Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Flag this message PUBLIC LECTURE: THE ERA OF GOVERNANCE - Thursday, February 02, 2012 starting at 2.00 pm, at the Statistics House

The Era of Governance
“With the relationship between the state and the people changing, so are the tools through which the two relate to each other. The final outcome may very well be better governments”

A Public Lecture

By

Dr Marcelo Giugale, World Bank Director

Venue: Statistics House, Conference Room, Level 1

Date: Thursday February 2, 2012

Time: 2.00 pm

Host: Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

Lecture organized in collaboration with EPRC and World Bank Uganda Office

About the Speaker: Dr. Marcelo Giugale is the World Bank’s Director of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Programs for Africa. An international development leader, his more than twenty-five years of experience span the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin-America and Africa, where he led senior-level policy dialogue and over twenty billion dollars in lending operations across the development spectrum. He has published widely on economic policy, finance, development economics, business, agriculture and applied econometrics. Notably, he was the chief editor of collections of policy notes published for the presidential transitions in Mexico (2000), Colombia (2002), Ecuador (2003), Bolivia (2006) and Peru (2006). His opinion editorials are published in the leading newspapers and blog-sites of Africa, Latin-America and the USA. He received decorations from the governments of Bolivia and Peru, and taught at the American University in Cairo, The London School of Economics, and the Universidad Católica Argentina. A citizen of Argentina and Italy, he holds a PhD and a MSc in Economics from The London School of Economics, and a Suma-Cum-Laude BA in Economics from Universidad Católica Argentina.

P.S. Attached is the announcement and an open invitation

Sheila B. Gashishiri
Public Information Assistant
4th Floor, Rwenzori House, 1 Lumumba Av

Africa Region
The World Bank
Tel: +256414302248/414230094/312221416/7
Fax: +256414230092
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Join the conversation:

JOINT WORLDBANK GROUP SCHOLARSHIPS

JJWBGSP Scholarship Applications

The Joint Japan World Bank Group Scholarships Program is currently receiving scholarship applications, with a submission deadline of March 31, 2012. The scholarship provides full tuition, living expenses, and air tickets for mid-career professionals to earn Master's Degrees from world-class institutions in development-related subjects. The program is primarily targeted to people in the public sector, but others working in development-related fields are encouraged to apply.

Please feel free to forward this message or alert relevant people in your respective organizations so that the public and other relevant audiences may learn of this opportunity.

For additional questions, please contact Danielle Carbonneau at dcarbonneau@worldbank.org or Karim Gigler at kgigler@worldbank.org.

Thank you in advance for your support.

regards,
---
Sheila B. Gashishiri
Public Information Assistant
4th Floor, Rwenzori House, 1 Lumumba Av
Africa Region
The World Bank
Tel: +256414302248/414230094/312221416/7
Fax: +256414230092
Learn more about our:

OVER 100 HOUSEHOLDS TO GET ELECTRICITY IN APAC

Over 100 households to get bioelectricity in Apac district
Pilot project to be replicated in other rural areas

APAC, January 31, 2012—The World Bank in partnership with the Agency for Promoting Sustainable Development Initiatives (ASDI) and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development will tomorrow, February 1, 2012 launch a pilot project for the promotion of bioelectricity in Uganda at Kayei Landing Site, Akokoro Sub-County, Apac District.

Over 100 households in the area around Kayei Landing Site stand to benefit from 10 kilowatts of bioelectricity that will be produced by the project using a $150,000 grant from the World Bank-administered Africa Renewable Energy Access (AFREA) Trust Fund.

“The immediate target of this project is to produce electricity to power a cooling and drying facility for fish preservation, lighting for 100 households and powering a water purification plant,” said Sam Olili Egir, ASDI Project Manager.

AFREA, which is funded by the Netherlands Government, is meant to promote the development of renewable energy and accelerate access to modern energy through a number of Bank-executed and Recipient-executed activities, including technical assistance, advisory studies and investment grants targeted at various institutions including non-governmental organizations.

“This is the only project funded by the World Bank Biomass Energy Initiative for Africa in the category of increasing power capacity with bioelectricity as a pilot that will be replicated not only in Uganda but Africa as a whole,” said Syed Waqar Haider, Sector Leader for Biomass Energy Initiative for Africa.

The Apac project involves technology transfer for electricity generation from biodegradable wastes (water hyacinth, grass, kitchen waste, market waste, fish waste, agricultural waste etc) for electricity generation. The project is intended to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of providing electricity to a rural community from renewable energy and how decentralized production of renewable energy out of biomass can contribute to solving the energy shortage in rural areas.


The project is located at the Kayei Landing Site in a community with about 5,000 people that have no electricity access. The major economic activity in this area is fishing resulting in large volumes of fish and fish waste. The fish are normally sold off fresh and cheaply because of lack of refrigeration. The availability of electricity would allow for refrigeration and could improve the viability of the fishing business.

It is expected that after the project is completed within a year, the beneficiary households will substitute biogas for kerosene in their homes and petrol used by generators in the village. The project has training and research component to promote more efficient feedstock supply and efficient use of biogas slurry.


Contacts:

In Apac: Sam Olili Egir
samolili@gmail.com
+256 773 433 511

In Apac: Jing Li
jli6@worldbank.org
+256 773 433 511

In Kampala: Steven Shalita
sshalita@worldbank.org
+256 414 302 236



For more information on the World Bank please visit: www.worldbank.org

For more information on the World Bank in Africa please visit: www.worldbank.org/africa

Sunday, January 29, 2012

HOW CAN GOVERNMENT OF UGANDA RECOVER ARMS IN ILLEGAL HANDS?

Government launches new gun policy

By John K. Abimanyi


Posted Monday, January 30 2012 at 00:00

In its efforts to curb the abundance and abuse of small and light weapons, the government has launched a new policy on firearms and ammunition.
The policy calls for a new legal regime to oversee the acquisition, use and storage of firearms.
The policy was unveiled last week by the Uganda National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons, a department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs that was created in 2003 to handle of illicit small arms.
The policy calls for a new law to replace the 1970 Firearms Act, which is deemed not to go far enough in monitoring gun acquisition for instance.
The proposed new law, which is currently being drafted, will for example, require people interested in owning a firearm to go through two forms of tests.

Handling guns
One will check for the applicant’s theoretical knowledge of the laws overseeing firearms while another will check for their physical ability to use, carry and store firearms. They will also have to complete a training course on handling and use of guns.
The policy also allows for the trade of gunsmiths. These will be allowed to assemble, repair, refurbish, customise, modify or even deactivate firearms but not to manufacture. They will be required to have a gunsmith’s licence before starting their trade and will also be limited only to working on firearms licensed to civilians.
The policy proposes that public areas like hospitals, schools, theatres, museums, entertainment venues be declared firearm-free areas, with an exemption of law enforcement officers who are on duty. Any individual or institution should also be able to declare their premises as fire-arm free.
This report came a week after Santos Komakech Makmot, a bodyguard of the Kampala Capital City Authority Director of Physical Planning, Mr George Agaba, shot dead one person at Port Bell Luzira and injured three others during an eviction. It raised the concern over who is allowed to access a gun in Uganda.

Gun-related deaths
In a speech read by Ms Josephine Wasike, an undersectary at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the state minister, Mr James Baba, warned that firearms had become an attractive tool of violence because they were cheap and are easily concealable. He said firearms were responsible for 50 per cent of crime-related deaths.

