THERE IS NEED FOR PRAYERS THAT THE POLICE INVESTIGATIONS OVER FRAUD WILL BE FRUITFUL

Police investigating over 100 govt projects over fraud claims By Andrew Bagala Posted Monday, July 23 2012 at 01:00 In Summary Detectives are investigating suspected corruption and fraud which dates as back as 2007 in ministries of local government, works and health among others. KAMPALA The Police have started receiving official documents from several government departments and agencies in over 100 projects in which they suspect fraud and corruption. Detectives are investigating suspected corruption and fraud which dates as back as 2007 in ministries of local government, works and health among others. Preliminary reports show unacceptable mismanagement of funds. Police say that officials from different ministries and government agencies will start this week to report to the Criminal Investigation Directorate to help them with investigations. Deputy Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba, said some of the cases being investigated arise from the Auditor General’s reports while others are backlog cases. “There have been so many allegations of fraud in government systems that have been forwarded to us so we want to clear these cases by the end of this year,” Ms Nabakooba said yesterday. In the Ministry of Health, police investigating mismanagement of funds to the tune of Shs30 billion in over nine projects including Malaria Control Programme, Aids Control Programme, National Health Internship Scheme, and Health Insurance Programme. Detectives say some officials managing health programmes have handed over wanted documents except those handling programmes such as health insurance, child health care, Tuberculosis and Leprosy. “We have written to them but they have declined to give us the documents. They are just buying time,” a senior detective told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday. Share This Story The CID has also discovered anomalies in the discharge of funds in the Ministry of Local Government where officials pick funds from different votes on pretext that it will be used on other argent project. “The officials don’t have documentation to show the projects they spent the fund on,” another source said. Police want to know where the Shs507 million which was sent to the Local Government to the relocation of vendors in seven urban centres was distributed. Another Shs260 millions funds directed to construction of markets in Kitintale, Kalerwe and Nakulabye in Kampala District were allegedly spent on different activities not specified in the ministry reports. Local Government ministry claim to have paid Shs119m in taxes to Uganda Revenue Authority but receipts to that effect are still missing which detectives are still investigating. Police spokesman Asuman Mugenyi, earlier said six detectives were sent at the directorate to investigate suspected fraud in their system. The 2011 Annual Crime Report showed that police investigated 150 cases in the public sector. Most of the fraud was noted in the procurement or implementation processes of government programmes or projects. abagala@ug.nationmedia.com

WHEN WILL UGANDA GRADUATE TO LEADERS WHO GIVE OUR COUNTRY HONOUR LIKE CLINTON & MANDELA?

Is Museveni still a ‘new breed’ leader?

