Former Bubulo West member of parliament Tonny Nsubuga Kipoi's bail application has been rejected by the High court.  

Delivering her ruling on Monday, justice Jane Francis Aboddo of Criminal Division, High court said that the High court has no powers to grant Kipoi bail since he is currently being tried by the Military Court Martial. 

She advised Kipoi to apply for bail in the Court Martial. Kipoi applied for bail in December arguing that he has a fixed place of abode and substantial sureties including Bosco Welikhe a businessman and Moses Empasa a retired civil servant.

Through his lawyer Rtd Maj Ronald Iduli, Kipoi also told High court that he should be released since there is precedence when Michael Kabaziguruka the MP for Nakawa Division was released by High court judge Yasin Nyanzi after being charged in the Court Martial for treason.

During the hearing of his bail application last week, state prosecutor Joan Tumwikiririze asked court to deny Kipoi bail arguing that his sureties didn't present to court any document to show permanent place of residence and so did Kipoi.  

Tumwikirize noted that if court grants bail to Kipoi, there is likelihood that he may jump bail since his home is not known and also given the applicant is charged in the Court Martial with a serious charge of offenses related to national security. Kipoi was arrested in 2012 and indicted in the High court for offenses related to treason and concealment of treason. 

Kipoi's lawyer Iduli said that he will appeal in the Court of Appeal for bail because Kipoi already has a constitutional petition challenging the independence and impartiality of the General Court Martial to try him because he is a civilian. 

In 2013, the director of public prosecution withdrew charges against him in the High court and reinstated the same in the General Court Martial five years later.

Last year Kipoi was arraigned in the Military Court together with six soldiers of the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) for offenses related security. 

His co-accused are Albino Okeng, Sgt Adams Mawa, Sgt Yumusu Lemeriga, Corporal Rogers Meru and Private Ijosiga Dodola . The soldiers are all attached to the Masaka Armoured Brigade.  

In 2017, first lady Janet Museveni attended the annual selection/placement exercise as Education minister for the first time.

She wasted no time expressing her dismay at, and banning, ‘backdoor admissions’ – a long-standing though rather dubious practice of ‘special lists’ sent by ministry officials for admissions to top schools outside of the merit-based entries. Two years down the road, YUDAYA NANGONZI makes a follow-up assessment.

Times are quickly changing. Increasingly, a parent must now directly meet a school head to make a case for their child. No more openly favoured status for education ministry officials.

In the past, the heads of top public schools were constantly under pressure from these officials and other influential types to admit their sons, daughters, or other dependants whose names were always sent through the backdoor at the expense of those who deserved a place.

It had become so intolerable that in 2017, the Education minister advised head teachers: “Ignore all these commissioners who will come with lists of students. In case you don’t report them directly to the permanent secretary, head teachers will be held accountable for every single student admitted otherwise into their schools.”

At the just-ended 2019 selections, The Observer sampled 10 schools and found a more relaxed feel about the representatives from Iganga SS, Nabisunsa Girls School, Namilyango College, Gayaza High School, Mengo SS, Mt St Mary’s College Namagunga, Immaculate Heart Girls School Rukungiri, Bweranyangi Girls School, Lubiri SS and Kibibi SS.

The director of studies (DoS) at Immaculate Heart, Charles Mbamanya, said; “We have not received any lists in the two years. They would give you a list of candidates whose marks are worse than those admitted on merit.”

“If your cut-off is aggregate six [for senior one], they send you people in second and third grades. How do you expect someone with aggregate 16 to match the competition of those you have admitted?”

Mbamanya revealed how ministry officials would justify the corruption of the selection process by claiming “that these are children of officers serving outside the country like in embassies and UPDF officers on certain missions”.

The officials claimed that while such officers are away, their children must be catered for by the ministry, Mbamanya said. This was largely untrue. Most of the children on those lists tended to be related to the ministry officials in one way or another.

The exercise had been so heavily compromised that during selections, head teachers from top schools were herded into closed-door meetings. Shady lists were then shared and they would be pressured into receiving “illegal” students.

Today, these head teachers sit in the general hall with everybody else. According to Mbamanya, unlike ministry directives, special groups such as foundation bodies and old students associations negotiate to have their children or siblings admitted “whenever space is available”.

This year, Immaculate Heart admitted 240 students into senior one, selling at least 1,365 students with aggregate seven to 28. The DoS at Namilyango College, Aron Mweru, says more officials and wealthy parents now visit the school to seek placements.

“I don’t want to say things are still the same because we don’t get the lists anymore. I think this is some relief because we have a chance to directly interact with our would-be parents/students,” says Mweru.

As our interview progressed, a head teacher from another school put in a word. His son got aggregate five. He pleaded with Mweru to recommend him to King’s College Budo. Mweru told the head teacher to visit Budo for guidance.

While Namilyango’s cut-off was aggregate six, Mweru said they can take aggregate seven students too. This year, out of the 1,054 applications, Namilyango admitted at least 25 students with aggregate four.

Denis Mukunzi, the deputy head teacher in charge of academics at Bweranyangi Girls’ School, said if admissions are fairly conducted, every child can excel.