THERE IS NEED TO UNDERTAKE INDEPENDENT RESEARCH REGARDING WHAT GOES ON IN UGANDA’S JUDICIARY

When Prof. George Kanyeihamba writes about the rot in the judiciary, surely one has to believe him given his long time practice in the judiciary service in Uganda. It is no surprise that the players in judiciary get external influence. What we need is facts and then come up with a way forward. This calls for undertaking research to find out the truth.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
This is how the Executive outfoxes the Judiciary
By Prof. George Kanyeihamba
Posted Sunday, January 22 2012 at 00:00
Ask Ugandan lawyers about the state, independence, impartiality, quality and performance of judges and judicial officers. The majority of the answers on most of these characteristics will be discouraging and negative. Lawyers who care and who do not benefit through unethical behaviour and lack of integrity in the profession will, if they are candid enough, reveal that the methods of vetting new recruits into the Judiciary are either very poor or non-existent. They will name the incompetent, the corrupt and the biased. They will narrate stories of how they or their clients were compromised or blackmailed by corrupt judicial officials. The system of nominating, appointing and disciplining judges and other judicial officers have become political and personalised. Allegations of corruption, abuse of judicial office and evidence amply justifying those allegations is freely available, but it seems no one wishes to do anything about these ghastly failures in our judicial service. The existence of this kind of behaviour and reactions or, to be exact, non-reactions, inevitably means that Uganda grossly lacks what may be termed in other jurisdictions ideal or acceptable standards of justice. The practice of nominating and approving the least desirable and qualified judges and judicial officers has been perfected under the National Resistance Movement party. Many lawyers know and regret the major reason why Uganda has sank below the level line of countries which are recognised as champions of independent, impartial and respected Judiciaries.
These are Judiciaries designed, protected and respected to interpret the law correctly and administer justice impartially. The trick used by the ruling party leadership to achieve this feat has been to ensure the absence of an independent and courageous Judiciary by establishing and sustaining weak and intimidated leaderships of the Judicial Service Commission, the Chambers of the Attorney-General and of the Judiciary in preference to fearless and principled ones that would represent and constantly fight for an independent, impartial and fearless Judicial institution. The institutions and personnel of the bodies set up under the NRM party to service the Judiciary have been deliberately or otherwise rendered toothless. The consequences of undermining or belittling the Judiciary have been disastrous for the country and litigants alike. The Judiciary has become a laughing stork of its critics. The quest for proper interpretation of the law and proper administration of Justice have yielded no or few responses. Corruption and incompetence have increased citizens’ dissatisfaction and cries for justice. Cases of disappointed litigants have increased as reports of incompetent and corrupt judicial officers have increased. Allegations of wrong-doing and improper conduct have become rampant in all sectors involving law and justice. According to the Constitution, Judicial power is derived from the people and shall be exercised by the courts in the name of the people and in conformity with the law and with the values, norms and aspirations of the people. Considering what Parliament, the press and the President have between them testified about the alleged offences of Hassan Basajjabalaba and other suspects, how can a Judge of the High Court, oblivious to all credible evidence regarding the same, block attempts by the government to recover Shs169 billion “irregularly” awarded to him? If a journalist of a daily newspaper is correct that a judge of the High Court who happens to be hearing land cases issued a temporary injunction blocking the Auditor General, the minister of Finance and Uganda Revenue Authority and other government agencies from investigating or taking any steps to recover part or the whole sum, then this country is in crisis.
I have seen and read several such injunctions and applications intended solely to delay or defeat justice. It is high time that the law relating to injunctions was reviewed by the Chief Justice’s initiative. The Executive arm of government has through directives and in defiance of the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, manipulated Articles 142 and 147(2), and imposed its own interpretation of the same with no effective protest or opposition from the Judiciary or the Uganda Law Society or, indeed, the entire national legal fraternity. In practice, the Executive today nominates or rejects any candidate for any office regardless of the position the candidate is nominated for in the hierarchy of the Judiciary.
Justice Kanyeihamba is a retired Supreme Court Judge.
gwkany@yahoo.com

THE REPORT THAT DEBTS ARE CHOKING NATIONAL WATER IS UNFORTUNATE

When the donor community read a report like the one below, their first reaction is that the Enterprise is privatized, however, we have seen more tax payer resources go to privatized entities like the former Uganda Electricity Board, we way to go is to better manage enterprises like National Water. This enterprise has the salary structure that calls for review more so what the chief executive officer gets. Surely, if there is responsible auditing, areas like where it is reported that the chief executive’s car hire arrangement costs shs600,000 a day are abnormal! How does expert at management spend money that way? It is absurd, but the NWSC situation can surely be corrected.
Debts choke National Water
By Chris Obore
Posted Saturday, January 28 2012 at 00:00
In Summary
More repercussions. The indebted corporation now cannot replace some of the rotten pipes at the main water treatment point in Ggaba. National Water and Sewerage Corporation once touted as an example of a good performing state enterprise is rolling on huge debts curtailing its ability to connect water to new users. Saturday Monitor can reveal that as at January 9, NWSC had only Shs2.7 billion as cash at hand yet its debts for only six months to the same date stood at Shs8.9 billion. The Corporation’s financial statements show that NWSC was expected to have paid creditors, including staff allowances, to the tune of Shs6 billion by January 15 but it has failed instead it has been drowning in ‘wasteful’ expenditure according to board minutes obtained by Saturday Monitor. Although the corporation has Shs10 billion in fixed accounts, this money accrued from the sale of its houses, other fixed assets and foreign loans and is not available for daily running of the entity. According to the Corporation’s financial statements, copies of which Saturday Monitor has obtained, creditors’ [suppliers] audited vouchers for cheque writing within 30 days amounted to Shs460.9 million, between 30-60 days amounted to Shs375 million while those above 60 days were at Shs2.02 billion. Apparently, water pumps at the Corporation’s main water treatment point in Ggaba are only painted neatly despite their performance having dropped by nearly 50 per cent thus costing NWSC heavy power bills and there is no plan to replace aging pipes soon to ensure steady water supply to consumers. The Acting Managing Director, Eng. Alex Gisagara, said: “By the first week of February there will be new meters in the country and we shall connect some clients. We are shipping meters from Italy but there was a delay in Mombasa.” He said he had only been in office for hardly a month. Every year, NWSC spends Shs3 billion renting cars from Victoria Motors. This money would buy at least 30 vehicles at Shs100 million each. The Corporation owes Victoria Motors Shs18.7 million for hire of a vehicle that was used by former Managing Director William Muhairwe in the month of October 2011 alone meaning that at least Shs600,000 was spent on the MD’s car daily. Other costs that reveal lack of frugality in the corporation’s financial management include DSTV subscription, air tickets and hotel bills [lunch] which amount to more than Shs15 million in one month. The e-water payment system, introduced to help clients pay their bills at the nearest bank branch is costing NWSC Shs600 million annually from the previous Shs100m in bank charges.

Now, the public utility’s board is accusing the Corporation’s top managers of falsifying accounts and presenting a skewed financial image to the public “Management was so obsessed to maintain the image that they had turned the Corporation around by falsifying facts/records to support the claim. Any issue that would portray NWSC as being in deficit would be fought at both institutional and personal level,” reads part of board minutes dated November 2010.
More accusations
The board also accuses the managers of making it difficult for government to establish a regulator for the water sector so that an independent agency with technical competence could scrutinize the performance of the Corporation without undue pressure. According to the board, the government in 2007, through the European Union and GTZ, engaged a foreign firm, M/S Fitchner in association with Beller Accounts and M&E Associates to undertake asset re-evaluation in NWSC with the view of preparing the Corporation for public listing. “The firm did the assignment professionally on the basis of internationally acceptable best practices but the outcome showed that NWSC was already in deficit and would continue to be so for many years to come,” reads the document.

cobore@ug.nationmedia.com

HOW CAN THE AUDITOR GENERAL FAIL TO LOCATE AGGREKO?

Uganda is a sad story. If the Auditor General is mandated to audit all areas where Government spends money, how can a company refuse to get documents concerning its agreements the basis on which payments are made among other things? Those in authority ought to move from childish way of doing business and realize that they have to do their duties professionally. Many of these reflections like those concerning Aggreko are real scandals. How can the auditor general on a serious note say that he failed to locate a company onwhich Government spends billions? If it is not a lie, then Uganda needs a lot of prayers.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
Auditor General fails to acquire info on Aggreko
By NELSON WESONGA
Posted Thursday, January 26 2012 at 00:00
In Summary
The power generator reportedly refused to provide information about its operations. The Auditor General’s attempts to review the power purchase agreements between the government and thermal power generator, Aggreko, have hit a snag with the latter refusing to provide information about its operations. Due to delays in commissioning Bujagali Dam, the government early this month extended Aggreko’s contract by three months, something that will earn the company Shs432 billion. Mr John Muwanga, the Auditor General, told Parliament’s Ad hoc Committee on Energy that despite several requests over a period of six months, the company did not honour requests to provide information. “Aggreko did not cooperate with my review,” said Mr Muwanga while appearing before the committee. Article 163 of the 1995 Constitution mandates the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) to conduct financial and value for money audits in respect to any projects involving public funds. The AG in September started a review of the energy sector to assess the extent to which the objectives of the energy sector reforms have been achieved and is expected to submit its findings to Parliament. He said it was ‘poor planning’ to extend the first two contracts with Aggreko by three years each instead of one six-year contract. “If the licences had been for [a] six-year duration, the tariff would have been lower,” said Mr Muwanga. The AG’s attempts to locate the physical address of Aggreko and its shareholders have also been taxing because its (Aggreko) office on Kampala Road ‘could not be located’ and as a result the AG office was referred to Dubai.
Brief case company
Mr Simon Mulongo, Bubulo East MP (NRM), said Aggreko ‘could be a briefcase company’. Mr Anthony Kimuli, an official from the OAG, said they would turn to the Registrar of Companies to establish the shareholders of Aggreko. The Senior Legal Counsel in the OAG, Ms Caroline Banabana, said Parliament should amend the Companies Act so as to give the Auditor General power to audit private firms. “We wouldn’t want a situation where we audit a private company and later be sued for acting beyond our powers,” said Ms Banabana. However, Ms Ann Maria Nankabirwa, MP for Kyankwanzi (NRM), said since such private firms are doing business with the government, it does not require amendment of the law, adding that the OAG is supposed to protect the interests of the government.

