased over recent years due to the implementation of the Government’s investment agenda and the effects of the COVID-l9 pandemic that caused revenue shortfalls.

According to the report, Uganda’s public debt stock increased by 22 percent from Shs56.938 trillion in the Financial Year 2019/20 to Shs69.513 trillion by end of the Financial Year 2020/21.

Migadde says that public debt is projected to increase over the medium term as government continues to implement its investment programme to boost economic recovery, and whereas the debt level is still sustainable, debt service ratios point to elevated risks majorly due to the slower growth of export earnings.

He also proposed that government should support economic growth by boosting exports to enhance the country’s reserves among other things.

Migadde added that government should boost her efforts in production for export to mitigate against these risks, adding that Uganda’s debt carrying capacity was revised to “medium” at end of June 2O2O from “strong” as of June 2019.

“It remained medium at end of June 2021. Similarly, Uganda’s public debt has elevated risks to its portfolio. It is now at moderate risk of external debt distress and overall public debt distress, up from a low risk of debt distress in June 2019. This implies that the country’s debt sustainability is assessed using stricter terms compared to that with low risk of debt distress.” Migadde said in his report.

The committee also recommended that government develops a deliberate implementable strategy to clear domestic arrears within the medium term as a means of supporting the economy and reducing the costs of doing business.

The committee also called on government departments, agencies and ministries should prioritise counterpart funds to ensure efficient, effective, and timely implementation of projects to maximise returns to borrowing and minimise deviations from fiscal plans.

“In addition, the committee reiterates its recommendations that government should limit highly non-concessional and commercial borrowing to only projects with a high economic return and fiscal return. Furthermore, government should fast-track the development of the oil and gas sector to ensure that oil exports commence in the Financial Year 2024/25 as planned,” he said.

The committee observed that government is incurring a significant loss in tax revenues due to numerous laws that allow exemptions or deductions from gross income or deferred tax liabilities.

“They include payments of taxes by government on behalf of investors; payment of taxes on goods procured by organisations were government is obliged by agreement and; on behalf of some religious, cultural and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs),” the report reads.

According to the report, in the Financial Year 2020/21 alone, URA collected Shs18.3 trillion (12.4 % of GDP) and lost Shs7.7 trillion (5.2 % of GDP), implying that without the tax expenditures, the government could have collected Shs26 trillion. (17.6 %).  He says with 17.6 percent of tax revenues to GDP, the country’s budget deficit would significantly decline and reduce the borrowing need.

The committee also recommended that government reduces domestic borrowing, to slow down the ratio of domestic debt to private sector credit, adding that this will ensure that domestic borrowing does not crowd out the private sector growth.

Several MPs raised different concerns about the report with many proposing that government focuses on agriculture and exports.

avid Sserukenya, the MP for Makindye-Ssabagabo Municipality, said there is a need for value addition in agriculture, but also more emphasis should be put on Buy Uganda, Build Uganda.

“We need to major in agriculture by mechanisation and value addition that is when we can make more money in the country. We need to emphasise on buy Uganda build Uganda,” Sserukenya said.

Tororo district Woman Representative, Sarah Opendi said that Uganda is not short of resources but there is a high level of corruption, coupled with the illicit financial flow which is affecting development.

“I was shocked that our stock of debt is now at Shs78 trillion – that is not pleasant to us. We have in the recent years been borrowing to finance our recurrent expenditure, something that should not happen. I want to attribute all this to the illicit financial flow, like corruption and opaqueness in the mineral sector,” she said.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, emphasised value addition, stating that this is where Uganda can recoup what it is losing.

“I was in Milan and I went to the coffee roaster of Starbucks – Arabica coffee from Uganda was being sold at 45 euros a kilogramme – but the same Arabica coffee from my constituency is bought at Shs6500 a kilogramme, not even two euros – and then someone who is not even in coffee planting is earning that much! We need to ensure that we add value,” he said.

Dokolo North County MP Moses Ogwal, said that government needs to boost the purchasing power of the local people which will solve the issue of revenue and industrialisation.

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