Tuesday, December 7, 2010

TO KNOW THE EXACT POSITION OF UGANDA BOOKS OF ACCOUNTS REQUIRES MUSEVENI OUT

TO KNOW THE EXACT POSITION OF UGANDA BOOKS OF ACCOUNTS REQUIRES MUSEVENI OUT
It is a bit abnormal that Government can go on for years having the Auditor General auditing and giving Audit Reports 2 - 3 years after funds are spent! This among other instances is reflected where the Auditors report for CHOGM 2007 is in Parliament now 3 years since the activities! It is not clear whether a serious Government should transact business that way.. It is also not clear why the Auditor General's office given the experience where many civil servants misuse office maintains auditing long after transactions have taken place, contrally to the practice in normal company undertakings; where transactions are audited prior to funds being spent/released. In order to save the poor country continued loss of colossal sums of money, the Auditor Generals office should change approach so that funds are saved instead of wasting money and man power to discover anomalies which would have been blocked and hence just tell the people about funds lost when it is almost impossible to recover the funds.
The Auditor General's Report for the year ended 30th June 1998, when President Museveni had spent 12 years in office has a few cases that show the fact that the country has overtime really lost money, and the magnitude may just be known if President Museveni is out of office.
1. The Bank of Uganda Reconciliation statement presented for audit had anomalies not credited in the cash book stated as shs 108,542,962,336 was not supported by documentary evidence. Second, it was discovered that a figure of shs 2,651,914,392 referred to as a weekly transfer of revenue, which should have been a credit, but was instead posted as a debit entry. No entry was made to reverse the anomaly!
2. A total of shs 11,513,367,856 and US $ 1,950,749.42 are shown as Government balances with closed banks. It is not known how these balances were recovered!
3. As at 30th June 1999, the Bank statement from Bank of Uganda showed an overdraft of shs 776,236,548,778 whereas the general ledger had a figure of shsh844,327,253,156. The difference of shs 68,090,704,378 was not reconcilled.
4. The Treasury records for the year ended 30th June 1999 showed an outstanding balance of shs 15,388,429,468 as its indebtedness to Bank of Uganda relating to Promissory notes. Bank of Uganda records however showed shs 18,182,857,841 a difference of shs 2,794,428,356 and no reconcilliation had been made to agree the two positions.
5. Government guaranteed a total of shs 45,269,940,389 to companies that were no longer in existence.
6. A number of Loans given to various Parastatals and other private companies were found to be non - performing. Out of a total of shs 974,568,943,367 (Principal) and shs 28,759,534,288 (Interest) outstanding at the beginning of the year, only shs 104,173,958,894 had been paid leaving a balance of shs 899,154,318,761 (Principal & Interest) still outstanding.
7. a total of shs 7,771,464,135 was still outstanding as at the end of 1998/99 financial year as loans lent by Government to various private sector companies, individuals and public corporations from the Japanese Grant, yet these loans had been outstanding for long and should have been settled by 1995!

Uganda country report on: http://www.saprin.org/uganda/research/uga_country_rpt.pdf
Is useful.


Makerere Main Building

CONCERN ABOUT STANDARDS OF ICT MAKERERE GRADUATES
Mr. Vice Chancellor Sir,

There is talk out there that ICT graduates from Makerer e University are not up to the standards they are expected of. This issue needs to be urgently addressed as students should be paying to get the worth of their money or is it that all these students get other people to do work for them? Can you believe that a graduate fails to load a program and at a number of times; that when these graduates are employed, they have to get third parties to bail them out on assignments.

Mr Vice Chancellor Sir,

Kindly respond to this concern.

William Kituuka Kiwanuka

Vice Chancellor Prof. Baryamureba

INTERVIEW: Museveni is now Makerere old boy
Written by RICHARD M. KAVUMA & JOHN MUSINGUNZI
Sunday, 17 January 2010 17:40

* Honorary PhD makes him an alumnus, says Vice Chancellor
Makerere University held her 60th graduation ceremony on JANUARY 17 2010), two months since Vice Chancellor, PROF. VENANSIUS BARYAMUREEBA, came to office. He spoke to RICHARD M. KAVUMA and JOHN MUSINGUZI about the graduation and his new office.

How different is this graduation from earlier ones, including your own?
Definitely it is going to be different. When I graduated in 1994, Makerere was a very small university. Actually the students who are going to graduate, about 13,200, are more than what we had as a whole university then. What is more important is that transcripts for these 13,200 students are ready. After I graduated, I had to come back and run around for my transcript and it took me two or three months to get it. Also, at this graduation we are honouring the President of Uganda with a Doctorate of Laws. For us it is an honour. It is not just about awarding him: it also makes him an alumnus of Makerere University. So whenever we call alumni to come back and develop Makerere University, he will be one of them. The other one is somebody we wanted to honour alive, but who unfortunately died after we had decided to honour him – the former Deputy Vice President and Prime Minister of Tanzania, Rashidi Kawawa. If you look at what he did in the region, like his contribution towards fighting apartheid in South Africa, what he did in Mozambique, and how he came up with the policy on refugees, you will agree he deserves the award. We are going to honour him posthumously.

How have you managed to make transcripts ready in a short time?
Let me give you an example. I went to the US Embassy today to get a visa and their system normally takes 24 hours to get feedback and then they issue the visa the following day. But they were able to put everything in the system and make sure that I get a visa by the end of today, because they are able to manage their processes. At Makerere in the past, we failed to manage the processes. What are these processes that lead to a transcript? When students come in the first year, they provide their bio data – name, district, date of birth, age, sex and so on. But because of human error, you find that when these students register in first year, a student from Iganga is written as one from Ibanda and a female student is recorded as male. Now through verification in the first year, the student will say: ‘This is not my date of birth’ or ‘That is not my district.’ Now somebody supposed to update the system never does that work and the supervisor never does their work. It waits for graduation. That is why if you have been at Makerere to pick a transcript, they will tell you they are trying to pick the hard copy file. We are saying: ‘Please do your work.’ In this short period, we have pushed people in those units to verify, update this bio data and then have the transcripts printed. But that is for this graduation. We want to map out all the processes. What does it take for a student to get a transcript? On a transcript you have bio data and exam results. We are going to ensure that all these are in place so that when a student finishes the actual course and has passed, we print the transcript. So at graduation next year, if I am still in office, we will not be issuing transcripts; we will issue degree certificates.

How safe from forgeries is the new system?
For this very graduation the paper we are using is printed in the UK by a world-renowned company, Smith & Ouzman and it has security features. These papers are serialised and we are able to account for each of them. For certificates, as a vice chancellor, I am not going to sign them manually. We have our digital signatures and after we have produced a graduation list, we are going to send it to the UK so that the company can print the certificates. Two weeks after graduation, students will be able to get their certificates and it will not be possible to forge them. But we will move towards having our own system here where we can produce these transcripts without any forgery. You have been a member of staff for nearly nine years, why didn’t these things happen before? One thing I have realised in many organisations as big as Makerere, you can easily lose focus on the biggest projects by focusing on emergencies. Makerere has lots of emergencies: something here, something there. You can sort out those emergencies but at the end of the day, when you weigh the emergencies, they may not have had an impact. We have had people [in charge] in the past but may be they did not realise that transcripts were a serious issue. So when we came in we said, ‘look, students come to Makerere because they want a degree; they want a degree because they want to get a job; and they can’t get a job if they don’t have a transcript.’ So we felt that it is very critical that all students get their transcripts and certificates.

Does it take anything away from graduation day now that the President is no-longer Chancellor?
He was awarding degrees not as a person but because he was the Chancellor. When the Act (Universities & Other Tertiary Institutions’ Act) came up, it said the Chancellor does not have to be the President. It said look for someone of high integrity to be Chancellor.

Can graduation still have glamour?
It depends on how you organise the function. Now we are going to have the President because he is going to be awarded an honorary degree. But we could be innovative and, on each day of the graduation week, get prominent people – instead of boring people with the same speeches – to come and give a 30-minute talk. Look at a person like Jeffrey Sachs who won the Nobel Prize in Economics. If you invite him to speak at a graduation at Makerere, he will come. There are so many other people. We can make the ceremony colourful by having people of calibre.

Do you share the view that Prof. Mondo Kagonyera is not fit to remain Chancellor because of his doubted reputation at NSSF?
Now, that is my boss, really. That is why some of us find it hard to comment on such. Convocation is a body of the graduates and staff of Makerere. It can organise itself into assemblies and can deliberate on matters of the university and submit their recommendations to the Council for consideration. There is no such a recommendation before the Council and I am not saying they should send there any. But, they are saying the Chancellor lost his integrity because of his work at NSSF. The government instituted an audit at NSSF and this audit report – I read in the papers – has been submitted to Parliament. Nobody can say authentically that these are the findings. Parliament is going to discuss that report and if there are issues for Professor [Kagonyera], he will be called before Parliament. Depending on his submissions, Parliament can drop some of those questions. Now I cannot say that he is guilty because Parliament has not said so. But having said that, it is up to the Chancellor to weigh up what was said because he himself knows whether these are true or false. If he feels that he has lost his integrity, then he may think about whether he still wants to be Chancellor of Makerere.

Last year you gave an honorary degree to Benjamin Mkapa, now you are giving out two; is it some kind of bonanza?
The statute says honorary degrees should be given out sparingly but that statute was made when Makerere was very small and had one graduation day. Now we have five. Some universities give out one at each ceremony. What is an honorary degree? You are honouring distinguished people. If you look at previous graduations, we have almost not been giving out any. We have issued a circular to Makerere staff to nominate anyone they feel merits an honorary award. Our next meeting is in June and we will look at those lists and pick. We may pick another three.

What criteria do you follow?
When we are awarding, we are not looking at everything; we are not looking at saints. We look at specific areas of excellence. For example, President Museveni got an honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota – one of the top 100 universities in the world – for just one thing: his fight against AIDS. As Makerere University we have looked at some areas where President Museveni, as head of state, has done very well – HIV/AIDS, promotion of science and technology, his role in the integration of East Africa, and gender equality. Some will see it as if you are trying to lick his boots. People are entitled to their opinion but we have to remember that Makerere is a public university and it is the oldest in East Africa, and universities play a critical role in monitoring and evaluating government programmes and advising government. We are looking at partnering with government. If government has been coming up with policies and maybe ignored higher education, we need to engage the President and say: ‘You need to support research and development. Without undertaking research you cannot have innovation; you cannot have patents.’ And if researchers are leaving everyday for greener pastures, we can say: ‘How can we work together to provide, maybe, better salaries or money for research to ensure that these people stay?’ To me that is not licking someone’s boots.

What is the future of tertiary education funding?
People have talked a lot about this issue of unit cost but we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. At some point the government is going to have to introduce a scheme where students that access university education can get support. If it is a loan scheme, then you have to have a loan board so that when these students complete studies, wherever they are working, some money can be deducted from their salary to repay the loan. Also, governments world over provide funding such as teaching and research infrastructure to institutions they consider public. If you hear that the USA and China are sending people to the moon, it is not just because they have money. It is because they have scientists and you can never do that unless you invest in it. The government is going to look at universities as strategic partners.

That is the ideal, but will it happen?
The indications now are that that is going to happen. On December 12 and 28, we met the President as Makerere University Academic Staff Association and as staff from Faculty of Technology, and he was very positive about funding higher education research and innovation. He is already committing a lot of funds not as presidential pledges but through the line ministries.

Does the mushrooming of private universities excite or worry you?
There has been demand and there was need to address that demand. Private universities are like private secondary schools. Many of them are for profit and they will ensure that whatever takes a lot of money from them they will not do. That is why some of these private secondary schools were not teaching sciences until government intervened. When it comes to private universities, look at their character: many of them are focusing on those easy subjects. It is still very important for government to either support those private universities to teach what we need in this country or to set up more public universities to address that. You have been talking of creating branches of Makerere upcountry. Yes, since we have the ICT backbone being created by the government, Makerere University can rationalise its resources and provide education to many more people in this country. Many students will come out of universal secondary education and they need quality education and they may not get it.

Many people are saying Makerere is becoming too expensive for them.
We are saying: ‘Look, that was not a very serious increment.’ Maybe we need to look at the other costs involved – like feeding and accommodation. If someone in Fort Portal can spend only Shs 100,000 a semester on accommodation and feeding, compared to more than Shs 1million in Kampala, well and good. The most important thing is providing the same quality of education. We can have a campus in Fort Portal to take care of disadvantaged students to access the same level of education. And how do we ensure quality? These people are going to sit the same exams, same assessment as the students on the main campus. That is why you have not heard us say we are going to teach Medicine in Jinja. We are starting with degree programmes that are not that demand-intensive in terms of lab equipment so that whatever we provide at Makerere, we are able to provide it there. We have signed an MoU with UTL to help us to ensure that a student in Jinja studies as if he/she is on the main campus. Through the backbone of UTL, we are going to link the main campus with others – not through satellite but – the way you link Faculty of CIT and the Faculty of Technology. Everything available on our intranet, they will be able to have. They will have access to all the online journals and courses. We want to make sure that the facilities are the same. But six months, one year down the road, we want to move towards having video-conferencing facilities. As Barya, I will go to the lecture theatre at Makerere and the lecture will be broadcast simultaneously to centres in Jinja, Fort Portal and elsewhere. People are still skeptical in some areas but I am an ICT expert and I know how ICT can help you to provide quality education. What we are proposing has been done by universities in the USA, Australia and other countries. What have you found most challenging in your two months in office? The university has a lot of debts, nearly Shs 45 billion. The university has been running a deficit budget for many years and every year that debt has been going up. And now we have to reduce that to zero.

Is that achievable?
Over time we can achieve it, if we plan well. For instance, when we came in we looked at the electricity bill and it was very high. And when we talked to people who own factories, what they were paying monthly was very low. We realised that if we moved to bulk purchase tariff for big companies, we would be paying half of what we have been paying. And come February 1, we are going to have one meter from Umeme.
We are going to analyse the issue of water. I have realised that all over campus, there are private washing bays. And you may find that some people in Wandegeya are tapping Makerere University water.

What else have you done?
We have gone through the process of recruiting the University Bursar, University Secretary and Academic Registrar. And so far, I am satisfied with the team we have in place. We have also advertised other positions like Director for Audit. We are trying to make sure that there is accountability at faculty level. Deans should make sure that faculties are run well. We don’t want to hear of ‘missing results’ all the time. If results are missing, somebody should be held accountable. If a semester ends and a lecturer has not submitted, do not tell us that ‘people have not submitted,’ tell us that so-and-so has not, and as the dean you should have taken action. For us we are looking at the university holistically; we need to generate more money. That is why I am travelling to New York for a high-level meeting where the UN Secretary General will chair three sessions. The US government is rethinking its focus on Africa, especially in funding research and higher education in science and technology. The best universities in the world are attending. They have picked three of us from Africa – Vice Chancellors of Makerere, Cape Town and Ghana. We want to make sure there is money coming into Africa to build our institutions. Even the curriculum, we are going to look into our courses. I saw your article, [‘Are there useless university courses?’ The Observer, January 11-13], but there are no useless courses. A course can serve its time and once that time passes, you can revise it. But we are looking into that. We feel 130 undergraduate programmes and 140 post-graduate courses are too many. We want to reduce them to optimise use of our resources. I don’t want to produce a graduate and say, this graduate can do that; that one can do the same, you pick who you want. There is no point having so many courses.

