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‘We have never received any funding from IPOD’ – NUP

Bobi Wine

The National Unity Platform party (NUP) has reiterated that it is not part of the Inter-party Organisation Dialogue (IPOD) arrangements and has never received any funding or support from the platform.

According to the party president Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, NUP is only funded by its elected Members of Parliament, donations and disbursements allocated by Parliament to all political parties with representation in the August House.

Kyagulanyi says that according to section 14 A of the political parties and Organisations Act, that the government shall contribute funds or other public resources towards the activities of the political parties or organisations represented in Parliament.

Subsection (c) states that, In respect of normal day to day activities, funding shall be based on numerical strength of each political party or organisation in Parliament. These are the funds allocated by parliament, disbursed from the consolidated fund and duty accounted for.

“The regime and its tools have always tried to cluster this funding as the IPOD money which they know is false. IPOD is a base arrangement with no basis on the laws of Uganda,” reads part of the statement.

NUP believes that president Museveni has hijacked IPOD in order to enforce his despotic will and they have decided to forego all the opportunities and resources it extends to its members for the sake of the principles and the values NUP represents.

“Gen. Museveni met the Secretaries Generals of different parties and plotted how to stop NUP from getting this funding the way he frustrated us all. Gen. Museveni stated that the law should be amended so that only political parties which are in IPOD should be entitled to public funds,” Kyagulanyi said.

Kyagulanyi adds that the increasing incidents of torture, abductions illegal detentions and other forms of repression assure the party’s decision not to join IPOD. And that if Museveni goes on to manipulate the law so as to restrict public funding to only political parties in IPOD, they will challenge it.

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Focus on the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme, State House Team recommends

Focus on the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme, State House Team recommends

An assessment by a secret team from state house, has recommended that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government stands to reap multiple benefits from the Women Fund, otherwise known as the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme (UWEP) if the budget allocation is doubled.

State house has been conducting a clandestine investigation to inform decisions on the future of the programme as the government rolls out the Parish Development Model. This investigation was necessitated after women groups supported by a strong lobby within parliament objected to plans by the government to amalgamate UWEP with other wealth creation programmes.

The team found that whereas other government programmes had little to show for the amount of investment the government has injected, UWEP women beneficiaries are visible on the ground with tangible projects. Earlier, the team headed by the head of Manifesto Implementation Unit, Bashasa had come to a similar conclusion after conducting a monitoring exercise for the Programme. The team found that government had scored highly in fulfilment of the pledge of providing capital to women through UWEP

The state house team is recommending that the benefits of UWEP to government, be it economic or political could be at risk if the programme is amalgamated with other categories given that women form the core of NRM support and have been religiously paying back on their loans compared to other categories who may abscond to the disadvantage of the women who have proven to be trust worth.

“The team also learnt that whereas the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development has been desirous to revolve back money that has been recovered by the Women now amount to 16 Billion, Ministry of Finance stopped them from Revolving yet many women who would have benefited from this money were kept waiting, ” the source at state house team said.

A source at the Ministry of Gender told this publication that the Accountant General had actually given the Ministry greenlight to revolve the funds, but the Ministry of Finance stopped them from revolving arguing that such money needs to be appropriated first.

The state house team is recommending that President Yoweri Museveni reigns in on Finance to allow UWEP to revolve the Money as has been noted by the Auditor General or ask finance to increase the budget allocation for UWEP in the next budget.

Both the Gender and Budget Committees of Parliament had recommended that Shs 32 billion be provided for UWEP in the next budget. The state house team however believes that this would not be sufficient and if Finance cannot find Money they should allow the Ministry to revolve the recovered funds.

“Why antagonise women, we have gauged the feelings of women whether the educated in parliament or the peasants and their resolve is don’t touch our UWEP this is the message we are sending back to the master,” said a member of the state house team.

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MP Zaake to appear before Rules Committee on Wednesday

MP Zaake

The Chairperson of the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline Abdul Katuntu has revealed that Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake Butebi will this Wednesday appear before members to defend himself.