“Sometimes, you get students with four but those you admit last with aggregate seven maintain their performance. Yet, some few fours will keep up and others get lost along senior two and three and you wonder what happened to them,” Mukunzi said.

RAY OF HOPE

The deputy head teacher (academics) at Mengo SS, Mary Kalyango Mukasa, said: “When the ministry ceased sending us lists, people now find a courteous way of requesting for admissions or write on small chits but not commanding as it were in the past.”

“If we have space, we admit them; if not, we advise them to try elsewhere and they adhere.”

At Nabisunsa, the school’s careers master, Ibrahim Ssendawula, says whoever wants a place; you individually visit the school without compromising the school system.

“Right now, it’s on first come, first served basis. There’s no guarantee that because you hold a certain office, you will be admitted first,” Ssendawula said.

“Things have changed so much. Today, you all come and wait on the bench for your turn.”

“We can drop a child with aggregate five who didn’t give us first choice and take that of aggregate six who showed first interest in our school. You must show love and trust in the school no matter your parent’s influence in the country,” he added.

Another positive outcome of the minister’s directive, according to Ssendawula, is that schools now know exactly what they are taking in. In most cases, he recalls, the ministry would send names of students on illegal lists without indicating their P7 or S4 results.

For Kibibi SS, Musa Tamale, the careers/examinations secretary, said; “The lists used to be many; this is from the permanent secretary, director, minister, commissioner, etc. It was overwhelming! [But] once a parent talks directly to the head teacher, you get this sympathy that someone is interested in your school,” Tamale said.

“If the backdoor problem was at 75 per cent by the time she [Janet] made the directive, it is now at 40 per cent.”

He, however, adds that reporting officials is not enough. The long-term answer is to have more public schools with sound academic performance. This is because other influential people outside the education ministry continue flocking their schools.

Meanwhile, Iganga SS faces a unique dilemma. This is a girls’ school which only admits visually impaired males. A staffer who preferred anonymity told The Observer that pressures from wealthy parents and some NGOs which support children with disability persist.

“We got some relief with ministry and RDC lists but NGOs remain a challenge. Whenever they send a child and you deny them admission, they accuse us of discrimination yet we have inadequate facilities,” the staffer said.

For instance, visually impaired students need braille machines yet each costs between Shs 3 million and Shs 4 million; a ream of special paper to type their work goes for Shs 300,000 and embossers that turn soft copy into braille range between Shs 60 million and Shs 120 million.

And then, a school would need Job Access With Speech  software, which costs about Shs 2m. With such demands, Iganga SS can admit not more than 30 students.

AN APPEAL 

At Mt St Mary’s College Namagunga, one employee who declined to be named appealed to Janet to make public a hotline to her office. Some officials still try to manipulate the system, the employee said.

“I think the ministry of Education officials fear to be grilled by the first lady but we still get headed letters to admit children from parliament, bishops, local government and ministry of energy officials,” the staff said.

“These people are abusing their workplaces because they are aware that education officials can no longer assist them to access our schools.”

On the other hand, Lubiri SS staff say they have to deal with people who claim they have been recommended by either Buganda kingdom officials or State House.

“We need clarification from State House about its beneficiaries. So far, we have got three people this term under the guise of State House seeking admission for their children in senior one,” says the staff.

“Some show us headed letters from State House [that it will also pay fees] but take their letters. It’s just a few who we admit that leave us with copies. Sometimes, when we probe, people get angry and leave with their documents.”

Senior presidential press secretary Don Wanyama told The Observer that head teachers are encouraged to report such cases.

“Let me make this very clear… State House doesn’t interfere with any admission guidelines or policies in schools because we don’t have powers to subvert that process. If we are going to help anyone, whether it’s school fees or medical bills, officials from State House directly get in touch with an institution,” Wanyama said. 

“It’s not true that we send letters to schools and no one should bring a paper to school claiming that they are from State House and wants a placement in any school.”

At the end of the day, it also comes down to the choices students make. Parents and teachers were advised by Benson Kule, who chairs the selection committee, to help students make the right school choices.

nangonzi@observer.ug

Five years since the NRM constitution was amended to give the party’s chairman powers to appoint full-time secretariat staff, President Museveni is instead facing more infighting in the organisation he chairs.

Hopes that the amendment would solve the problem of clique formation have not been fulfilled. At the party’s next delegates’ conference planned for November this year, an amendment is likely to be moved for the party to return to the old format where secretariat leaders can hold other political offices at the national level.

Following the amendments that were passed late in 2014 to lock out former prime minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, Museveni appointed Justine Kasule Lumumba to succeed Amama as secretary general. Other appointments included Rosemary Namayanja Nsereko (national treasurer), Richard Todwong (deputy secretary general) and Dr Kenneth Omona (deputy treasurer).

Given the appointments, the officials were barred from seeking re-election to parliament because they were expected to dedicate their time to party work. An assessment of the secretariat’s performance since then, however, shows little or no improvement.