In your time in office, what have you found most fulfilling?
One thing: that Makerere is ready for change. Of course in any institution there will be few people who feel threatened but, by and large, Makerere wants change and wants to support anybody who can cause that change. So I have got tremendous support. Many people were saying: ‘This guy will come in wanting to change this and that but he will not manage.’ There is a lot of goodwill from the public, too, and I don’t want to take it for granted. That is why I am telling my team: ‘We have to do things differently.’ And the response is really great. Of course there are people who say “Things have been like this, they can’t change.” We are saying: “No, things have to change.” There are those who are saying: “Why are you wasting time talking to government? Government will never give you money?” For us we are saying: “No, we have to engage with government.” And government is going to fund this university. Maybe it is the way we are presenting our message.

Do you hope to keep your job after your six-month contract?
You know I don’t just do things. By the time I start something, I already have the end in mind. So I want to serve Makerere, not alone, but as a team. I am not worried about the six months. If after six months people feel that Barya is not the person to lead the institution, I will do other things. But my focus is to serve Makerere. I have been given an opportunity to serve and we are giving it our best and I am sure that after six months, they will keep us.

Procedurally, what happens after the six months?
You see we went through a process. After six months, if the Act is not amended and they feel we are doing a good job, they will renew our contracts. It is only when they feel that we are not delivering that they will get other people. They will give contracts until the Act is amended and a substantive Vice Chancellor is installed. So I am not working because of the six months, I am working because I want to serve the university.
By the way, this job gives you a lot of headache. If you see the grey hair on my head, if you had a picture of me two months before, you would see how I have changed. That is the stress that comes with this job.

Where does this passion come from?
We are all born from different families. If I can’t get on something and give it my best, then I won’t go in. If I get in a certain position and I don’t have that leverage to do what I want to do and exploit my full potential, I will not get in.
When you look at Makerere, people say it has problems. All we need is to give it our best.
Me when I am sleeping, I dream about Makerere. At times I go out with my friends, they see me getting distracted. Meanwhile, I am thinking something about Makerere. Not that I want to have it like that all my life. I will serve five or may be 10 years and move on. But at this time, my focus is Makerere.
How important is the personality of the Vice Chancellor in bureaucratic Makerere?
Every institution needs leadership. I can get 100 people and give each of them Shs 1 billion. You will find that after 10 years, one has Shs100 billion, another one may have almost zero, and another Shs 2 billion.
I am not saying I am the best Vice Chancellor Makerere has ever had but I feel I can drive Makerere in a certain direction, and for the better. I can assure you that I cannot be at the helm of an institution I know I cannot turn around because it will go down with me.
Anything else to tell the public?
I will begin with the media. There is what we call a grace period; we know that there are some [bad] things that have been happening at Makerere but we are willing to turn things around; we are willing to listen and change.
Since the public has given us goodwill, the media should also report responsibly. If you have a story you think is a hit, try to get us for a comment. Give us a grace period, say six months; but if there is something really bad, of course, report it.To the wider public, I say that we are willing to listen, to put in our effort and time to transform Makerere. We want to work together and have a better Makerere.

rimkav@observer.ug
jmusinguzi@observer.ug

Museveni's Honorary Degree A Mockery
Makerere University honoured President Museveni with an honorary PhD in recognition of his “distinguished and outstanding public service as an eminent statesman.” There is an adage which states that “a statesman looks at the next generation while a politician looks at the next election.” Accordingly, a statesman builds for the future as the Makerere University motto states.
On the basis of this adage, I highly doubt whether Uganda’s president is a statesman. In my view, Mr. Museveni is a typical Machiavellian politician. In 1987 during the currency reform, each person that took money for changing lost thirty percent of that money. The government immediately embarked on the unholy Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs). Thereafter, Museveni embarked on divestiture of our parastatals, marketing boards, cooperative unions and Uganda Hotels. This was followed by the sale or giveaway of our banks including those that were making huge profits. The NRM government then embarked on giving away public land and this was followed by directly fleecing of the public as was with the case of Concern for Orphans, Widows and the Elderly (COWE). Accordingly, whoever awards Museveni for his superb performance is deluding himself. A statesman builds for the future and doesn’t mortgage his nation.

What does it take for a leader to build for the future?
A leader can build for the future if they made education available, affordable, and accessible to both the rich and the poor. A distinguished, outstanding and eminent statesman fights corruption root and branch. This then ensures that money to equip hospitals with drugs is available; money to pay our medical workers handsomely is available; to build industries and factories, to create jobs for the unemployed is available. I surely wouldn’t honour Museveni as an eminent statesman. Today Museveni’s fight against corruption is cosmetic as it is discriminatory. He at one time said, he has come a long way with Mbabazi and Otafiire and that is why he defends them whenever the duo are in a hot soup.
Museveni has presided over failed state institutions and has done nothing to forestall this. In fact, he is squarely responsible for dysfunctional state institutions. I know the award is being given to him for opportunistic reasons expecting that the president will now fund the university. This surely casts doubt on the credibility of our university with Professor Venancius Baryamureba as the vice chancellor. We ought to note that it is the obligation of the state to adequately fund its institutions.
It is ironical that Makerere University is awarding the president at a time when university dons have been turned into paupers and they hardly can sponsor their children in a university where they teach. This is the genesis of Professor Baryamureba’s mistakes and I hope it becomes the last. Professor Baryamureba has once threatened to expel students who participate in strikes as if he doesn’t know that it is a form of exercising their rights.
As an alumnus of Makerere University, I am deeply touched that our honorary degrees can be awarded anyhow. An honorary degree should be a prestigious award given to people that have been exemplary not for just boosting people’s curriculum vitae. If it was to be awarded to a leader such as Paul Kagame who has moved his country from scratch to strength, it would be understandable. Possibly, Museveni would learn from Kagame’s award and change from his transactional leadership style to transformational leadership.
During Museveni’s tenure as Uganda’s president, it is rare to give jobs on merit. What works is the spoils system typical of his patronage and clientelism. Today, higher education is a preserve of the rich. The few peasants’ children who by accident attain higher education are condemned to eternal unemployment because jobs are given to children whose parents fought, the cronies and relatives of the powers that be and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) cadres most of whom forge academic credentials from Nasser Road.

Currently, if a parent has four children at the university, the least they can part with is Uganda Shillings 12m a semester. If I were the president, I would turn down the award.
By Vincent Nuwagaba
A Ugandan based human rights activist - mpvessynuwagaba@gmail.com

Anti-Museveni book now on Makerere must-read list
News - http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10876&Itemid=59
Written by Gaaki Kigambo
Wednesday, 10 November 2010 19:24

Prof Joe Oloka-Onyango has made Dr Olive Kobusingye’s book, The Correct Line? Uganda Under Museveni, required reading for his Constitutional Law class at the School of Law in Makerere University.
Oloka-Onyango, a former Dean of Faculty of Law and current director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), made the pronouncement on November 5 at Makerere University where Dr Kobusingye was speaking to a mostly student audience packed in one of the conference rooms in the Senate building.
“[The book] has a great deal to tell us about our history, and our present [state] as we head to elections. It’s a critique of those in power or even out of power, including the opposition who have failed to come together and confront the beast within us,” said Oloka-Onyango while explaining his decision.
The book assesses the ironies and contradictions of the Museveni regime since 1986 when he took power.
Oloka-Onyango, who has frequently criticised the regime, wrote the book’s foreword where he notes: “Kobusingye’s The Correct Line? exposes the soft underbelly of the Museveni regime in a manner that no journalistic or academic account has ever done.”
The distinguished professor revealed he agreed to write the book’s foreword because “it’s a testimony of the state we have arrived at today. People suspected of breaking our laws have become non-people. They’ve disappeared in safe houses. Twenty years after [Idi] Amin, we are back to square one.”
“As Museveni goes for his 6th term, we face a question of power, its use and misuse. We’re on our way to a life presidency that we thought we had left behind,” he said.
“We’ve allowed the complacency that now pervades Uganda. We complain it’s the people around Mzee [President Museveni] who are misleading him, who are corrupt. What have we done legally to challenge what we see going on?”
Kobusingye dedicates alot of space in Chapter Nine of her book to analyse the irony of the lack of safety in safe houses. In it, she details chilling accounts of brutality and torture inside the so-called safe houses. It’s the most emotive and difficult to read. It’s also the longest of all the 19 chapters, covering 21 pages.
Oloka-Onyango commended Kobusingye for letting her voice speak out loudly for all the oppressed people in Uganda.
He also demanded that government sets up a commission of inquiry into safe houses to establish how they came into being, where they are, who is held there and their fate, and who owns them.
Speaking against a backdrop of slides with images of paramilitary groups such as Kiboko Squad, the Army and the Police ruthlessly battering unarmed civilians on Kampala streets, Kobusingye denied again that the book is an attack on President Museveni timed to help the electoral fortunes of her brother, Dr Kizza Besigye.
“I don’t know enough about him to criticise or praise him,” she said. “It is Museveni the leader that is under the spotlight.”
As such, “the book is a commentary about Uganda, and what has happened to its people under the leadership of President Museveni; what has happened to their aspirations and hopes; what has happened to their attempts to exercise their rights and freedoms, which they were told by President Museveni are not a favour bestowed by any regime.”
She further said that while some things in Uganda are better than they were in 1986, “if we carry on down the same path on which we are, there is no question in my mind that we shall sooner rather than later be in the same place we were when President Museveni and his 27 colleagues, and a host of other brave Ugandans including my relatives, went to the bush to set things right.”
Challenged she was merely griping and furthering her brother’s personal vendetta against Museveni, Kobusingye’s voice broke as she reeled off a list of names of people who have lost their lives or loved ones for supporting opposition candidates and to whom justice is still a long way away.

“Remember that tonight when you go to bed, some Ugandans will be lying on the floor of a safe house in this city, unknown to the Police or judicial system.”
gaaki@observer.ug

What has Museveni sacrificed?
http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/the-last-word/the-last-word/3-the-last-word/775-what-has-museveni-sacrificed

Tuesday, 07 April 2009 16:52 By Andrew M. Mwenda
President Yoweri Museveni claims he appointed his wife as state minister for Karamoja because “elites” were rejecting the job (never mind only one person, Tom Butiime, turned it down). He also justified the appointment of his family members, e.g. his brother, Salim Saleh, to government positions as a sign of sacrifice, not privilege.
These statements are a product of both ignorance and arrogance: Ignorance because the president cannot see a clear case of conflict of interest, i.e. that he cannot be an objective or impartial judge of the managerial competences of his wife; arrogant because he places himself above human nature – as a kind of god – who can make judgements on people, including his family members, without bias.
Museveni claims he has spent almost 40 years in the “struggle” for Uganda’s “emancipation”. How come he has been unable to cultivate people who can “help” him develop Karamoja in a nation of 30 million souls? What special attribute does his wife, who has no professional accomplishments, possess that other Ugandans lack which makes her best suited to “develop” Karamoja? And how can God/nature be so mean to Uganda as to give these attributes to only his wife?
The recurrent theme of projecting himself and his brother as the only people who sacrificed during the struggle in Luwero is insulting. But it is this sign of self obsession that is responsible for the gross nepotism we see in the country today. Many people participated in the struggle, thousands lost their lives and many lost their limbs (Elly Tumwine lost an eye, Mugisha Muntu got bullets in his chest, Henry Tumukunde almost lost a leg, etc). Yet Museveni continually points only to his brother.
Many people who participated in the struggle would agree that Saleh was a courageous and brilliant commander. I personally find Saleh a man of extraordinary good naturedness – kind, generous, modest, empathetic with a quick and brilliant mind. But Museveni’s attempt to accord his own brother a special status in the struggle at the expense of everyone else creates suspicion on both his intentions and the validity of his claims. It also betrays how strong the president’s instinct for nepotism is.
The entire Museveni family have no accomplishments of their own which can form a basis for anyone to make independent judgements on their abilities. None of them has gone to Cambridge or Oxford, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Stanford or Princeton (not even Makerere University) and gotten a PhD in computer science, solid mechanics or bio technology and then proceeded to become a successful software engineer in the Silicon Valley, a cutting edge designer at Rolls Royce or patented a micro chip that can diagnose diseases in the human body. Without exception – his wife, brother, son, daughters – all of them live off his patronage.
There is no doubt that Museveni is a man of exceptional qualities and ability. His has been an improbable journey from a family of poor illiterate itinerant peasants to president. His decision to launch a protracted armed-struggle to capture power is a statement of his strategic foresight. That he succeeded without much foreign assistance is evidence of his extraordinary organisational ability. His success at stabilising the political dispensation in a country that had literally fallen apart is a critical indicator of his exceptional leadership qualities. His decision to liberalise the economy that launched Uganda on two decades of sustained growth is evidence of his pragmatism. Finally, his initial success in projecting himself to Africa and the world as an enlightened leader has been impressive.
Yet, over the years, Museveni has also exposed the poverty of his personality and the parochial nature of his vision. By indulging in family rule, plundering national assets, stealing elections, destroying the institutional integrity of the state and spoiling our common patrimony, he has demonstrated that he is no better than other African dictators of old like Mobutu of Zaire, Omar Bongo of Gabon and Nassingbe Eyadema of Togo. His claims of sacrifice sound more ridiculous.
If Bill Gates successfully sought the presidency of the United States, he could legitimately claim to have sacrificed his iconic computer software business that has made him the richest man in the world to serve the American people. My friend Fred Balagadde (only 26 years) can claim that for his PhD, he developed a micro chip that can diagnose any disease in the human body, thus making obsolete the role of a doctor in human life. With a promising career ahead in a high-tech research firm in the Silicon Valley, he could claim sacrifice if he quit to come and serve as president of Uganda.
How about Museveni? He had accomplished almost nothing professionally or materially before coming to power to justify his claim that he is sacrificing by being President. His CV tells it all: Kyamate Primary School, Mbarara High School, Ntare School, Dar Es Salaam University (graduated with a pass degree), six months as a junior officer in the President’s office in 1970, a teacher in a rural cooperative school in Tanzania, one and a half years as a Minister in a chaotic UNLF government, war lord (he prefers to refer to it as “freedom fighter”), then President of the republic. Almost all his wealth has been accumulated while he has been in power.
Therefore, we have no evidence whatsoever that Museveni and his family could have lived a better lifestyle out of the presidency to justify this claim to sacrifice. Yet for whatsoever little sacrifice he may have gone through, Museveni demands exaggerated entitlements – a residence that cost US$ 93m, an executive jet that costs US$ 8m per year to maintain and which he uses to fly his daughters to deliver babies in Germany, etc.
Lately, Museveni has justified his refusal to leave power on the grounds that Uganda still has serious problems which only he can solve. This is not a sign of self confidence. Instead, it reveals a deep seated complex born of fear that a successor may do a superior job and thus expose the myth of his greatness. It is this fear that has driven him to turn his family into cannon fodder in his reckless pursuit of power.
amwenda@independent.co.ug

PROBLEMS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR ARE ONE REASON WHY MUSEVENI SHOULD RETIRE
President Museveni thinks he can be a jack of all trades and this is
his main undoing. The fact is that he excelled in his military to
uproot what he terms bad leaders, which I am yet to agree to for he is
unfortunately proving to be worse. We are products of Boarding
schools which were getting support from Government long before
Museveni even joined guerrilla movements. In these schools; parents
were always paying some money while the Government did its bit. His
talk of free education is not real and not possible if we are to
address quality. What failed President Museveni from the very
beginning is the planning function, which has been poorly done and has
made everything almost a mess. 25 years without good planning or
ignoring the plans and doing what he thinks will earn him votes is
most unfortunate. How many times has he been told not to put in place
more districts, but does he ever listen? People who advise president
Museveni like some of use did not waste time going to schools. While
the President is very ambitious to have another 5 year term leading
Uganda, I wish to tell him that the country has crashed simply because
of his policies.