The MP is accused of insulting the integrity of Parliament after he last week took to social media and used offensive language to express his dissatisfaction with the Deputy Speaker’s statement regarding his alleged torture.

Speaking earlier today, Katuntu said the committee will tomorrow interact with Bardege-Layibi Division MP Martin Ojara Mapenduzi who raised the matter of national importance, Soroti West Division MP, Jonathan Ebwalu, Amolatar Woman representative Agnes Atim Apea and Busia Municipality MP Geoffrey Macho who supported the motion.

“Hon Zaake will appear on Wednesday to give his account. He is free to come with a lawyer and he will be given change to defend himself. He is at the same time allowed to attend the meeting while other members appear before us and where needed, he will be granted a chance to ask them questions,” Katuntu said.

Raising the matter, Martin Mapenduzi said that he intended to move a motion to have Zaake relieved of his duties as a Commissioner for denigrating the integrity of Parliament and Office of the Speaker in breach of Rules 84 and 85 of the Rules of Procedure and Paragraph 5 of the Code of Conduct of Members.

“All of us may have our own emotions and issues to deal with but there are avenues in our Rules of Procedure through which anything done by the presiding officer can be challenged. The member never exercised any of the remedies provided in the rules but chose to go to social media,” Mapenduzi said.

The matter was supported by the Soroti West Division MP, Jonathan Ebwalu who said Zaake’s use of unparliamentary language on social media against the person of the Deputy Speaker was in bad faith and demeaned the office of the Speaker and institution of parliament.

“The intention was to damage; lower the character and status of the Speaker and the reputation of this Parliament. It is our obligation to defend Parliament from any attack. We need to enact laws to check cyber bullying, cyber harassment, blackmail and intimidation,” he said. 

Esther Afoyochan, one of the Backbench commissioners disassociated herself from the social media utterances attributed to Zaake saying that the House should deal with the matter in accordance with the House’s prescribed guidelines.

Deputy Speaker, Anita Among referred the matter to the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline for further investigations.

“Our Constitution dictates a fair hearing before a decision is taken as we continue with other processes. I will therefore, guide that this matter be referred to the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline and the committee must report back within two weeks,” Among said.

She said that whereas under normal circumstances, she was supposed to step aside from presiding over a matter that involves her personality, she had to do so because the Speaker is still indisposed.  

Rule 110 of the Rules of Procedure states that a Member of the Commission, other than the Speaker or the Leader of Government Business, Leader of the Opposition or the Minister of finance may be removed from office by Parliament for incompetence, misconduct insanity or inability to perform the functions of his or her office arising from infirmity of body or mind.

Under sub rule 2, a motion for a resolution for the removal of a Commissioner shall be initiated by a notice in writing to the Clerk, signed by not less than one third of all the voting Members of Parliament indicating their intention for moving the motion for the removal.

Under sub rule 6, a Commissioner shall be removed upon the vote of at least half of all voting Members of Parliament.

Meanwhile over 215 signatures have been collected to impeach Zaake.

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Gov’t terminates Uganda Airlines CEO, other top bosses’ contracts

Cornwell Muleya

The government of Uganda has terminated the contract of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Uganda Airlines, Cornwell Muleya and other top managers who have been on a suspension for a number of months.

Mr. Muleya and the group were dispersed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to pave the way for investigations into allegations of financial mismanagement, collusion, and nepotism in staff recruitment among other issues.

Fired alongside Muleya are top managers including Rogers Wamara the Director Commercial, finance director Paul Turacayisenga, and Procurement Manager Moses Wangalwa. Also, the Sales and marketing manager Deo Nyanzi, Andrew Tumusiime (Senior administration manager), Harvey Kalama (Ground Operational Manager), Bruno Oringi (Safety Manager), Michael Kaliisa (Quality manager), Crew Training Manager Juliet Otage Odur, and first Officers Kenneth Kiyemba and Alex Kakooza.

The President also directed the disbandment of the Pereza Ahabwe, the Chairperson Board of Directors. As a result, an interim board of directors chaired by Bageya was put in place to oversee the airline.