Instead, the secretariat is bogged down in endless squabbles amongst its top executives. One of the most pronounced fights is the one between Lumumba and Tanga Odoi, the head of the party’s electoral commission.

The two have fought each other since they took up office. Their latest exchange revolves around who should oversee the implementation of the party’s 2021 political roadmap. According to insiders, there are some other internal fights - some of which stem from lack of clarity on some provisions of the party constitution.

For instance, as deputy secretary general and deputy treasurer, Todwong and Omona, respectively, are rendered lame duck party executives without any roles until when assigned by their seniors.

“It is not only at the secretariat but even down in the districts. We have a problem of leaders understanding their mandate and boundary differently; you find that someone over-interprets his or her mandate, which results into fights,” a senior party official told The Observer.

Raw deal

The four top executives at the secretariat also feel that they were given a raw deal. Their monthly pay cheque is said to be much lower than what an ordinary MP pockets besides other opportunities available to MPs such as foreign trips.

“There is also the issue of status. Previously, they used to access anything at parliament as MPs but now, they go there as strangers which sometimes limits them,” the executive director of Uganda media centre Ofwono Opondo told The Observer.

“We are saying, we should allow them to seek election as national leaders to get that legitimate right as leaders,” Opondo said.

The frustration that the NRM jobs have not given them as much as they expected is said to have negatively impacted on their performance. In effect, mobilisation for the party has failed, raising fears that the emergence of new forces like Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi’s People Power group may eat away at NRM grassroots support.

That explains why during this weekend’s retreat of NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) at Chobe Safari Lodge in Murchison Falls national park, Museveni lectured party chiefs on the general ideological and strategic orientation of NRM.

“The truth is NRM is not well run. The squabbles have become too many, both at the national and lower levels, and they have dragged on simply because Museveni hasn’t come out to handle them, yet some of the disagreements can be resolved through the party structures,” Opondo said.

According to Opondo, some of the amendments to the party constitution were proposed by Museveni in the hope of ending the disagreements.

“For instance, the issue of lining up behind candidates during party primaries came out of his concern with the rising number of independents in parliament,”  Opondo said.

On February 16, CEC agreed to recommend to all party structures the adoption of voters lining up behind candidates as a mode of election in all internal party elections. The change from a secret ballot was adopted after reports that the NRM register had been infiltrated by non-party supporters.

Museveni is also reported to have been told that most of the flaws that characterize the NRM primaries result from the ease with which the party’s electoral officials get compromised.

Electoral reforms

The CEC retreat which ends today (Wednesday) is also expected to determine and agree on areas in Uganda’s national constitution that should be amended.

sadabkk@observer.ug

A study commissioned by Makerere University’s Human Rights and Peace Centre (Huripec) has confirmed a long-held suspicion that Uganda is a more militarised country today than before, with more cases of human rights abuse.

In its report launched last week at Imperial Royale Hotel Kampala, Huripec observes that “the continued deployment of the army in purely civilian affairs has become a dangerous trend, for a country committed to the rule of law and which cherishes good governance.”

Reference is made by Huripec to last year’s raid on parliament by presidential guard troops, which viciously beat up opposition members. The MPs were championing popular opposition to the government’s push to amend Article 102(b) of the constitution to lift presidential age limits, allowing President Museveni the possibility of a life presidency.

The report notes that the army, police and Uganda Wildlife Authority security officers are involved in a lot of human rights violations.

“… Cases in point were where illegal arrests and detentions were also characterised by torture or extrajudicial killings or where dispersal of demonstrations resulted into extrajudicial killing or torture and illegal arrests,” the report notes.

Huripec is a human rights watchdog within Makerere’s school of law, and whereas its report recognises disregard for the rule of law, lack of political will, negative political interest and ambiguity in the law, as factors influencing violation of human rights, special mention is made of the army.

The UPDF is accused of taking over the mandate of the police in breach of the Constitution.

“This significantly contributed to grave violations of human rights mainly as a result of the heavy-handedness employed by military personnel in executing what was ordinarily a police function,” the report says.

Increasing involvement of soldiers in ordinary law enforcement activities without adequate safeguards has resulted in violation of human rights, the study established.

“A case in point was the creation of the UPDF Fisheries Protection Unit which despite the public outcry and from formal institutions such as parliament and the ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries regarding their mode of operations, remained adamant and openly stated that they ‘answer only to the president’,” the report notes.

In 1995, the Uganda Constitutional Commission which documented the views of Ugandans on how they wanted the Constitution to look like, observed that: “the main duty of the army in a democratic society governed by the rule of law should be to fight external enemies and to put down internal insurrection or insurgency. In doing so, it should be obedient to directions from the civilian and democratically elected government. On the other hand, the police focus should be on the citizen, to protect him, or, if he is errant, to correct him. Police work calls for specialised training and for special tactics with which the army is generally unfamiliar or unsuited.”

The commission further observed that; “as a general rule, the army should not involve itself in police work…The police and the army must each understand that both forces play separate and distinct roles for the betterment of society.”

UPDF speaks

Yesterday, army spokesman Brig. Richard Karemire, denied that the army has usurped police functions.