I find it rather an unusual occurrence that only school dormitories
have been burning in the past years with anonymous arsonists yet to be
pinned by the police and prosecuted, at the same time, it is the same
dormitories that Government wants phased out!











IMAGES OF SCHOOL FIRES IN UGANDA

Uganda Education News: Uganda's history the cause of school fires
http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=Uganda%27s+history+the+cause+of+school+fires&ID=6408
Ultimate Media
One of Uganda's leading educationists, Dr. John Christstom Muyingo has
blamed the current trend of destruction of public property including
burning of Schools on Uganda's violent history. This year only fire
whose cause is still unknown burnt down a dormitory at Budo Junior
school killing 20 children. Many more schools have been burnt and the
police have blamed the fires on arsonists, indiscipline students and
negligence among others. Dr. Muyingo the director of Seta high school,
in which a dormitory was gutted down by fire, says that Uganda's
history is marred by war and violence which has created a generation
of people who believe in destruction and violence. Dr. Miyingo also a
former Education Minister in Buganda Kingdom was receiving a donation
of roofing tiles from Uganda clays for Seeta high school recently to
repair the burnt dormitory. Handing over the donation, the Chairman
Uganda Clays, Professor John Ssenfuma, advised Ugandans to address the
issue of Safety and security in Construction and put emphasis on
quality roofing.
The school still needs five Hundred Million Shillings to reconstruct
the dormitory block. We need the boarding schools be they Government
aided because many parents cannot afford to care well for these
children given the domestic chores that have to take place, yet there
are so many temptations the children are faced with when not in
boarding schools. Not only those in transport business disturb them
(mostly the girls) but it even becomes extra expensive caring for
these children’s daily needs when they have to travel daily from home
and when this is summed up, the problem becomes poor academic
performance; more chances of dropping out of school to mention some.
The concern which has to be addressed is whether we should maintain
single sex schools, again, many founders of schools would insist that
they like their schools to maintain the status they have enjoyed since
they were started.
What the Government of Uganda should struggle to address is income of
all able bodied Ugandans. There is no reason why a country like
Uganda with the brains it has imagines that the children produced will
be Government responsibility. The problem with leaders we have like
Museveni is when they erroneously have answers to the country’s
problems and unfortunately, are not even ready to accept the messes
they make, only to run adverts which make others look incapable of
managing Uganda. It is true, any other person may fail to manage
Uganda if Museveni and company scheme it that way. It is on record
that the Late President Amin had not been that bad until Museveni and
company ventured to fight him and the 1st casualty were registered
after the failed 1972 invasion of Uganda. President Museveni should
know that the failed planning function in the country is greatly
responsible for the mess the country is in. Those who have been able
to travel to a number of areas of Uganda wonder where the President
gets the courage to stand and ask Ugandans for votes. While an acre
of land around Kitende on Entebbe Highway may cost as much as shs
300m, may areas are just in the dark ages! This looks like a joke but
was off the planning line he found in place where all areas in the
country had poles of growth. While the president insists that he
still sees himself the best to carry the country forward these
problems are real. Those who did this planning were not empty heads,
they were implementing the planning function which he has ably failed
to, and instead still wants to take this country deeper into
uncertainty. While Obote did mistakes, many of Museveni’s mistakes
are simply unacceptable at this moment in time. His Government has
got a lot of money whose accountability would have done better the
country, but it is unfortunate. Much of what we see out there as
investments are funds which some individuals have got by virtue of
their connections; a part from those investments by those Ugandans who
are doing kyeyo out mostly because Uganda has gone to the dogs! It
surprises to see how many Ugandans are alleged to own properties;
which properties and enterprises are greatly believed to be for people
well connected in Government.
My position is that, the way to go for Government (assuming we have to
do with Museveni for more years) is to sincerely get technical people
who can implement income for all. Has the President ever imagined
that those alleged poor people he thinks cannot afford to pay any part
of fees for the children are the source of money which booms the local
musicians? It is therefore possible to tap some of this money the so
– called poor spend on these functions to boost education, but given
that he (Museveni) is a tired man, the best is to leave it to brains
that can as of now. Uganda cannot keep on borrowing when it has no
capacity to pay simply because majority of the work force is not
viably employed. These people want work but where is the work? The
shilling is depreciating every other day as if Government is spending
money not backed by productivity. Surely, all the areas of Uganda by
now would have some thing they export, but the regime is wasting
resources on military might! President Museveni should actually give
Ugandans a break! His failures and excuses are not tenable any more.
Today people are killing each other simply because of the frustration
as a result of his policies.
God, just help this country Uganda.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka


Boarding School On Way Out - President (The Monitor)
Stephen Ariong and Isaac Khisa
25 November 2010
The government could soon start actively discouraging boarding section
in public primary and secondary schools across the country, President
Museveni said yesterday, resurrecting a dormant education sector
policy proposal.
The proposed measure does not mention the fate of private institutions
with boarding sections. Addressing his third rally of the day in
Moroto Municipality's South Division, the President, who earlier spoke
in Kangole, in the neighbouring Napak District of Karamoja, and in
Naitakwae in Moroto District, said boarding schools increase the cost
of schooling.
"Though the government is discouraging boarding in UPE and USE schools
because of [the need] to cut costs, [we] will support boarding in some
schools in Karamoja [until the situation in the region] improves like
in other places," Mr Museveni said.
"The programme will start next year," Mr Museveni, who has in the past
made his opposition to keeping students in boarding sections public,
said.
He explained that because of Karamoja's unique situation where the
people do not live settled lives, schools in the sub-region will, in
the interim, keep their boarding sections to enable children from the
largely nomadic community study.
Yesterday, Mr Aggrey Kibenge, the Education Ministry publicist told
Daily Monitor that "... according to a government White Paper of 1992,
government itself committed to invest in day schools except to those
in disadvantaged areas like Karamoja and on islands." He said the
policy is already operational, apart from in hard-to-reach areas.
Challenges
Government introduced Universal Primary and Universal Secondary
Education in 1997 and 2007, respectively, to enable students from poor
families get education at low cost. One view though, is that the extra
cost of maintaining a child in a boarding school is so prohibitive it
defeats the very purpose of the free schooling effort.
Over 1.7 million pupils are enrolled under UPE while 579,734 students
are studying under USE in 1,471 secondary schools.
The quality of schooling delivered in UPE/USE facilities, however, has
been criticised by academicians and civil society groups, who say the
schemes are a consequence of inadequate teachers, learning materials
and relatively poor infrastructure across schools in the country.

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Uganda needs a President who will address the morality issue in governance

In one of the KFM "Hot Seat" Programmes (7.00 - 8.00pm) late November
2010, which hosts Journalists on Fridays, one journalist came out
openly to say that someone who was a bush fighter told them how NRM
had equally committed atrocities while in the bush. This was meant to
discredit Obote's forces. Hear is the moral problem which is part of
NRM from FRONASA days. When some people propose that facts need to be
got regarding what transpired during the bush war days, they are
indeed right. The love and wish to get power made NRA/M make a number
of schemes and this surely brings the moral problems at the fore
front.
NRM has over time had a Moral Disciple Problem
Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the
right because it is right, even when it is hard.
We all possess the God given gift of moral agency - the right to make
choices and the obligation to account for those choices. For positive
outcomes, moral agency must be accompanied by moral discipline.
By moral discipline is meant self discipline based on moral standards.
Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the
right because it is right, even when it is hard. It rejects the self
absorbed life in favour of developing character worthy of respect and
true greatness through Christ like service (Mark 10: 42 - 45).
The root of the word discipline is shared by the word disciple,
suggesting to the mind the fact that conformity to the example and
teachings of Jesus Christ is the ideal discipline that, coupled with
His grace, forms a virtuous and morally excellent person.
The societies in which many of us live have failed to foster moral
discipline. They have taught that truth is relative and that everyone
decides for himself or herself what is right. The NRM has so many
examples to pick from; which is most unfortunate. In some instances,
President Museveni has clearly shown a stand which has been wanting
morally more so unexpected of a Head of Government.
Self - discipline is eroded and societies are left to try to maintain
order and civility by compulsion.
It should be the internal moral compass in each individual that should
effectively deal with the root causes as well as symptoms of societal
decay; the unfortunate bit, in the case of Uganda, many of our leaders
greatly lack in moral issues and may be the spiritual leaders (not the
scandalous ones as we are witnessing in some Churches) will help re -
build the decayed moral fabric.
In the case of Uganda, the erosion of the morals in many of our
leaders is greatly responsible for the adversity in the society as a
whole. The voters in the forthcoming General Elections will need a
lot of courage, faith in some alternative choice and tenacity to
overcome the evil that NRM has planted in the Uganda society which
makes the immoral look to be what is right to do; a very unfortunate
development. I was recently told that shortly after results were read
out for a certain polling centre around Kajjansi trading centre;
Military Police was armed and started beating some of those who were
jubilating (Museveni's loss) at that centre. This is the moral decay
I am talking about.
Those who are unafraid to roll up their sleeves and lose themselves in
the pursuit of worthwhile goals are a blessing to their families,
communities and countries. "It is often in the trial of adversity (
as we are experiencing Under President Museveni's leadership) that we
learn those most critical lessons that form our characters and shape
our destiny."
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
SHOULD MORALITY PLAY A PART IN POLITICS?
A Biblical worldview: Economics or Morality?
“Thou shalt meditate in this book of the law… that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shaft
make thy way prosperous, and then thou shaft have good success” Joshua
1:8.
This verse describes what is called a “Biblical worldview,” a
philosophy which believes that behavior, ethics, and learning must be
judged against the standards set forth in God's Word and that nothing
can ultimately be successful apart from the application of those
standards.
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Sir William Blackstone statue in Washington, D.C.
Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws, the legal benchmark used in
America from 1766 to 1920, explained that system of standards:
“These laws laid down by God are the eternal immutable laws of good
and evil… This law… dictated by God himself, is of course superior in
obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all
countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity if
contrary to this… The doctrines thus delivered… are to be found only
in the Holy Scriptures… No human laws should be suffered to contradict
these.”
Under this legal standard, God's standards were the plumb line for
law, government, education, etc. That philosophy of life, sometimes
called “Scottish Common Sense Realism,” first introduced on this
continent by early colonists and later codified by Blackstone,
permeated American culture for over two-and-a-half centuries.
In this half of the twentieth century, much of the church has drifted
away from the Biblical World View philosophy and has embraced a belief
structure described by law professor Dr. John Eidsmoe as that of
“saved humanists.” That is, many embrace Christianity as a standard
for religion, but not as a standard for life.
Exit polls following the last Presidential election illustrated the
dichotomy between belief and application which currently exists within
the Christian community: 45 percent of those who labeled themselves as
“evangelicals” voted for “economic” issues above “moral” issues. Few
can ignore the government's serious economic problems and burgeoning
federal deficit; however, to elevate economics above morality is not
only Biblically untenable, it is even secularly illogical.

If the economy and a reduction in federal spending is to be the goal,
then it first must be recognized that much of the government's
skyrocketing spending is on programs resulting from the societal
effects of immoral behavior, i.e., welfare support to teen mothers,
research and treatment of over two dozen different sexually
transmitted diseases, repaying the public losses resulting from both
violent and white-collar crime, creation of substance abuse and drug
enforcement programs, etc. Many expensive federal programs result from
moral-based problems.
In 1994 the U.S. government spent $21 billion on welfare to teen
mothers—mothers still attending either junior-high or high-school. Is
$21 billion an economic problem? Certainly, but it is spending caused
by a moral problem. The government spent billions on AIDS (according
to the Center for Disease Control, 87 percent of the 244,939 current
AIDS cases were contracted either through sodomy or illegal drug use,
both moral problems). Millions were spent on the treatment of
two-dozen different STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), a moral
problem; $200 billion was lost to white-collar crime and $310 billion
on violent crime (the inability to distinguish between right or wrong
and to control one's behavior by a societal norm is a moral problem).
In addition to the direct costs, add the secondary and tertiary costs
of our moral malaise: include the costs of the additional courts and
staff needed to prosecute immoral behavior; include the costs of the
additional prisons and staff required to house those violators;
include the operating and maintenance costs of additional prisons and
the costs of the increased bureaucracy it produces; include the
resulting increases in the budgets of the Justice Department, the
Health and Human Services Department, the Center for Disease Control,
the Drug Enforcement Agency, and numerous other departments and
agencies, etc.
The list could continue, but the principle is established: if the
moral issues remain unaddressed, the economic costs will remain
unbridled. John Adams concluded that to change governments without
addressing moral issues is an exercise in futility:
“It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles
upon which freedom can securely stand … if this cannot be inspired
into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may
change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not
obtain a lasting liberty” (June 21, 1776).
When all things are considered, a Biblical World View philosophy is
the most logical approach.
ONE OF THE WORKABLE SCHEMES FOR MUSEVENI'S 20%IN 2011 ELECTIONS
This time round, the sum total of votes to the Opposition Presidential
candidates could even exceed 65%, but this may not be of much
advantage, first that it will surely call for a re-run which will eat
much more into the coffers of the badly impoverished Uganda
economically.
The Voters have one workable solution, and that is to single out one
Presidential candidate who can lead the desired change and a credible
candidate with international connections. The candidate who should be
given bigger consideration is Dr. Olara Otunnu who surely is least
likely to abet Human Rights abuses given his record as a career
diplomat and the man who wishes to maintain credibility. It is also
true that Otunnu can manage to get solutions to the possible tricks
the NRM may wish to play as it has always done and hence ensure that
it remains entrenched in office. We the voters need to think beyond
our noses if we want to see a better country. It is true that each of
the candidates has his/her supporters but merely voting for each one's
supporter will take us back to square one.
It is true that if Dr Otunnu is the favourable candidate for the
Presidency, he will not get majority Members of Parliament from his
party, and this means alot of compromises which is not bad for Uganda,
as dictatorship or using the numbers which NRM is found of doing will
not be applicable in Otunnu's case, and this means that if the
electorate get the best representatives at Parliament level, lively
debates then may help the country to move from the current uncertain
future the NRM has put it in.
We have one big drawback, and that is the way voters have been
corrupted by candidate Museveni's hand outs, favours, promises name
it; which makes candidate Museveni to get convinced that he has the
sure win given the favours to these people; which deprivation
unfortunately is blamed on his misguided leadership which has thrown
majority of the people into poverty and that wish to wait for hand
outs.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