After nine months on suspension, Bageya says the interim board has decided to terminate the CEO’s contract and that of Wamara.

Bageya however says the other managers and officers have either been terminated or reinstated while two are still on suspension pending vetting from security agencies and confirmation on whether or not they passed technical training.

Bageya however says the Inspectorate of Government had also picked interest in the allegations against the suspended staff.

“We have concluded the case against most of the suspended officials administratively. But we are also waiting for the decision of the Inspectorate General of Government on the matter.”

“I cannot disclose the reasons for the CEO’s termination right now because the IGG is still conducting investigations. But the interim board of directors decided to terminate his contract because the allegations against him were substantial and he was found culpable.”

Muleya, Wamara, and other affected staff by the time of filing this report had not yet commented about this development.

The Ministry of Works hired Muleya in September 2019 and renewed his contract three times before he was suspended. His latest contract was renewed in 2021 with the expiry being in September 2022.

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Over 800,000 people get access to clean water in Uganda’s rural areas and small towns

Water flowing from tap

More than 800,000 additional Ugandans have gained access to safe drinking water following the execution of the second phase of the Water Supply and Sanitation Programme, according to a project completion report for the African Development Bank released on 1 February. 

The programme was implemented between 2016 and 2021. Financed with a $91.98 million loan from the African Development Fund, the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group, the programme benefited a total of 834,894 people versus an initial target of 753,000. The beneficiaries include 541,070 people in rural areas and 293,824 in small towns.

“Overall, the project has made satisfactory progress towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 6,” the report notes. “It has contributed significantly to Uganda’s national goals of ensuring access to water and sanitation services for all. The installations will be able to efficiently incorporate all planned connections over the lifespan of the systems.” 

Eight major gravity-flow systems were completed, with 14,426 connections serving nearly 346,224 people. The Lukalu-Kabasanda system, in particular, is 92% complete, with 370 connections serving 13,272 people. The Orom system is 90% complete, with 142 connections serving 3,408 people. Thirty solar-powered mini-networks have been constructed, with 125 water points serving approximately 9,500 people.

Forty solar water systems are in the final stages of completion, with 370 water points that will serve about 173,058 people. Twenty-five public sanitation facilities have also been built in rural areas and 39 sanitation facilities in small towns. The small towns have also benefited from 25 piped water supply systems with 9,166 connections for now. The project also addressed urban feacal sludge management, putting in place two new feacal sludge plants and Cesspool desludging trucks.

In addition, 62 completed water sources have benefited from actions intended to protect the water catchment points. A total of 485 women and 352 men have been trained in rural and urban areas in different skills that aim to restore the ecosystem and improve their livelihoods. Of this group, 389 rural people (287 women and 102 men) and 238 urban people have been trained in seed nursery management and 210 (149 women and 61 men) in commercial business management.

Finally, 14 seed nurseries have been established. They have produced more than two million tree seedlings, which have been offered or sold to the population for planting. Water and sanitation-related businesses have been established, including the manufacture of briquettes, plant-based petroleum jelly and paper bags, and the construction of energy-saving cook stoves.

“Cook stoves and briquettes have made a significant contribution to reducing the amount of wood used for cooking, thus protecting the environment,” the report concludes.

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IGP Ochola welcomes his new deputy in office

IGP Ochola welcomes his new deputy in office

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), John Martins Okoth Ochola has welcomed his new deputy in office. Maj Gen Geoffrey Tumusiime Katsigazi has officially assumed office as the Deputy Inspector General of Police after his recent appointment by President Museveni. They held this function at the Police headquarters in Naguru.

Ochola bid farewell to his outgoing Deputy Maj Gen Jackson Bakasumba who Museveni recently sent to South Sudan. Ochola applauded President Museveni for the additional appointments. He said these have promoted the continued synergies between the police and the UPDF.

“I urge the new officers to share their diverse experiences in the implementation of the vision of the force. We jointly have a task of deepening the Uganda Police Force partnership with other stakeholders including the community,” Ochola said.

