Some top leaders of Uganda Police and State House (government of Uganda) reportedly mobilize and give money to some groups of unemployed youths to attack and brutalize opposition Leaders and opposition political activists during public political sensitization rallies.

The mayor of Kawempe division in Kampala, Hajji Mubarak Munyagwa says that they witnessed the police brutality last when groups of unemployed youth smashed the vehicles they were travelling in with the Lord Mayor of Kampala, Erias Lukwago and the former president of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).

On Friday, 1^st March 2013 a group of unemployed youth visibly protected with 100 plain clothed Police men attacked and injured these opposition leaders who were about to address a rally in Kawempe-their cars were destroyed and laptops stolen.

Ends

The post ‘Police hires thugs to harm opposition politicians’ first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The common practices that may harm peoples’ health are so many but in this article our health experts and health news desk will bring you a few of them.

Ironing and drying underwear indoors are some of the common practices that harm peoples’ health. Many of us are guilty of hanging our undergarments in the bedroom and bathroom because of privacy.

But the best place to hang underwear is outside bathrooms. Even if underwear dries well inside, the ones dried under direct sunlight dry better. The sun has ultra-violet rays that kill bacteria making them germ free. That is why women with candida are often advised to dry their knickers under direct sunlight in order to prevent re-occurrence of the fungal infection.

Ironing wet underwear on the other hand not only loosens them but the artificial heat may also reduce the bacteria load but not as effectively as the sun’s ultra-violet rays.

People should take their panty-pegs outside for at least 45 minutes to dry. The intensity may be low in the house even if the panty peg is near the window. The best sunshine is between 11:00am and 2:00pm.

The post Common practices that harm peoples’ health first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The deployment follows intelligence information that members of opposition were reportedly planning to cause bodily harm to NRM supporters during the strike.

Sources in Uganda police force have informed us that the Inspector General of Police, Lt. Col. Kale Kayihura has deployed his forces in all towns and sub counties of Uganda.

The police CID’s have told our reporters that the measures are meant to counter terror threats reportedly by the members of opposition.
The sources in police have said that the police don’t want to leave any loophole in terms of security during the ongoing strike.

The traders are protesting against the high interests’ rates charged by the commercial banks in Uganda.
By Christine Kate

The post Police deploys 5,000 policemen in Kampala first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

 Kayihura says that the organisers of the demonstrations for example walk to work campaigns (A4C) in the first case did not comply with the 1995 Constitution of theRepublicofUganda. Kayihura says the police received solid intelligence evidence that most of the protests were designed to start on a peaceful note but later turn violent and cause bodily harm on the people who would have shunned the campaign.

 The inspector general further says that the coordinator of walk to work protests for example, Masaka Municipality MP Mathias Mpuuga notified the Police late “considering the time required to prepare for such an event,” and that Mpuuga had concealed the A4C programme. Kayihura says that the concealment of the A4C agenda meant that the organisers of walk to work protests had ill intentions. Kayihura says that the Uganda Police under Article 212 has a duty to protect life and property, ensure law and order, prevent and detect crime.

Kayihura also says that the police drew lessons from previous experiences of the walk-to-work demonstrations among other protests which ended up in violent riots where roads were blocked, cars stoned and other property damaged as well as loss of lives.

The police boss further says that the organisers of walk to work protests did not indicate the specific location and times of their intended protests, in addition to obtaining clearance from the custodian of the premises they intended to use for their events.

By Moureen Nakyanzi

The post Kayihura explains why police blocked most of the demonstrations last year first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

A paper published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development warns that African governments are signing away water rights for decades with insufficient regard for how this will affect millions of local users, including fishing, farming and pastoralist communities.

The water rights often feature in the growing number of large land deals that governments are signing with investors (see First detailed study of large land acquisitions in Africa warns of impacts on poor rural people) as many of these areas require irrigation to be viable.

Such deals have already raised concerns for being rushed, secretive and one-sided. Many fail to deliver real benefits and can even create new social and environmental problems (see Report shows how secret land deals can fail to benefit African nations – and how to make them better).