KAMPALA BOMBS ARE PART OF THE BIG PROBLEM OF UGANDA'S INVOLVEMENT IN
REGIONAL POLITICS YET WHEN IT IS A POOR RESOURCE COUNTRY. VOTING
PRESIDENT MUSEVENI IS GUARANTEE THAT WE ARE STILL WITH THIS PROBLEM
FOR SOME TIME!
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It is sad but real that life of more than 70 people could be lost
through bombing them on having turned up to watch the finals of the
World Cup!
William Kituuka


Death toll reaches 74
By Emmanuel Gyezaho, Sheila Naturinda & Gerald Bareebe
Posted Tuesday, July 13 2010 at 00:00
Kampala
The death toll following Sunday night’s bomb explosions that ripped
through a city restaurant and sports club climbed to 74 yesterday, as
reports trickled in that the Somali Islamist militia group, al Shabaab
had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The development came as President Museveni declared a week of national
mourning for victims of the bomb blasts starting today. A statement
from Presidency Minister Beatrice Wabudeya said the President had
taken the decision “due to the barbaric and cowardly act”.
Reuters news agency quoted Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab’s
spokesman, telling reporters in Mogadishu: “Al Shabaab was behind the
two bomb blast in Uganda.”
A report by the Chinese news agency Xinhua said a senior member of the
Somali terrorist group had said the blasts were reprisal attacks
against Uganda for sending peacekeepers to Mogadishu under the
auspices of the African Union. “We have reached our object,” said the
senior al Shabaab militant, who reportedly declined to be named. “We
have killed many Christians in the enemy capital (Kampala).”
Three explosive devices were detonated on Sunday at the Ethiopian
Village Restaurant in Kabalagala and at the Kyadondo Rugby Club where
hundreds of revellers were watching the World Cup final match between
Spain and the Netherlands.
Suspects arrested
Security agencies yesterday made some arrests in connection with the
attacks. The police declined to give details, saying the
investigations were ongoing. However, a source said one of the
suspects was arrested at Oasis Mall in the heart of Kampala.
Primary Health Care Minister James Kakooza told reporters at Mulago
Hospital, where friends and relatives of victims of the blasts have
pitched camp since Sunday, that at least 70 people had been confirmed
dead. But Mr Fred Opolot, the executive director of the Uganda Media
Centre, told a media briefing late last evening that a preliminary
report put the death toll at 74.
Twenty-eight were Ugandans, 11 Ethiopians/Eritreans, one Irish lady
and an Asian. Thirty-three people are still unidentified. “We expect
the number to rise because some people were taken to private clinics,”
said the minister.
Recounting events in the aftermath of the blast, Mr Kakooza reported
that at least 58 people had been admitted at Mulago Hospital “with
serious injuries”. “Last night [Sunday] five died on arrival,” he
said, “three have since died in intensive care unit.”
The minister said three American nationals who had been admitted at
the hospital were transferred yesterday to the International Hospital
Kampala “for evacuation to Nairobi.” He also reported that three
people were “in critical condition” on life support, while 45 were
undergoing surgery after sustaining different injuries including head,
chest, abdominal and soft-tissue injury.
“We have ordered the National Medical stores to immediately supply
Mulago with x-ray films, canulars and any other medical equipment
needed right away,” he said. “Ugandans should be calm because we shall
do whatever is possible to save the lives of those still under our
care.”
President Museveni visited bed-ridden victims at Mulago and found
moment to inspect the bomb blast scenes. All flags on public buildings
will fly at half mast today at the start of the weeklong period of
national mourning.
Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba told journalists that of the
dead, 15 were killed at the Ethiopian Village and 49 at Lugogo Rugby
Club, adding that 10 of the dead were either Ethiopian or Eritrean.
She was speaking before the death toll rose to 74.
Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Uganda Terfa Mengesha told Daily Monitor by
telephone that preliminary reports had indicated that six Ethiopian
nationals had been confirmed dead. “I think the other four were
Eritrean,” he said.
Ms Nabakooba said investigations had kicked off in earnest, headed by
the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force to establish who had masterminded
the deadly attacks. Her comments came before reports emerged that the
al Shabaab had claimed responsibility.
The reports moved to vindicate government suspicions as told by Mr
Fred Opolot, the Media Centre boss, who said the government “suspected
this is an act of suicide bombers” and comments by army spokesman
Felix Kulayigye who said: “At one of the scenes, investigators
identified a severed head of a Somali national, which we suspect could
have been a suicide bomber.”
In the recent past, Somali Islamists have threatened to attack Uganda
for sending peacekeeping troops to their country to protect the
transitional government of President Sheikh Ahmed Sharif.
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Museveni mourns victims
President Museveni visits Ethiopian Village Restaurant yesterday.
PHOTO BY YUSUF MUZIRANSA
By Rodney Muhumuza, Risdel Kasasira & Sheila Naturinda
Posted Tuesday, July 13 2010 at 00:00
Kampala
President Museveni yesterday visited the scenes of bomb blasts in
Kampala, offering public support to the families of the victims and
vowing to track down the terrorists.
Mr Museveni’s comments were tailored to show strength at a time of
great distress, and he sometimes invoked his own personal story to
inspire fortitude. “I wish to condemn the criminality of these gangs,”
he told a crowd outside the Kyadondo Rugby Club, a scene of death and
flight after two explosions ripped through revellers watching the
World Cup on giant screens.
“From my causal look at the scene, I think the police will be able to
reconstruct the events, and possibly go for the authors of this
crime.”
Mr Museveni did not say if he had suspects in mind, offering mostly
sympathy for the families of the victims. “This shows you the
criminality and danger of terrorism,” he said. “People who are
watching football should not be targeted…. If you want to fight, why
don’t you look for soldiers and fight on?”
Mr Museveni stuck to this message of courage in a time of need
throughout his public speeches, first at the Ethiopian Village in
Kabalagala, the other place targeted by the terrorists, and then at
Mulago Hospital, where he visited the casualty ward and the surgery.
In the casualty ward, when he was asked by some of the patients to
strengthen security in the city, he expressed his sympathy and vowed
to “arrest” the perpetrators of the attacks. Mr Museveni’s tour of
Kampala also led him to Christ the King Church, where he spoke firmly
against terrorism in a tribute to Brig.
Nakibus Lakara’s son killed by Karimojong rustlers. “We shall get them
and make sure that the law of Moses is applied to them,” Mr Museveni
said of the perpetrators of the Kampala attacks. “Why do you attack
innocent people?” Mr Museveni’s press office later released a
statement that quoted him as saying: “We shall look for them wherever
they are and get them.”
Police chief Kale Kayihura told reporters the attacks were definitely
the work of terrorists, but that he was not ruling out anything when
it came to who could be responsible.
The police said last night that reports of more explosions in the city
and reports of a bomb found in a house in Makindye, a city suburb,
were false.
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WAITING: Relatives wait for the remains of their loved ones at Mulago
Hospital yesterday. Below, a family leaves the hospital in tears.
PHOTOS BY STEPHEN OTAGE
Desperation and tears at Mulago
By Sheila Naturinda & Gerald Bareebe
Posted Tuesday, July 13 2010 at 00:00
Kampala
Scores of Ugandans were by 6am yesterday camped at Mulago to receive
what could have remained of their loved ones. Weeping women welcomed
you at the entrance to Mulago’s casualty ward while Red Cross staff
swung into action to help save the dying.
The mood was of uncertainty. Whenever a car pulled into the casualty
parking lot, everyone stood to take a look at what it contained. Most
stood in small groups whispering to each other, probably speculating
about who could have done such a terrible crime. Three white papers
with 58 names hung on a pillar, directly opposite the casualty police
post’s blue unipot.
Pillar of tears
On them, inscribed in ink, were names of the admitted, their age and
where they lived. Two of them, Joan and Emilly Aristater were from
Pennsylvania in the USA. People queued to view the names, some left
smiling; their people were still alive though in pain.
The majority left the pillar crying out loud, on their way to the
mortuary section. Only one person was indicated to have died upon
arrival. By midday, as State Minister for Health James Kakooza
addressed the press at the ward, five had died upon arrival.
An old woman dressed in a gomesi refused to talk to anyone. She only
kept talking about her three children whom she had not seen. The smell
of urine and blood filled the 9am air. Nurses, doctors and traffic
police manned the gate to the mortuary jealously. No medical person
dared talk to the impatient crowd. They were always in a hurry,
speaking on mobile phones as the angry relatives hurled insults in
their direction. Some people had carried coffins. But by 4pm, none had
been used.
For Sam, his friend Denis Ssemanda was surely dead. He and his friends
had been at Mulago from 8am and by 4pm, there was no hope of getting
Ssemanda’s body. “We have been told to be patient,” Sam desperately
said. “All we want is his body so we travel to Mbarara for burial.”
A woman, probably in her late 30s, cried endlessly until security held
her tight. She kept murmuring the name Muwanga; he must have been the
husband. “In all men here, I do not see Muwanga. God what did I do to
you?” she kept asking.
Lost sister
Betty Aliedo was at the mortuary to find her young sister, Jean Vicky
Ariakot, after a photo of a woman wearing clothes similar to hers
(Ariakot) appeared in Daily Monitor. Ariakot was in her Senior Six
vacation. “I can not believe she is gone...” is all she said while
clutching at the metallic gates of the mortuary. MPs Joseph
Balikudembe and Winifred Kiiza were also at the scene. They had close
relatives among the dead and they would wait for the bodies.

A survivor tells his tale
By Richard Wanambwa
Posted Monday, July 12 2010 at 05:48
Lugogo
“We have three minutes left to the end of...,” before the commentator
could finish his words, two blasts in quick succession engulfed
Kyadondo Rugby Club, which had sat close to 3,000 people watching the
World Cup finals.
After the first blast, which occurred slightly on the sidelines of the
crowded area, many people ducked under their chairs, some lying down
and using the chairs as shelter. Barely a minute later, I heard the
second blast, right in the middle of the crowd. It was more
ear-piercing and louder.
My neighbour, a young man probably in his early thirties, wearing
jeans and a T-shirt, who had been sipping a Guinness beer, had tried
to dash to the middle of the pitch after the first blast. The last I
saw of him was his body being raised by the second blast before he
fell down, still. He was dead.
What had been a football party turned into a sea of chaos. A blanket
of smoke hung over the field, with wails and groans being the
signature sound.
On my knees, I began crawling towards what I thought was an exit. I
saw corpses, many still seated in their chairs—like they were still
watching the game. My hands felt human flesh lying on the ground, some
of it sticking on my palms as I waded through the mass of humanity.
Some of the human flesh kept falling from above, like drops of
rainfall, falling on my back.
The shouts of “bomb! bomb!” continued to ring in the air. I lay down
for a while and when I saw policemen begin to wave to people to leave,
I dashed out, relieved that I was alive but shocked that anyone would
bring such a great party to an agonising bloody end.


WHAT I WOULD ASK CANDIDATE "PRESIDENT MUSEVENI" GIVEN OPPORTUNITY
Your Excellency, Candidate "President Museveni, are you not worried
about the "Open Forums" about you when you get out of power?
1. People wonder how generous you are that you could donate a whole
equivalent to shs 190m (as alleged by Baby Cool) to him for treatment.
How easy is it to be able to donate such money when you are able to
keep within your benefits as Head of State, they would wonder.
2. They would gossip about how the wife of the former (Late) owner of
Bwebajja hotel could be co-owner of the hotel when she is ignorant
about goods in safe custody in stores at the hotel which were only
shown to her after the death of her husband.
3. They would gossip about the number of Commissions instituted by
your Government whose outcomes have remained just to gather dust
without action or exposure to public, not forgetting that there are
some which did not take off like the kanungu massacre.
4. They would wonder how you schemed to carry on the various
extensions in office including using the making of the Constitution as
on option.
5. They would wonder how instead of creating conducive climate to see
farmers market their goods , you miraculously donated to a chosen few
shs 10m and to others vehicles to boost them under NAADS 'bona
bagagawale'.
6. They would wonder how the army was able to spend billions of
shillings while covered under 'security concerns not to disclose' the
details pertaining to the particulars f the expenditures.
7. They would wonder how funds like those for rehabilitation of the
Nakivubo Water Channel could have been used and yet flooding is still
the order of the day.
8. They would also wonder how some bush war fighters overnight became
billionaires by Uganda standards.
9. They would wonder how your Government was able to have
dysfunctional planning departments or failed to implement the plans as
drawn hence getting places to slums more so Kampala City, which has
put the whole economy into a big mess.
10. They would wonder that inspite of your great mistakes, the people
of Uganda (voters) continued showering you with 'winner votes.'

MUSEVENI EXPLAINS SUCCESSION
Source: http://www.mail-archive.com/ugandanet@kym.net/msg20501.html

Who will be the next leader of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM)?