The IGP also applauded Bakasumba saying he has left a wonderful legacy behind him. The Chief Political Commissar, AIGP Asan Kasingye also added to this and prayed for the blessing of the outgoing Deputy IGP.

“The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success,” Kasingye said.

Meanwhile, Ochola urged the new officers to help police in the increased use of technology, profiling criminals, and the enforcement of force discipline.

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Uganda’s problems are as a result of bad leadership – Kabuleta

Joseph Kabuleta

The National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) leader Joseph Kabuleta has rallied the people of West Nile to unite and work together if they are to overcome the economic challenges they face in the sub region.

Kabuleta made the call last Friday while traversing the West Nile sub region. The former presidential candidate is currently on nationwide sensitization campaign premised on protecting Uganda’s national deposits that could be used by citizens to elleviate themselves from poverty.

He said all the problems West Nile and other sub regions are facing are due to bad leadership.

“I have discovered that the problems facing all the sub regions we have been to and probably those we are going to are the same, only spoken in different languages. Like in other sub regions, West Nile is also faced with poverty, unemployment, poor quality education among other problems and its all caused by bad leadership,” Kabuleta affirmed.

“If you’re to develop, you should first know that all our problems are the same and we are all affected the same way.You should unite if we are to overcome the problems we face as ordinary Ugandans. That’s how you will survive poverty.”

He also suggested that before resources are taken to the national cake level, the indigenous people where they come from should first have a fair share. According to Kabuleta, this would help the locality to empower and enrich itself economically.

The politician further cautioned the people of West Nile against asking for a Minister in charge of their sub region because they will gain nothing from such an establishment apart from creating more avenues that could be used by the government to steal their resources.

“You should look at the kind of leadership that transforms your economic lives because you see some of you say we need a minister in charge of West Nile Affairs; that has not helped Bunyoro, Karamoja or Luwero and all other places that had Ministers. Actually they just use ministers to steal resources more,” Kabuleta warned.

“There are more important things like how do you stake a claim to your resources and the most important thing, don’t think that these resources belong to someone else, these resources belong to you and you should demand for them. There’s the difference between asking and demanding. As NEED, we are here to teach you how to demand not to ask because asking does not yield anything. In life you do not get what you deserve, you get what you bargain for and bargaining sometimes involves creating scenarios where somebody has to sit at a table and listen to you and I hope that after this, you will unite as people and get to understand that you have a big say in your well-being.”

NEED, a political movement under the stewardship of Kabuleta has so far managed to spread the economic empowerment message to Buganda, Bugisu, Bukedi, Teso, Sebei, Lango, Acholi and West Nile sub-regions.

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UBL wins Best HR Practices in Uganda

UBL's Rosemary Nakuya receiving ESG Compliance Award on behalf of the company. She was accompanied by Ag. MD Eunice Waweru and CR Manger Jackie Tahakanizibwa

Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) was on 18th February 2022 awarded as the winner for the Best Human Resource (HR) Practices in Uganda. UBL was recognised during the Prudential Best HR Practices Report launch at Kampala Serena Hotel.

The recognition came following the Prudential Best HR practices survey with various industry players, on the best HR practices critical for influencing excellent employment practices in Uganda today.

The survey invited employees to comment, rate and assess their employers HR practices and policies by responding to questions in the survey in 12 different thematic areas such as organisation, performance and confidence, Leadership alignment and involvement, Collaboration and Communication, Reward and Recognition, Quality and Innovation, Diversity and Inclusion, Learning among others.

To emerge overall winner, UBL came among the top three in 6 different thematic areas of the study: Organisation Performance and Confidence, Quality and Innovation, Diversity and Inclusion, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Compliance and Employee wellbeing and wellness.

The brewery also received awards for two of the categories we were nominated in; Organisation Performance and Confidence as well as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Compliance.

The fore listed categories are core to the company’s operations as a business with some headlining our Society 2030: Spirit of Progress agenda. Diversity and Inclusion for instance is an agenda through which UBL has been able to overcome long held societal beliefs and stereotypes at the work place.

