The President said that the opposition politicians are spreading falsehoods about the proposed land law because they do not want to see government working, as they will have something to criticize about when the government is performing well.  He said the it is not true that government wants to grab people’s land as the opposition
politicians are telling people but rather ease government acquisition of land for development of public infrastructure such as roads, electricity and the railway.

President Museveni explains the land issue at Spice FM

He assured the listeners that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government’s take on land is known as it was the first government to allow people to own land and will not therefore turn around and say land belongs to the government. He explained that with the proposed amendment to the land law, government must acquire land after compensating the owner and where a landowner is discontented, he or she can appeal in order to get fair compensation but at the same time ensuring that public infrastructure projects are not stalled.

Citing the Kamwenge-Fort Portal road that he had earlier on commissioned President Museveni said that there are some greedy people who want to loot government stall government projects with the hope of being compensated more money.  “The Kamwenge road works got stalled when a one Kasangwa wanted a billion shillings for a quarter an acre and yet the piece of land had been valued at UGX 89 million. The contractor had to change where the road would pass.

The President said the amendment would allow discontented landowners to let government projects continue on as they appeal for fair compensation. He revealed that during the construction of the Mpigi-Kanoni-Kabulasoke-Maddu-Ssemabule–Masaka road, government acquired 21 acres of his land in Gomba; he did not refuse government
to acquire the land because he knew the road would be of use to him.

President Museveni said if the Uganda is to develop, it must allow infrastructure development such as factories.
“Stop fighting factories and again saying that the youth do not have jobs. You are the same people sending the youth to work in factories abroad and yet you are refusing these factories back home,” he said.
The President said that although he has always fought for the construction of more factories so that the youth get jobs time and again he has been accused of having shares in those factories. He asked the public to welcome factories citing that small countries such as South Korea and Japan have been able to develop because of factories. “In the USA, only 2% of the population are into farming and the rest into manufacturing and factories,” he said.

He also asked people to desist fighting factories according to tribes or race saying that all Ugandans have freedom of movement and can set up factories anywhere they want as long as they acquire the land to do so.  “There are people who say that is an Indian factory but all factories in Uganda are Ugandan,” he said.

President Museveni also warned people against encroaching forest reserves and swamps saying that these had greatly contributed to the long dry spells and drought in some areas of the country. He said the country has so many water bodies and government was going to secure pumps to promote irrigation. He also asked the media to teach the
public about the dangers of swamp encroachment such as desertification.

“The media should teach the people that we need that water for irrigation. We do not want our country to become a desert,” he said. On the issue of the forthcoming Local Council elections, the President called upon Ugandans to participate in the elections and to vote for the NRM party. He asked the voters to desist from voting along tribal
lines but rather according to ability.
“There are so may refugees in Bunyoro and it is good that the Banyoro welcomed them but do not vote along tribal lines like in Kenya because you will lose out a lot,” he warned.

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Member of Parliament for Ayivu County, Bernard Atiku

Parliament has granted leave to the Member of Parliament for Ayivu County, Bernard Atiku, who intends to introduce a private member’s bill for an Act entitled; “The prevention and prohibition of human sacrifice and harmful practices bill 2017”.

Atiku’s  motion seeking leave was seconded by the Woman Member of Parliament for Kumi district who is also the chairperson of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association, Monica Amoding.

Atiku told Parliament that despite the existence of international instruments, national laws and government efforts in place to protect individuals right to life and degrading acts, ritual killings and human sacrifice practices are on rise in the country and that children are increasingly becoming the most common victims.

She said that the bill seeks to fight the growing evil of human sacrifices in Uganda saying  the witch craft Act has lost relevance in today’s circumstances.

Atiku noted that since 2009 about 219 cases of ritual murders have been reported from different parts of the country.

She pointed out that child sacrifice is highly happening in central region districts which include; Mukono, Masaka, Buikwe ,Mpigi ,Wakiso ,Kampala and in Busoga sub region especially in Jinja and few cases in West Nile and Northern Uganda

The Woman MP for Kumi district, Monica Amoding, noted that there is a feeling in the public that traditional medicine which involves blood and use of human body parts is stronger when applied to fight illness which justifies increase in cases of human sacrifice.

Government Chief Whip, Ruth Nankabirwa, said that government has no objection to this bill, saying that the mover of the bill is complimenting government efforts to stop acts of child sacrifice.

Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah granted the request for leave from Parliament to Atiku to go and prepare for the presentation of the bill.

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Engineers inspecting the Mpigi-Kanoni road currently under construction.