By Gideon Munaabi
First published: November 22, 2007

The issue of who will succeed President Yoweri Museveni as leader of
the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and consequently become
the next Ugandan president continues to hang around despite efforts by
the president to dodge or postpone it. President Museveni's childhood
friend Eriya Kategaya, who fell out with Museveni only to make a come
back as the Minister for East African Affairs in the current cabinet,
once said that he believed Uganda should follow the approach adopted
in South Africa where Thabo Mbeki was chosen to lead the Africa
National Congress well before Nelson Mandela's retirement from active
politics.
Until now, President Museveni has rejected this approach and his
reluctance to discuss the matter, according to some political
observers, fuels the suspicion by some people that even after leading
Uganda for close to 22 years, he has not yet completely abandoned the
idea of arranging another term of office for himself. Barely a year
after he was sworn in as Uganda's President for the third term, some
politicians began to openly discuss the fate of President Museveni,
come 2011. Some are pushing for his return and others are against it.
This, to observers, is because nobody is sure of Museveni's next move.
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Kategaya wants President Museveni to name successor.
That is probably why former cabinet minister Felix Okot, who wanted to
replace Mr. Museveni as the NRM party president and candidate in 2006,
is already warming for the same position yet again, while MP Kakooza
is spearheading the campaign for Museveni's fourth term in office. The
Ugandan Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, who was once seen by
some as the likely successor to president Museveni, has repeatedly
said he is not interested in the seat and still supports his 'boss'.
While the president has not overtly shown his intention to stand down
come 2010, he has named Prof. Bukenya and Mr. Amama Mbabazi, the NRM
Secretary General and Minister for Security as Presidential material.
This is not strange coming from Mr. Museveni. More than ten years ago,
Ugandans' minds were glued to the late James Wapakhabulo, who had
already declared his interest in the presidency. Wapa, as he was
commonly known, was probably the earliest front-runner waiting to take
the baton after President Museveni, probably because of the impressive
range of high-profile portfolios he had held in President Museveni's
early government. Some people believed that eastern Uganda was about
to have one of its sons for the first time become the president of
Uganda. These beliefs died along with Wapa, months after his
popularity started waning.
Succession talk was only rekindled in 2001 when Col. Kiiza Besigye, a
young medical doctor who joined Museveni during the guerilla war of
the early 1980s stood against his former boss for presidency. That is
when the succession queue was first mentioned in Uganda's political
circles. Mr. Mbabazi was displeased that Col. Besigye, now president
of the main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, had
jumped the succession queue by standing against President Yoweri
Museveni. Besigye was backed by Reform Agenda (a political pressure
group). Reform Agenda was started mainly by aggrieved members of the
NRM, most of whom sought change in the Uganda's leadership.
A few years later, a group of Ugandan Members of Parliament mainly
from the NRM, under an umbrella called Parliamentary Advocacy Forum
(PAFO) merged with Reform Agenda to form FDC as a political party
after the ban on political parties' activities was lifted. Many, if
not most, of the members of this group were either known
anti-corruption and anti-nepotism members of NRM or were tired of Mr.
Museveni's cling to power. This weakened NRM and made the opposition
stronger as former members of Mr.Museveni's political group not only
ushered vigour into the opposition, but also geared for a fight using
the information on NRM and their contacts.
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No presidential ambitions yet: Ruhakana Rugunda has remained loyal to
President Museveni.
Others preferred to do their fighting from inside NRM but later
abandoned the party. Some are still reported to be doing so, including
Hon. Felix Okot Ogong and MP Henry Banyenzaki. Banyenzaki has since
teamed up with some other MPs to revive the Young Parliamentary
Association, which was responsible for the creation of PAFO.
Banyenzaki, who has been very critical of the Ugandan government,
especially on its human rights record and respect for law, together
with some young NRM-leaning MPs have teamed up with politicians from
Uganda's opposition to achieve their objective. During a secret
meeting at Uganda's Parliament building recently, Banyenzaki was
elected the leader of the Young Parliamentary Association while Odonga
Otto of the opposition FDC was elected his deputy.
Observers say that this move could be geared towards forming another
political party, since Odonga Otto cannot be counted as faithful to
the opposition FDC anymore after he reportedly rejected some political
appointments in the party. At the end of the day, it is NRM that could
lose most if this political marriage is successful because even if
Otto leaves FDC, he will remain a member of the opposition. On the
other hand, losing Banyenzaki and his group will weaken the ruling
political party.
We should note that Banyenzaki is sympathetic to vice-president (VP)
Bukenya rather than NRM Secretary General, Amama Mbabazi. A recent
trip by Mr. Bukenya to Kabale, where he was received and accompanied
by Banyenzaki reportedly annoyed Mr. Mbabazi who saw it as a
'marketing drive' by the VP in the Kigezi sub-region from which
Mbabazi comes. A colleague at Ultimate Media Consult recently
reasoned; "If you were Mbabazi and observed how vigourously Bukenya
danced ekitaguriro (traditional dance of the Banyankore/Bakiga), with
the Bakiga, you too would get worried."
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Uganda's political heavy weights: President Museveni consults his
vice, Prof. Bukenya.
Although Bukenya has continuously denied that he is interested in the
Ugandan presidential seat, some observers believe he is doing it for
tactical reasons to avoid conflicts with his boss, President Museveni.
Through his poverty eradication campaigns, Bukenya is slowly but
surely becoming a household name, something that could not be going
down well with some NRM colleagues who also covet the top job. It is
not surprising that the VP once told an official from a local daily
about how a 'mafia' group within the ruling party was plotting his
(VP's) downfall.
Mafia talk seems to be gaining popularity at the moment. Any top gun
in the NRM who gets problems points to a mafia group within the party.
When President Museveni's closest military advisor, Noble Mayombo,
died of acute pancreatitis earlier this year, the death opened a
covert succession contest and the mafia group was again mentioned.
Mayombo was a top intelligence officer and private secretary to
Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga. He was also widely tipped as
President Museveni's most likely successor. It was widely assumed that
he was being groomed to take over from Kiyonga enroute to presidency.
Some Ugandans believed that he would soon replace Beatrice Wabudeya as
Minister for the Presidency, with the same eventual goal. His death
raised political eyebrows even higher.
Not so long ago, Maj.Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, another top NRM figure and
current Minister for Local Governments drew political swords with Mr.
Mbabazi in a bitter feud that could also point to deeper succession
struggles within Uganda's ruling party. Otafiire, who in 2005
contested for the NRM party's powerful position of Secretary General
and lost to Mbabazi, says Mbabazi is part of a group fuelling his
current political headaches. Otafiire claims he is being fought
because of the perception that he is against the political ambitions
of Mbabazi and a clique working with him (Mbabazi). Recent media
reports have claimed that Otafiire, former health minister Jim
Katugugu Muhwezi and former East African Community chief Amanya
Mushega held meetings to discuss who succeeds President Museveni.
Asked by a KFM (Ugandan radio station) listener if he had any
presidential ambitions, Gen. Otafiire replied; "Why should I rock the
boat when we are still sailing in it? I weigh 96kg. Do you think I
have grown this big because of this presidency?"
Although many Ugandans seem to be worried about the current state of
things, NRM party spokesperson Ofwono Opondo says that the tussle over
presidential succession is healthy. "It is abnormal in a vibrant
organization like NRM to miss such conflicts," Opondo said, adding
that the party has the mechanisms to choose its leaders.
We now have to wait for the year 2011 to see if this analysis turns
prophetic. Wait a minute; this writer is not a prophet but an analyst.
LORD, I PRAY THAT NRM DOES NOT LEAD UGANDA FOR ANOTHER 5 YEARS
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Lord, this time round help Uganda to get another leader who will give
people hope so that they get out of the current situation which is
unfortunate.

Jesus our Lord in Matthew 21: 18 – 22 it is written that, “Early in
the morning, as you were on your way back to the city, you were
hungry. Seeing a fig – tree by the road, you went up to it but found
nothing on it except leaves. Then you said to it, “May you never bear
fruit again! Immediately the tree withered. When your disciples saw
this, they were amazed. How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”
they asked.
You replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not
doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig – tree, but also
you can say to a mountain, “Go throw yourself into the sea, and it
will be done. You told us that if we believe, we will receive what we
ask for in prayer.”
Good Lord, I pray that you give me faith so that my prayers to you can
equally remove the problem of bad leadership our country Uganda is
confronted with. In this prayer I appeal to your mercy that you
inspire the Uganda voters to see the wrong, the deceit, the hatred,
the lack of any sound future, the corruption, the source of suffering
of the poor people of Uganda, and how they are used by the current
leaders for the ends of the leaders as they are impoverished on. Dear
Lord, you see the loans the country continues to borrow; these are to
be paid by the impoverished poor and their children and grand
children, yet the returns to these loans leave a number of questions
unanswered.
Good Lord, help the voters to see with their own eyes the ills
inflicted on them and instead of taking them to be ‘normal’ fight them
through the use of the ballot and give them the wisdom to vote wisely.
I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
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There is enough time to process Voters' Cards for all eligible voters
for 2011 General Elections. It is common knowledge that some parties
have in past elections exploited loopholes hence leading to disputed
results after voting. This time round, the Electoral Commission
should not even mention that there will be voters without voters cards
as there is no reason sound for it. All eligible voters MUST have
voter cards, we are part of that backwardness where there is always a
loophole to be exploited though funds may not be the constraint.
Voter Cards and national identity Cards are two different projects and
it is not known mandate at this time for the Electoral Commission to
mix up the two as we know their mandate to deliver periodical free and
fair elections not processing national ids or getting involved
thereof. If the Commission does not have enough funds for the
project, let them proceed with the exercise and meanwhile make an
appeal to those good donors of ours to help out in the circumstances.
Dr. Kiggundu should STOP shifting goal posts over issues that develop
last moment. Given the experience the commission has, they should be
ready to deliver the elections as required by law, and not come up
with funny excuses of voters without cards; voters who are not on the
register, nae them. We should agree on one or two things: That all
Voters in the forthcoming General Elections MUST have Voters' Cards
prior to voting; and all Voters to Vote MUST appear on the Voters'
Register as minimum positions.


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If Ugandans fail to see the man God has put clearly out to salvage the
failed state, then we can as well wait till Jesus comes back.

IT IS UNBELIEVABLE HOW THE NRM GOVERNMENT HAS MESS UP THE COUNTRY
It is true that the Late Dr. Obote made big mistakes in Uganda
politics, however, we ought to greatly blame those who mis-advised the
Kabaka of Buganda to take on the office of President of the country.
Secondly, the move to kick off the central Government from Buganda
land was a miscalculation. If those in the office like Mayanja Nkangi
had better vision, the motion they would have passed in Parliament
would have been to have Kabaka back to cultural roles. From the love
relationship between some Baganda with President Museveni and his
administration, it is quite clear that those people had they been with
Obote that time, they would have sided with him. The eventual removal
of the kings and the institution of the kingdom has affected us, but
can you imagine that even after Baganda helping Museveni to wage his 5
year bush war on Buganda land and the people who died due to that
cause, to-date 25 years down the road, the Kabaka of Buganda is not
living in his official residence simply because the central government
took over the official house of Buganda Prime Minister (Katikiiro).
The central Government had a plan made for a replacement for the
Katikiiro and to - date the residence has not been built as the
central government decided to use the official residence for
government business. As if that is not enough, the central government
deliberately decided to punish Buganda kingdom by not paying what is
due to the Kingdom in rents which money among other things would help
the Buganda Government to finance a number of projects to get the
people in Buganda out of poverty including paying fees for many who
are unable mainly because of President Museveni Government ill advised
policies.
We had coffee money to the coffee growers, today the coffee people are
yawning, The railway transport is just killed,
We were able to go to the best schools from Government schools which
are under UPE and children are simply failures,
The economy was running well infact it is Museveni's wish to be
President of Uganda through waging wars and eventually insisting that
he is the best brain to see the country move on that has grounded the
country.

The fact is that a few people were directly inconvenienced when Obote
removed the Kingdoms, but with the wish to rule the country up to when
Jesus comes back as the resources including donor aid is eaten, Uganda
has all people affected by the Museveni Government policies and the
fruits of corruption will be paid for by a number of generations to
come.
I therefore wish to appeal to my good Baganda tribes men to re-think
their strategy as regards voting for the man with the ability to take
us a step further and the best option; that is Dr. Olara Otunnu. The
blame of Obote on Otunnu will not yield dividends for Baganda or even
Uganda. The harm President Museveni has done to Uganda makes many of
us to believe that we should have been patient with the Obote regime
somehow, the country would not be a big mess it is today.

IN THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS, BESIGYE; MAO; KAMYA AND BIDANDI SHOULD
BE NAILED TOGETHER WITH MUSEVENI. THEY ARE ALL UNFORTUNATELY IN ONE
WAY OR ANOTHER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MESS THE COUNTRY IS IN TODAY WHICH
MAKES US CRY TEARS.

WHY A NO VOTE FOR BIDANDI SSALI:
1. He is the Chief Architect of Decentralization which came in as a
'substitute by the NRM Government' for federo; where at least 65% of
the people of Uganda approached responded positively as being the
ideal local governance they cherished;
2. He was party to President Museveni's campaigns where rigging is
believed to have been a normal practice;
3. He imparted into Ugandan voters the fear prior to the 2001 general
Elections that if they did not vote Museveni, whoever had assets was
not sure of what would happen to those assets thereafter;
4. He deceived Ugandans that in 2001, Museveni was standing for the
last term as if he surely knew the man! Up to 2011, the man who was
supposed to have long retired is still around!;
5. He is telling Ugandans that he is a clean man, yet it is almost
impossible to be clean in a regime that has constantly deceived
Ugandans. One thing is said today and tomorrow it is another story.
He is collectively responsible for cabinet decisions made during the
time he was minister in Government.

WHY NO VOTE FOR MAO?
He is simply too ambitious, cannot take advice, he is Mr. I know it
all and his strategies would definitely 'crash' the country. He seems
not to respect advice from elderly people and he is party to quick
solutions to problems that require time in dialogue which has promoted
divisions in the Democratic Party.

WHY A NO VOTE FOR BESIGYE
1. He is dying to be President of Uganda not knowing that the
opportunity he had in 2001 can not be open all the time. Children
don't need to sit exams 100 times to pass them;
2. For the 14 or so years he was in Kaguta's Government, he was party
to the entrenchment of the man who now seems to be a big problem as he
is not ready to accept that he is tired an not an asset any more to
the country, which efforts are even slowly but steadily eroding the
good he ever made for the country;
3. It is alleged that he has a square mile of land on Buganda's land.
If this allegation is true, Besigye should have made some effort to
see people who are land less get part of this land he is alleged to
own;
4. Recently, the Bukedde paper published a photo of his 'Rwakitura',
instead of helping the unemployed youth, he is busy enriching himself
with resources that come his way. He thinks that he is supposed to
help the people when he is elected to office of President not before
that;
5. Besigye seems to have personal scores to sort with President
Museveni which Ugandans are not party to. he should see how best to
solve them without involving us;
6. of the Doctors we have in Uganda, Besigye is a rich man. His
starting point was to have been ambushed by the NRM revolution which
he joined got high in its ranks and at retirement, he bid poverty bye
bye. This does not get us off the track to see him as a beneficiary
of the revolution which he has come so late to realise its mistakes
having earned from it;
7. If Besigye was not a dictator by design, he would have seen that
Dr. Olara Otunnu had the best credentials hence credibility to be
President of IPC; instead he wanted the man to be below him which is
unfortunate;
8. Dr. Kawanga Semogerere gave way to Besigye to contest for President
as a joint candidate in 2001, but this time Besigye still sees himself
as the man who should take Uganda a head yet he does not have what it
takes to give the country new direction that is why he keeps shifting
positions in his rallies so that 'miraculously' he can take more
people on board.

WHY NOT KAMYA?
1. Kamya all along has been NRM, so it is a big risk, she also just
changed heart;
2. It may be a big risk in a country that has a history of
overthrowing Governments to risk at this time a lady President;
3. She is a smart schemer on a federo ticket but federo is not a sum
of Uganda's problems, because when it is badly handled, the can just
increase;
4. Kamya is simply on a big gamble with question marks regarding how
she was able to get funding for her micro finance, which points to
possible insider dealings with NRM;
5. Kamya seems not ready to blame President Museveni for his mistakes.
She seems to keep shifting this blame to other parties.

SO, VOTE WISELY; VOTE DR. OLARA OTUNNU FOR TRANSFORMING THE COUNTRY
AND PUTTING IT BACK ON THE DEVELOPMENT LINE WHERE IT WAS BEFORE
PRESIDENT MUSEVENI WHO CLEARLY SHOWS THAT HE IS READY TO RISK RUNNING
THE COUNTRY ON WHAT HE THINKS IS POLITICAL SENSE TO SEE HIM REMAIN
HEAD OF STATE VIS A VIS ECONOMIC SENSE TO SEE THE COUNTRY A VIABLE
ENTITY AND PEOPLE A HAPPY LOT.