nwesonga@ug.nationmedia.com

BETTER TO HAVE OIL DELAYED IF IT IS A BETTER BARGAIN CAN BE MADE FOR THE COUNTRY

It is a matter of common sense that once transparency is not given chance, corruption prevails. If the Oil deals (agreements etc) lacked transparency, there must have been corruption, otherwise, there is no justification to have made a transaction or transactions binding all Ugandans as shareholders in Uganda in a deal that was not given chance of serious scrutiny by the brains around to see it a win situation for the people of Uganda. If the Oil agreements can be made afresh. It is the best option for the future of the people of Uganda.
Regarding what the new Tullow oil Uganda chief Eoin Mekie says that it will cost independent businesses the most. He argues that keeping people motivated is not easy, and that the service contractors who invested heavily in the belief that there will be a growing industry are being let down. “They have borrowed money, they have brought in trucks and trains of international standards to support our operations, and we’ve been sitting idle,” surely, it is sad, but if corruption was involved, the people of Uganda are not to blame, but those who want to benefit from reaping what they did not sew.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
Oil delay: Who wins, loses?
A crucible of oil
By Isaac Imaka & Philippa Croome
Posted Saturday, January 28 2012 at 00:00
In Summary
Harsh reality. Oil exploration is teetering with unforeseen impacts and costs, which have only highlighted how far away Ugandans are from seeing any oil benefits at all. Saturday Monitor’s Isaac Imaka & Philippa Croome review last year’s oil tumult and its impact on the sector.
Ever since the quintet of Theodore Ssekikubo, Abdul Katuntu, Gerald Karuhanga, Muhammad Nsereko and Wilfred Niwagaba threw a spanner in the works by bringing oil company bribery allegations to the forefront in October last year, Uganda’s promising-yet-troubled oil sector has been running up against a brick wall. The last quarter of 2011 was characterized by endless court battles over the $404 million (Shs945 billion) capital gains tax – a case still awaiting final arbitration – which calls for transparency and resignation of government officials who were implicated in the bribery scandal. This was met by declarations from many that Uganda had fulfilled the predictions, and the oil curse had finally taken its hold. The halting of oil exploration activities, the legal wrangling over contracts and finger pointing that came with it have spilled not only into politics, but into a renewed public’s distrust of government officials and oil companies alike. Before the MPs intervention, it was some kind of a stillbirth. We had as a country given up,” says Makerere University social researcher Dr Ntale Kisekka. “The sector had been shrouded in secrecy; contracts had been hidden away from both the Legislature and the public. We had seen the curse set in even before the first drop.”
He adds that last years’ oil wrangles are likely to change the political play too.
“We had come to witness a situation where the executive and the legislature had become fused to be one,” he says. “But because of the oil debate, it is no longer business as usual to transfer business from the executive the legislature.” The brakes being put on Uganda’s fledging oil sector by Parliament has been by and large praised. Some say it will bring in a new era of individual responsibility. But in terms of costs to Uganda, was the tumult worth it in the long run? In the Albertine Valley, work has stalled. Contractors, rigs and oil pipes lie idle, and the cost of them not being used will ultimately be paid by government in the form of lost profits, which oil companies can reclaim down the road. Dr Kisekka says if the first parliamentary resolution of not signing any new agreements is adhered to until firm laws are put in place, it will help ensure that institutions are strengthened and that new laws will be well implemented. But in the industry and business view if the companies have to end up to sit for another year waiting because of the moratorium, new Tullow oil Uganda chief Eoin Mekie says it will cost independent businesses the most. He argues that keeping people motivated is not easy, and that the service contractors who invested heavily in the belief that there will be a growing industry are being let down. “They have borrowed money, they have brought in trucks and trains of international standards to support our operations, and we’ve been sitting idle,” Mr Mekie said. “The point is this is not an industry you can just stop. It’s going to happen whether now, whether it’s in one year’s time, it’s going to happen - you can’t ‘undiscover’ it.” The potential is huge, but as Uganda is constantly reminded, so are the risks. Invoking the ghost of the oil curse of Angola, Gabon, or Nigeria is nothing new. But Tullow executives say Nigeria for instance was undone in the 60s and that since, the industry has come a long way. “Let’s not think ourselves into a Nigerian basket,” says Ms Trina Fahey, Tullow Oil’s regional external affairs manager for Southern and Eastern Africa, who cites Botswana and Malaysia as success stories never mentioned.
Key issues to iron out before exploration resumes
Key agreements still need to be ironed out. The government and oil companies have disagreed on the stabilization clause – whether a change in policy or government down the road can affect oil profits. The government argues that accepting to “top up” the profits of oil companies if they are negatively affected due to a change in law is not only bad, but gags Parliament’s authority to freely make laws. Most MPs are in support of this view, but Tullow Oil’s CEO Eoin Mekie argues the benefits from oil have to be thought of long-term. “Obviously if you are a politician, you want action within your five-year term, whereas we are looking at the next 30 or 40 years,” he said.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

WILL MAKERERE VC; BARYAMUREEBA SURVIVE THE PROBE?

Makerere VC Barya faces probe over grant

I know it is a fight over the Vice Chancellor’s job, but I am not worried because all the documents are there [to prove the project’s successful implementation," says Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, Makerere VC
By Tabu Butagira (email the author)
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Posted Friday, January 27 2012 at 00:00

The Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, is being investigated over allegations that he mismanaged a Dutch-funded scholarship scheme for PhD students worth Euros 5.7m (Shs17 billion).
But the VC in an interview on Wednesday denied any wrongdoing, saying both internal and external auditors evaluated the project expenses without raising accountability queries.
President Museveni is expected to appoint a substantive VC for Makerere University soon.
The Dutch Embassy in Kampala said it already raised the anomalies with its Foreign Affairs Ministry that in turn notified the implementing agency to commence inquiries.
“As the embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands strongly values accountability and transparency, we have followed up on these allegations,” Mr Melle Leenstra, the Political and Public Affairs officer, wrote in reply to our email enquiries.
He added: “We understand that NUFFIC (The Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education) is investigating the issue. We expect that the applicable Ugandan authorities will duly investigate this matter.”

Makerere’s former Faculty of Computing (CIT) hosted the four-year project to help academic staff from four Ugandan public universities “strengthen ICT training and research capacity”.

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Prof. Baryamureeba coordinated the project that closed on May 30, 2011.

Suspect handling of the project came to light following revelations that a March 4, 2008 CIT Appointments and Promotions Committee meeting chaired by Prof. Baryamureeba as the faculty Dean, waived tuition for the 20 beneficiaries yet NUFFIC disbursed Euros160, 000 (Shs480m) for the same purpose.

Insufficient funding?
The VC said they used the Dutch funds – an average of Euros2,000 per PhD student each year - to pay full tuition for students from other universities and functional fees for Makerere University staff on the scholarship.
The balance of the money was credited to the faculty account and used for paying supervisors and buying stationery, he said.
Prof. Baryamureeba said: “The reason we waived the tuition was because the scholarship funds were insufficient.”
University records show a number of the students are yet to complete their PhD programmes months after the scholarship programme wound up.
This newspaper has established that nine of the beneficiaries have applied to the Directorate of Graduate Studies for between $12, 000 -15, 000 (Shs28.7m-35.9m) of Carnegie Corporation grants.
One of the students, Ms Fridah Katushemererwe, a NUFFIC beneficiary, for instances states in her August 15, 2011 application that her PhD research project delayed due to “lack of funds for both tuition and research”, claiming she even took a dead academic year in 2007.
It was not clear how a student offered a scholarship and later rewarded with tuition waiver could have been in such financial distress to take a dead year or fail to conduct research.
After their applications for Carnegie grants were turned down, Dr Josephine Nabukenya, the Dean of the School of Computing & IT, on October 6, 2011, wrote on behalf of the PhD students to the deputy directorate of Graduate Studies, Dr George Nasinyama, pleading for financial assistance to them

UGANDA QUALIFIES TO BE CALLED A POLICE STATE

UGANDA DROPS IN PRESS FREEDOM RANKING

Police block Activists for Change members from accessing a road in Kasubi on Wednesday. Daily Monitor photojournalist Isaac Kasamani was shot at by security personnel while covering the event. PHOTO BY ISAAC KASAMANI

By Andrew Bagala
Posted Thursday, January 26 2012 at 00:00
In Summary

According to the Reporters Without Borders ranking covering 2011 activities, Uganda has dropped from 96 to the 139th position out of 170 countries surveyed worldwide.