In line with Diversity and Inclusion, at has employed women in production processes that were previously men’s stronghold. Currently, one of the production lines at the brewery is managed by a 75% female staff and has a production capacity of over 25,000 bottles. 

At the beginning of last year, as founder members of the Uganda Business and Disability Network, UBL committed to make our work place PWD accessible both in physical transformation of workplaces and creating an enabling psychological environment in readiness.

As part of that commitment, UBL has held several debiasing sessions to empower and prepare staff at UBL for a grander plan to ensure that at least 10% of all our recruits are people with disabilities.

The UBL Human Resource Director Catherine Njonjo in her acceptance speech for the award applauded the entire UBL Staff for working every day to ensure that the company puts the welfare, wellbeing of them.

She dedicated the award to all staff.

“I am overwhelmed with gratitude that our company has been recognized as the overall winner for Best HR Practices in Uganda. I am honored that this amazing company gets to be recognized for what, internally, we already see and live every day. Uganda Breweries truly is the best place to work, and I am happy that the rest of the country gets to celebrate that with us today.” Ms Njonjo said.

In category Organisation Performance and Confidence, Uganda Breweries competed with Umeme Limited and Bidco Uganda Limited. In the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Compliance category, the other finalists were Cipla Quality Chemical Industries Limited and Watoto Child Care Ministries.

The survey that was commissioned by Prudential Uganda in partnership with Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE), Human Capital International, PwC Uganda and Brighter Monday attracted participation of close to 2,000 employees from 534 organisations in Uganda.

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LetsGo nation to share their ‘Power to be and Do’ journeys across Africa

Twitter Space Event_speakers

On 22nd February Letshego will be taking to Twitter Space to host its latest stakeholder engagement on Twitter with the ever-popular Connect Spaces platform. This sees a celebration of collaborative regional efforts of Letshego’s proudly African LetsGoNation community, while also promoting the inclusive finance entity’s progressive transformation to digital, for the benefit of customers, suppliers and communities across Africa. 

Digital warriors who attend the event can look forward to meeting LetsGo event host, Mpoeng Mphoeng, one of Twitter Space’s earliest adopters, and founder of the popular and influential @BWConnectSpaces. Social Enterprise Entrepreneurs and recognisable Influencers of the likes of Vee Mampeezy and Thabiso Mashaba from Botswana, Mr. Macoroni from Nigeria, Neyma from Mozambique, Tracy Owusu Addo from Ghana and Masoud Kipanya from Tanzania will be joining this live online event.

Twitter Space is a unique, and fast-growing space for widely-known community trailblazers to share personal insights into their own experiences, learnings and unpack the ingredients for success that brought them the opportunities they celebrate and build on today. 

Letshego’s ‘LetsGoNation’ is an online-based community for all Africans to join, network and share experiences, celebrating their passion for our continent and collaboration in building Africa by Africans, in simple terms, ‘Getting it Done’! Fellow Africans who wish to join the movement are invited to sign up at letsgodigitalafrica (@africaondigital) / Twitter . The Twitter Space event will be hosted on Tuesday 22 February at 6pm (CAT)/8pm (GTM)/9pm (EAT).

In 2021, Letshego progressed its digital strategy by launching the ‘LetsGo Digital Mall’ in 10 markets across sub-Saharan Africa. The LetsGo Digital Mall is an Omnichannel integrated platform that customers can access via Web, WhatsApp USSD and Mobile. The reason for the term “Mall” is Letshego’s insight into the evolution of this platform into a digital platform that will serve to link customers, suppliers, services through a one-stop platform for all regional customers.  For now, the Digital Mall serves as a catalyst to provide customers with a simple and accessible platform to their accounts, as well as a simple easy solution to apply for or top up their personal loans.