UGANDANS HAVE HAD A FAIR SHARE OF NRM's SINS AND VOTING NRM NOW IS A
CLEAN PASSPORT TO HELL
VOTE FOR OLARA OTUNNU IF YOU WANT GOD TO CHANGE HIS ANGER ON UGANDA
Those who continue to vote the Movement are LOST SINNERS and they will
not survive God's punishment: HELL. Some of he sins which the NRM has
committed to the people of Uganda are outlined below. What to do then
to reverse this situation? The answer is: VOTE Ambassador (Dr). Olara
Otunnu; the man who is not stained and who has the ability to turn the
country around as the Pearl of Africa. When you vote wisely, the
final resul of the vote should be as follows: 52% for Ambassador (Dr)
Olara Otunnu.
Those to vote for Dr Otunnu should include all those who have vision
for a Uganda worth to be seen as a real Pearl of Africa.
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Dr. Olara Otunnu the man who has the ability to take Uganda to the
Promise Land. When you Vote him you will not go to hell.

Those who may give President Museveni 20% which should be the rightful
vote in the forthcoming election are:
i) Those who keep claiming that they fought and use that to abuse
office and the rights of the people of Uganda;
ii) Those who believe that if Museveni is not voted, he will keep
distablizing the establishment and as such would rather keep with him;
iii) Relatives and some good percentage from the Western side of
Uganda who think that it is their right to keep in Government and that
Government should have Museveni as president;
iv) Beneficiaries of financial inducements/handouts and other favours
including political constituencies like new districts;
v) The ignorant lot and those absolutely poor who will part with a
vote in exchange of a favour say shs 5,000 or so which the NRM has had
the history to dish out to 'buy' the voters.

THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE UGANDA AT HEART SHOULD SEE LIGHT AND VOTE THE MAN
WHO CAN TAKE THE COUNTRY FROM THE UNFORTUNATE SITUATION IT IS IN AS A
RESULT OF THE POOR AND ILL ADVISED AND AT TIMES SELFISH POLICIES THAT
HAVE UNFORTUNATELY RUN THE COUNTRY DOWN AND IT IS SOMETHING TO LAUGH
AT AND CONTINUES ON BEGGING WHILE IT HAS ALL THE RESOURCES WHICH IF
WELL UTILIZED CAN HAVE IT AS ONE OF THE PROGRESSIVE RICH COUNTRIES.

iT IS TRUE AND FACTUAL THAT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF MR. LUBEGA AND DR.
BWANIKA OTHER CANDIDATES HAVE BEEN BENEFICIARIES OF THE MUSEVENI
ADMINISTRATION AND NOW WANT TO SHOW US THAT THEY HAVE CONVERTED AFTER
'EATING!'
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Will a Loving God Punish Lost Sinners?

BY DONALD R. WELBORN

To answer the above question, we should appeal to the BIBLE, GOD'S holy word.
First, who are sinners? They are people who have sinned by coming
short of the glory of GOD. Sin is an English word that translates a
word from the original language of the Bible, which means "missing the
mark." In other words, all humans have missed the mark of PERFECT
EXCELLENCE, or "the glory of God." Romans 3:23 states this truth.
The reason we sin is because we are sinners. It is stated in Psalms
51:5 "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother
conceive me." A rooster does not have to crow once or even twice to
become a rooster. He crows because he is a rooster. We do not have to
sin to become sinners. We sin because we are sinners.
GOD says, in Romans 6:23, that "the wages (or pay-off) of sin is
death." This means eternal separation from GOD, not just physical
death. Physical death is a divine appointment for all mankind.
(Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after
this the judgment.") However, death in hell will mean soul and body in
a place of eternal pain and punishment (Matthew 10:28, 25:46). God
does not want you to go to hell... it was not prepared for you, but
for the devil (Satan) and his angels. (Matthew 25:41 "Then shall He
say also unto them on the left hand, 'Depart from me, ye cursed, unto
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angles.'")
Jesus Christ, the Son of GOD, died on a tree with the sins of all
mankind on Him. Peter, an apostle of the Lord, said "Who His ownself
bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (I Peter 2:24). John the
apostle said "He is the propitiation (or MERCY SEAT) for our sins; and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John
2:2).
Please notice that Paul the apostle said to both Jews and Gentiles,
"Christ died for the ungodly" (ungodly meaning ALL who are not
perfectly GOD-like) Romans 5:6. Can you now confess, in all truth and
honesty, that you are a sinner and ungodly and need GOD's salvation?

Jesus said in Luke 19:10 that He (the Son of man) "is come to seek and
to save that which was lost." Being lost means we are separated from
GOD. One day, a little boy was sobbing mournfully in a department
store because he was separated from his mother. He was lost. Some
clerks in the store came to his rescue and soon located his mother.
She had been very distressed that the boy was lost. So much so was God
grieved that He spared not HIS own Son to become a sacrifice for our
sins (see Romans 8:32 "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?"). GOD demands that sin be judged. Jesus, the Son of GOD was
the only person who could qualify to be the sacrifice for the
punishment of our sins. (Hebrews 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honor; that He, by the grace of GOD, should taste death for
every man.") He "died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and
that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to
the Scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3-4).

Now to answer the title question in this little message. Yes, GOD will
punish lost sinners who die without Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Consider Psalm 9:17 "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the
nations that forget GOD." Not because they are sinners, but because
they have rejected GOD's own Son to be their Savior. (See II
Thessalonians 2:10-12 "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved. And for this cause GOD shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might
be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.") Jesus was punished horribly for sinners. He paid
the debt and ransom with His precious blood. (See Ephesians 1:7 "In
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace"; I Peter 1:18-19 "Forasmuch as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
spot or blemish"; II Peter 2:1-3 "But there were false prophets, also
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who
privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that
bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many
shall follow their pernicious ways; be reason of whom the way of truth
shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they, with
feigned words, make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long
time lingers not and their damnation slumbers not.")
One question remains: How can I be saved from the wrath to come? (See
I Thessalonians 1:10 "And to wait for the Son from heaven, whom He
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to
come" and Revelations 6:15-17 "And the kings of the earth, and the
great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every
bondsman and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks
and mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and
hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne and from the
wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come and who
shall be able to stand?") Please carefully consider the four (4)
things listed below!
1. REALIZE THAT YOU ARE LOST (Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 3:10-12, 19,
23; Romans 6:23)
2. REPENT (meaning change your mind about yourself and your sins)
(Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3 & 5; Acts 17:30, 20:21; Romans 2:4; II
Corinthians 7:10)
3. RECEIVE THE WORD OF GOD (James 1:18, 21; I Peter 1:23; John 12:48)
4. RELY ONLY ON THE LORD JESUS (rely meaning to believe, trust or
exercise faith in, commit yourself to the Lord Jesus) (John 3:14-18,
36; John 5:24, 6:47; Romans 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-10)
Seek the help and guidance of some Christian if the message of this
little tract is not clear to your mind. Praying this will be used of
GOD to direct you to the only Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus
Christ, I remain respectfully yours -
DRW

SOME OF THE SINS THE NRM HAS COMMITTED TO THE PEOPLE OF UGANDA AMONG
OTHERS INCLUDE:

PRESIDENT MUSEVENI SHOULD HAVE GONE IN 2006
Though President Museveni is to contest the forth coming Presidential
Elections, according to me and most Ugandans, had it not been that he
used numbers, Parliament would not have endorsed the Open Presidential
Term, and given opportunity to take the day in the forthcoming
elections, our first mission would to re- instate the maximum two
terms for any President however good he may be. Other reasons why he
should go though should have long gone are:
If the opposition unites to see candidate Yoweri Museveni go after the
forthcoming General Election, no Museveni gods may fail his exist. The
reasons why they want him to go are among others:-
Issues specific to regions:
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1) The Odoki Commission reported that over 60% Ugandans who responded
to the type of Governance wanted a Federo system. President Museveni’s
leadership instead opted for decentralisation which has not delivered
what people want. Any pleas to have federo as a local government
arrangement are simply ignored and alternative systems proposed.
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2) Pressure on Buganda – In the past, there was near to balanced
regional growth. Since the NRM got power, pressure has mounted on
Buganda and Baganda have been made insecure as land is not readily
available and very expensive. Yet those from other areas are dictating
terms for Baganda in an attempt to safeguard investments made in
Buganda.
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Kabaka Mutebi on two occasions has been barred by the central
government to visit his people!
3) The refusal by the central government on two occasions to allow
Kabaka Mutebi to visit areas within Buganda; an unfortunate
development which is no credit to the central government.
It was illegal blocking Kabaka to travel within Uganda
ARTICLE 29: Protection of freedom of conscience, expression, movement,
religion, assembly and association.(1) Every person shall have the
right to —
(a) Freedom of speech and expression which shall include freedom of
the press and other media;
(b) Freedom of thought, conscience and belief which shall include
academic freedom in institutions of learning;
(c) freedom to practise any religion and manifest such practice which
shall include the right to belong to and participate in the practices
of any religious body or organisation in a manner consistent with this
Constitution; (d) freedom to assemble and to demonstrate together with
others peacefully and unarmed and to petition; and
(e) Freedom of association which shall include the freedom to form and
join associations or unions, including trade unions and political and
other civic organisations.
(2) Every Ugandan shall have the right— (a) to move freely throughout
Uganda and to reside and settle in any part of Uganda; (b) to enter,
leave and return to, Uganda; and (c) to a passport or other travel
document.
OK! How do we reconcile these provisions, specifically, Article 29
(2)(a) with the recent blocking of Kabaka Ronald Mutebi’s visit to
Kayunga?
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September 11, 2010 will be a complete 12 months since the NRM
Government closed CBS FM which was earning about shs 1bn a month and
employing over 100 staff!
4) The closure of CBS FM for a period over 8months now (in June 2010)
as riots took off when people responded to the central governments’
action of blocking Kabaka Mutebi’s visit to Kayunga.
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5) The reluctance by the central government to pay rent dues in time
for Buganda properties rented; which is seen as a deliberate effort to
cripple Buganda Government.
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General issues/observations:
1) President Museveni came on a ticket of 4 years, however, after
implementation of extension schemes, he still wants another 5 years
after the expiry of 25 years at head of Government!;
2) Through President Museveni’s influence as the major beneficiary,
the 1995 Constitution of Uganda was revised and the 2 term limits were
removed against the background that the reason for a maximum of 2
terms was against the bad history the country had gone through, and
this amendment is opportunity to see the bad history become a reality
again.
"Four opposition parties: Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda Peoples’
Congress, Jeema and Conservative Party under the Inter Party Coalition
(IPC) are planning to table before Parliament new constitutional
amendments on Tuesday May 11.
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Among the amendments is a proposal to have two presidential term
limits restored; disbanding of the current Electoral Commission and
the removal of the army from Parliament.
While addressing the media at Parliament, the acting Leader of
Opposition, Kassiano Wadri said that the opposition agrees that the
amendments are important especially as the 2011 general elections
approach.
Wadri says if the ruling National Resistance Movement government
throws out their proposals in Parliament, they will not hesitate to
take the matter to the Constitutional court for interpretation."
3) Governments’ intention to pay a salary to Chairmen of LC1 is yet
another ‘innovation’ to impoverish the tax payer the more. LC1
chairpersons are supposed to do voluntary work, those who cannot
afford should opt out;
4) President Museveni dropped the Late Dr. Samson Kisekka from
Government in a very humiliating way;
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5) The budget speech of 2003/04 under Article 43: Public
Administration it is stated that, “Expenditure on public
Administration has continued to be a burden on the budget, crowding
out spending on other critical priority programmes. Currently,
expenditure on the sector is second only to Education, with an
allocation of 17.7% of the Government budget. There is need to reduce
the cost of Public administration, so that resources can be freed for
use in other productive areas such as infrastructure and strategic
exports. In March this year, H.E. the President approved most of the
recommendations in a study that he commissioned on the subject, in
march 2002.” Unfortunately, looks like this position has since not
been taken seriously by Government as public expenditure is simply on
the increase and more so, politically motivated;
6) The Auditor General reported that the Consolidated Fund had been
overdrawn in billions; this in one instance as at 30.6/1999; the
balance was shs 776,236,548,778. The Consolidated fund should however
have a credit balance;
7) What are the names of the UPDF soldiers who died in DRC? “Thousands
of Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) soldiers have died in the war
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rebel leader Prof. Ernst
Wamba dia Wamba has said. In an open letter to the people of Uganda,”
a copy of which the Monitor saw, Wamba, the President of the Uganda
backed RCD – Kisangani rebel group said that since 1996, “Uganda has
lost thousands of soldiers so that the Congo may come out of the
current crisis.”
8) Government has looked on as people have encroached on forest cover
which development has serious implications for the climate of the
country and given that it is an agriculturally based country;