Kampala

Alleged brutality by security forces against journalists and proposed draconian legislation against newspapers have plunged Uganda 43 places lower in the latest press freedom ranking by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The RSF report was released yesterday, a day after Daily Monitor photographer Isaac Kasamani was shot at by plain clothes security personnel travelling in a police van.
The civil society yesterday condemned the attack on the photojournalist who was covering the opposition Activists for Change rally in Kasubi, Kampala.
The RSF report covering 2011 activities, said Uganda had dropped to the 139th position out of 170 countries surveyed world-wide.
The Press Freedom Index notes that an increased number of journalists in Uganda reported more acts of violence meted out on them by security agencies. “Journalists in Uganda were the targets of violence and surveillance during the presidential election in February (2011) and were targeted again during the brutal crackdown on the Walk-to-Work protests later in the year, when dozens of journalists were arrested,” the report indicated.
The report claims that President Museveni “launched an unprecedented crackdown on opposition movements and independent media after the elections in February”. Since April, 2011, when the Walk-to-Work protests started, several journalists and media houses have reported incidents of harassment by government officials.
For instance, Capital FM reporter Gideon Tugume was allegedly shot in the knee while covering demonstrations, police detectives questioned Daily Monitor’s Tabu Butagira for publishing a post-ballot interview with the opposition leader Kizza Besigye and dozens of journalists were injured after police and soldiers beat them up while covering the politician’s home-coming on May 12. Because of these tendencies, RSF’s report lumped Uganda in the same league with Morocco and Russia
Finland and Norway topped the press freedom index table while Eritrea and North Korea were at the bottom. Information minister Mary Karooro Okurut said yesterday that the report does not give the “accurate picture of press freedom in Uganda”. “Some of those people are after a different agenda and you know it,” she said, “Who doesn’t know that Uganda has the biggest sphere for press freedom among countries south of the Sahara?”
Ms Okurut said even when journalists are harassed, they are avenues for arbitration and legal redress. Mr Haruna Kanabi of the Independent Media Council, Uganda, echoed the report’s assertion that press freedom are deteriorating in Uganda especially for those reporting about issues of governance.
“Today, a Ugandan journalist who wants to cover such stories must think twice, first about the property he carries, his or her life, and the consequence of his or her reporting,” Mr Kanabi said. He said due to narrowing press freedoms, media houses have started reporting about leisure and fashion other than governance issues as a safe zone.
On Saturday, Capital FM’s Tugume was attacked and his wife beaten by armed men as he was driving with his family, according the Human Rights for Journalist-Uganda coordinator, Mr Ssebagala Wokulira.

WAS MUSEVENI'S WAR CALLED FOR?

At this material time, one can say authoritatively that the Museveni '5 year so-called Uganda liberation war was meant to benefit some of those who were involved in it and a good number who have joined the looting spree for the national resources. It is absurd that people who came de-campaigning those who were in power are rated negatively across the board. The NRM is a sad story for Uganda and Africa at large and it is shameful. There is a lot that has gone on during Museveni's Presidency which is a shame for democracy, and good for the greedy and those who are there to lot national resources. The stories in the oil sector are so scandalous, but cannot be wised away given the degenerated nature of the regime which could rape the Constitution that had been made with the country at large. We see terrible expenditures for security just to sustain bad governance. It is greed which is currently reflected in developments in form of infrastructure where big names hide their real identities. it is a scandal to hear of would responsible people in NRM involved in purchase of buildings in town and with such developments, corruption cannot be rule out.
What may be most unfortunate is the development of violence as we are witnessing today, which is counter to positive economic development. Museveni would have done a service to Uganda if he had stopped is tenure in 2006. That was long enough, but for him to assume that because he made struggles to power a life job, that Ugandans will stand the type of situation they are going trough is simply to deceive himself. It is hard to fight poverty when the Government of the day instead promotes poverty. How do you explain the currency which came into the system to support the NRM to bribe voters so that the victory is theirs? If only leaders like Museveni were wiser, they would not ruin their countries, but because power corrupts and it corrupts absolutely, now Museveni is waiting for an uprising to get him out of office which is most unfortunate.
Look at UPE, the hospitals, everything else has gone to ruins a part from developments by a few. The Museveni leadership has unfortunately gone into the books of History where a would be freedom fighter turns around and only looks for his own ends, otherwise how does one explain what is going on? Buy jets when there are no drugs, surely, we deserve better.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

MUSEVENI ON SPOT AFTER 26 YEARS IN OFFICE

Consolidation of national security and eliminating sectarianism is one of the aims of the NRM government.
By Yasiin Mugerwa

Posted Thursday, January 26 2012 at 00:00

In Summary

Twenty-six years after President Museveni shot his way to power after a five-year bush war, there is growing criticism that he has betrayed the ideals which persuaded thousands of comrades, some fallen today, to join the struggle. Uganda’s democratic deficit, despite the promise that elections would never be rigged again, economic stagnation, widespread corruption, state-inspired terror and other forms of impunity describe the national debate.

KAMPALA

Today, President Museveni celebrates 26 years in power amid accusations by opponents and independents that he has betrayed Ugandans.
Mr Museveni promised the country as he ascended to power on January 26, 1986 that “No one should think that what is happening today is a mere change of guard; it is a fundamental change in the politics of our country.”
This promise stirred a lot of expectations within a traumatised populations. Twenty-six years after, and about 15 years since Mr Museveni’s 1996 landslide victory in the first general election since the controversial 1980 polls which he lost, the popularity of the regime has waned.
In 2005, the 1995 Constitution was amended to remove presidential term limits after some MPs in the 7th Parliament received Shs5 million each to vote for removing term limits, paving the way for Mr Museveni to run for office in perpetuity.
Former bush-war comrades like Maj (rtd) John Kazoora and the Forum for Democratic Change leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, have long abandoned Mr Museveni, accusing him and other “liberators [of] becoming establishment reactionaries”. Such criticism is, however, thought too harsh by some political analysts.
“Any fair-minded person would give Museveni and the NRM credit for the good things they have done, or those that have happened because of the relative stability they brought to this country’s politics,” political analyst and Makerere University researcher, Dr Fredrick Golooba Mutebi, said.
“And one should not forget to mention the economy which has grown thanks to management by very competent technocrats at the ministry of finance and the central bank.” Available figures indicate that in 1986, the government was collecting only Shs5 billion as opposed to Shs6,000 billion today. But the economy is presently struggling.
Dr Golooba says significantly security personnel no longer kill and rob on the scale Ugandans used to see before 1986. “We have also seen continued attempts at improving the lives of ordinary people. Educational and health facilities have been built, attempts have been made to modernise agriculture, micro credit has been made available,” he said. These interventions have generally brought the regime some goodwill.
The fact that Mr Museveni was also originally enthusiastic about a broad-based government which encompassed all shades of political opinion including the then Democratic Party president, Dr Paul Ssemogerere, would have formed good ground for future political stability.
But Uganda has steadily reverted to a brand of divisive and vindictive politics not dissimilar from the factionalism which ruined the country between 1966 and 1980 as Mr Museveni consolidated his position. Opposition politicians bemoan their conviction that the President has split the country through nepotistic tendencies.

No change
“Nepotism is a reality in Museveni’s government,” Uganda Peoples Congress’ Okello-Okello told Daily Monitor. “If we may carry out an audit of all public employees in juicy ministries and agencies you will appreciate what some of us have been talking about all along. One cannot be employed on merit.”
The veteran Chua MP believes that: “the President’s failure to combat corruption is making matters worse. The fat cats in his government are busy amassing wealth as Ugandans get poorer. The economy is messed up and service delivery is in shambles because of corruption.”
To opposition politicians and independents, say the celebration of the NRM’s liberation day has lost its appeal. Countrywide poverty, restrictions on democracy under Uganda’s pseudo multi-party political dispensation, entrenched corruption, patronage, police brutality and widespread unemployment are some of the reasons Mr Okello-Okello feel “fundamental change” was lost.
Maj. Kazoora, now a senior member of Uganda’s largest opposition group, FDC, notes that the country lost its way when Mr Museveni chose to cling onto power. “President Museveni wrote a book ‘What is Africa’s problem?’ and answered himself, saying ‘it’s overstaying in power’. Unfortunately he is about to clock 30 years in power and he doesn’t see any problem with that. He wrote in the 2005 manifesto eight times, saying that it will be his last term in office but it appears this was a lie”.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

THE ROT IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IS REAL AND SOME NRM PARTY MEMBERS ARE BENEFICIALLY

Sanity in a number of sectors in Uganda's economy may only return when God helps the country to be liberated from the current leadership. Short of that, it is sad. There is no such a thing among many in leadership circles of NRM as love for the country. The love is for own accumulation and the fruits are clear for all to see. Hopeless service delivery.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
2011 PLE results expose learning gap between urban and rural schools

Pupils such as these in rural areas are left to vend foodstuffs or other family chores instead of attending school. Photo by Stephen Otage

By Sarah Tumwebaze
Posted Saturday, January 21 2012 at 00:00
In Summary

Inequalities. Despite the shared opportunity of free primary education, rural schools, teachers and pupils suffer a lot more challenges ranging from poor attitudes, lack of motivation and lacking materials.
It is about 8am in Ibanda District and a 15-year-old boy, who is supposed to be at school, is busy grazing cattle. With him are two other boys, six and eight years of age, all holding sticks which they use to drive their cattle out of the road as cars pass by.
Away in Ntoroko District around the same time, a 10-year-old boy is seated by the lakeside, waiting to draw out fishnets from the lake while others wash the nets after the night’s catch.
The story is not different in Kyegegwa, where a young girl is seen either carrying a hoe on her way to the garden or another is strolling her way down to the market with a basket of tomatoes.
All of these children are enrolled in various primary schools around the districts. However, on these particular days, these youngsters had absconded from studies because, according to them, they have “to help at home”.
This means that they will miss whatever will be taught that day. Even when they copy notes, they will miss out on the explanation, failing to fully understand what they have copied.
And for their age-mates who have chosen to attend lessons, 9am-time when classes begin, finds them trekking to school. Meaning, their starting time for classes will be stretched to about 10am.