Former US President Bill Clinton with President Museveni at the National Medical Stores in Entebbe last Friday. Clinton's one-day visit to Uganda aimed at fighting diarrhoea deaths among children. Photo by Stephen Wandera. By Tabu Butagira Posted Monday, July 23 2012 at 01:00 In Summary Former US President Bill Clinton extolled them as reformists, but critics now say the Ugandan leader and his Rwandan as well as Ethiopian counterparts appear cut from the jinxed fabric of African ‘big men’. When Bill Clinton as a sitting US President spoke about the “new breed” of African leaders, he was confident a handful of relatively younger presidents on the continent were reform-minded. The understanding was they would not behave like the ‘old guards’ who considered it a right to rule for life because they led the struggle for their countries’ independence. These ‘big men’ imprisoned opponents they could not kill or bribe, lived lavishly as majority citizens wallowed in poverty and offered perks to secure soldiers’ loyalty. Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi – feted by Mr Clinton in the “new breed” league – either staged a coup or shot their way to power following a bloody guerilla war. But they promised reform and inspired. For instance, Mr Museveni in his inaugural 1986 speech said Africa’s problem is leaders who overstay in power. He, derided Presidents on the continent who flew to attend UN summits in New York in private jets while leaving in their backyards citizens walking barefoot and jigger-infested. Thus Uganda assumed a special place in the West because under Mr. Museveni, the country imbibed structural adjustment programmes that IMF and the World Bank prescribed and enforced with rigour as the right medicine for its struggling economy. Liberal era Liberalisation returned foreign investors to Uganda to revive collapsed or ailing industries, making available scarce essential household items and creating private sector jobs. The Ugandan economy grew uninterrupted at about 8-9 per cent per annum. Share This Story The Bretten Woods institutions in turn rewarded Kampala with more loans and debt relief, without asking or answering the question why a well-performing economy would fail to service its debt. Because the country was recuperating from a ‘sick’ economy and tumultuous political period, the promulgation in 1995 of a liberal Constitution coupled with restoration of the rule of law as well as human security in most parts of the country put the former guerilla leader in his own class and endeared him even to critics. As such it surprised a little – if at all - that a US President labeled Museveni one of Africa’s “new breed” leaders. Does that appellation hold true today? “Yes,” said Presidential spokesperson Mirundi Tamale. “If you want to know that Museveni qualified and still qualifies as a ‘new breed’ (of) African leader,” Mr Tamale said, “You need to revisit where Uganda was before Museveni became President in 1986, and the socio-economic transformation since then, which is the context in which Bill Clinton made that statement.” Many things in Africa have changed since Clinton’s 1998 visit, dubbed the most ambitious ever by a sitting American President, and since he left the White House in 2001. Gaddafi is dead and buried at an undisclosed location after more than 40 years in power. And Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, is now a military general, his wife Janet Kataha a cabinet minister and their 38-year-old son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who formally enlisted in the army only in 1999, a colonel and commander of the powerful and elite Special Forces Group. The President, in a coil of fate, cruises to New York in a Gulfstream V plane to attend UN meetings while jiggers kill villagers in the eastern Busoga region. He had presidential term limits scrapped in 2005 to keep in power cumulatively now for 26 years - a period within which the US has had five different presidents, two of whom served two terms of four years each! In Kampala, soldiers were rushed onto the streets to protect Museveni’s 2011 February victory and court had previously ruled that the 2001 and 2006 ballots he won were rife with irregularities. Economic growth is crawling at a 3.2 per cent, roughly three in every 10 Ugandans live in abject poverty, external debt has according to official statistics piled to more than $4 billion (over Shs8 trillion). Mr Clinton on Saturday learned firsthand the desperation of rural Ugandans when Senior Two student Bill Clinton Kaligana, named in his honour during a visit 14 years ago, told the former US leader that his mother could not afford his $76 per-term tuition ($228 per year), and asked for his help.