In marking the launch of Letshego’s first truly online event, Chipiliro Katundu, Letshego’s Group Chief Marketing Officer commented, “Our first regional online event celebrates our #LetsGoSpirit, and unlocks conversations between our diverse nations and trailblazers who share Letshego’s passion and commitment to making a difference in their respective communities to ‘improve lives’. The LetsGoNation brings us together to celebrate those nuances that make our continent and people unique, while enabling us to collaborate in creating a brighter future for all.”

Objective: The conversation about Africa’s #LetsGo spirit, powered by Digital will best be accelerated through use of relevant content platforms/channels.

Platform: Twitter Spaces unlocks conversations with the depth and power only the human voice can bring – this is how Letshego meets Africa in 2022 –  through the #LetsGoDigitalAfrica Space. 

The conversation – Leveraging the power of ideas, digital, unlocking opportunity, side hustles, turning passions to business while connecting start-ups, hustlers, and innovators, Digital Ideators, African fintechs, Boss Ladies and the Ogas, the young entrepreneurs, visionaries, the creatives, trail blazers and trendsetters

The LetsGo Twitter Space event is a vehicle to connect start-ups, side hustles, innovators digital ideators and African Fintechs with young entrepreneurs, visionaries, creatives, trail blazers and trendsetters to deliver a sharing and cross-pollination of ideas that can later be transformed into viable business opportunities.

Giles Germany Aijukwe, Letshego Uganda CEO added, “Today, we have onboarded over 100000 EAC customers onto our Digital Mall. Through digital, we can not only enhance access and create a seamless experience for our customers, but also deliver more products more regularly – in Uganda, our customers can look forward to new solutions in (housing) and (payments) available with a few clicks via our Digital Mall channels.”

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Sudhir, Gov’t to build Shs140b Convention Centre at Munyonyo

Sudhir and Kasaija welcoming PM Nabbanja

Businessman Sudhir Ruparelia and the government of Uganda will build a modern Convention Centre at Commonwealth Speke Resort Munonyo. The centre will host 3,000 delegates and its first conference will be the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) scheduled for next year.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Sudhir and government was done on Saturday. It was attended by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, Permanent Secretary Finance and Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi.

Sudhir and Kasaija welcoming PM Nabbanja

The construction is estimated to cost $40 million (Shs140 billion) but it remains unclear how much each side will invest.

Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said the government lacked enough money to build its own convention centre on its land. “It is an urgent project and a lot of money is needed which will be difficult for government to muster at a short notice. There are many things we have to do so if we find a partner then it is easier,” he said.

Negotiations during the Saturday meeting at the commonwealth resort centered on how much each party to the proposed joint venture will invest in the project, assets management and as well as profits/loss sharing.

Kasaija added; “We are undertaking the project in partnership with Sudhir. The government puts in and Sudhir also puts in money. The architects are still calculating and then we will know how much government and Sudhir are going to pay. If we go together in business, when it starts to make money, we share the profits”.

Cautious to avoid a repeat of venue debacle during the CHOGM that Uganda hosted in 2007, Prime Minister Nabbanja expedited a process for Uganda to have its own national convention Centre.

Sources familiar with the discussions from the meeting on Saturday, said the project is to compromise a 3,500 seat ultra-modern auditorium, a suspended restaurant overlooking Lake Victoria, while additional presidential suites will be created with smaller conference rooms for sideline meetings during the NAM summit.

During the meeting on Saturday, a cross section of government technocrats and Sudhir employees thrashed out details of the project, including pre-viewing the architectural designs.

The NAM summit movement comprises 120 countries that are not aligned to any of the rival eastern and western power blocs and it was founded during the Asian-Africa meeting in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955.

It is leaders of these countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, with observer China and Russia who are expected to convene in Kampala in November 2023 for the movement’s summit.

“We are expecting 126 heads of state for the NAM conference. We have to set up a befitting conference Centre where they can deliberate. We are planning and we will be successful,” Kasaija said.

The commonwealth Speke Resort Munyonyo is a five star resort privately owned by Sudhir’s Ruparelia Group, and hosts major government and international events. It currently has 19 conference halls and 5 outdoor spaces for conferences.

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