MALARIA DRUG MAKERS SEE THE LIGHT

Malaria Drugmakers See the Light
by Kai Kupferschmidt on 18 January 2012, 1:37 P
Bottled nature. Production of the antimalarial drug artemisinin (inset) still involves planting sweet wormwood and extracting the compound.
Credit: Jorge Ferreira

Artemisinin, a crucial drug in the global fight against malaria, could soon become cheaper and easier to make, thanks to researchers who have found a better way to synthesize the compound. "The impact of this is hard to overestimate," says Jack Newman, an industrial chemist at Amyris Biotechnologies in Emeryville, California, who was not involved in the work. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 655,000 people died of malaria in 2010, "and while there is a cure," Newman says, "the supply chain to make artemisinin has been a huge problem."

Artemisinin is naturally produced by a plant called sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), which has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine. In 1972, pharmaceutical scientist Tu Youyou, as part of a project for the Chinese government, identified the active compound, a discovery for which she was honored with the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award last year. Since 2001, WHO has recommended that so-called artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs)—in which artemisinin is combined with another drug—replace older, ineffective drugs worldwide. These combinations have become a cornerstone of malaria control and are believed to have saved many lives.

Synthesizing artemisinin from scratch has been too costly and cumbersome so far, however, and the plant holds only a tiny fraction of artemisinin—between 0.001% and 0.8%. As a result, ACTs still cost between $1 and $2 per treatment course, which is a problem; poor patients who buy their own drugs often choose cheaper but less effective alternatives.

But sweet wormwood also produces artemisinic acid, a related molecule; during the extraction of 1 kilogram of artemisinin, as much as 10 kilograms of artemisinic acid is produced, which is currently thrown away because its conversion into artemisinin is not cost-effective. Now, chemist Peter Seeberger and his postdoc François Lévesque at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, say they may have conquered that problem.

Artemisinin's activity depends on its so-called endoperoxide group, a bridge of two oxygen atoms that spans one of the molecule's three rings. To make artemisinin from artemisinic acid, chemists need to create the bridge by introducing reactive oxygen molecules called singlet oxygen. This can be done by shining light on "normal" oxygen molecules, a process known as photochemistry. Scaling up this procedure to an industrial level is hard, however, because the bigger reaction the vessels get, the less light they let in and the less reactive oxygen is produced.

Seeberger and Lévesque bypassed that problem by using so-called flow chemistry, in which the reactions happen while the chemicals are flowing through a thin tube. By wrapping the tube around the light source, they dramatically increased the volume in which reactive oxygen is produced. In a first step, artemisinic acid is reduced to dihydroartemisinic acid. This product and oxygen are pumped into the tube, where they mix; the light then activates the oxygen, which reacts with the acid to produce a precursor of artemisinin. Then the team adds trifluoroacetic acid to the mix, cleaving a carbon ring in the molecule, which then reacts with the molecular oxygen in the tube to produce artemisinin. The yield after purification is about 40% , the researchers report this week in Angewandte Chemie.

"The whole reaction takes 4½ minutes, and we can now produce 800 grams of artemisinin a day with this little machine," Seeberger said yesterday at a press conference in Berlin, where he showed a suitcase-sized prototype of the reaction system. "In 3 months, we want to be able to produce 2 kilograms a day with this," he added. Seeberger says his first reactor cost about $60,000 to produce, but a new one would cost only $12,000, and the price could come down to $10,000.

"This is a good piece of science", says Geoff Brown, a chemist studying artemisinin at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. Seeberger has patented the technology but has not talked to pharmaceutical companies yet. "That starts today," he said at the press conference. He hopes that his discovery will allow much more artemisinin to be extracted from the plants.

That would not solve another issue in artemisinin production, however. "The real problem with the crop is that you have to forecast your need 14 months in advance," Newman says, "because that is the time it takes to plant and harvest the plants and extract artemisinin." The resulting volatility in prices has driven many farmers to other crops.

Because of this, Newman says, the finding will have the biggest impact in combination with artemisinic acid production from other sources. Amyris has engineered yeast to produce artemisinic acid, and Sanofi is planning to produce 10 tons of artemisinin—enough for some 20 million treatments—from it this year. Although the details of this work are not public, there have been reports of problems with the conversion from artemisinic acid to artemisinin. "I would suspect that the continuous conversion of artemisinic acid to artemisinin, which is outlined in Seeberger's paper, may be a substantial improvement," Brown says.

Friday, January 20, 2012

WITH THE MESSED UP ECONOMY, POWER TARIFF INCREASE ARE OKAY IF VAT CAN REDUCE

The NRM Government messed up Uganda's economy towards the 2011 Elections, in whatever they do, they should know that the people of Uganda are suffering because of their greed and failure to do the right economics which led to the injection of money into the economy. The wise thing to do, is at least to reduce the tariff by half.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka

Power tariffs increase okay, says Museveni

Mr Museveni

By YASIIN MUGERWA

Posted Saturday, January 21 2012 at 00:00

Electricity consumers will have to bear the brunt of increased power tariffs after President Museveni rejected calls to stop the new charges from taking effect.

The President, who was speaking at the on-going NRM Caucus retreat in Kyankwanzi on Thursday, attacked Energy Minister Irene Muloni for not consulting the NRM Caucus before announcing the tariffs. The President, according to sources, forced Ms Muloni to apologise to the Caucus.

However, the President backed the 36 per cent increase in tariffs, saying the costs of subsidising power were unbearable. “The President said the new power tariffs must go on and that Parliament cannot stop them,” a source said.

No money for subsidies
Mr Museveni reportedly said government could not continue spending billions of shillings on power subsidies when Bujagali Hydro Power Dam will be officially launched in April this year.
However, lawmakers expressed concern that although Bujagali was going to reduce intermittent load-shedding, it is irrelevant to the high tariffs.

Mr Museveni reportedly said the government cannot continue spending Shs1.7 trillion on subsidies even though Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) in its presentation to Parliament last week, indicated that the amount government has so far spent on subsidies since 2005, is Shs1 trillion.

ERA increased the consumer tariffs by 36 per cent and commercial dues by 69.7 per cent. But in a statement from the acting government Chief Whip, Mr Daudi Migereko, Museveni said: “It’s not right for the ad hoc committee to stop the power tariffs announced by ERA. Adjusting the power tariffs upwards is the only way of meeting the costs of producing electricity needed to run the economy .”
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The President according to sources said nobody was going to stop the new power tariffs— not even Parliament. The President also accused the Parliament’s Ad hoc Committee on Energy chaired by Mr Jacob Oboth-Oboth of being overzealous in its investigations into the alleged corruption in the power sector.
However, when Saturday Monitor contacted Mr Oboth-Oboth, he dismissed claims that the issue of power tariffs was part of the terms of reference.

“We were told to investigate the subsidies and power tariffs unless that has been changed in Kyankwanzi. We are not superimposing ourselves, our mandate is in black and white. But I need to verify the context under which the President made such remarks, otherwise our stand remains: Government must stay the implementation of the new power tariff until we are through with our investigations.”

According to the statement, Mr Museveni observed that Oboth-Oboth’s ad hoc committee had specific terms of reference which did not include stopping the power tariffs.

The committee which is investigating the allegations of massive corruption in the power sector had halted the new power tariffs until its report is debated and the recommendations adopted by Parliament.
President warned Parliament against interfering with the mandate of ERA.

The President was reacting to a statement from the Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka who told the caucus that the construction of Karuma Dam was going to delay over unforeseen engineering challenges. The project is expected to cost$2.2 billion.

ymugerwa@ug.nationmedia.com

Thursday, January 19, 2012

HOWEVER MUCH MUSEVENI EVADES SUCCESSION DEBATE, ONE DAY HE WILL GO


Museveni evades succession debate

By Yasiin Mugerwa

Posted Thursday, January 19 2012 at 00:00

In Summary

NRM members thought now was appropriate time to know about the President’s succession plans but Caucus spokesperson said it was not on the agenda.

President Museveni on Tuesday sidestepped an attempt by some lawmakers to get him to shed light on the future of NRM after him.
Legislators led by Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga) wanted the President to open the discussion on the succession question reminding him about the constitutional age limit for a President.

However, he chose to remain silent on the matter which continues to simmer in political discussions inside and outside of Parliament.
Sources at the ongoing NRM Parliamentary Caucus retreat in Kyankwanzi told Daily Monitor that President Museveni, who is also the ruling party chairman, excused himself and reportedly went to the washrooms— asking his Secretary on Political Affairs, Mr David Mafabi, to answer the question.

