Government plans to come up with a law which will empower the state to be involved in the deal to borrow or lend money. Speaking at the opening of the new parliament, president Museveni said it is necessary for the state to take interest in the signing of an agreement between the person intending to borrow money from the bank and the lending entity.

According to president Museveni, some lending entities entice borrowers to borrow money with hidden interests of grabbing their properties. He cited an incident when he intervened when a member of parliament borrowed money but delayed to pay back shs200m and the commercial bank wanted to grab his house worth one billion shillings.
Museveni says it is unfair to take away a person’s property with higher value than what he borrowed for failure to pay back.

Meanwhile, realizing the president was not talking about the jailed former FDC presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye’s release, some MPs walked out on Museveni. MPs mainly on the opposition side displayed placards as the president addressed the MPs before MPs Allan Sewanyana (Makindye west) and Mubarak Munyagwa (Kawempe south) among others walked away in protest.

The post Government to enact law to protect borrowers first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

ULS Executive Addressing the Press on 24th May 2016

The government has been challenged not to bend the laws to settle political disputes. This challenge has been made by Uganda Law Society following recent developments in the country. The society’s president Francis Gimara addressing journalists at their headquarters said there is uncalled for pressure on courts of law to settle political disputes. He says many of these cases have political solutions rather than legal.

His association further condemned the increased clampdown on fundamental rights and freedoms after the elections, citing social media shutdown. Gimara further challenges the Judiciary to exercise independence and dispense justice without fear or favor.

The post Settle political disputes lawfully; Lawyers tell government first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Many mothers all over Uganda continue to give birth to children with spina bifida and hyrocephalus. Research has shown that 70% of these impairments can be prevented by increased intake of folic acid supplementation, eating food rich in folic acid like fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, meat, and liver, among others and eating foods that have been fortified with folic acid.

Women with children living with hydrocephalus and spina bifida know it very well that 95% of pregnancies are not planned for and this brings in the importance of taking a folic acid tablet a day to prevent some of these birth defects.

The parents through their stakeholders have tried to raise awareness and urge mothers to eat food rich in folic acid and swallow a folic acid tablet every day.

However, the issues of fortification require a law to be passed on mandatory food fortification so that it becomes a law that can be implemented by all the industries. This will make the majority of the population enjoy foods rich in folic acid and other preventive methods can compliment it. This will help to greatly reduce the prevalence rate like the case has been in South Africa and many other countries that have mandatory food fortification.

I would also request for the improvement in the health care system because many children acquire hydrocephalus at birth because of poor health service delivery. If more attention is paid to children and mothers at birth, then we shall register fewer cases of hydrocephalus,

The cost of treatment is far greater than the cost of prevention. Spina bifida and hydrocephalus patients require long life care which is very expensive compared to the preventive methods. It is our appeal that we all join hands to reduce the increase in number

of children born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus through massive sensitization in the media and enacting a law on compulsory food fortification like other countries have done.

Ends

The post 70% of women in Uganda produce babies with spina bifida first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Speaking to journalists, Mps including Florence Ibi, Sylvia Namabidde, Florence Namayanja and Grace Namara say there is need for more combined effort in creating more awareness about the law.

They also want a deliberate sensitization program by the ministry of gender against the vice among other things as they elaborate.

The post More concerted efforts needed to end Female Genital Mutilation. first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The Chairman of the Muslim parliamentary council Hood Katuramu says the process of passing the law is on course giving assurance that it will soon be out.

He adds that government has readily accepted this law and it will be passed soon

This comes after several Muslims have come out protesting the delay of its passing.

This law will be instrumental in solving marriage disputes and issues  of inheritance .

Initially a domestic relations bill had been tabled regarding the same issues but was rejected by Muslim leaders citing some injustices.

The post Muslims Personal law to be passed soon first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Busiro East MP, Medard Segona

Busiro East Member of Parliament Medard Lubega Segoona has expressed concern over the proposal in the oil bill empowering the president to appoint members of the national petroleum authority.

Segoona says that if passed in its current form, it will be difficult for the minister to supervise the work of such an authority whose membership is appointed by the president.

He says powers of appointing members should be left in the hands of the minister.

Ssegona however says that appointees by the minister should be approved by parliament in order to avoid bias.