Mobile Phone Access Reaches Three Quarters of Planet's Population

Maximizing Mobile - New World Bank Report Points to Human and Economic Development Opportunities WASHINGTON, July 17, 2012 --- Around three-quarters of the world’s inhabitants now have access to a mobile phone and the mobile communications story is moving to a new level, which is not so much about the phone but how it is used, says a new report released today by the World Bank and infoDev, its technology entrepreneurship and innovation program. The number of mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, both pre-paid and post-paid, has grown from fewer than 1 billion in 2000 to over 6 billion now, of which nearly 5 billion in developing countries. Ownership of multiple subscriptions is becoming increasingly common, suggesting that their number will soon exceed that of the human population. According to Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile, more than 30 billion mobile applications, or “apps,” were downloaded in 2011 – software that extends the capabilities of phones, for instance to become mobile wallets, navigational aids or price comparison tools. In developing countries, citizens are increasingly using mobile phones to create new livelihoods and enhance their lifestyles, while governments are using them to improve service delivery and citizen feedback mechanisms. "Mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human and economic development – from providing basic access to health information to making cash payments, spurring job creation, and stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes,” said World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte. “The challenge now is to enable people, businesses, and governments in developing countries to develop their own locally-relevant mobile applications so they can take full advantage of these opportunities.” This new report, the third in the World Bank’s series on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development, analyzes the growth and evolution of mobile telephony, and the rise of data-based services, including apps, delivered to handheld devices. The report explores the consequences for development of the emerging “app economy”, especially in agriculture, health, financial services and government, and how it is changing approaches to entrepreneurship and employment. “The mobile revolution is right at the start of its growth curve: mobile devices are becoming cheaper and more powerful while networks are doubling in bandwidth roughly every 18 months and expanding into rural areas,” said Tim Kelly, Lead ICT Policy Specialist at the World Bank and one of the authors of the report. Countries around the world are taking advantage of this potential, for example: · In India, the state of Kerala’s mGovernment program has deployed over 20 applications and facilitated more than 3 million interactions between the government and citizens since its launch in December 2010. · Kenya has emerged as a leading player in mobile for development, largely due to the success of the M-PESA mobile payment ecosystem. Nairobi-based AkiraChix, for example, provides networking and training for women technologists. · In Palestine, Souktel’s JobMatch service is helping young people find jobs. College graduates using the service reported a reduction in the time spent looking for employment from an average of twelve weeks to one week or less, and an increase in wages of up to 50 percent. The report emphasizes the role of governments in enabling mobile application development. It also highlights how mobile innovation labs – shared spaces for training developers and incubating start-ups – can help bring new apps to market. For instance, infoDev, in collaboration with the Government of Finland and Nokia, has established five regional mobile innovation labs (mLabs) in Armenia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam. infoDev is also using mobile social networking to bring grassroots entrepreneurs together with other stakeholders in mobile hubs (mHubs). “Most businesses based around mobile app technology are at an early stage of development, but may hold enormous employment and economic potential, similar to that of the software industry in the 1980s and 1990s. Supporting the networking and incubation of entrepreneurs is essential to ensure that such potential is tapped,” said Valerie D’Costa, Program Manager of infoDev. The report benefits from research funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Government of Finland, the Korea Trust Fund for ICT4D, and UKaid. It features at-a-glance tables for more than 150 economies showing the latest available data and indicators for the mobile sector. It also introduces an analytical tool for examining the relevant performance indicators for each country’s mobile sector, so that policy-makers can assess their capacities relative to other countries. Contacts: Washington: Cathy Russell, (202) 458-8124, crussell@worldbank.org For Broadcast Requests: Natalia Cieslik, (202) 458 9369, ncieslik@worldbank.org World Bank webpage: http://ww.worldbank.org/ict/IC4D2012 infoDev webpage: http://www.infodev.org/ic4d Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/worldbank Be updated via Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/worldbank For our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/worldbank News Release 2012/015/SDN

WHAT LOGIC IN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT NOT PAYING WHAT IS DUE TO BUGANDA?

HIS HIGHNESS KABAKA RONALD MUWENDA MUTEBI II By Joyce Namutebi Mengo has renewed demand for a federo status and payment of a sh19b debt it says the Central Government owes. Buganda prime minister, Eng JB Walusimbi said Mengo was in the process of setting parameters for the basis of negotiations with the Central Government. He said a peaceful Uganda could only be attained after Buganda issues were sorted out. His comments were contained in a speech read by the deputy Katikkiro, Emmanuel Sendawula, at Buganda Parliamentary Caucus one-day retreat held at Katomi Kingdom Resort on Friday. Buganda is demanding rental arrears of sh6.26b for the lease of Lubigi, where National Water and Sewerage Corporation is constructing a sewerage treatment plant, and sh11.5b for Kigo farm prison. The arrears for Kigo date as far back as August 1993 to May 2011, the meeting heard. From the state lodge in Makindye, Buganda is demanding sh800m and from the military barracks in Makindye, sh290m. The demands also include the 9,000 square mile Buganda land. The Vice President, Edward Sekandi, who was tasked by President Yoweri Museveni to head the negotiations, had earlier told the caucus that his team was awaiting feedback from Mengo. During the meeting, MPs expressed concern at the absence of ministers from the region and vowed to black list them. The former Vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, made a presentation on viable economic activities that the region could engage in.