“The President is our chairman and we cannot continue pretending that the age won’t catch up with him. The earlier we discuss the succession question the better,” a member, who requested not to be named in order to speak freely, said.

“It was annoying for the President to dodge this debate and go to the washrooms. It was out of order for the President to ask his junior to respond on his behalf.” Mr Mafabi reportedly asked MPs “where do you want him to go? the President is here”.

But when contacted, the NRM Caucus spokesperson, Ms Evelyn Anite, denied reports that the President dodged questions on his successor, adding that the matter came as a by-the-way and he was not under any obligation to respond.

“The issue of succession was not on our agenda, it only came up when the President was talking about subversion. The President’s view is that instead of clamouring for leadership positions, members must serve Ugandans first. His view is that you cannot lead without understanding party ideology and he emphasised this matter.
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There are MPs who have been in Parliament for 15 years but they are still asking about the NRM ideology.” Under Article 102 of the Constitution, a person is not qualified for election as President unless that person is 35-years-old and not more than 75 years of age.

Responding to calls by the former Prime Minister Kintu Musoke to disband cabinet over corruption accusations, the President only said: “That was Mzee Kintu’s opinion” and left the matter at that.

President Museveni also repeated what his critics have described as a never-ending song on the fight against corruption in his government.
The President told his audience that the fight against corruption is legitimate and reiterated that the NRM government will fight and defeat corruption.

Meanwhile, 15 professors from Makerere University gave lectures focussing on banana processing, electric car manufacturing and livestock production.

ymugerwa@ug.nationmedia.com

IT IS A VERY SENSIBLE MOVE FOR KENYA TO MORE THAN TRIPLE THE AGRICULTURE MINISTRY BUDGET

Kenya to more than triple Agric ministry budget

By Agencies

Posted Friday, January 20 2012 at 00:00

Kenya’s agricultural ministry is set to get $691 million for the next financial year beginning July from the current $198 million in order to accelerate the country’s agricultural output, the in ministry permanent secretary had said.
Dr Romano Koome said the huge increase of the sector’s budget will assist the country to set up projects to boost the rural economy. “Most of the budget will used to develop a commercially-oriented and modern agricultural sector which will increase productivity especially in small holdings,” Koome said.
Going into specifics, the PS said irrigation will receive $300 million seed and fertiliser fund will get $173 million, mechanisation project $81 million, while new storage facilities for farm produce has been allocated $58 million.
“We hope that farmers increase the uptake of modern technology in order to reduce the effects of land fragmentation, which is having negative impact on national production,” Kiome said during the public hearings on the medium term expenditure framework for 2012/13 to 2014/15.
He said the overall goal of the sector is to achieve a 7 percent growth rate per year over the next five years as the sector is key if the country is to achieve food security.
The PS said the sector contributes 26 percent to GDP and 60 percent of all export earnings. According to the ministry of Agriculture, tea, horticulture and coffee exports in 2010 amounted to $1.12 billion, 892 million dollars and 185 million dollars respectively.
“The sector is a key contributor to economic growth and therefore has important implications for poverty reduction. Experience has shown that when the sector grows the rest of the economy also grows as it is a large employer in the country,” Koome said.

IF THE PRESIDENT OF UGANDA CANNOT BE IMPEACHED THEN THE NRM REVOLUTION IS SIMPLY HOPELESS

State House scoffs at MPs attempt to impeach Museveni

Mr Lukyamuzi, Mr Mirundi and Mr Otto
By YASIIN MUGERWA & MERCY NALUGO

Posted Friday, January 20 2012 at 00:00

In Summary

What Constitution says

Article 107. Removal of the President.
(1) The President may be removed from office in accordance withthis article on any of the following grounds—

(a) Abuse of office or wilful violation of the oath of allegiance and the presidential oath or any provision of this Constitution.

(b) Misconduct or misbehaviour—

(i) That he or she has conducted himself or herself in a mannerwhich brings or is likely to bring the office of President into hatred, ridicule, contempt or disrepute; or

(ii) that he or she has dishonestly done any act or omissionwhich is prejudicial or inimical to the economy or securityof Uganda; or
(2) For the purpose of removal of the President under clause (1) (a) or (b) of this article, a notice in writing signed by not less than one-third of all the members of Parliament shall be submitted to the Speaker—

(a) Stating that they intend to move a motion for a resolution in Parliament for the removal of the President on the charge that the President has—

(i) Willfully abused his or her office or willfully violated the oath of allegiance and the presidential oath or any other provision of this Constitution in terms of clause (1)(a) of this article; or

(ii) Misconducted himself or herself or misbehaved in terms of clause (1)(b) of this article; and

(b) setting out the particulars of the charge supported by the necessary documents on which it is claimed that the conduct of the President be investigated for the purposes of his or her removal.

(3) The Speaker shall, within 24 hours after receipt of the notice referred to in clause (2) of this article, cause a copy to be transmitted to the President and the Chief Justice.

(4) The Chief Justice shall, within seven days after receipt of the notice transmitted under clause (3) of this Article, constitute a tribunal comprising three justices of the Supreme Court to investigate the allegation in the notice and to report its findings to Parliament stating whether or not there is a prima facie for the removal of the President.

(5) The President is entitled to appear at the proceedings of the tribunal and to be represented there by a lawyer or other expert or person of his or her choice.

(6) If the tribunal determines that there is a prima facie case for the removal of the President under clause
(1)(a) or (b) of this article, then if Parliament passes the resolution supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all MPs, the President shall cease to hold office.

State House has laughed off two opposition MPs who yesterday set off on what colleagues called “mission impossible” with their plan to begin impeachment proceedings against President Museveni next month.

The President was accused of committing economic crimes in contravention of the Constitution, but his spokesman, Mr Tamale Mirundi, suggested the whole thing is a joke.

“How?” he asked yesterday afternoon. “Those MPs who want to impeach the President are like a baby holding a sword; it cannot do anything with it. What’s the impeachment process? Why don’t they call for an election instead? Where will they get the required numbers? In fact, they are like a man who is impotent, he can stay with a woman, but he won’t get any child. The President cannot be scared by such empty threats.”

Mr Mirundi said “the Lukyamuzi group is playing politics of activism and not politics of achievement”. He suggested that they are using the President to divert attention from their failure to deliver in their constituencies.

“They are here shouting and doing nothing. They actually just want to think that Museveni would call them to give them money and keep quiet. But this will not happen. The President is not responsible for the current economic crisis and he has not been accused of any economic crime.”

Aruu MP Odonga Otto (FDC) and Rubaga South MP Ken Lukyamuzi (Conservative Party) had told a morning news conference at Parliament that they have 74 grounds upon which they will base their motion for removal of Mr Museveni.

Quoting Article 107 of the Constitution, Mr Lukyamuzi said the President can be removed from office if he has dishonestly done any act or omission which is prejudicial to the economy of Uganda.

“President Museveni is the one who ordered the Bank of Uganda to fraudulently print Shs2 trillion some two years ago, an act which has led to the state of inflation now at 27 per cent. That act is inimical to the economy of the country and it’s the President to blame for it,” Mr Lukyamuzi said without providing hard evidence to support the charge.

Mr Lukyamuzi added: “The impeachment proceedings begin next month with the collection of signatures amounting to one-third of all the members of Parliament eligible for voting.” Mr Otto said a team of six lawyers will draft their petition which will accompany the signatures before a formal motion is tabled in Parliament.

“We are giving President Museveni one month to resign or suffer the wrath of going through the impeachment process,” Mr Otto said.

“All his ministers are thieves and everything in government is rotting when he is looking. We have documented our evidence and when time comes Ugandans will hear more reasons why President Museveni must be impeached. Even if NRM MPs don’t sign, the opposition MPs will sign and whenever he travels to New York, they will ask him about the impeachment.”

Opposition
But independent-minded and ruling party legislators led by Kampala Central MP Muhammad Nsereko have vowed to block the motion. They warn that it will divert the fight against corruption which is gaining ground in Parliament.

“This is mission impossible,” Mr Nsereko said. “They are fighting a losing battle, they are just dreaming. Why can’t they wait for 2016 if they want to change leadership? President Museveni could have made mistakes here and there but impeaching him at this time will be going too far.”

Mr Nsereko said: “The people who want to impeach the President are going to make our fight against corruption elusive and they are going to help corrupt ministers escape.” Government spokesperson Mary Karooro Okurut said: “They don’t have any grounds to impeach the President.