Damian Akankwasa
"THE IGG has recommended the immediate sacking and prosecution of the
suspended National Forestry Authority (NFA) boss, Damian Akankwasa,
over the sh900m saga. The IGG made the recommendation in a report on
claims by Akankwasa that his wife, Juliet Katusiime, stole the sh900m
he kept in their bedroom last year.
The IGG accused Akankwasa of abuse of office, failure to declare all
his wealth and causing a financial loss of over sh2.8b to NFA through
suspicious deals. The IGG suspects the sh900m could have come from
such deals.
In a May 7 letter to the water and environment minister, Maria
Mutagamba, the IGG said Akankwasa made arbitrary decisions
disregarding formal procedures."
9) The new law, “Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions’ Act” is
alleged to have the intention of getting back the President as the
appointing authority for Vice – Chancellors of public universities;
10) Government has not done much to see that Uganda benefits in
International trade in genetic resources, often referred to as
bio-trade which involves high economic stakes today. The sale of drugs
based on traditional medicines alone amounts to over US $ 32bn (IK
Notes – A World Bank publication);
11) Talk about corruption. Even AIDS patients have not been spared!
The portfolio of Global Fund Grants to Uganda was worth US $ 367m
including two grants to combat HIV/AIDS; two grants targeting Malaria
and one of Tuberculosis. By the time of the suspension on August 24,
2005 only US$ 45m had been released of which it is believed about US $
280,000 was fraudulently siphoned off!
12) While the population has kept on growing, the number of criminals
has equally kept increasing, but Government has not had plans
implemented to increase the number of prisons, later on have worthy
conditions for living by inmates;
13) Though the President boosts of an army which is professional, it
is not clear why this army has failed to capture Joseph Kony who is at
the core of terrorist activities in Uganda and now outside Uganda’s
borders.
"“Arrest warrants issued in 2005 by the ICC for Joseph Kony and four
Lord’s Resistance Army commanders remained in force, but were not
implemented by Uganda and other regional governments,” Amnesty
International stated in its latest report.
Kony’s commanders, who were indicted with him for atrocities during
the northern Ugandan war, include Dominic Ongwen, Okot Odhiambo,
Vincent Otti and Raska Lukwiya. Lukwiya has since been confirmed dead
and Otti is also said to be dead.
Uganda is a member of the ICC and is, therefore, obliged to arrest and
surrender anyone named in an arrest warrant."
14) Though NRM tries to show that it is a civilian Government, the
truth is that it is based on military; hence remains a threat to
potential alternative President material;
15) The 1987 currency exchange took away part of people’s earnings the
30% and the currency since then has kept on depreciating such that
many things cost an average of 20 times the cost at exchange; yet
earnings have not been boosted accordingly;
16) The Bush men were appointed into positions to manage public
enterprises, and you can be sure that the wish to pay them selves for
the contribution in the 5 year war of liberation and lack of
managerial skills contributed to poor performance of most of them such
that on privatization, the tax payer had still to shoulder a big
burden yet even many of the beneficiaries were not able to see these
enterprises run and as to whether all have paid up is not clear a
position.
17) The liberators contributed to a huge non – performing loan
portfolio in the then Uganda Commercial bank and one of the options
was to sale off the bank. The way the sale was handled disturbed many
Ugandans who would have preferred to have shares in the bank and see
it remain as the people’s own bank;
18) The class normally called “the nurtured middle class” a creation
by President Museveni’s Government is a cause of concern by many who
see a favoured few benefit from tax resources and donor funds to have
their undertakings move on;
19) The killing of the Cooperative bank and the Cooperative Movement.
The liberation war saw many vehicles of the Cooperatives used by the
liberators, this slowly but steadily contributed to the weakening of
the cooperatives. The borrowing of money from the Cooperative bank to
help finance part of the liberation efforts at least shs 14bn is
believed to have been got from the bank by NRA and was not paid back;
20) Poor and ill advised policies have abetted poverty in the country.
What matters is policies to see the Government remain in leadership of
the country at the expense of people’s welfare;
21) The unemployment levels of the youth are simply a scandal. While
many in higher institutions are helped by relatives outside the
country who have gone for greener pastures and a number are having
bursaries by institutions, the Government has failed to be focused to
see enhancement of employment opportunities for the youth. This is
also against the background where vocational training is anon starter
in schools such that students leave without employable skills for own
job creation.
22) “Legalized corruption” is simply unacceptable. It is the order of
the day in Uganda! Where Government has failed to pay a living wage,
people have resorted to use corruption to make ends meet;
"President Museveni has said that while corruption leads to wastage of
public resources, it also has a good side to it.
Speaking in Masindi last week, Museveni virtually defended corrupt
civil servants and politicians, saying they also greatly contribute to
national development by investing in the country money they swindle
from public coffers. By thus investing, the President said, the
thieves build the national economy.
The President was presiding over the passing out of 238 Police
officers who had completed a three-month operational commanders’
course at the Kabalye-based Police Training School. The graduands
included 46 officers from Sudan.
The opposition and donors have often criticised the Museveni
government over what they see as lack of political will to fight
corruption. The donors in particular have cited the misuse of money
meant for the 2007 Commonwealth summit (CHOGM), and the Global Fund,
among others, to make their point."

MPs probing the Commonwealth summit expenditure have unearthed
numerous irregularities in the awarding of the sh2.4b media and
publicity contract.
The contract was awarded to Saatchi and Saatchi and Terp Group during
the preparations to host the summit in 2007.
MPs on the public accounts committee yesterday discovered that out of
the 17 companies that submitted their bids, 16 were disqualified
because they allegedly had no trading licence, bid submission,
certificate of registration, VAT registration or income tax clearance.
They also discovered that although the evaluation committee had
recommended the contract price of sh1.8b, the contract committee
revised the cost to sh2.4b after adding one item.
The MPs also discovered that the director of information at the time,
Kagole Kivumbi, was the head of the user department, the chairman of
the evaluation committee and the chairman of the negotiation
committee.
The MPs asked Kivumbi and the principal procurement officer, Margaret
Meke, to explain how established companies such as Vision Group,
Picfare, Sameer and the Uganda Publishing and Printing Corporation,
could be disqualified on grounds of lack of trading licences.
23) It is sad for the President to keep looking down on donors who are
actually helping to fund not only over 30% of the national budget but
are also involved in a number of activities as NGOs in boosting the
welfare of Ugandans;
"Museveni says Africa needs help in areas of energy, roads and railway
construction as well as in the education and health sectors but not
political help. He says he does not need any foreign advice in
organizing elections, an area that the development partners have
concentrated on in the recent past, with calls for major electoral
reforms. The President insists that he does not lecture on issues on
which he considers himself an expert, urging them to divert their help
to where it is needed."
"It is not authenticated but a report purported to be by US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton to the American Congress on the 2011 Uganda
elections could have serious implications.
The report is the first in a series that the US Congress, in an
unprecedented move, asked Clinton to write after every 30 days
regarding the government of Uganda actions on the 2011 elections.
Congress’s directive was interpreted as a sign that the US is taking a
hawkish view of the government of Uganda behavior and could take
punitive action.
There is speculation that if the does not carry out reforms to ensure
free and fair elections, the US may cut its aid to Uganda and also
influence other development partners to follow suit.
The intention appears to be to nudge President Yoweri Museveni, who
has been in power for 24 years and has won election mired by fraud and
violence, to hold a clean election in 2011.
The MP for Busongora South, Christopher Kibanzanga, told a journalist:
“The donors have the key; they pushed President Museveni to accept
multi-partyism and when they called him over the Anti-homosexuality
Bill, the President immediately changed his position. If the donors
tell him to accept the electoral reforms we are pushing for as the
opposition, there is no doubt he will accept them within days.”
24) The handling of the corrupt with kid gloves is simply
unacceptable. By now there would be a collection account where the big
thieves would deposit the loot recovered from them; what may have been
done so far is a drop in the ocean given what has been siphoned off;

25) The continued big and would be uncalled for expenditure on the
national army (UPDF), ever since 1986,the army has taken a big share
of the national resources that would have helped development efforts
elsewhere; this is so because of interventions at times in other
people’s wars;
26) The President has continued to use rewards to favour his continued
tenure in office, and this is wrong more so when tax resources are
used;
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27) For a poor country like Uganda, keeping the lifestyle of President
Museveni is a big liability to the country’s resources. When you see
the security detail when he is going out of the country and when he is
coming back; talk about the cost of maintaining his motorcade, this is
all a big burden to the tax payer;
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President Museveni's shs 82bn jet
The President is too expensive for a begging economy like Uganda
President Museveni’s special jet that has cost taxpayers Shs88.2 billion .
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The Gulfstream V was flown into the country last month.
The Weekly Observer has obtained a photograph of the new jet No.
N908GA 52008 taken on January 14, this year when it was returning from
a pre delivery flight at Long Beach Airport in California.
After that flight, the new jet was released to the buyer who is the
Ugandan Government.
The President’s Press Secretary, Joseph Tamale Mirundi, confirmed the
arrival of the jet in a telephone interview Tuesday morning.
The jet was purchased late last year to replace a Gulfstream IV which
was bought at Shs60 billion in 2000. The State House Comptroller,
Richard Muhinda, informed a parliamentary committee on presidential
affairs that the old jet would be sold at about Shs40 billion.
The planned purchase of another jet became public information in
December 2007 when Muhinda and the President’s chief pilot, Maj. Gen.
Ali Kiiza, briefed the presidential affairs committee on the state of
the old presidential jet.
Opposition MPs protested against spending such as huge amount of money
while the old plane was still functioning properly. But the
President’s team argued that the new plane would consume less fuel and
would be cheaper to repair.
When Museveni came to power in 1986, he often spoke out against
African leaders of poor countries who like to ride in presidential
jets yet their citizens are infested with jiggers.
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28) While the 5 year bush war had much to do with getting UPC
Government out of power due to a stolen victory, many in NRM circles
have been convicted in courts of law for the role played in electoral
malpractices which clearly shows that Government has no good will to
see this problem sorted out completely more so when it’s NRM candidate
favoured;
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29) The continued expansion of the unproductive administrative
infrastructure frustrates any would be development efforts. A number
of Presidential advisers are supposed to be retired civil servants on
whom Government is spending billions that you be saved for more worthy
national development projects;
Development partners share the concern of Uganda’s civil society and
media about the increasingly high levels of spending on government’s
administrative structures. These are resources that could otherwise be
invested in infrastructure, basic education, health care, and clean
drinking water for the poor.
The sharp increase in the number of districts in recent years (and
continued plans for new ones)diverts both human and financial
resources from existing districts and undermines the capacity of local
governments to effectively deliver services. Starting at 36 districts,
80 districts last year, and now 91 districts: who can make a serious
case that this expansion of the number of districts is good for
service delivery?” the World Bank Uganda Country Manager Kundhavi
Kadiresan said at the National Budget Workshop by the Ministry of
Finance, February 25-26, 2010.
Despite the donors’ rage about Uganda’s high public expenditure,
President Museveni has created 14 new districts, bringing the number
to 111. The number is projected to reach 120 by 2011.
In a 2009 paper, titled “The cost of public administration,” ACODE, a
local think tank, says the “oversize cabinet and the growing
bureaucracy built around the Office of the President” and the growing
number of districts are the main threat to Uganda’s governance,
efforts to eradicate poverty, and the achievement economic
transformation."
"The argument that the creation of new districts is a matter for
government policy and decision-makers is not contested. However, when
the government comes out to say that the reasons they are creating new
districts is because ‘the people’ want it, it becomes another matter.
According to the state minister for local government, Ahabwe Pereza,
it is government policy that every district should have a hospital. He
also points out that the President, in his state of the nation
address, said every district should have a road unit. Pereza also says
Makerere University entry district slots are one of the factors that
are fuelling the urge for districts. “When you are in Kabale, a
district hospital is in Kabale, a person in Kanungu will therefore
look at the policy and say but if we had our own district, it would be
mandatory that we would have our own hospital,” he told The
Independent. “You get the arguments,” he continued, “they are real
because these have to do with access to national resources in terms of
facilitations.”
30) President Museveni’s Government is witnessing a terrible scandal
as cheating in national examinations is real. The private sector
competition has led to the growth of cheating to see the schools that
have bigger and better passes retain and or get big numbers, hence
generate good income and profits.
Refer to The New Vision, Wednesday, January 20, 2010: Over 1,400
results cancelled, "A total of 1,449 pupils will not receive their PLE
results following their cancellation by Uganda National Examinations
Board (UNEB). Seventy three schools had their results cancelled due to
malpractices such as impersonation, external assistance, substitution,
collusion and smuggling unauthorised material into the examination
room. Commenting on the issue, Education Minister Geraldine Namirembe
Bitamazire said: "Examination malpractice must be eliminated at
whatever cost. We cannot let it continue. In 2001; 12,000 pupils had
their results cancelled. The vice is coming back."
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31) The health sub – sector is simply pathetic, hence the boom of
private practitioners. While the population has continued to grow,
Government is ill prepared to help the poor get appropriate medical
services. The poor incentives to the medical staff don’t make the
situation better;
32) While free primary and secondary education would have been a
welcome innovation, the intervention by the President to see that
parents don’t pay may be conceived to mean that he actually wants the
children of the poor to go no where. It is true that in some instances
even the about 1,200/- each primary child is expected to get a term is
in some cases not delivered, yet the schools have to go on. It is true
that a number of well placed people today went through Government
schools and the instruction was good;
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33) There is no executive who is not caught up by diminishing returns,
whatever President Museveni may wish to do for country, the truth is
that diminishing returns caught up with him long ago, the best is to
retire;
34) The way President Museveni’s Government unfairly treats some of
the Presidential opponents is not a vote winner for the President; for
him, it is a right to contest!
35) The way the gap between the rich and the poor has widened where
many of the beneficiaries of the status quo are well connected to the
NRM is bad for the President;
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36) The way donor funds are handled according to reports show
corruption at play which leads to poor workmanship and less benefit to
the Uganda population;
37) The Presidents’ pledges are a big burden to the tax payer;
38) Tax rates lack a human face; among these Vat at 17% is very high;
the tax on fuel makes all transactions with fuel consumption
abnormally expensive to the final consumer and this leads to local
industries being uncompetitive;
39) During President Museveni’s time, the burning of schools has
almost become a design more so with focus on dormitories; and in most
instances when the children/students are out. Government has not come
out clearly over these criminals who seem to be good schemers, yet the
loss by the parents, students/children and affected schools is great;
40) The burning of markets is equally affecting or has affected
traders of different capacities including the market vendors, the
dealers in timber products to mention a few. It is not clear whether
the criminals are after impoverishing the business persons more so
when majority of them have bank loans. In this case, Government has
not come out clearly to see a stop to this madness and prosecution of
culprits;
41) It is common experience that poisoned alcoholic drinks are the
order of the day. Government seem to take this lightly and putting
measures on some of the drinks when it is clear that this is a direct
result of competition in the industry where some players are after
getting their competitors out of business. We risk to see a situation
where this may go to any other consumer goods;
42) Government promised Export Promotion Zones (EPZ), but these are
yet to be seen more so the one at Entebbe Airport or there about;
43) Government growth figures are in dispute. Those given to the
donors seem focused on painting a good picture that things are fine;
44) The pensioners are a yawning lot. People age on but pension still
remains a problem. You only need to meet a disgusted pensioner to
appreciate the situation;
45) The revenue collections are reported to be increasing. The problem
is that the money is mostly put to consumption. Praises should be made
when this money is made to generate more wealth hence help the high
unemployment as well as the poverty countrywide;
46) Electric power remains erratic in a number of places. If you are
relying on power by Umeme, it no news to see power on and off and at
times a number of times a day; yet it is not unusual to have it off
without notice;
47) The promoting of SACCOs that are politically motivated cannot be
compared to the cooperatives that were designed against specific
production potential/service delivery where they were established;
48) While agriculture remains the mainstay of the Uganda economy,
government has failed to see the sector attract agricultural producers
to harness it. Many are instead living land and looking for
opportunities elsewhere which are paying;
49) Government in most instances has not followed the budgets as
planned and read, hence making budgets is like a routine while
following them to implementation within their timeframe is not that
emphasized;
50) As President Museveni remains in power, it is clear that many in
the population are having near to one meal a day or just one meal.
This is because of hardships that policy has created during his
tenure; and for balanced diet, it is a luxury as many cannot afford
it;
51) It surprises how the matters that would be solved by established
institutions are referred to the President for solution;
52) President Museveni has presided over the collapse of Uganda
Railways which used to help in cheap transportation of goods from
various regions of the country;
53) Government has shown much concern about the bus transportation.
The problem partly is due to a relation believed to be enjoyed between
Government and UTODA;
54) A number of people have lost value and lives where Government
would have done appropriate compensation; in a number of developments
this has not been the case;
55) It is unfortunate that after suspending the Graduated tax in
2005/06 Financial year and compensating it with increased tax on
consumer goods including sugar; Government went institute Local
Service Tax as a substitute yet when it had already levied a tax on
consumer goods to bridge the gap;
56) Before NRM Government got to office, there was no tax on
Government (Government paying tax), it is not clear why this tax is in
place as it is increased burden to Government;
57) Government has not been concerned about the shs 2,000 charged by
Commercial banks on school fees deposits. It looks like it is a tax of
sorts. It is abnormal for the one depositing to be charged what is
supposed to be met by the account holder;
58) Government policies are responsible for the continued boom of used
clothes in a country that can grow enough cotton for own clothes and
export;
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59) The AGOA initiative has simply been a lost opportunity for no good
reason not forgetting the input into the Bugolobi plant and its
management;
60) Yes, President Museveni, like anybody who stays long in a place,
many people long to see a replacement that may do things differently,
this category of voters wants to see change and are hopeful that
change will a reality this time.
61) Government is very disaster unprepared. This starts with the
budget which is small given the expected disasters. Government has not
done enough to enforce building standards and hence a number of
buildings can be a disaster anytime. Fire fighting equipment are just
expected and hopefully they will be functional; but again in a number
of places due to no planning, if fire breaks out it may be impossible
to extinguish it.
Kampala (Uganda) — The death toll from the landslides that struck
Bududa district on Tuesday leaving hundreds of people dead or missing
brings to question the effectiveness of country's early warning and
response systems. As the country mourns, this tragedy should be a
lesson especially to the political leadership. They must re-evaluate
the country's capacity to respond to disasters such as landslides and
floods that are likely to be part of us for a foreseeable period as
the effects of climate change take their toll.
The death toll from the Bududa disaster would have been avoided if the
Government and district officials had implemented 1997 plan to
resettle the Mt. Elgon forest reserve encroachers.
William Kituuka