“The powers of the UPDF are defined by the Constitution and the UPDF Act and it acts within those powers. The police continues to execute its mandate as provided by the Constitution and the Police Act,” Karemire said.

“What we are doing is to simply operate jointly where the need arises…for national development.”

skakaire@observer.ug

He may be a decorated army general, an ambassador and one of the ruling NRM’s historicals but retired Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza is haunted by a missed photo opportunity in an otherwise illustrious career.

Kyaligonza was one of the pioneer fighters of the National Resistance Army (NRA) rebel outfit that captured state power in 1986 after a five-year guerilla war led by President Museveni.

He has retired from the army after a long spell of serving in various capacities including MP and ambassador. But speaking to his colleagues on NRM’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) last week, Kyaligonza said he rues missing out on a chance to appear in the 1986 historical swearing-in ceremony photographs.

“You see my fear for the camera cost me a big moment in our history when the big man (President Museveni) was swearing in as president for the first time,” Kyaligonza disclosed on February 15 during a familiarization tour of Karuma hydropower dam project.

His disclosure was prompted by cameramen taking photos of him in the conference room where CEC members gathered for the project brief before being taken on a guided-tour of the multibillion power facility.

“We had just taken over power; I still had the hangover of having been the leader of urban banditry. I was hesitant to show my face because I didn’t know what could happen tomorrow and in the process (Kahinda) Otafiire just shoved me aside to take the front spot,” he added.

Indeed, in one of the widely-circulated official swearing-in ceremony pictures, Otafiire appears alongside Museveni. During the guerilla war, Kyaligonza commanded the NRA’s urban fighter unit around Kampala and has famously revealed that he once drove a car full of guns past a roadblock mounted by government soldiers after cheekily telling them he was carrying weapons.

Currently, Kyaligonza is the NRM vice chairman for western Uganda and is a member of CEC, which is the ruling party’s second top decision-making organ.

On February 16, CEC members stopped at Karuma for an update on the progress of the project, which is expected to fulfill NRM’s 2016-21 manifesto campaign promises to deliver adequate electricity to the country. They were going for a five-day retreat called by Museveni at Chobe Safari Lodge to discuss the party’s proposed constitutional amendments on elections.

KARUMA DELAYS

Meanwhile, the completion schedule of the 600-megawatt Karuma hydropower dam has been extended to December this year. The multibillion dollar project, being constructed by China’s Sinohydro Corporation, was slated for commissioning last December.

However, Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL) chief executive officer Harrsion Mutikanga told CEC members that they failed to beat the deadline due to delays in procurement processes in government. Mutikanga also blamed the heavy rains in the last quarter of 2018 for hampering construction works.

He said 90 per cent of the physical work has been completed, with electro-mechanical components for the generation units in the underground powerhouse already installed. The contractor will have ample time to finish the rest of the engineering works and test the facility before commissioning in December, he added.

Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, who toured the facility with CEC members, commended the contractor and UEGCL for ensuring that local people benefit from the project. More than 4,000 out of 6,000 employees on the site are Ugandans.

Once completed, the $1.7 billion or Shs 6.2 trillion project is expected to add 600 megawatts to the national grid. Currently, Uganda’s electricity generation capacity is 950 megawatts, including all other sources such as solar and thermal generators.

The dam project cost includes construction of staff houses, an administration block, a visitors’ centre and high-voltage transmission lines, among others. The government acquired a 30-year concessional loan from China Exim Bank to finance the project, which it says will bring down the high costs of electricity and boost economic growth.

mugalu@observer.ug

Prof Anthony K. Mbonye’s book; Uganda’s Health Sector Through Turbulent Politics (1958-2018), serves up nearly 156 pages of a scathing critique of the ministry of Health and its officials, which makes it that much more controversial – coming from a senior medical doctor and former employee of the ministry.

In the book, the former ministry of health official says top jobs at Uganda’s ministry of Health were not awarded on merit but depended on who was closer to the first family and who lobbied best.

The book, released to bookshops around Kampala last month, describes in fine detail the extent to which one’s connectedness determined one’s place. Mbonye, a former acting Director General of Health Services, lifts the lid on how top positions were stuffed with underserving political appointees, killing staff morale and leading to resignations of experienced personnel.

Its insider revelations make for a gripping read which probably explains why copies were allegedly bought off the bookshelves hours after release, probably to limit circulation. It also shows the extent to which intrigue at the top of one of the country’s most critical sectors paralyzed work.

Mbonye, who resigned in January 2018, says the ministry is now grappling with “demoralized staff who feel that the institutional mechanisms to advance their professional careers are no longer relevant.”

“Thus, there is little incentive to work harder since they feel they have little hope for promotion,” he writes.

During his time at the ministry of health, Mbonye didn’t have a good working relationship with the current permanent secretary, Dr Diana Atwine. Atwine was the all-powerful head of the health monitoring unit in State House, which enjoyed the patronage of President Museveni.

He was also not seeing eye-to-eye with then Director General of Health Services, now the minister of Health Dr Jane Ruth Aceng. Often, their disagreements spilled into public view and the media. It is little wonder then that the book picks particular interest into how these officials reportedly wormed their way into the ministry largely as political appointees.