They are engaging in wishful thinking.” MPs Otto and Lukyamuzi also alleged that President Museveni diverted £30 million (over Shs100 billion).
from a £70 million (about Shs259.6b) British government grant intended for recovery programmes in post-war northern Uganda in 2008 to the purchase of his presidential jet without parliamentary approval.
The lawmakers also want President Museveni to take responsibility for the withdrawal of $735 million (Shs1.7 trillion) from Bank of Uganda to buy fighter jets and other military hardware without prior parliamentary approval.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

UN chief calls for stepped up action by governments, private sector to boost clean energy


(Hussein Malla/Associated Press) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaks during the opening session of a conference on democracy in the Arab world, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday Jan. 15, 2012. The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded Sunday that Syria’s president stop killing his own people, and said the “old order” of one-man rule and family dynasties is over in the Middle East.
By Associated Press, Published: January 16

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Governments and the private sector must ramp up their investments into sustainable energy as part of a larger effort to alleviate poverty around the world and combat climate change, the U.N. chief told an energy conference Monday.
Ban Ki-moon told delegates at the World Future Energy Summit that he wants to see the world double its share of renewable energy, which typically includes wind, solar and hydropower, by 2030. He also called for providing universal access to energy services by that date and doubling the rate of energy efficiency as part of what he is calling the “Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.”
“This is the right time for the initiative,” Ban said. “Across the world, we see momentum building for concrete action that reduces energy poverty, catalyzes sustainable growth and mitigates climate change. Achieving sustainable energy is both feasible and necessary.”
Recalling his childhood in postwar South Korea where electricity “transformed my life,” Ban said it was unacceptable that today billions of people worldwide are without it.
“Why should energy poverty condemn billions to darkness, to missed opportunities for education and prosperity?” Ban said.
“It is neither just nor sustainable that one in five lacks access to modern electricity. It is not acceptable that 3 billion people have to rely on wood, coal or charcoal for cooking and heating,” he continued. “We need to turn on the lights for all households. To do that, we need to scale up success examples of clean energy and energy efficient technology. We need innovation that can spread throughout the developing world where energy demand is growing fastest.”
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, whose country of 1.3 billion people has passed the United States to become the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, insisted it was shifting away from polluting fossil fuels. He highlighted the fact that the country has “made sustained endeavors to reduce energy consumption and emission in the industrial, transport and construction sectors” leading to a drop of 20 percent between 2005 and 2010.
Wen also noted that China has become world’s top producer of hydropower and the fastest growing region for wind and solar power. It also has set a goal in the country’s 12th, five-year plan of increasing the amount of renewables from the current rate of 8.3 percent to 11.4 percent and cutting energy intensity 16 percent by 2015.
“To achieve these goals, we face many difficulties and will have to pay a big price,” Wen told delegates. “But we will not waiver in our commitment.”
Wen also called on the transfer of clean energy technology from the developed world to poor countries — a demand that at times has bogged down efforts to reach a new deal on regulating global emissions.

“The final solution to any future energy problem does not lie with the possession of energy resources but possession of high technology and breakthroughs in science and technology,” he said. “Developed countries with advanced technology should, while protecting intellectual property rights, provide and transfer technologies to developing and underdeveloped countries.”

Wen also said a “global energy market governance mechanism” may need to be established under the G-20 framework to ensure that the “energy markets will be more secure, stable and sustainable.” He did not elaborate.

Neither Wen nor South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik mentioned Iran in their speeches. Both countries are big importers of Iranian crude and have sought to ensure they can get supplies from Gulf Arab countries should Iran’s supplies be disrupted in showdowns over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

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Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1

SCHOOLS MUST TAKE EXTRA CARE ON FIRES AS WE SEEM TO BE WITH THE IDIOTS STILL


There are so many causes of fire out breaks among which is short circuit as is alleged to have been the cause of the above fire outbreak. However so schools at times it is alleged that students participate and on other occasions the reasons vary or are never established. The schools need to exercise great care as many more people are frustrated and may resort to destroying school property and or scaring away parents. One thing which schools take lightly many times is the nature of people they keep on the gates. Many are semi literate yet the job calls for more educated people given the challenges of security

FOR THE MESS IN UGANDA JOB MARKET, THE NRM GOVERNMENT HAS MADE A NAME FOR ITS SELF

11,000 graduate to 83% joblessness

Graduates cheer after receiving their various awards at Makerere University Freedom Square . PHOTO BY F. KASIRYE
By ABDU KIYAGA

Posted Tuesday, January 17 2012 at 00:00

In Summary

With the economy struggling and job prospects dimming, Makerere’s fresh graduates must prepare for trying times ahead.

KAMPALA

As the first batch of 11,022 students graduated at Makerere University yesterday, the hostile economic environment that offers no immediate prospects for jobs was upper most in the minds of many.
Save for years when the country was facing civil conflicts, not many graduates have emerged from the awards ceremony to a stressed economy where jobs are as depressed as this year.
International pressures that saw the global economy shrink starting from 2008 and domestic factors have conspired to create possibly the worst conditions for fresh job seekers trying to enter the market.
With down-town traders on strike and those who graduated before them but unable to find jobs, graduates wondered what the world out there holds for them. “Most of us don’t have rich parents to take us to their offices to work as their assistants so we don’t know when we will land our first jobs but we will keep trying hard because we know that it is better trying than never,” said Zaidi Tebazaalwa, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology. He hopes to work at least as a research assistant for his first job.
While Isaac Kirabwa was more direct in his appreciation of the situation. “This is just the beginning,” he said. “And as you know Uganda’s jobs, it is always difficult to find one and when many people find it, it is always hard for them to leave such jobs leaving the young people like us to be on the streets.”
And these fears are not misplaced. The Africa Development Indicators report released by the World Bank placed youth unemployment in Uganda at 83 per cent. Youth here being people between 15 and 24 years.
Presiding over the graduation of about 3,000 students on Day One of the week-long event that will see a total of 11,000 students graduate, Makerere University Chancellor, Prof. Mondo Kagonyera, asked President Museveni to “provide a special desk to help keep on the lookout for and coordinate the funding of students’ innovations.
“Innovation is an essential component of any nation’s long-term growth strategy and any funding devoted towards helping turn these creative ideas into successful, economically-viable projects will greatly ease the current strife faced by our graduates who search for jobs for years on end,” said Prof. Kagonyera.
There are no accurate unemployment figures in Uganda but estimates indicate that only a fraction of graduates with some form of qualification get absorbed in the limited formal job market. At least 400,000 graduate each year but projects registered by the Uganda Investment Authority indicate a potential to create only 150,000 jobs annually, leaving an estimated 350,000 on the street.
In the recent past, different colleges at the 89-year old institution have come up with different projects that look forward to solving basic problems in day-to-day life. These included the electric automobile - Kiira EV - developed under the Presidential Initiative Project and Standardised Ethics and Integrity Scale that seeks to identify corrupt officials. However, many of such projects are still stagnant due to limited funding.
Kibaki to be honoured
Meanwhile, Daily Monitor has learnt that Makerere University will award Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki an Honorary Doctor of Laws on January 24, at a function to be attended by his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, who received a similar honour in December 2010. The University Council resolved to “honour H.E President Mwai Kibaki in recognition of his distinguished and outstanding contribution to public service at the national, regional and international levels”.
Mbeki for public Q&A
Kenya’s Kibaki will not be the only high-profile guest as former South African president Thabo Mbeki is also expected to pay a visit to the university during the graduation week. Hosted by Vice Chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba and chaired by Prof. Mahmood Mamdani, the director of Makerere Institute of Social Research, Mr Mbeki will conduct a public question and answer session in the Main Hall under the theme “Africa and the World: Intervention and Reform”. The first 10 questions will be asked by key figures in the academia and the media and then the general audience will also be given chance to ask.

akiyaga@ug.nationmedia.com

THE UN FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CHIEF SAID, 'SPECULATION IS AN IMPORTANT CAUSE OF HIGH PRICES.'

UN Food and Agricultural Chief
'Speculation Is an Important Cause of High Prices'

'Speculation Is an Important Cause of High Prices'
Somalian refugees at a camp in Kenya: "We need sustainable agriculture tailored to regional conditions."Zoom
REUTERS
In a SPIEGEL interview, José Graziano da Silva, 62, the new head of the United Nations aid organization FAO, discusses his plans to combat hunger as well as his efforts to limit speculation and the impact it has on dramatically fluctuating food prices.
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SPIEGEL: Mr. da Silva, as the new head of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), you have made it your chief goal to eradicate hunger in the world. Isn't this an extremely ambitious objective, in light of skyrocketing food prices, a continually growing world population and ongoing economic crises?

Da Silva: My plan is ambitious. But you can only motivate people with big objectives. This is precisely what we have to achieve -- to mobilize all parts of society and the international community in the fight against hunger. The FAO or a government alone cannot eradicate hunger on earth.

SPIEGEL: Declarations of intent have been around for a while. In 2000, the United Nations announced its intention to cut the percentage of hungry people in half by 2015. But in reality their numbers have actually increased, from 826 million to more than 925 million.

Da Silva: We have also made some progress. In my native Brazil, in Vietnam and, most of all, in Ghana, among other countries, the fight against malnutrition has been very successful. The biggest difference between now and 2000, however, is that ever since the Lehman bankruptcy, the world has understood that we all live on one planet, and that each country depends on others. There is a new sort of solidarity.