Parliament was forced to suspend the discussion on the bills due to some disagreements from different members of parliament over parliament’s participation in the industry.

The main contentious issues in the bill are about the name to be given to the body that will be running the oil industry and the person responsible for appointing the members of the said body.

The post President powers in proposed oil law questioned first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Former Uganda army commander, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu is set to receive his law degree course at Arusha University next year.

Muntu, who is currently vying to replace Col. Kiiza Besigye as the president General of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). He is tussling it with two people, leader of opposition business in parliament, Nandala Mafabi (Budadiri west MP) and Tororo Municipality MP, Geoffrey Ekanya.

Gen. Muntu, a graduate of Social Sciences at faculty of social sciences Makerere University was enrolled to a bar course during the time he represented Uganda as a member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

Ends

The post Gen. Muntu to receive law degree in Dar es Salaam first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The  Eropean Master’s in Transnational Trade Law and Finance (EMTTLF) has been selected by the European Commission among the Erasmus Mundus masters courses for five years.

This implies that the European Commission will grant scholarships to highly qualified third-country graduate students to follow the EMTTLF Masters Course.

The EMTTLF Consortium will award around 17 Erasmus Mundus Scholarships to highly qualified third-country graduate students.

Third-country graduate student means:

• A national of a third country other than those from EEA-EFTA States (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and candidate countries for accession to the European Union (presently Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey);
• Who has already obtained a first higher education degree;
• Who is not a resident of any of theMemberStatesor the participating countries (EEA-EFTAStatesand EU candidate countries for accession);
• Who has not carried out his or her main activity (studies, work, etc.) for more than a total of 12 months over the last five years in any of the Member States or the participating countries.

Amount

Each grantee will receive 1,600 € each month for living costs during the months of duration of the program (1 academic year = 10 months) plus a fixed amount of 10,000 € to be paid in two installments of 5,000 € each per year.

In order to facilitate the management of the transfer of the lump sum and the registration fee and to reduce costs for money transfer students can authorize the EMTTLF Consortium to deduct the registration fee from the lump sum.

The post Study masters in transitional trade law and finance first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The father in law of Col. Kiiza Besigye, Mzei Boniface Byanyima has asked the Inspector General of Police Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura to stop hiding his real names.

Mzei Byanyima has told the people of Luti in Mbarara that the Kayihura he knows is called Kalekeezi Kaihura. Byanyima, who is also former National Chairman of DP, says that Kalekeezi Kaihura was a fantastic young man during his school days.

Kayihura studied law at Makerere University before heading to the United Kingdom. Mzei Byanyima wonders how the principled Kayihura he knows could head an institution that torture suspects, kill Ugandans during peaceful demonstrations, leads in corruption and an institution that in general makes lives of Ugandans difficult.

Byanyima wants Kayihura to resign police job and go to practice what he studied in school.

The post Byanyima calls Kayihura Kalekeezi first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Research Scholarships for Lawyers: UNIDROIT’s Scholarships Programme offers Research Scholarships for Lawyers from Developing Countries and Countries in Economic Transition

A scholarship (average length: two months, with a minimum of six weeks; exceptionally, four months in the case of the UK Foundation) may cover all or part of the cost of living in Rome for the designated period, but beneficiaries are in principle expected to meet their own travel expenses.

Scholarship Application Eligibility Criteria:

• The subject of the candidate’s research project, which must be related to uniform law / international private law (see details of the holdings of the UNIDROIT Library), preference being given to subjects that fit in with the Organisation’s Work Programme;
• The project’s potential for practical application in the beneficiary’s country of origin, preference being given to projects relating to the drafting of national laws or which aim at promoting the adoption of uniform law instruments;
• The candidate’s qualifications (“graduate” or “post-graduate”) and position (academic, civil servant, judge, practitioner);

A good working knowledge of English and/or French is indispensable.

In that case, a formal letter is issued by the Secretary-General which may be used by applicants in support of their direct requests to potential sponsors to finance their stay in Rome.

More Info: UNIDROIT Scholarships, Ms Laura Tikanvaara, Via Panisperna 28, 00184 Rome , Italy. e-mail: l.tikanvaara [at] unidroit.org

For further details and application materials, contact: Research Scholarships for Lawyers from Developing Countries and Countries in Economic Transition Website

The post Get opportunity in Research for Lawyers from Developing Countries first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.