“In 2008, I had met Dr Diana Atwine on a trip to Cape Town, South Africa to attend a conference on cervical cancer, organised by Princess Nicky from Nigeria. She was accompanying the first lady Mrs Janet Museveni to the same conference and it was the first time I had spoken with her.”

“After exchanging pleasantries, she began complaining about corruption in the health sector and poor service delivery…I didn’t take these allegations seriously at the time since I don’t engage in discussion where no valid evidence is presented. Little did I know that she had been spreading this discourse to justify her appointment as the director of health monitoring unit based in State House. Indeed, her strategy seems to have succeeded and she was appointed as its first director.”

Mbonye alleges that the job that was given to Dr Aceng had a more deserving candidate.

“Dr Nathan Kenya-Mugisha was interviewed as the sole candidate for the post of Director of Health Services, and he [had] already successfully passed the interview phase. Given his experience, it was assumed that the president would sign swiftly and confirm his appointment, as had always happened,” he writes.

Instead, Mbonye notes that the whole ministry was left bewildered when a junior officer, Aceng, was announced to the position (Director of Health Services).

“Nobody imagined that a junior doctor, not even a superintendent of a hospital, would apply for the post of permanent secretary and pass the interviews at the Public Service Commission,” Mbonye writes “…Perhaps we had believed in the traditional practice of an open interview and appointing the best officers based on merit.”

“…Dr Jane Aceng from Lira Hospital, after failing in her application for the post of medical superintendent, was accelerated to the post of Director General of Health Services and later minister of Health. She engaged in infighting with staff and fellow ministers.”

He notes that rumours of Aceng’s appointment had been “largely ignored because these were at the time little-known junior doctors who lacked adequate experience, and it was assumed that they wouldn’t pass interviews anyway.”

Mbonye writes that for Dr Christine Ondoa, who was in 2011 appointed minister of Health, there was no rumour but her appointment replacing Dr Stephen Malinga sent shockwaves around the ministry.

“Even appointed officials seemed shocked at their selection,” he writes.

“Dr Ondoa had earlier began calling herself ‘Pastor Ondoa’, and while we were in Oyam district to launch the Prevention of Cancer of the Cervix campaign, she told me and others around her table that she was a prophet! She was a member of the ‘born-again Christians’, and it was said they would go to the State House to pray,” writes Mbonye.

Mbonye writes that the new crop called themselves “The New Team” and they targeted “experienced and more senior officers, initiating a campaign of harassment to have them removed from their posts” as part of their supposed cleaning-up of the health sector.

“During several meetings, they openly abused, ridiculed, and humiliated officers, and in 2012/13 several experienced staff had to leave the ministry.”

“I, then the commissioner of community health, was amongst them and took a sabbatical leave to concentrate on research and teaching.”

He writes that other officials who left included; Dr Paul Kagwa, assistant commissioner health promotion; Dr Rachel Seruyange, the programme manager Uganda National Expanded Programme for Immunisation; Dr Jenifer Wanyana, assistant commissioner reproductive health.

Mr Paul Luyima in charge of environmental health chose early retirement. Mbonye writes that it was when these power struggles at the ministry threatened to completely derail Uganda’s health sector that President Museveni re-assigned some of the ‘New Team’, including Ondoa.

When Ondoa was dropped as minister of health and appointed the Director General of Uganda AIDs Commission, Mbonye recalls that she “set off the same fights and confusion, as had taken place when she was a minister of Health.”

“… her clash with the board chairman at UAC Prof. Vinand Nantulya, again attracted the attention of the president; and to the relief of many, she was again relieved of her position and Dr Nelson Musoba replaced her as Director General,” he writes.

Mbonye also claims that at times, posts would be advertised at the ministry but because the applicants were not favoured by the ‘New Team’, they re-advertised the positions. He gives the example of the post of Director of Health Services (clinical and community) which was advertised in 2012 after Dr Kenya-Mugisha was hounded out.

“I, as well as a number of other commissioners and doctors applied and five of us were short-listed.”

“At 9am when the interviews were supposed to start, the members of the Health Service Commission were summoned at the ministry of Health headquarters for an urgent meeting with Dr Ondoa. We waited until 11am to be interviewed. We believe they were given instructions to fail us”.

The post was re-advertised in 2014 and when Mbonye reapplied again, he says, Aceng ensured that they passed over him.

Mbonye also notes that when Dr Ruhakana Rugunda was appointed premier and left Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, who was then minister of state general duties, as acting minister of Health, some New Team members refused to respect him.

Here, Mbonye pulls out Dr Sarah Opendi, minister for Primary Health Care. Dr Opendi had been a minister before Elioda and “she felt she was senior to him in that sense”.

Speaking to The Observer yesterday, Atwine did not directly respond to the issues raised in the book. She instead said that there are “many things that one can talk about but this book is not worth talking about.”

She said the book was written from “pure hate.”