SPIEGEL: Where exactly do you see evidence of that?

Da Silva: Nowadays, the world reacts much more quickly to hunger catastrophes. There are special funds available for emergency efforts. This sort of solidarity reflects a new will. Everyone has recognized that no one benefits from hunger. And only if everyone works together can the hunger problem be solved -- as with the financial and debt crisis.

SPIEGEL: Wouldn't it be more effective, as an immediate measure, to enact legislation that would exclude speculators on Wall Street and elsewhere from the food trade? After all, speculation in commodities is seen as one of the main causes of the price increases that drove many millions of people below the poverty line.

Da Silva: In my view, speculation is indeed an important cause of the heavily fluctuating and very high prices. It only benefits banks and hedge funds, but not producers, processors and buyers -- and certainly not consumers. The FAO can only do two things. It can supply the market with data, studies and statistics, thereby making markets more transparent. And it can encourage governments to invest more in agriculture.

SPIEGEL: Why don't you just call for a ban on speculation in food products?

Da Silva: We need stricter regulations, but not just in the area of food. New rules are not the only solution. There are other, important areas, such as the latest round of trade negotiations, the Doha Round among the members of the World Trade Organization. The industrialized countries should finally open their markets and get rid of their agricultural subsidies. It's not that I'm overly optimistic in this respect, but it would be the right approach.

SPIEGEL: How does eliminating subsidies lead to less hunger?

Da Silva: For example, when the United States decided to end subsidies for corn-based ethanol last summer, the price of corn dropped immediately. It was felt in poor countries, like those in Central America, where corn is used for both food consumption and the feeding of livestock, and in Eastern Africa where corn is a key staple. The American decision had a direct and positive effect on the food situation.

SPIEGEL: Why are you reluctant to push back the financial industry?

Da Silva: I'm just saying that it's not enough to restrict individual markets. But I'm also saying, just as clearly, that the deregulation of the financial markets contaminated the food market and made speculation possible in the first place. We have to regulate all markets where there is evidence of such excesses.

SPIEGEL: Then the people who are now hungry will have to be patient for a while.

Da Silva: I'm more optimistic than that. The euro crisis has shown that governments can agree to common goals very quickly. International regulations have been in place for a long time in other areas, such as in the financial sector. Now we also have to take this important step with food security, putting in place regulations also for the food sector and create a global governance system for food security. It isn't the ultimate solution, but the beginning of a worldwide mobilization, which we need when it comes to this issue.

SPIEGEL: Where do you get your optimism?

Da Silva: One of the few good things about rising food prices is that they have created a global awareness of how fundamentally important it is to feed the world -- the other is that higher prices give farmers incentives to produce. Put differently, hunger is finally being given top priority. We should and can take advantage of this, by coming up with a global strategy for food security.

SPIEGEL: Those are nice words ...

Da Silva: ... which can and will be followed by actions. The decisive factor is access to food, or to land, so that people can buy or produce food themselves. Globally, there is enough food for everybody, but for many people, especially the poor, it's simply too expensive. They are going hungry, even with full shelves of food.

SPIEGEL: So the food crisis is really a financial problem?

Da Silva: Of course. And, in a first step, it can be solved with money. Using cash transfer programs, we have provided cash to the poorest families in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia since 2005, so that they can have a minimum income and feed themselves. The needs of about 120 million people were met in this way, and they survived the first food crisis, with its sharply rising prices, more successfully than in other countries. We should continue this sort of program -- not to react to current crises, but to avoid future ones.

SPIEGEL: But that's probably not enough.

Da Silva: At the same time, farmers were supported so that they could sell products in regional markets at reasonable prices. Local farming is the crucial point. Those who produce regionally are less dependent on currency fluctuations, speculation, transport costs and even climate-related disasters. Instead of buying milk, sugar and rice at high prices on the world market, countries should resort to local products. Central America could focus on beans, for example, Chile on quinoa, and so on.

SPIEGEL: International food conglomerates like Cargill and ADM, which produce on an industrial scale, won't like this.

Da Silva: Don't be deceived in this regard! The big companies can also make money in local markets. In light of rising oil prices, long-distance shipping is becoming less and less worthwhile. Besides, promoting innovation is virtually part of the genetic code of businesses. McDonald's now sells fresh salad that is often purchased locally. In doing so, the company does a lot for its image -- and its bottom line.

SPIEGEL: McDonald's might be an exception, but what about the agriculture multinationals, which grow food in massive monocultures for export all over the world?

Da Silva: We are in the midst of a transformation process. Since the so-called "Green Revolution" in the late 1950s, we have pursued high-performance agriculture with industrial means. We have used fertilizer, pesticides and machines without considering the side effects. We know today that many of these things are unnecessary and don't produce the desired results. Monocultures led to soil erosion, depleted fields, over-fertilization and poisoned groundwater.

SPIEGEL: Are you picking a fight with industrial agriculture?

Da Silva: We need sustainable agriculture tailored to regional conditions. In tropical countries, industrial plowing destroys the humus layer in soils. Seeds can no longer thrive. In Argentina, one of the key producers of corn, wheat, grain and soybeans, more than 90 percent of fields are no longer plowed today. In addition, the use of pesticides and chemical additives is being reduced more and more. Instead, farmers are relying on old methods like crop rotation, as well as planting traditional types of grain suited to regional requirements. All of this saves energy and brings down transportation costs and prices ...

SPIEGEL: ... and, as a result, the profits of the agriculture multinationals decline.

Da Silva: The big companies will not be opposed to these ideas. This shift toward small farms and local cultivation methods is a global issue, an issue for the future. They will not be able to ignore it in the long run. But consumers also have to change. We need a new kind of consumption, in the interest of the environment as well as our health.

SPIEGEL: What exactly do you mean? Eat less? Eat better? Eat differently?

Da Silva: Hunger isn't the only problem we have to address. The number of overweight people has also risen to alarming levels. They too are malnourished, but in a different way. They lack essential minerals, and they get sick. They die. We have to address this.

SPIEGEL: How?

Da Silva: We have to reestablish a relationship to food. My grandmother still grew her own tomatoes. She knew exactly how to cook pasta pomodoro, and how to make wonderful noodles. People who shop in supermarkets today don't even know where the food comes from anymore. They have no idea what they're eating. Getting the right nutrition has become a problem for the young generation. And just think of all the victims of bulimia! Anorexia is also an issue. All of this will be the challenge of the future.

SPIEGEL: You envision major changes. How can the relatively small FAO afford this?

Da Silva: The rise in food prices and the financial and economic crisis have increased awareness of poverty and hunger issues around the world. The international community is mobilizing to eradicate hunger. The Committee on World Food Security (CFS), hosted by FAO, has become a key forum for governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations to address the issues of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. This gives us an important foundation for building an effective global food governance system.

SPIEGEL: Your predecessor, Jacques Diouf, was in office for 18 years and did not achieve very much. What time frame do you think in?

Da Silva: Transformation processes always take time. But eliminating something usually happens more quickly. It took us 100 years to introduce chemistry into agriculture. We can get rid of it much more quickly.

SPIEGEL: Mr. da Silva, we thank you for this interview.

Interview conducted by Susanne Amman and Michaela Schiessl

LET'S PRAY THAT PRINCE SSEMAKOKIRO ENDS AS HARD WORKING AS KABAKA MUTEBI

Buganda Kingdom announces birth of prince born 2011

Kabaka Mutebi carries Prince Ssemakokiro in a photo the kingdom released yesterday.
By Abdu Kiyaga & Robert Mwanje (email the author)

Posted Wednesday, January 18 2012 at 00:00

In surprise move, Buganda Kingdom announced that the Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II has fathered a son.
“I have the pleasure to inform the entire Kingdom of Buganda that Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II gave birth to a baby boy in July 2011,”a statement on the kingdom website signed by Katikiro) John Baptist Walusimbi reads.
The baby prince, born to a mother of Nsenene (grasshopper) clan, was named Richard Ssemakokiro. Details of the mother were not available and kingdom officials were not willing to discuss the matter with the media.
In the Ganda culture, a prince does not belong to the father’s (king’s) clan but to the mother’s. This is because the culture demands that each clan should be in position to produce a king at a given time in case a reigning king dies.
The announcement, however, ignited debate among the Baganda on whether Ssemakokiro could be the Crown Prince. But officials in Mengo have dismissed such talk.
“All we can tell you is that he is the king’s son. In our culture, the Katikkiro is the one who announces the birth of a newborn prince and he has already done it,” Kabaka Mutebi’s press secretary Dick Kasolo told Daily Monitor by telephone last evening.
Kabaka Mutebi was born to Sarah Kisosonkole, whose sister Lady Damalie Kisosonkole was the Queen of Buganda (wife of Kabaka Muteesa II). Kabaka Mutebi has fathered five children.
Prince Jjunju Suuna Kiweewa
Princess Joan Nassolo
Princess Victoria Nkinzi
Princess Sarah Katrina Sangalyambogo
Prince Richard Ssemakokiro

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com