WE NEED TO PRAY FOR BUGANDA MPs IN PARLIAMENT TO REMAIN UNITED OVER BUGANDA DEMANDS

Buganda’s demands still stand - Katikkiro

Some of the MPs who attended the Wakiso meeting on Friday. Photo by Martin Ssebuyira By Mercy Nalugo Posted Sunday, July 22 2012 at 01:00 In Summary Recovering debts. Buganda MPs to meet President over the Shs27b that government owes Kabaka Mutebi’s monarchy. Buganda is still keen on its demands from the government and will not give up until the State gives in, the kingdom Katikkiro has said. In a statement presented to the Buganda Parliamentary Caucus during a one-day retreat at Katomi Kingdom Resort, Wakiso District on Friday, the first deputy prime minister of Buganda, Mr Emmanuel Ssendaula, who represented Eng. J.B Walusimbi, named some of the demands as returning Buganda’s 9000sq miles and granting a federo system of governance. The kingdom also wants government to clear an outstanding debt that has accumulated to Shs27 billion among other demands. Mr Ssendaula urged legislators to put Buganda issues above those of their political parties so that they move in unison in a retreat that was meant to tackle a range of issues. “Let us put our parties and religious affiliations aside and discuss Buganda’s issues as the Buganda Caucus. Be proud of your culture and traditions and development will come automatically,” said Mr Ssendaula. Speaking about the failed talks between Mengo and the central government, Mr Ssendaula said Mengo is trying out other avenues through which the talks could be held. “We are not only quiet but we are looking at the issues to be discussed and how they would be handled,” said Mr Ssendaula. Share This Story Share He said they would also recognise and reward some of the youth that were imprisoned following the Kayunga riots. The legislators, in a meeting chaired by Mr Godfrey Kiwanda, agreed to meet President Museveni to put forward all the kingdom’s demands, which they said had remained unanswered for a long time. “We shall also put forward documents indicating the government’s outstanding debts so that they can be cleared. We should think of meeting the President as soon as possible,” said Mr Kiwanda. Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, who presented a report on strengthening the Buganda Parliamentary Caucus, urged her colleagues to show solidarity towards Buganda issues. Don’t fight Buganda “The kingdom of Buganda is so pronounced that one cannot claim to be part of the Buganda Caucus while fighting the kingdom,” she said. Former Vice President Gilbert Bukenya tipped legislators that poverty was on the rise in the kingdom. “We are all leaders but who is a true leader? For me a true leader must be a day dreamer and must make this dream come true. We must think about which package we are giving our people,” said Prof. Bukenya. Whereas Ministers; Ruth Nankabirwa (Microfinance) and Rose Namayanja (Luweero Triangle) apologised that they would not attend the retreat, the Vice President, Mr Edward Ssekandi, who was supposed to officiate the retreat, did not show up. It is only the Minister for Trade, Ms Amelia Kyambadde, that attended and urged MPs to embrace cooperatives. mnalugo@ug.nationmedia.com

