The newly completed Kira Road and Kabira Junction in Bukoto, Kampala is one of the works KCCA acomplised last year

According to a report released in December 2017 by the World Bank, about ninety percent of Kampala residents are satisfied with KCCA’S improved roads, signalized junctions, street lights and walkways.

Results from the two studies show that KCCA’s Infrastructure project is on track towards achieving set project objectives. The studies were carried out ahead of the mid-term evaluation of KCCA’s Second Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project (KIIDP 2) funded by the World Bank.  The findings of the Technical Assessment and Customer Satisfaction Survey will be used to inform KCCA’s future operations.
Barbry Keller, a Senior Operations Officer at the World Bank said in her opening remarks that, “I bring a positive message from the World Bank. The management sees the project as one that is progressing and largely achieving its objective.” This message was reinforced by Martin Onyach-Olaa, the task team leader, at the World Bank office in Kampala saying, “KIIDP2 has made remarkable progress, but needs to step up its implementation of the remaining half of the project.” He urged the team to draw lessons from what worked best, and do things differently for better project results.
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One of the key findings in the Technical Assessment Study notes that physical progress in road construction currently stands at 77 percent in five project sites, while only 44 percent of the funds were utilized. (Fairway, Bwaise, Bukoto, Makerere-Nankulabye, Bakuli-Kasubi).
The study further identifies some of the reasons for low fund utilization, which include delayed acquisition of land along plan road construction sites. The study recommends early resolution of land acquisition ahead of road construction. It also encourages the engagement of utility service providers during the project planning phase in order to gain a clear understanding of the extent of utility interference; cost and duration for relocation. Other recommendations concerned efficient budgeting for projects, expedited procurement processes, and improved engagement of communities.

Highlights of satisfaction of Residents along completed project roads

• Reduced traffic jam: 75% of road users reported reduction in traffic jam
• Reduced travel time: About 50% of road users reported an average reduction in time taken on new roads during peak hours. Bwaise had the highest experience of reduced travel time by 60%.
• Improved security and night visibility: 70% reported improved security and safety along the roads as a result of street lighting.
• Floods and sanitation:  83% of respondents along Mambule road, and 52% in Bwaise said flooding and sanitation had reduced as a result of improved road drainage System.

A sample of 1,000 residents from all-walks-of-life were interviewed in Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa, Lubaga and Central Divisions of Kampala by independent research firms.  The majority of residents interviewed said there is an improved flow of traffic and less traffic jam because of newly constructed signalized junctions. Some residents cited reduced accidents at signalized road junctions.
A resident of Katale Zone in Bwaise, Kawempe Division said, “Previously Bwaise was known for traffic jam.  But now, the traffic lights have helped to reduce the traffic jam.”

Meanwhile a number of residents said their security had improved due to better street lighting and they felt secure. Stating that this has promoted prolong hours of transacting businesses in the night without fear.  Respondents also talked about the beautification of their surroundings and image of the city stemming from newly constructed roads. They made reference to areas around Bwaise Junction and Kiira-Kabira junction in Bukoto, Makerere Hill Road, as well as Fairway Junction.
The Second Kampala Institutional and Infrastructure Development Project aims to widen and upgrade infrastructure for improved mobility within the city, in addition to supporting KCCA to better deliver services to residents of Kampala using streamlined, cost efficient and user-friendly mechanisms.

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According to the report, Many Ugandans in most regions were fully opposed to the removal of age limit in the constitution.

A report released on Tuesday by the Uganda governance and monitoring platform in partnership with CCEDU that was conducted between the months of September and October revealed that most National Resistance Movement (NRM) MPs’ position on the age limit amendment does not reflect the position of their respective constituencies an indication that they are not representing the views of the electorates.

The executive director of Great lakes Institute for strategic studies, Godber Tumushabe, says that the research  shows that out of 436 MPs expected to vote on the amendment of article 102b, 276 were in support of the bill, 116,was opposed while 38 were un decided.

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Although 73% of the MPs say that they would not vote for the removal of age limit, the report highlights that over 90% of female, UPDF, workers representatives MPs in parliament are in full support of the amendment of the constitution to change the age limit article.

