This was said in an interview with Richard Quest of CNN on Friday last week, a video that was later released on Monday.

“I’m not interested in a third term,” Mr Kenyatta replied while asked if he has a plan of changing the constitution.

Kenyatta also revealed that his handshake with the now African Union Representative for Infrastructure Development in Africa Raila Odinga was meant to bring about development to Kenya.

“We’ve said, ‘Look, we don’t have to always agree on everything. But we can agree on things Kenya, and we can agree that this issue of cyclical elections has to come to an end,'” the President said.​

CNN’s Richard Quest interviews President Uhuru Kenyatta last week on Friday

Among other questions, Kenyatta was also questioned of whether he is bothered by the country’s debt to the Chinese.

Kenyatta revealed why people are only focusing on China as the only lender to Kenya and not other multilateral lenders like World Bank and African Development Bank.

“Why are we focusing ourselves only on one lender?” Mr Kenyatta asked.

“As far as I am concerned, we have a very healthy mix of debt from the multilateral lenders — who are basically the World Bank and the African Development Bank — to bilateral lenders like Japan, China, France, all who are participating and working with us to help us achieve our objectives,”  Kenyatta added.

Kenyatta was also quizzed on China’s intentions of giving loans to African Countries.

“We have an infrastructure gap that we need to fill and we are going to work with our partners across the globe who are willing to partner and to work with us.”

“What would worry me is if the debt that we have incurred has gone into recurrent expenditure, has gone into paying salaries or electricity bills and so on and so forth. But what we have utilised our debt for is to close the infrastructure gap,” he said.

READ ALSO:

Advise security officials to treat us with respect, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali tell President Museveni

Over 188 people feared dead after plane crashed into sea in Indonesia

The post Uhuru Kenyatta not interested in changing Kenya’s constitution first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and other government officials heading to National Treasury.Facebook/Uhuru Kenyatta.

President Uhuru Kenyatta was on Wednesday afternoon spotted walking from his office at Harambee House to National Treasury located along Harambee Avenue a busy streets of Nairobi.

The president was accompanied by a contingent of government and State House officials as he trekked majestically while waving and shaking hands with few individuals.

At the Treasury, the President held a meeting with his economic team as part of his consultations before he outlines his plan to continue the country on its growth trajectory.

ALSO READ:MPs should avoid luxurious life – Deputy Speaker Oulanyah

The President is due to outline his economic transformation plan when he addresses the nation on Tuesday. Wednesday’s meeting was the third time the President was meeting with the economic team in the last three weeks.

The meetings started after he won re-election in the October 26th repeat poll that was ordered by the Supreme Court.

President Uhuru greeting his supporters. Photo Facebook/Uhuru Kenyatta

ALSO READ:At least 50 killed in Nigerian mosque bombing

The meeting at Harambee House, was attended by National Treasury CS Henry Rotich, PS Dr Kamau Thugge and others. Facebook/Uhuru Kenyatta

President neglects women in meeting

President Uhuru while meeting members of his economic team and partners at the National Treasury in what he said was a continuation on discussions on how to accelerate Kenya’s economic transformation barely had women

As soon as the photos of the meeting hit social media, Kenyans quickly descended on the comments section pointing out to him the glaring disparity at the meeting dominated by men.

ALSO READ:BOU officials grilled over hiring external lawyers to battle court cases

The post President Kenyatta walks from his office to meeting at Treasury first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Traders Worries are more focused on the flow of goods which may face disruption if the election is not concluded peacefully. However legislators sitting on the parliamentary committee of trade have also warned of serious consequences.

Bulamogi  MP Kenneth Lubogo says the fact that Uganda  use the same route in trade since the new route between Ugandan and Dar-es-salaam  is not complete a lot of business are going to be affected. Including Uganda’s tax base.

 Kilak county MP Gilbert Olanya warns of serious implication which include increasing influx of refugees in the country

The post Ugandan businessmen loom in worry over Kenya election poll first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

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.

The post IGAD force to pacify war-tone S.Sudan as warring parties disagree. first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta welcoming The President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama

Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta is set to visit Uganda this week as parliament debates the proposals for the Constitutional Amendment bill 2015.

Kenyatta will be addressing Uganda parliament Friday 7^th August 2015 and is expected to talk about many matters affecting the East African Region and bilateral relations between Uganda and Kenya.

This was confirmed by the deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah to parliament and urged Members of Parliament to be available for the session with Uhuru Kenyatta.

Uhuru is visiting Uganda days after he hosted the US president, Barack Obama, who criticized African leaders for manipulating their constitutions so that they stay longer in power.

The post Uhuru Kenyatta to visit Uganda first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.