THAT THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR UGANDA'S CHILDREN

Future bright for mothers,children Publish Date: Jul 20, 2012 Before independence, Uganda’s health care system was enviable and was considered the best in SubSaharan Africa. It included a strong public health system where health visitors, in conjunction with sub-county and parish chiefs, ensured home hygiene, latrine coverage, malaria control, safe water, immunisation and nutrition, among other strategies. A Public Health Act provided for functional disease prevention programmes and health care was free and funded by the Government. Between 1940 and 1970, infant mortality had reduced from 250 deaths per 1,000 live births to 120. At around independence (1962), Uganda had about seven million people. Ten years after independence, however, the violence that swept Uganda in the wars of the late 1970s (ousting President Idi Amin) and early 1980s (NRA guerilla war) greatly affected the health care system. But when the NRM government took over power in 1986 Uganda started implementing the World Bank/International Monetary Fund programmes of decentralisation. User fees were introduced, personnel were retrenched and programmes that did not initially do well were scrapped. The Government and donors had to invest lots of money and human resource to teach Ugandans about reproductive health — the state of physical, mental and social wellbeing in all matters relating to the reproductive system at all stages of life. Awareness messages had to be incorporated in education syllabuses and on agendas of all social gatherings to register some success. Prominent women personalities also joined the bandwagon and their journey started with the formation of the Uganda Council of Women that existed in the 1960s. Rhoda Kalema, one of the prominent women who spearheaded the council’s formation says: “During the wars, women would fail to go to hospital and many would deliver at home under unsafe conditions. The subsequent years were characterised with shortage of facilities.” But in the late 1980s, President Yoweri Museveni’s NRA (now NRM) government pledged to improve health care. The journey started with empowering women by electing them in positions of authority. These played a great role in improving reproductive health. Museveni started by appointing Joan Kakwenzire to a six-member commission to document abuses by the military after the war. The Government also declared that each district would have a woman representative on the National Resistance Council (now district woman Members of Parliament), which has been maintained to date in the Parliament of Uganda. In 1987, Museveni appointed Joyce Mpanga as minister for women and development. By 1989, there were two women serving as ministers and three serving as deputy ministers in the NRM cabinet. Between 1994 and 2003, Museveni appointed Dr. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe as Uganda’s first female Vice President — the highest ranking position in the hierarchy of Uganda’s leadership. She was also holding the portfolio of the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. During Kazibwe’s tenure, she rallied fellow women leaders to push for their rights ranging from political, human rights to health, especially eproductive/maternal health. Female civil servants and professionals also formed organisations like Action for Development, to assist women, especially in war-torn areas. Since the 2006 presidential campaigns, Museveni has been pledging construction of health centres in every part of the country so that people can access health services in a distance of 5km; although it is yet to be achieved in some areas. Today, these women have done a tremendous job in ensuring that reproductive health improves and maternal and infant deaths reduce. Current and former parliamentarians including; Ruth Kavuma (former woman MP Kalangala), Beatrice Rwakimari (former woman MP Ntungamo) and Sylvia Namabidde (Mityana) have rallied fellow parliamentarians including men to support the funding of reproductive/maternal health. To them, reproductive health is the same as maternal health. In 2008, the MPs rejected a local government budget that had not catered for reproductive health. Kavuma, then a member of the social services committee, said they had pushed for funding and the World Bank agreed to give Uganda a loan of $130m (sh322b), of which $30m (sh74b) is for specifically procuring reproductive health supplies. “One of the biggest challenges we face is that when you ask for money for reproductive health, politicians tend to argue that by funding infrastructural development like building health facilities and roads, they have funded reproductive health, which is not the case. We need funds to be directly channelled towards buying reproductive health supplies,” she explained then. Reduction in maternal mortality For their efforts, Uganda has had its maternal mortality rate reduce from 600 to 310 deaths per 100,000 live births (4,700 deaths) in the last 20 years, according to a report done by WHO, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank that was released in May this year. Commenting on the estimates, the UNFPA Uganda country resident representative Janet Jackson, notes: “It is good news for Uganda that maternal health is now a priority. We need to continue investing in maternal and reproductive health so as to accelerate the reduction in maternal mortality.” Jackson observes that this could be done through provision of obstetric care, skilled birth attendance, antenatal care and family planning. But the MDG target is to reduce maternal deaths by three quarters by the year 2015 and for Uganda’s case this means reducing the maternal deaths to at least 120 per 100,000 births. According to Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU) programme coordinator Annet Kyarimpa, more needs to be done to achieve this feat. She says teenage pregnancies that stand at 25% countrywide (the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa), need to be addressed. “Historically, expenditure on reproductive health commodities is far below allocation at less than 10%. The Government only contributes 15% to contraceptive procurement, while 85% is deferred to donors despite the fact that Uganda’s budget is financed by donors to the tune of only about 70%,” she observes. The Maputo Declaration of 2003 requires that governments allocate 15% of their budgets to the health sector. But Uganda allocates about 9% of its budget to the sector, which should be increased. Uganda needs $244,476,913 (over sh606b) to ensure that the country has all the reproductive health supplies it needs over the next five years, Kyarimpa states. If all the required money is got and the contraceptive prevalence rate increases from 24 to 50% countrywide, budget allocation for reproductive health is raised, and the unmet need goes down from 41 to 5%, maternal mortality will automatically reduce. Besides, the Government would save $112m (sh278b) by investing in contraceptive commodities and services to fill the entire unmet need. Unmet need refers to the percentage of women who would like to be able to either space their children or stop having children but are not using contraception. Abortion and contraceptives Experts also say that if contraceptives are availed, the about 300,000 abortions that occur in Uganda and the about 6,000 women who die from pregnancy-related causes would reduce greatly. And the fulfilment of reproductive health becomes more challenging with the ever growing population, which currently stands at over 34 million people, and it is projected to reach 130 million people by 2050, according to UN estimates.