“That is it. There is nothing more,” she said. “It is okay; let people who want to read it read but someone who can analyse knows it is nothing. I would expect someone who was a professional in the health sector to discuss situational analysis and systems for young people to read instead of being trivial and attacking personalities.”

“There is nothing, really nothing, nothing in that book.”

amwesigwa@observer.ug

This afternoon, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) sealed off our offices in Kamwokya claiming that we have not met our tax obligations.

The truth is we have been in several meetings with URA since December 2018, trying to settle the discrepancy between their figures and ours.

There is also a miscommunication between the enforcement department and the domestic tax department. Our appeal and negotiations were not communicated.

The enforcement department  proceeded without being updated by the domestic tax department. We are in talks to  see to it that this problem is sorted out as soon as possible.

- Management 

Five people have died following a boat accident on R.Nile in Pacego village, Panyango sub-county in Pakwach district.  

Frank Muzoora, the Pakwach district police commander identified the deceased as Salotta Kayeny, Christine Kizza and her 11-year-old daughter, Monica Ayiorwoth, Conny Nyamutoro and Chris Okwairwoth Junior, both pupils of Wangkawa primary school in Panyango. 

Muzoora says the five were returning this morning from Nwoya district where they had gone for cultivation in a canoe loaded with sacks of foodstuffs, which were too heavy forcing it to capsize. The deceased's bodies were recovered from different spots following a joint search by marine officials and residents. 

Pacego village chairperson Kidonna Avila, whose wife Christine Kizza died in the accident, says they lack trained personnel at the landing site to help during emergencies. He said the five wouldn't have died if there was a standby rescue team as the deceased tried to swim to safety in vain. 

Francis Binega, the Panyango sub-county LC III chairperson says the district needs to come up with strict security measures to regulate water vessels.

"It's absurd we are losing people in such controllable ways. These people have died due to human error and the district needs to arrest this issue. And I want to warn parents who engage children in such risky activities. Why can't we employ experienced people to move on the water? Binega asked.
 
Robert Omito Steen, the Pakwach LC V chairperson, says most of the boats at Pacego Goro landing site are faulty, adding that many residents ignore safety precautions like wearing life jackets while using the vessels.

"We want to dismantle most of the boats at Pacego Goro landing site because we have time and again told locals that these vessels are in poor condition. I have also instructed the fisheries department to conduct a thorough assessment of all other vessels in the area. We can't keep losing people just like that", Omito said.

Josephine Angucia, the West Nile police spokesperson, said it was too late to save the lives of the deceased by the time the police marine unit arrived at the scene. 

This is not the first time such a tragedy is happening in Pakwach district. In March 2018, eight family members perished at the same landing site on their way to their garden in Nwoya district. In December 2018, six people died after their canoe capsized at Pujwang landing site in Pakwach town council due to overloading. 

Residents have since suggested that the authorities ban sailing beyond 5:00pm and stop women and children from rowing canoes on their own as part of long lasting solutions to the problem.

The deputy attorney general Mwesigwa Rukutana was today, Wednesday sent out of the Commission of Inquiry into land matters for undermining the commission’s chairperson, lead counsel and commissioners during cross examination.   

Rukutana, who had also defied several court summonses before, spoke egotistically and refused to adhere to the probe’s terms of reference saying he "will not respect anyone in the commission If am not respected.”

While appearing before the commission on February 5, 2019,  Rukutana, refused to testify, saying he wanted more time to prepare himself. He asked for a minimum of 30 days. However, his plea was rejected on the grounds that it was not commensurate with the Land Probe’s terms of reference, which is time bound.

Land Probe chairperson Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, gave him 14 days,  and subsequently deferred the hearing to February 20. Rukutana, a lawyer and a politician who has held a number of government jobs including ministerial positions, is being investigated among other allegations for wrongly advising and misinforming President Museveni on the ownership of Mutungo hill. His legal advice subsequently led to some letters originating from the President’s Office.

Rukutana is also accused of giving wrong legal opinion in the media, well knowing that the facts as he claimed, are not corroborated with what the Commission has unearthed through various testimonies from complainants and locus in quo visits to the land under contention.

The Commission further wants Rukutana to explain how Shs 24.6 billion is about to leave the treasury following his legal opinion. He is furthermore wanted to explain; how he authorized the payment of Shs 8 billion in interest for a contested piece of land in Mutungo, a Kampala suburb.

The land comprising of 12 plots, is being claimed by Dr Muhammad Kasasa, 80, and was purchased by government at a cost of Shs 2.4 billion in 2002. However, the figures seem to have changed since, and the Commission is also wondering how the Shs 2.4 billion figure, is now changing to Shs 24.6 billion.

The compensation award is part of the wider dispute the Commission is looking at. There are allegations of an inflated, irregular and probably fraudulent transaction in the process.

But while appearing before the Commission today, Rukutana kept on interrupting and interfering with the process of cross examination.

All along during the hearing that was interrupted with premature adjournments, Rukutana kept on answering questions arrogantly and disrespectfully - prompting Bamugemereire to prematurely adjourn the hearing. But even when the hearing resumed, Rukutana was not remorseful for his earlier behaviour despite pleas from Bamugemereire to be respectful and mindful of his words. 