Delays in resident compensation by the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) have stifled progress to the completion of the Mpigi- Kanoni road.

This according to Milivoje Millisavijevic, the managing director ENERGO Uganda has affected the work progress on the 64km road that stretches through Seeta, Kabasanda-Gombe. ENERGO is the company that was awarded the contract for the construction of the road at a cost of 123 billion Uganda shillings.

“We have to depend on UNRA clearing the way by compensating the residents that are along the way in order for us to move smoothly. In addition without the consultants providing the designs we can do anything more than that,” Millisavijevic said.

He further revealed that the designs by the consultant AE Com from South Africa for the road have also not been completed. Among the visible sections that have been skipped is Mpigi Town roundabout and Kibibi trading center.

Millisavijevic was on Thursday 14, 2016, reacting to a question by a journalist on why some sections of the road had not been completed. He however said he was confident the work would be completed on time once these obstacles were eliminated.

However, when contacted, an official from UNRA who preferred not to be named because he is not authorized to talk to the media confirmed the delays in compensation to residents due to an ‘avoidable circumstances’, he said.
When asked to comment on the recent findings of a UNRA report that mentioned ENERGO as among the companies that were accused of inflating road construction prices, Millisavijevic refuted the claims.

In a the report that was delivered to President Museveni earlier this year, Justice Catherine Bamugemereire who was chair of the probe team also pinned some former officials of  UNRA of conniving with companies that construct roads to do substandard work.

The report also pointed out that the cost of construction of roads in the country virtually doubles that of neighbors like Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia who build similar roads.

“While embarking on the construction works we consider so many factors. The costs of materials, taxes of a country etc. We therefore ensure that we work within the perimeters where a client is left satisfied and so are we. We are a very reputable company having started operations in 1951 and are working in over 70 countries worldwide. We therefore have a name to protect,” Millisavijevic said.

Rodol Jub Radojevic, ENERGO’s project engineer revealed that the company has embarked on using modern technology to construct durable roads.

He said a state of the art machinery to crush stones has been procured to ensure the surface of the road is well laid before construction.

The 2 year project that started late last year is expected to be completed by next year.

The company has carried out previous road works in Uganda among them upgrading and gravelling of the Kampala –Jinja road, works on Entebbe road and the Kawempe-Kafu road among others.

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“The continuous wars between landlords and squatters is not good for the country, we are therefore going to prioritize the land fund. It is the medicine that will cure the issues of land,” the President said.

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Uganda police have charged eight FDC supporters with the murder of an assistant inspector of police, John Boso Ariongo. Ariongo was hit with a big stone on the head and died on spot on Wednesday.

The FDC supporters who have been charged with murder include Catherine Dembe, an LC5 woman councilor in Mpigi, businessman Yoweri Kintu, Robert Kavuma, James Kirya and Harold Kaija.

The police have also charged Col. Kiiza Besigye, Kampala lord mayor Erias Lukwago, Kampala woman MP, Nabilah Sempala, Kawempe division LC3 chairman, Mubarak Munyangwa with organising an illegal assembly.

The police spokesman, Asuman Mugenyi says that the file of the suspects is with the DPP. He says police is waiting for the reply of the DPP before it takes final action.

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May youth from Makerere University remain unemployed

Makerere University under the umbrella of the inter university council of East Africa led by its college of Agriculture and environmental sciences has begun a research to find an HIV/ aids drug from local herbs.

The ongoing research is being conducted in the districts of, Palisa, Mukono, Mpigi,Kaliro and Kampala partnering with traditional herbalists.

his has been revealed by Prof.  John Tabuti the lead researcher at media briefing at Makerere University this afternoon.

Proof Tabuti is hopeful that the drug will be found at the end of the research after all the key herbs in the research have been found.

The three year project titled “Value chain analysis and development of plant-derived medicinal products for management of HIV/AIDS in the face of climate change in the Lake Victoria basin” is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and is implemented by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), through the Lake Victoria Research Initiative (VicRes). The project has a budget ofUSD$600,000.

This project is going to determine and evaluate plants to produce new anti-HIV therapies. And because plants, the sources of traditional medicines, are threatened, this project will also research, demonstrate and promote plant conservation.

This is a regional project with partnering universities in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. The project is headed by Prof. Philip Aduma of Maseno, Kenya. Professor John Tabuti, an ethnobotanist in Makerere University’sCollege of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is leading the Ugandan team.

Please see Downloads for full proceedings.

Downloads

Highlights from the 23rd Media Briefing: doc(500KB), pdf(55KB)

Ultimate Media

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