Now, researchers at IIED warn that governments risk signing away water rights in ways that harm the future prospects of their citizens, especially fishermen and pastoralists, who rely on the same water as the investors. Some investors in Mali and Sudan have been given unrestricted access to as much water as they need.

“Companies that acquire land for irrigated farming will want secure water rights, but long-term contractual commitments can jeopardise water access for local farmers,” says co-author Lorenzo Cotula. “This affects not only the people who have customarily used the land that is being leased, but also distant downstream users who can be hundreds of kilometres away and even across an international border.”

The Gibe III dam in Ethiopia will enable irrigation on 150,000 of land the Ethiopian government has allocated to investors, but studies suggest this project would lower the level of Kenya’s Lake Turkana – on which half a million Kenyans depend — by eight metres by 2024.

The ‘global water crisis’ is a crisis of water management, not of water quantity,” says the paper’s lead author Jamie Skinner, a principal researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development. “Good water management in the face of climate change is only possible if it is clear who the water belongs to, who holds rights to its use and when allocations to all users  are made in a transparent way.”

For interviews, contact:

Lorenzo.Cotula@iied.org

Jamie.Skinner@iied.org

ENDS

Mike Shanahan

Press officer

International Institute for Environment and Development [please note new address / phone]

80-86 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8NH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 7399; Fax: +44 (0)20 3514 9055

www.iied.org

Twitter http://twitter.com/IIED

Biodiversity Media Alliance http://biodiversitymedia.ning.com

Climate Change Media Partnership roster http://climatechangemedia.ning.com

The post African governments urged against signing away water rights for decades first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Kayihura says that the organisers of walk to work campaigns (A4C) in the first case did not comply with the 1995 Constitution of the Republic ofUganda. Kayihura says the police received solid intelligence evidence that the walk to work protests was designed to start on a peaceful note but later turn violent and cause bodily harm on the people who would have shunned the campaign.

The inspector general further says that the coordinator of walk to work protests Masaka Municipality MP Mathias Mpuuga notified the Police late “considering the time required to prepare for such an event,” and that Mpuuga had concealed the A4C programme.

Kayihura says that the concealment of the A4C agenda meant that the organisers of walk to work protests had ill intentions. Kayihura says that the Uganda Police under Article 212 has a duty to protect life and property, ensure law and order, prevent and detect crime.

Kayihura also says that the police drew lessons from previous experiences of the walk-to-work demonstrations which ended up in violent riots where roads were blocked, cars stoned and other property damaged as well as loss of lives.

The police boss further says that the organisers of walk to work protests did not indicate the specific location and times of their intended protests, in addition to obtaining clearance from the custodian of the premises they intended to use for their event.

The organisers of walk to work protests had given police the location of their protests as ‘countrywide’, which made it impractical for Police to secure their activities, and they did not confirm whether the custodian of Kololo Airstrip (Office of the President) had cleared them to use the grounds for the A4C rally on 22nd October, 2011.

By Walakira Nyanzi

The post Kayihura explains why police blocked walk to work campaigns first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Dr. Kizza Besigye at a press conference

The donors according to sources in FDC wanted to discuss with Besigye the effects of walk to work protests on the economy, government and the country in general.

The representatives of donors according to sources included those from Norway, USA, Canada, England, and Germany among other super power countries.

Besigye told the donors that he is not the one leading the strikes. He told them that the strike are being ran by a pressure group called Activists for Change and that all people who are suffering under the NRM regime are freely participating in them.

Besigye further said that the constitution of Uganda provides that citizens are free to peacefully demonstrate as long as they don’t harm people who are not participating.

Besigye narrated to the donors all the harassment the NRM government has been reportedly inflicting on opposition supporters around the country. The donors who arrived at Besigye’s home at around 5:00pm left at around 8pm.

By Doreen Nyanzi

The post Donors meet Kizza Besigye over walk to work protests first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.