How the Uganda Oil refinery is expected to look like after construction

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20 people have been reported dead from the epidemic in the Beni region of North Kivu -which homes the Ugandan-linked Islamist militia called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

   

The WHO unlicensed vaccine, rVSV-ZEBOV, which had proved to be highly effective was given to frontline workers in the DRC. AFP PHOTO

 

“At this point, there is no indication that these two epidemics, which are more than 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) apart, are connected,” he said.(Daily monitor, August 2, 2018)

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According to a tweet from the official EALA handle “Election of the Speaker adjourned for tomorrow” it stated

Election of the Speaker adjourned for tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/DBKZ43pDht

— EALA (@EA_Bunge) December 18, 2017

The new speaker will take over from Rt Hon Daniel F. Kidega.

Three candidate sare vying for the position and they include Candidates are Hon. Kimbisa Adam from Tanzania, Hon. Ngoga Martin from Rwanda and Hon. Nzeyimana Leontine from Burundi

ALSO READ:Fourth EALA swearing in today

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Kenya’s standard gauge Railway was built from Mombasa to Nairobi and its second phase is to stop at Kisumu leaving out the stretch to malaba.

Okoth sits on the physical infrastructure committee of parliament said that there could be geo-politics by Kenya to delay its SGR to reach Uganda boarder at malaba and he called government to investigate and sort out this.

However, okoth said that government needs to sensitize the people compensated for the land where such projects are going to pass because when they get huge money they are not used get excited and misuse it.

He added that people in his area where this SGR is going to pass were conned by traditional witch doctors whom they went for to ensure that they change the minds of surveyors using the spirits so as the SGR pass through their land and also get such money.

Government approved a loan of 45.5 billion shillings for construction of the standard gauge railway but the project stalled because of the delay by Exim bank of china to release the required funds.

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Bank of Uganda Governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile

Bank of Uganda Governor, Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, has once again come out to reject government’s policy commonly referred to as Buy Uganda Build Uganda (BUBU) saying the country risks jeopardizing its success in exporting to regional markets through such protectionist trade policies.

Mutebile said this in a speech read on his behalf at the ongoing 12^th Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) Trade facilitation expo 2017 by Bank of Uganda’s Deputy Director in Charge of Economic Research, David Sajjabi, at UMA exhibition hall.

He said that the proposal for BUBU if implemented to offer domestic products preferential treatment on the domestic market over the East African Community partners would be inconsistent with the East African Community Customs Union Protocol.

Mutebile argues that BUBU is inconsistent with the East Africa Community Customs Union Protocol which prohibits partner states from undertaking any administrative measures which discriminate in favour of its own producers at the expense of those of its partners.

However, government through BUBU states that the country cannot afford to put at risk access to the regional market through inviting retaliation to the local ill thought out protectionist trade measures.

Executive Director Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Gideon Badagawa

He pointed out that BUBU campaign is not compatible with an export promotion strategy but rather  promotes import substitutes.

However, the Executive Director Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Gideon Badagawa, said that the BUBU campaign cannot be stopped since similar policies exist in some of the partner East African countries like Kenya and Rwanda.

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Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Uganda Major General Frank Mugambage.

The government of Rwanda has confirmed that Rwandese in Ugandan will cast their presidential votes on the same day of August 3rd with other Diaspora communities.

Addressing the media at Rwandan High Commission in Kampala, the Rwandan High Commissioner to Uganda, Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambage, says they expect a total of between 400,000 to 450,000 Rwandese in the Diaspora to vote.

According to the National Electoral Commission (NEC) in Rwanda, close to 6.8million registered Rwandese will participate in the election from over 16,700 polling stations from 5.7million who participated in 2010 presidential elections.

Mugambage emphasizes that Rwandan voters in Uganda will vote from the High Commission at Kitante along Ntinda road before the national elections slated on August 4th.

Supporters of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front hold posters of incumbent President Paul Kagame at a rally ahead of the country’s presidential election

He further hails the development delivered by the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) government led by the incumbent president Paul Kagame saying the country is recognized across the continent and the world.

Three candidates are contesting for Rwanda Presidential seat  for the next 7 year term include RPF’s Paul Kagame, Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (DGPR) and the Independent’s Phillipe Mpayimara.

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State minister for trade, Michael Werikhe, while briefing the MPs recently said government is trying to make prices of sugar go down because it is concerned about the escalating prices for sugar in the country and regionally which has lasted for almost nine months.

He said that the government will monitor sugar prices to ensure that the retail price does not exceed 5,000 Uganda shillings.