13 YEARS OF UPE IN UGANDA

By CONAN BUSINGYE THE Uganda Debt Network (UDN) recently released a damning report on the state of education in universal primary (UPE) and universal secondary education (USE) schools. However, all is not lost since the advent of UPE in 1997 and USE four years ago. The UDN report followed a survey in selected schools in which parts of classrooms were found to have been converted into teachers’ accommodation, pupils shared latrines with teachers, girls and boys shared latrines and pupils studied in highly congested classrooms without desks. However, despite the seemingly gloomy picture, the implementation of UPE and USE policies by President Yoweri Museveni’s Governments have been land-mark developments in Uganda’s education history. First, Uganda was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to introduce USE. One of the greatest achievements of UPE was the substantial increment in primary schools enrollment from around three million to over five million children in 1997 to todays over eight million. With the introduction of USE, secondary schools enrollment also rose by over 100,000 to the current 790,000. The same programmes also saw education taking the lion share of the national budget, coming off the 7% in the 1990s to over 15% today. The wealth bias that characterized access to primary education prior to the programmes have been eliminated. The 20% poorest households now have as high enrollment as the 20% richest households; with the 84% to 85% respective access to primary education, according to a 2004 World Bank study. Large quantities of learning materials have been supplied in schools and reduced the pupil – textbook ratio. In 1993, there were 37 pupils per book, compared to today’s 3:1 for P3 and P4, for core subjects. Millions of three-seater desks have been supplied to pupils and over 5,000 pieces of furniture for school offices. A massive investment of billions of shillings has been done to achieve this. But save for all this; pressure is mounting on the infrastructure and human resource, due to increasingly high enrolment every other year Challenges still about However, despite the above achievements, challenges still abound. The UDN report corroborates the Education Standards Agency report and the 2012 USE headcount report calling for massive investment to improve the physical infrastructure as well as academic standards in the public primary and secondary sectors, lest the country loses all its gains. The minimum standards stipulate that a class should not comprise more than 60 pupils, a desk should be for only three pupils, every latrine should be for 40 pupils, and that there should be at least 4 teachers’ houses per school. However, all schools that were surveyed by UDN were found with a classroom to pupil ratios above 60 with some classes housing triple the expected number. “Due to lack of enough space, some primary schools were found to have portioned classes to accommodate teachers who come from distant places or for other office work; hence forcing children to squeeze in the remaining small space,” reads the report. Similarly in the latest headcount report, it was revealed that up to 34% of USE schools were overcrowded and needed urgent decongestion. The UDN report also showed acute shortage of furniture with most pupils sitting on the floor especially in Northern Uganda. Ariet primary school in Kapujan sub-county in Teso was found with a total of 777 pupils but with only 10 desks in use and 140 piled