The report further points out that most of these MPs are brought into power by state machinery hence the full support to all the bills that come before the house.

Tumushabe says, some constituents Buganda, Ankole, Bugishu and Tororo regions the amendment of the constitution and rest of the regions were fully opposed to removal of age limit in the constitution and hence wonder where MPs could have collected their views.

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The findings are contained in a 2015/16 report that was handed over to Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga at the Parliamentary building by the Chairperson Equal Opportunities Commission, Sylivia Muwebwa Ntambi on Wednesday.

Hon. Rebecca Kadaga the Speaker of Parliament.

Kadaga later lamented that the report was a total embarrassment to the eastern region where she also hails from.

“This is the reason I have started giving text books to schools in Busoga to narrow the gap. We need to bring on board all stakeholders so that we reverse this trend. Children need to get quality education throughout Uganda and we need to see good results,”Kadaga said.

According to the report, the worst performing sub region primary education include Busoga, Teso and Bukedi and these are followed by West Nile, Lango and Acholi. The report mentions the best performing regions in Primary Education as those in Buganda, Ankole, Kigezi, Toro and Bunyoro.
The report further shows that the Eastern region contributes 73% of the poor performing districts of which six are in Busoga  and these include kaliro,Iganga,,Luuka ,Bugiri ,mayuge and Buyende.

It indicates that schools in municipalities perform better than those in main district local governments with performance disparity of 21% for male against 22% of female students.

The findings also reveal that districts within the northern, eastern and West Nile regions are trailing in terms of primary education performance as the chairperson Equal opportunities explains

Ntambi attributed the performance disparities in schools to  poor school inspections by districts education officials, lack of head teacher commitment ,high pupil text book ratio ,poor relationship between the school and the community and refusal of parents and the community to execute their roles in the process of educating a child.

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Part of a Kampala street that was flooded after a heavy down pour.

Drought exacerbated by the El Nino weather pattern could lead to a spike in new HIV infections in southern Africa as women and girls turn to sex to survive and patients miss treatments, the United Nations children’s’ agency UNICEF said on Tuesday.

More than 60 million people, two thirds of them in east and southern Africa, are facing food shortages because of droughts linked to El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, according to the United Nations.

Uganda is among the countries that experience El Nino that in some cases triggers landslides especially in the mountainous regions of Bududa and Bundibugyo districts.

The Report says many patients are refusing to take anti-retroviral therapy (ART) on an empty stomach, others are deciding to spend their limited income on food rather than transport to a health facility, UNICEF said.

“People sometimes are having to resort to these extreme choices between eating and taking life-saving medication,” Patsy Nakell, UNICEF spokeswoman, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“This is the global epicenter of the HIV epidemic and when you have a situation like this where people are struggling to have access to food and to clean water then you know (they) will resort to what we call negative coping mechanisms.”

The situation was especially difficult in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, which have adult HIV prevalence of more than 10 percent, and have been hard hit by El Nino, Nakell said.

“This is like a double whammy in many ways,” she said in a phone interview from Johannesburg.

“When you don’t have anything to begin with, your ability to stretch and be flexible is very limited.”

Nakell said UNICEF had anecdotal evidence of women and children in southern Africa resorting to selling sex to get money for food, which was exacerbating their risk of infection.

She said the agency was concerned the situation in the region might get worse with the arrival of La Nina, a weather pattern linked to floods and droughts, when waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean cool after a phase of El Nino.

The agency has been helping people with access to clean water, vaccinations and HIV awareness program, Nakell said.

UNICEF has secured half of the $200 million needed to fund the response to El Nino, but was struggling to secure the rest, she said.

Weather forecasters in Japan, Australia and the United States predict a 50 percent to 75 percent chance of La Nina developing in the second half of 2016.

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HIV/AIDS Testing kit

A new report shows that youth demand for the lowering of the age consent for HIV/AIDS testing for the young generation. This was revealed by the young people in the base line survey conducted in Luwero and Nakasongola districts by the community health Alliance Uganda on top of other districts in Buganda and Busoga  under the project known as Linkup project funded by the embassy of Netherlands in Uganda focusing on the reproductive health, rights and HIV integration among the young people.