Werikhe attributed  the escalating sugar prices to increasing demand in the East African region that he says has caused a gap 300,000 metric tons in Kenya and 40,000 metric tons in Rwanda.

He however, noted that the sugar prices at retail level have gone down from 8500Uganda shillings to 5000 Uganda shillings.

A consumer measures sugar on a spoon

Werikhe also attributed the sugar cane shortage to prolonged drought and harvesting of immature sugar cane.

He urged the sugar millers to maintain normal sugar production and encourage sugar cane supply from out growers.

Some MPs however, said the current price of sugar being 5,000 Uganda shillings is still way too high for a common man to afford.

Kamuli district Member of Parliament, Hajati Rehma Watongola, appealed to the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga to intervene on the sugar prices.

“The Speaker should intervene on this matter so as to save the common person from this high sugar prices. Even if government has set the current price for a kilogram of sugar at 5,000 Uganda shillings, this price is still way too high for especially our rural people. We the prices reduced further by more than a half,” says Wetangula.

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Former Housing Project Daudi Migereko.

Former Lands and Housing Minister, Hon. Daudi Migereko, says for Uganda to achieve better and quality housing units that are currently in a deficit, there is need for government to create a change in the mindset of the population.

He says this will enable sector players and citizens to embrace the new housing projects initiatives and encourage solving the housing problems in the country.

According to Migereko, a negative mind set on housing can be witnessed in the failed Kasokoso housing re-development where citizens and area leaders resisted the project which now sees the residents still in a non-planned environment which is miserable.

“This was supposed to be an opportunity to improve on the housing sector for the poor in Kampala.Now look at how they still reside in poor structures which can collapse at any time,” Migereko said.

Migereko, gave good examples of better housing policies in neighboring countries of Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya where he says citizens have embraced low cost housing projects supported by their governments and have seen more citizens acquire quality housing.

He says it’s  upon this that he urges financial institutions to provide better conditions to facilitate housing financing mechanisms that will help citizens develop better and quality houses.

However, the Managing Director, Housing Finance Bank, Mathias Katamba is of the view that housing developers have to bring down construction costs to meet the house hold levels for Ugandans to afford mortgages and then homes.

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executive director of Uganda export promotion Board, Elly Twineyo Kamugisha.

The executive director of Uganda export promotion Board, Elly Twineyo Kamugisha says that the country has been earning over 3 billion shillings per day from the South Sudan market but ever since the war broke out, the country’s exports have greatly declined.

Kamugisha however says that the country is making a lot of money from DRC, Kenya and Rwanda and if it can expand on this market, it will be able to earn beyond expectations of the South Sudan market.

He also wants government to set up an auction center in Kampala for the country’s tea as a way to increase on the money earned from the crop noting that moment, the crop is sold through Mombasa where it is undervalued because of its low quality, adding that if this were true, many of the buyers would not return to the country to seek a certificate of origin.

Kamugishas who was appearing before MPs on the Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Tourism and Industry had been asked legislators why the government had not considering other options of expanding markets away from troubled South Sudan.
The Committee Chaired by the Mawokota South MP, John Bosco Lubyayi noted that the country has been earning over 3 billion shillings a day from the South Sudan market but ever since the war broke out, its exports have been declining.

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The magnificent Kigali Convention Center from outside.

As the one week shaky ceasefire seems to hold on in Juba, South Sudan, African leaders sitting at an AU summit in Kigali on Sunday agreed to re-enforce the UN-Mission with a regional force under IGAD if they are to save lives and pacify Juba.

IGAD called on the UN Security Council to give it a mandate that would allow it to separate the parties to the conflict and “pacify Juba”.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had the inception of the recent conflict called for an arms embargo on South Sudan. This however did not get past the AU summit because of opposition from Uganda, which has strong ties to Kiir.
The recent clashes in Juba and other parts of South Sudan are believed to have claimed over 300 lives after forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and those supporting his rival Vice-President Riek Machar got engaged in a four-bloody battle.

The violence raised fears of a breakdown in protracted efforts to end a civil war that began in December 2013 with battles in Juba between the same rival groups.

As discussions went on at the meeting that ended on Monday, IGAD Executive Secretary, Mahboub Maalim, proposed a three-fold approach to addressing the South Sudan crisis.

“First, impose an immediate arms embargo on South Sudan. Second, enact additional targeted sanctions on leaders and commanders working to unravel the peace process. Third, fortify the UN Mission in South Sudan, UNMISS,” the IGAD Executive Secretary said.

Many member states argued that it was better to have an African constituted armed force that can be used to handle conflicts like that in South Sudan.