“ Can I  have your word on this problem because this would determine whether we should continue with you or not ” asked Bamugemereire.

“Which word?” retorted Rukutana.

“Are you going to be respectful to this Commission?” Justice Bamugemereire asked Rukutana again.

But before she could complete her statement, Rukutana again jumped in and interfered with her statement saying; “Look, my position is very clear. As long as I am respected, I will be respectful. If I am not respected, I will not respect anybody” Rukutana who all along kept on interrupting the lead counsel, Ebert Byenkya.

“Okay, I think let’s stop here. Because this is not pretense. If we come here, for a person not less than a deputy attorney general to show this commission that we are a waste of time. Our first interaction was two weeks ago where we granted you an adjournment to be prepared. Our main object in soliciting your guidance to this commission was to bring clarity to this compensation award that was granted to Dr Kasasa” Bamugemereire said in a somber voice.

“There have been allegations that these figures and this contracts are arrived at through an inflated, irregular and even probably fraudulent process. We were hoping to get answers to these questions. And it turns out we are confronted with a situation, a situation of hostility, combativeness, disrespect and an  attitude never, never seen before.” Bamugemereire said.

“ I have thought very hard about this. And we have talked about it as a Commission. But now, at this point, as regards the attorney general’s opinion on this issue, I will refer this matter to His Excellency the President of Uganda, who is our appointing authority, so that probably the appointing authority can find another way of verifying, investigating and probing how Shs 24.6  billion is about to leave the treasury. And probably the appointing authority will find  a body that the learned attorney general respects enough.”

“As it turns out, this level of disrespect by government officials makes it impossible for us to continue with this type of investigation. If this level of disrespect continues, we might actually. rethink our method as a commission. But as of now, this interview is over. You are dismissed and discharged. Please get out of here ” Bamugemereire said.

Asked to give a comment by the  journalists, the non remorseful Rukutana said: “ I don’t give a damn. Let her tell the president, she can even tell God.”

“Eh!, this man, where does he get the guts to do this? That he doesn’t give a damn, that the judge can even go and tell God” a man who came to attend the hearing said as he shook his head.

Dr Kasasa, recently told the Commission that whereas he was supposed to be paid part of the money, he was only paid in papers.

“Mafias from the Uganda Land Commission, deceived me and opened a bank account of theirs where the money was wired and they took it. I was told to wait in the banking hall in vain. All they said, was that I will wait for another pending payment” Dr Kasasa said

This is not the first time Rukutana is conducting himself in an improper manner before a probe and other inquiries. His acts during the age limit court hearing in Mbale last year, were also, according to some lawyers wanting.

Rukutana, was appointed deputy attorney general of Uganda on March 1, 2015, replacing Fred Ruhindi, who was appointed attorney general. Ruhindi is one of the probe commissioners.

On February 5, soldiers attached to External Security Organisation (ESO) barred the Land Probe chairperson, Bamugemereire and her team comprising of commissioners and the media from accessing the land under contention located at Mutungo Zone IV.

A gun totting Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) soldier, No 095301, Corporal Julius Katuriba, held Bamugemereire and commissioners, Joyce Habasa, Dr Rose Nakayi and Fredrick Ruhindi at gun point and ordered them and other people including journalists to move away from the quarter guard of a residential building he was guarding.

“Nyinyi, mutoke hapa maramoja. Sitaki kuona mutu hapa saa hii” he said in Kiswahili. Meaning, can all of you go away from here. I don’t want to see anybody here.

The probe was inspecting the land in contention on Mutungo hill in Luzira. Mutungo, the prime Kampala, hill, is hostage to a number of land wrangles and court cases.

Three families, namely Prince David Kintu Wasajja, Sir Edward Mutesa II’s youngest son, retired Dr Muhammad Kasasa and former ambassador Maurice Kagimu Kiwanuka, son of the late Benedicto Kiwanuka, Uganda’s first chief justice are embroiled in an argument on the ownership of the Mutungo hill land.

The land in question is Block 237 Plot 67, 48, 29 and 59 on Mutungo hill where ESO intends to build its headquarters.

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Police has issued criminal summons to city socialite Shanita Namuyimba alias Bad Black for allegedly abusing President Yoweri Museveni on social media. 

The summon, which is signed by Joseph Obwona, the deputy director Criminal Investigations, requires Bad Black to appear before the criminal investigations directorate (CID) headquarters Kibuli on February 27, for interrogations as well as to record a statement.

Bad Black is being investigated for offensive communication and criminal libel contrary to provisions of the Computer Misuse Act and Penal Code Act respectively. The charges stem from a video Bad Black recorded and shared on social media in August 2018 when the Kyadondo East member of parliament. Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine and 32 others were picked up for treason.

In the video, Bad black attempts to explain that there is no way Bobi Wine could have stoned the president's vehicle, she abuses the president and goes ahead to claim that he impregnated her in 2000 and even helped her to procure an abortion.
 
Police want Bad black to explain her video and provide evidence implicating the president. 