The youth in the report said that the consent age for HIV/AIDS testing should move from 18 years to 12 years to accommodate many of the young generation since some of them could be getting this disease at early age.
The head of the project evaluation Prof. Narathius Asingirwire while releasing this report at imperial Royale hotel in Kampala said that there should be scale up of advocacy interventions that that focus on access to services among young vulnerable people which include availing space for youth corners in most of the health facilities to enable them freely test for Sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The report shows that 95% of the youth in districts of Nakasongola, Luwero, Kampala, Wakiso, Jinja, Mukono, Kayunga, Kamuli, Mayuge, Namutumba and Bugiri now know the availability of HIV/AIDS testing services within their communities and 80% reported using condoms to avoid STIs. The survey covered 0ver 3000 young people in 11 districts carried on Bodaboda riders, female sex workers, Trucker drivers, fishing community, teenage mothers among others.

The Acting Director  General of Health service Dr.Anthony Mbonye said that the ministry of health will work with development partners to mobilize communities for better seeking practices for illnesses and diseases.

The Netherlands Ambassador to Uganda Alphons Hennekens said that his country will continue invest much in realization of sexual and reproductive health supplies including promoting health rights and HIV/AIDS prevention among young people.

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Cross generational sex is sighted as a leading cause of HIV infections among young girls in Uganda.

At least 570 young girls are infected with HIV in Uganda according to the latest findings by a United Nations report.

The findings is a set back to the country’s efforts to curb the scourge that has claimed thousands of lives since it was first discovered in the early 80’s.

It is also more scaring as the report points out that the most infected group with HIV is that of girls especially between the ages of 15-24 years.

“Go look at those posh vehicles parked at girls university hostels, those men are not picking or visiting their daughters but they are picking other people’s daughters,” said Dr Zepher Ranyabokabo from Ministry of Health who attributed this trend to cross-generational sex and the use of money to lure unsuspecting young naïve girls.

Ranyabokabo was speaking during a dissemination conference on the current prevalence HIV rate hosted by Alliance of African Mayors’ Initiative for Community Action on Aids at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala yesterday. The conference was intended to draw strategies to improve urban health, end cholera and HIV/Aids pandemic by 2030.

“In Africa, Uganda is second to South Africa, where at least 2,363 get infected with HIV every week, compared to 468 for Kenya, 491 for Tanzania and only 25 for Rwanda,” says the UNAIDS report dated 2013, which also quotes the 2014 US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.

The report put teenage girls in the group of key populations where HIV prevalence is highest. The group was in the past dominated by sex workers, fishermen, long distance truck drivers and boda boda cyclists.

Girls from the age of 20-22 have a 7.1 per cent prevalence rate, while boys of the same age have a significantly lower prevalence rate at 2.8 per cent. It says, between the ages of 23 and 24 years, girls’ prevalence rate remains significantly high at 7 per cent more than that of boys of the same age bracket.

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The foundation for human rights initiative together with the electoral monitoring body CEON have today released the finding of the report that was carried out during the 2016 election process with highlights indicating how human rights were grossly violated during and after the polls.

According to the report findings, the 2016 election were repleted with disenfranchisement of voters notably in Kampala and Wakiso districts, freedom of expression were clamped upon as reflected in the gagging of the media, shutting down social media platforms, denying Shaka Ssali space to quiz the incumbent Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, excessive use of force, mistrust of citizen in the electoral process among other findings that made the whole process not free and fair. But the report now recommends just like other reports for the introduction of comprehensive electoral and political reforms, investigate the root cause of the recurrent killings and violence, respect and uphold the independence of arms of government, amend section 15 of the electoral commission act, ensure timely delivery of polling material among others.

According to the executive director foundation for human rights initiative, Livinstone Sewanyana if these are put in place then Uganda will host a free and fair election in 2021. However, leaders from both NRM and the opposition expressed their view on the report with some applauding the findings as well as other bashing some of the recommendations.

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