“The UN doesn’t have the mandate to impose peace,” African Union (AU) Peace and Security Commissioner Smail Chergui said at a summit in Kigali.

“They are there where there is peace to keep. African troops are ready to engage in very difficult situations. It is our responsibility,” he added.

There is currently a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, which has however  faced criticism on many occasions for what critics say is it’s for failure to stem the latest bloodshed or fully protect civilians during the fighting.

Chergui said the mooted force for South Sudan would be modelled on the 3,000 strong Force Intervention Brigade deployed within the UN’s mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which proved decisive in neutralising the M23 rebellion in 2013.

IGAD, a bloc of east African states and the key player behind the proposed force, on Sunday Chergui said the international community would have to persuade Kiir to drop his opposition to the deployment of the new force.

The summit also endorsed a plan for the AU to start withdrawing its 20,000 troops deployed in Somalia in the UN-endorsed AMISOM mission starting from October 2018.

Before that date, there would be “very robust and collective attacks” on Shabab insurgents in the south of the country.

South Sudan warring factions have received the decision to deploy a regional peacekeeping force in the country with mixed reactions.

The new developments have however been received with mixed reactions especially from the 2 warring parties with a government official from Prseident Salvar Kiir’s faction calling it “Unfortunate ” and that it “will not work”, in reference to the decisio taken by Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

“That proposal will not work, because a problem is not solved by another problem and this thinking is unfortunate” said Minister Martin Elia Lomuro in an interview with Sudan Tribune.

Meanwhile the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In opposition (SPLM-IO) under it’s leader Dr. Riek Machar welcomed the move saying it would guarantee security of its officials who feel threatened by attacks from government forces.

Machar’s Spokesperson James Gatdet told the media earlier that a peacekeeping force was long overdue.

“President Kiir is not in control of incidents that occur around him. He is not in control of his army commanders and other organized forces. So how do you trust protection from a leader who is not in control, or who might have been blessing violent actions of his commanders or security personnel?” Gatdet wondered.

IGAD in a statement asked warring factions in South Sudan to demilitarize Juba and give way for regional forces to harmonies relations in Juba.

Earlier, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon that the region, would urgently provide more troops to the UNMISS and provide protection to leadership and the citizens.

“We have all watched events in South Sudan with sorrow. Our youngest brother has fallen, yet again, into division and violence. It is our responsibility – all of us, but especially those in the region – to restore peace, and to restore it durably,” said President Kenyatta according to the statement from his office.

“Let me be clear: those of us in the region have primary responsibility for peace and security here. But that responsibility is also collective – all of us must think carefully, and work hard, in the cause of peace,” he added.

Kenyatta asked UN Security Council to modify the mandate of UNMISS “so that it can separate those who have turned to violence, so that it can protect the infrastructure South Sudan has built, and so that it can enforce the peace. That is what collective responsibility means.”

The top regional official said that the chiefs of staff from five countries comprising Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda have proposed reinforcement of UNMISS troops from the region under the same UNMISS mandate.

Among the proposals was to task the south Sudan government to give way to humanitarian assistance to reach people in need.

“The government must uphold it responsibility and open up corridors to allow UN and humanitarian actors to provide vital supplies and other assistance to the affected civilians, as well as access for medical evacuations,” sounded the call from UNMISS.

Welcome back Morocco?

The summit also saw the first steps of the possible return to the AU of Morocco, the only African state that is not part of the union.

Morocco quit the bloc 32 years ago in protest at its decision to accept Western Sahara as a member.

Morocco maintains that Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is an integral part of the kingdom even though local Sahrawi people led by the Polisario Front have long campaigned for the right to self-determination.

“For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them, so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family. The moment has now come,” King Mohammed VI said in a message sent to the summit.

“We consider Morocco a brother country and would be very happy to welcome them back,” said Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama.

“But I think a lot will also depend on the terms on which Morocco would like to come back,” he cautioned.

The heads of state failed to name a successor to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to become the AU’s new commission chair.

None of the three candidates garnered the two-thirds majority necessary, and a new ballot will be held at the next AU summit, due in January 2017 in Addis Ababa.

The leaders did agree on financing the bloc through a 0.2 percent levy on imports, so as to reduce its dependence on donors, who currently contribute 73 percent of the $781 million (708 million euro) budget.

Rwanda’s Finance Minister Claver Gatete said this could bring in as much as $1.2 billion (1.1 billion euros).

Dlamini-Zuma welcomed the “historic landmark decision” as “an unprecedented leap forward for African self-reliance and dignity”.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, hosting the summit, said the plan “puts responsibility and ownership in our hands”.

“We need to start doing things differently, and better,” he told delegates at the opening ceremony.

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