DR. OTUNNU IS THE MAN TO ENTRUST THE PRESIDENCY TO COME 2011 ELECTIONS
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I had resigned over the issue of Presidency on seeing the it looked
like a big game yet meaning a lot for the future of Ugandans to the
extent that in coming 5 years the country can collapse completely
given the projection for those who care about the country at all, not
forgetting that there are some who want to eat it and see it
completely collapsed and these can go with their loot! Surely, for
President Museveni to be President for another 5 years is too much for
me as one who has concerns for the country hence the reason why i wish
to appeal to the citizens of Uganda and voters to do the needful so
that we can see sanity return to the way public affairs can be run.
We have in Government people who don't take any shame however shameful
an act they do. We have people who see the country as a garden where
they have to reap and constantly tell us that we did not fight. They
went to the bush and now we can surely see the agenda which took them
to the bush. They saw it as the means to have access to national
resources as the majority are impoverished on. The pretence that they
can do any more good given the bad inflicted so far to the people of
Uganda can only be bought by those friends of ours who subscribe to
lies and can not learn as well as those who are constantly looting the
country as majority look on helplessly. Ugandans have to come up with
a credible candidate who can meet the challange and is trustable. We
are witnessing would be credible people switching to the NRM and you
can not be convinced that they are not responding to some promises.
For how long can we see our coutry go down the drain because some
people threaten us with the military which military is paid for using
tax payer resources? i was shocked to read a publication where people
taking fish for export had to use the Nairobi airport simply because
fuel is expensive making them lose money if they get cargo on plane at
Entebbe. Surely can you sit in State House when your policies are
making business uncompetitive? Why did Ugandans instead lose money in
the AGOA deal which looks to have been in favour of some few. We will
be cursed by our children if we cannot see facts and simply leave our
country go to waste.
Dr. Otunnu can help the country get back to the road to development
and have people meaningfully earn money instead of having to go to
banks and always be burdened by those bank loans when they can make
meaningful savings out of agricultural and other enterprises in a
vibrant economic situation.
Let us vote wisely this time, we have the chance and the man to vote
is Ambassador (Dr) Olara Otunnu.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

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Olara Otunnu is a compassionate advocate for children around the
globe, especially children exposed to war and civil strife. Former UN
Representative, and recipient of many prestigious awards and prizes,
Otunnu is on a mission to save the lives and precious futures of the
vulnerable children of the world - because children represent the
future of us all...

"One of the most cynical features of today's warfare is the way with
which adults are using children to be the channel for their own hate
and passion."
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LIFESAVER HERO: AMBASSADOR (DR)OLARA OTUNNU

by Rebecca Miller
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Olara Otunnu and child

Olara Otunnu was born in northern Uganda in a time when children went
to school and had opportunities for a normal, rewarding life. Sadly,
this is not the reality for most children in his home region today;
nor is it the reality for far too many children around the world.
Otunnu has devoted his life to championing their basic rights.
Otunnu had the opportunity of going to high school, college, and then
university in Kampala, Uganda. Intelligent and eager to make a
difference in the world, he earned an Oxford University Overseas
Scholar followed by a Fulbright Scholarship to Harvard Law School.
Afterwards, he practiced law in New York before becoming an Assistant
Professor of Law at Albany Law School.
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Otunnu and children from Afghanistan

Otunnu was a student activist during his university years as president
of the student's union, when Edi Amin had a terrible grip on his
unfortunate subjects. After earning his degrees, Otunnu worked as a
lawyer as well as a skilled diplomat; his awareness of the bleak
plight of the children in his beloved Uganda compelled him to devote
his life to improving their lives. When offered the position of United
Nations under-secretary general and special representative for
children and armed conflict, it was a perfect fit. He fulfilled this
position from 1997 to 2005.
Under his passionate and charismatic leadership, the United Nations
crafted a comprehensive system of rules, called Resolution 1612 of 26
July 2005, in which an international monitoring and reporting system
was established. The system "documents abuses against children, seeks
to identify and publicly list offending parties responsible for
abusing and brutalizing children, and seeks to bring these offenders
into compliance with international laws and standards, including
through the imposition of sanctions."
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Olara Otunnu speaking about the Rwanda Project

The widespread use of children in armed conflicts is a terrible trend
that has spread across the globe. As Otunnu explains, it is seen
"from Colombia to Sierra Leone, from Sri Lanka to Sudan and Uganda,
from Burma to Angola.
Compelled to become instruments of war, to kill and be killed, child
soldiers are forced to give violent expression to the hatreds of
adults.
It is not just the child combatants who are affected, but the girls
who become 'wives,' the youngsters who have to cook for the troops, be
messengers or spies."
Report to the United Nations by Olara Otunnu



Youth Ambassadors for Peace
Otunnu spoke at the World Council of Churches, February 2006, where he
laid out the progress made in the United Nations regarding this
seemingly intractable affliction. After tireless observation, research
and planning, Otunnu may have cracked the conundrum of why this urgent
problem has persisted for so long, with so little action taken. He
broke the problem down into these active steps toward hope.
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Campaign to protect children from the scourge of war

1. Developing concrete response and actions
2. Embarking on the ‘era of application’
3. Instituting a ‘naming and shaming’ list
4. Establishing a formal CAAC compliance regime
5. Simply put: Otunnu laid the groundwork by speaking out against the
shame of treating children this way; he brought organizations together
to take action; he decided how to assist government agencies to
transform from talk to action (the most difficult step of all); the
first concrete step was in publicly shining the spotlight on those who
transgress; specific action plans and deadlines for ending the
violations were implemented; in the event of noncompliance, the
"Security Council will consider targeted measures against those
parties and their leaders, such as travel restrictions and denial of
visas, imposition of arms embargoes and bans on military assistance,
and restriction on the flow of financial resources."
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Otunnu and children in Columbia

Olara Otunnu has left an immensely important legacy during his United
Nations sojourn - one that will save the lives and futures of
thousands of children. Today, his work continues through the LBL
Foundation, whose mission is to encourage investing in the education
of children and youth, as the "most effective way to facilitate
overall recovery and development in a war-torn society."
"Ensuring protection for our children and investing in their education
and development is therefore among the most important and effective
means for building durable peace and justice in society.
Written by Rebecca Miller
Last changed on: 8/11/2010 3:52:42 PM

VOTERS NEED NOT MIX LOAN MONEY WITH FAVOURS FROM NRM GOVERNMENT: US $
100M LOAN FOR NUSAF II COULD TEMPT SOME NORTHERN UGANDA VOTERS
Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF II) a loan of US$100m from
the International Development Agency (IDA) to be used for a period of
5 years was approved by the Association of the Board of Directors of
the World Bank on May 28, 2009 and by the Parliament of Uganda on
September 25, 2009.
This loan designed to continue with the development effort for
Northern Uganda after the conclusion of NUSAF I could easily be used
by the NRM to induce votes for President Museveni. The people ought
to be told the truth about this money.
NUSAF II has 3 components
1. The Livelihood Support Programme worth US$ 60m with two components:
i) Public works which is to cost US$20m. This will be given to able -
bodied people who can do manual work.
ii) The US$40m to be given to people who are unable to do public works
as the elderly and the handicapped.
2. The Community Infrastructure Development worth US$30m. The funds
will support infrastructure like schools, health centres, and water.
3. Institutional Support worth US$im to be given to IGGto facilitate
sesitization programme and the balance of US$9m to be retained by the
Prime Ministers' Office to facilitate monitoring and other management
functions.

NRM GOVERNMENT DOES BUSINESS AS A CHILD WOULD
When I was a child, I used to do things childish. When I grew up, I
ceased the childish mentality. Unfortunately, the NRM Government does
much of Government business childish. Imagine people have stolen
money over 2 decades but Government has failed to come up with a
solution to this great leakage. Continuous extensions of NRM and the
changing of the Constitution to suit one person are all childish. Can
you imagine at this point in time that someone proposes children going
to school with cooked food? Failing to use donor funds for what they
have been borrowed for as per the project proposals is childish
management of Government affairs. Imagine giving a company a contract
and Government is reluctant to see the monthly dues remitted, yet the
contract is not terminated. This is all childish. Childishness has
assumed a new dimension where Parliament without quorum is committing
Ugandans to astronomical loans including the passing of the National
Budget; yet the Speaker sees no wrong doing!

NRM Government can neither achieve the Mission nor Vision as set for
Uganda by themselves.
The Vision:
The Vision of NRM is a peaceful, united, democratic, harmonious,
industrialized, transformed and prosperous Uganda, within a strong,
federated East Africa, the African Common Market and with an African
Defense Pact.
1) How do you talk of a peaceful Uganda when the ideas of the people
are just shunned? Government is forcing people to foot its selfish
line, ignoring the people as the pillar on which government is based.
Given this position, peace is simply fragile.
2) United – Government is practicing divide and rule, then how do you
talk of united when they are interested in sub – dividing the country
as much as possible?
3) Democratic – NRM is not democratic, if it were the position of the
Chairman would be contested, but as we hear some one has gone to court
because he was unjustly eliminated from contesting for the position.
The President would have long left office, but he is using tricks to
keep there. There is no democracy worth talking about when donors
time and again just threaten to reduce aid for Government to try to
foot a democratic path!
4) Harmonious – Government itself is behind the various movements by
some people against others. Heard of the Banyala and Baganda,
Government is interested in promoting bad co - existence between the
two! This is the reason behind the 11th November 2009 riots in
Buganda.
5) Industrialized – Uganda can industrialize basing on agriculture,
yet government is just waiting for foreign investors to put money
where they are interested. The factors that are responsible for
industrial growth are mishandled, taxes are wrong, utility costs, name
them.
6) The Government wants us in a strong federated east Africa, yet it
is against the federal arrangement which people cherish locally!
Mission:
The Mission of NRM is to transform Uganda from a poor peasant society
into a modern, industrial, united and prosperous skilled working and
middle class society
However, given things on ground; that is wrong priorities, out right
theft of funds including donors’, the NRM Government is simply day
dreaming to get the mission achieved. The best they can do is give way
for others who have the will to correct the situation.
State House Debts Rise to Sh99 Billion
State House must be disciplined financially. It is unfortunate how
every year there are arrears which have been met in the budget of the
following year. Imagine a new Government struggling with the monetary
indiscipline of the previous one. It is unfortunate that Government
has rent arrears not paid to Buganda Government yet when they continue
using Buganda Government premises. It may be necessary to remove the
facility out of which the President makes donations, it looks misused
and or abused and leads to uncalled for liabilities and political
favours.
State House debts had risen to over sh100b by June 2009. The Ministry
of Justice spent sh110b in compensation, court awards and settlements
last financial year. The Police do not know the actual staff strength
of its force. And sh371b loaned to state and private companies may
never be recovered.
These are some of the findings in the new Auditor General's report on
Government expenses in the financial year 2008/2009. The report was
handed over to Parliament last week.
The Auditor General, John Muwanga, in his report noted that although
the Government has instituted strict systems to control expenditure,
State House has incurred huge debts as a result of the purchase of the
new presidential jet.
The Bank of Uganda advanced a loan of sh96b to finance the acquisition
of the aircraft. According to the agreement, the amount is payable in
installments of about sh10b per year with interest.



THE INNOVATIONS I FRONTED FOR THE POSITION OF PRESIDENT OF UGANDA

1) A VIRTUAL CLEARING HOUSE
2) EMPLOYMENT OF ALL PEOPLE OF UGANDA (SKILLED & UNSKILLED)
3) FREE MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR ALL
4) QUALITATIVE; PRACTICAL EDUCATION FOR ALL
5) UNIFORM FEDERAL GOVERNANCE IN UGANDA
6) ENSURING A LIVING WAGE
7) ENSURING A BALANCED DIET FOR ALL
8) CONTROL OF BIRTH THROUGH EDUCATION & FAMILY PLANNING
9) PUTTING IN PLACE MEASURES TO MINIMISE CORRUPTION
10) BOOSTING AGRO – PROCESSING INDUSTRIALISATION
11) BOOSTING OUR EXPORT BASE
12) FIGHTING ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
13) ENSURING REGIONAL POLES OF GROWTH
14) IMPLEMENTING VOCATIONAL EDUCATION FROM PRIMARY SCHOOLS
15) CATERING FOR THE ELDERLY
16) IMPLEMENTING A STUDENT LOAN SCHEME FOR HIGHER INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING
17) SCRAPPING GOVERNMENT SPONSORSHIP
18) PROMOTION OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN ALL AREAS POSSIBLE.
19) ENSURING LITERACY FOR ALL AND TEACHING OF RIGHTS
20) ENSURING THAT GOVERNMENT OBSERVES HUMAN RIGHTS
21) THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE PREVAILS.
22) PROMOTION OF A SAVING AND INVESTMENT CULTURE
23) REDUCTION OF VAT RATE AND TAXATION RATES WHICH ARE ON THE HIGH TAX
RATES MAKE BUSINESS UNCOMPETITIVE INTERNATIONALLY; FOR EXAMPLE ON FUEL
24) ABOLISHING TAXATION ON GOVERNMENT



Some of my works can be accessed on the following links:

http://www.williamkituuka.blogspot.com/
http://www.jckiwanuka.blogspot.com/
http://www.stmaryscollegekisubi.blogspot.com/
http://www.kisubibrothersuniversitycollegem.blogspot.com/
http://www.smackoldboysmagazine.blogspot.com/
http://www.anthonykyemwa.blogspot.com/
http://www.stpeterschurchofugandassisa.blogspot.com/
http://www.allsaintsschoollweza.blogspot.com/

My contact: http://goodgovernancepractice.webs.com/contactme.htm


William Kituuka Kiwanuka

P. O. Box 33917,

Kampala.

wkituuka@myself.com

wkituuka@gmail.com

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