"You are therefore in pursuant of the provisions of section 27A of the police Act (as amended) required to report before Acting Commissioner of Police Media crimes at CID headquarters Kabuki, Media Crimes Department on 27th February 2019 at 10am without fail," reads the summons in part. 

Bad Black has since claimed that she had been paid by Bobi Wine to abuse the president and has crossed to the ruling party camp.

Bad Black rose to fame when she started splashing money at social events, only to be sued later by her British lover David Greenhalgh together with her friend, Meddie Ssentongo for defrauding him of over Shs 11bn. Bad Black and Ssentongo were both convicted and jailed to 4 years and 18 months in prison respectively. Greenhalgh had picked off from prostitution, an occupation she has since resumed in Dubai.

Bad Black is the third person to be investigated for offensive communication against the president in the last one year. The first person was Makerere University research fellow, Dr Stella Nyanzi who is currently on remand at Luzira prison. She is accused of abusing the president's deceased mother Esteri Kokundeka in a poem she published on social media.

The second was Susan Namata who is alleged to have gone on social media and threatened to hit the president with her genitals.  She has since been released on bail. 

The state minister for Higher Education, John Muyingo has said government is in the process of taking over the closed Busoga University. 

Muyingo says that a team of officials from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) and auditors have been dispatched to the university to expedite the process of enabling it to become a public university by the end of this year. 

Speaking to journalists on Friday at the university, Muyingo said that officials from the Education ministry have embarked on a drive to register students with genuine academic documents.

He also said that the team from NCHE will also make a detailed report on the state of the university and present it to the ministry. 

"Government is working around the clock to make sure that the former Busoga University becomes a public university. At the moment, our team from the National Council for Higher Education, and a team from the Auditor Generals’s office is in Iganga to try to establish what government is taking over in terms of property, in terms of indebtedness, in terms of other resources. As you are aware, the university was heavily indebted. So we’re trying to establish these debts and then NCHE is trying to establish the academic records of the genuine students. The ones with genuine records will be helped to join other universities." said Muyingo. 

In December 2016, NCHE revoked the provisional license of Busoga University which has been operation since 1998 on a number of grounds.

NCHE accused the university of awarding fake degrees, which prompted it to cancel more than 1,000 degrees awarded to students, recruiting unqualified academic staff and accumulated debts among others contrary to the Universities and Other Tertiary Intuitions Act.

At the time of the closure, the university was highly indebted and lacked funds to sustain the daily operational costs of the institution.  Busoga University was operating under the control of Busoga Diocese at the time of closure. Muyingo said the university shouldn't be admitting any students until it becomes operational. 

The closure of Crane bank by Bank of Uganda was illegal according to a report released by the parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase). 

The report indicated that an analysis of the bank's liquidity from January 1-24, 2017, revealed that the financial institution had recovered from liquidity distress from mid-January 2017 to the time it was disposed on January 25, 2017.  

"In fact, Bank of Uganda had stopped injecting money on January 9, 2017. Therefore the bank's liquidity position had stabilized,"  the report presented to parliament by outgoing Cosase chairperson Bugweri County MP Abdu Katuntu, reads.

Crane bank was closed by Bank of Uganda on October 20, 2016, after it failed to comply with a capital call on July 1, 2016. BoU governor Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile said then that the bank's takeover was guided by the systemic nature of its under-capitalisation to avoid financial sector instability.

But Katuntu told parliament that his committee observed that BoU management did not provide a plan or assessment detailing efforts to return the bank into compliance with prudential standard despite funding with Shs 478.8 billion. 

Katuntu also noted the failure by BoU to involve the statutory manager Katimbo Mugwanya in the sale of the bank.

"There was even no opportunity for the statutory manager to formally handover the bank and indeed, Katimbo Mugwanya only learnt of the sale of the bank when he received a picture of loan files being ferried on his phone by WhatsApp when he was on his farm. He was told of the sale by his staff at CBL," Katuntu reported before playing an audio of Mugwanya presenting evidence to the committee concerning the matter.

The committee recommended that in the process of taking a decision to liquidate a financial institution, detailed plans for the revival should be exhausted before taking the most extreme action of liquidating. 

Cosase further recommends that the statutory manager's assessment as revealed in his report prior to liquidation, should be key in forming the basis for the decisions of the central bank in relation to liquidation. 

Earlier this month, former Crane bank owner, Sudhir Ruparelia told Cosase that the agreement for the sale of Crane bank to dfcu bank was shoddy and fraudulent.  

According to Sudhir, the Purchase of Assets and Liabilities (P&A) agreement signed between BoU and dfcu bank did not have details of all assets and liabilities that were being taken over. He said that the documents that were signed were shoddy and engineered for a fraudulent transaction.

Alex Rezida, a lawyer and former director in Crane bank said that the illegality of the sale is confirmed by the auditor general's report which stated that the central bank would have been concerned with the revival of the institution instead of breaking it.

The auditor general had earlier queried the failure by the central bank to prepare a plan to revive Crane bank and the consideration of Shs 200 billion from the bad books as the selling price for Crane bank to dfcu.

Debate on the Cosase report starts on Tuesday.