His Highness Ronald Muwenda Mutebi the King of Buganda flanked by his Katikiiro to the right Engineer J. B. Walusimbi (Jr)
Ambassador Olara Otunnu' s team was in Mengo the seat of Buganda Kingdom to deliver their contribution to the welfare and health of Buganda Kingdom, a whole shs 2m is a big sacrifice from a source where money has been hard earned. The team was frank to tell Engineer Walusimbi that they are in for Federal which is properly agreed on by the people of Uganda. The party are right. While Walusimbi says that Buganda knows what it wants, if we are not to go back to square one, what Buganda wants must fit in the Uganda picture in which case the team is right. Buhganda for instance may move as a block into the federal arrangement, but it is still an issue for the other parts of the country to agree on the boundaries and the names of these federal states. Second, it is nor clear how the federal arrangement will replace the current decentralisation which already has structures from bottom to the top, and how the revenues are to be shared etc. The way the Katikiiro responded to the team was like Mengo is already biased about the UPC agenda which is not healthy for the future of the country. I think our leaders ought to listen to all the parties and agree to a give and take situation which will give the country a way forward. It is clear that Mengo easily talks about what it wants but may never come out to tell the people of Buganda how to vote. The team from Dr. Olara otunnu was spot on and sincere of the way forward if Uganda is to go federal.
William Kituuka
THE ALLEGED FREE HIGHER SCHOOL EDUCATION IS SIMPLY TO BENEFIT PRIVATE PROVIDERS OF GOOD HIGHER SCHOOL EDUCATION
Before UPE was in place the Governments of the day catered for us. When i joined St. Mary's College Kisubi one of the top old schools in Uganda in 1973, i had a bursary from my district Mubende and this was shs 450 a year out of shs 650 we were paying a year in O' level at that time. Government of Amin was giving us free books and we had free textbooks. Today, i don't know the chances that someone can make it from my former primary school which is under UPE to join St. Mary's College Kisubi. Given this development as UPE is entrenched and higher levels of education are also offering free education without any quality, it is the private sector investors who are the winners as children from parents who value education and have some money end up joining the private sector schools. It is unfortunate that the NRM Government has been successful in killing what was quality education in many Government schools and what we see are private schools where in a number of them cheating to pass exams is one strategy that helps increased flow of children. Cry the beloved Uganda.
William Kituuka
60,000 to benefit from free A’ level
By Patience Ahimbisibwe (email the author)
Posted Wednesday, November 10 2010 at 00:00
Kampala
At least 60,000 students will benefit from the free A-Level education next year, sources within the Ministry of Education have said. The announcement comes a two days after President Museveni announced that once re-elected, he will extend free education to A- level. About 264,635 candidates registered for O-level examinations this year with 104,000 of them under the Universal Secondary Education. According to sources within the ministry, about Shs87 billion will cater for the programme. The money will cover students’ tuition, recruiting teachers and expanding classrooms. However, Education Minister Geraldine Bitamazire said the current budget excludes budget for the A’ level scheme but added that they would request for supplementary budget once it is adopted.
No budget
“The ministry has already budgeted for the 2010/2011. Normally government puts resources when such plans are made mid way,” said Ms Bitamazire. While the government pays Shs41,000 per pupil per term in the 845 government-aided primary schools and Shs47,000 for each student in the 643 USE schools, Shs120,000 will be paid per student a term at A - level. Ministry officials say the education planning and policy analysis division is developing a framework that seeks to draw a long-term strategy of accommodating students after O-level. A total of 4,000 new classrooms will be constructed in over 700 schools and 1,400 unfinished classrooms will be completed to accommodate for 331,200 students.
AS THE QUESTIONS ARE ASKED REGARDING WHERE NRM GETS MONEY TO FUND THE PARTY ACTIVITIES, IS IT NOT POSSIBLE THAT CHOGM FUNDS COULD BE PART OF THE FUNDING?
One thing which another Government would have to help Ugandans in key Government positions is freedom of tenure in office. Prof. Bukenya is accused of some of the wrongs that went on with these transactions and at some point he seemed to point to powers from above. is it not possible that actually some of the money looked for could have been pooled to help the NRM mobilization efforts where it is able to spend billions to win over voters, more so the people being converted to NRM can they be convinced to when there is no money bribing them?
William Kituuka
Nsibambi blocks minister from defending Bukenya
By Emmanuel Gyezaho
Wednesday, November 10 2010 at 00:00
Lawmakers were treated to some drama yesterday after Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi openly clashed on the floor of Parliament with his junior, State Minister for the Vice President’s Office, Mr James Baba.
Mr Baba rose to inform the House that he had been delegated by his boss, Vice President Gilbert Bukenya, reported out of the country, to present a personal statement on his behalf in response to Parliament’s Chogm audit report. But hardly had the murmurings of opposition MPs subsided than Prof Nsibambi shot up.
“My colleague is irregular. In fact he should have requested me to make that presentation. I request that you ignore him,” said the PM. While the comments came as a chilling revelation of discontent from the front bench, Bunyole MP Emmanuel Dombo pressed Prof. Nsibambi to explain what was “irregular” about Mr Baba’s statement.
“First of all, the Minister should have consulted me before making that statement,” said Prof Nsibambi. “We have a list of people going to defend themselves and by the time we are through with them, His Excellency the Vice President will be back. He should be around to answer technical queries.” But as soon as Prof. Nsibambi took to his seat, Mr Baba shot up and proceeded to the podium.
“Mr Speaker with due respect to the Prime Minister,” said Mr Baba, “before I called you, [over this matter] the Rt Hon Prime Minister did call me on the telephone…”
Loud heckles ensued with shouts of “shame” and “Oh no” but not before Mr Baba was stopped in his tracks by Speaker Edward Ssekandi, who interrupted the minister, ruling: “I think, I think we should proceed.”
Picking queue from the disagreement, opposition MPs questioned what procedure should guide debate of the Chogm report, which pins at least eight cabinet members on various charges, including fiddling with Chogm cash, and said it would be time-consuming to continue with the approach of letting each of the indicted ministers table statements defending themselves. “I don’t know how many months we shall require to complete this report,” said MP Francis Epetait. But the Speaker disagreed and said the PAC report was not devoid of error and should be challenged. “Committee reports are not final,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Hope Mwesigye continued from where she left last week, dismissing all charges laid against her in the report. She denied any involvement in the Shimoni exhibition deal, denied culpability for causing a Shs617 million loss and said she was not responsible for awarding contracts to a consortium of beautifiers.
But PAC chairman Nanadla Mafabi questioned how as Minister of State for Agriculture, Ms Mwesigye got involved in exhibitions which were a preserve for the Ministry of Trade.
Attorney General Khiddu Makubuya and Tourism State Minister Serapio Rukundo presented rebuttals in which they claimed innocence to the charges levied against them in the PAC Chogm report. Debate continues today with more ministers tabling defences.
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
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."
LIFESAVER HERO: AMBASSADOR (DR)OLARA OTUNNU
by Rebecca Miller
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.
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."
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.
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."
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.
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