Moments after being granted a Shs 50m non cash bail by court in Arua, Mityana Municipality member of parliament Francis Zaake Butebi was re-arrested and remanded to a prison in Gulu. 

Zaake was arrested last night at around Clock Tower while on his way home. The arrest conducted by plain-clothed police officers follows failure by the MP to report to court to have his bond extended from December 5, 2018. Today, Friday, he appeared before the Arua Grade One Magistrate, Daniel Lubowa and charged with escape from lawful custody.

According to prosecution, Zaake, while in Arua last year, collapsed and was taken to Arua referral hospital but escaped from the sickbed undetected. Zaake has been arrested alongside several MPs and over 30 other civilians on allegations of stoning one of the vehicles of President Museveni's convoy. 

Zaake was today granted a non-cash bail of Shs 50 million and his sureties included the LC III chairperson of Arua Hill Division, Nesmah Ocokoru and councillor, Bazaar Ward Isaac Akile.

However after he was granted bail, he was re-arrested outside the court premises by the police on charges of treason and whisked away to Gulu Magistrate's court. Appearing later before Gulu Grade I Magistrate Isaac Imron Kintu, Zaake was not allowed to enter plea.

Zaake who appeared in court limping was accompanied to court by Kassiano Wadri, the Arua Municipality member of parliament. Kintu then remanded him to Gulu central prison until March 14 when he will appear for mention of the case. He advised Zaake to apply for bail in High court, saying his court lacks jurisdiction over the capital offence with which Zaake is charged.

Patrick Omiya, the Gulu resident state attorney represented the state in the matter while Zaake was represented by Gulu based Human rights lawyer Henry Komakech Kilama. Kilama said that Zaake was examined for mental health from Gulu Central police station shortly after arriving aboard a police pickup vehicle registration number UP 4799 from Arua district.

Kilama said they will apply for bail on Monday next week. Zaake now becomes the 36th suspect charged with treason over the Arua chaos in which stones were pelted at Museveni's convoy back in August 2018.

The others are Kyadondo East member of parliament Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, Jinja Municipality MP Paul Mwiru, Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga, Arua Municipality MP Kassiano Wadri and former Makindye East MP Michael Mabikke, among others.

Pope Francis will not be coming to Uganda this year, the Office of the President has confirmed. The Roman Catholic Church, through President Museveni, had invited the Holy Father for the golden jubilee celebration of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). SECAM is an assembly of Africa bishops. 

Uganda Episcopal Conference secretary general Msgr John Kauta in a statement issued on Thursday said they have received confirmation from the Office of the President that Pope Francis will not be visiting Uganda as earlier anticipated.  

"In 2018, the Uganda Episcopal Conference on behalf of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) requested His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to invite His Holiness Pope Francis for the climax of the Golden Jubilee of SECAM scheduled for July 2019," Msgr Kauta said in a press statement. 

He added; "The Office of the President of Uganda has officially communicated to the Ugandan Episcopal Conference that the Holy Father will not be able to attend the symposium." 

Kauta said SECAM celebration will proceed as planned and over 400 bishops from across the continent are expected to attend. The celebrations will be under the theme; "Church, Family of God in Africa, Celebrate your Jubilee. Proclaim Meet and Welcome Christ your Saviour. 

Expectations of Pope's visit were high given that he has two scheduled visits to Africa this year. He is expected to visit Morocco in March and Madagascar later.

The date for the Pope's visit to Madagascar has not yet been scheduled. It was expected that dates for his visit to Madagascar would be fixed around the date when he had been invited to Uganda.

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has declared a national emergency for one year, and dissolved local and national governments amid widespread demonstrations in Sudan.

Mbarara chief administrative officer, Cuthbert Esoku has been arrested following an impromptu visit to Mbarara district by the State House Anti-corruption Unit.

He was arrested alongside a surveyor Godliver Nayebare and the district physical planner Julius Luck. The arrest followed intense questioning in relation to the sale of government land, abuse of office and conniving to misuse public resources by the State House team led by Lt Col Edith Nakalema.

The intervention of the Anti-corruption Unit follows concerns that the municipal and district leaders had connived to sell off government land in the area. The most recent incident, is the sale of the house that used to host the district veterinary offices by former Mbarara speaker Grace Muhiirwe. 

The land was sold to Rwampara County member of parliament Charles Ngabirano at Shs 25 million. Ngabirano who was also invited to the meeting, revealed that the district speaker had all the documents proving ownership of the premises. 

Another piece of land near Mbarara State Lodge, was fenced off by a group of yet-to-be known people. But according to Nakalema, the person who encroached on State Lodge land must be known by authorities in the district who have refused to speak out.

She directed that the top leaders be arrested and taken to Kampala for further questioning. Nakalema added that district officials have taken control of several houses belonging to the district and the municipality. 

Dr Stella Nyanzi has appealed to the Makerere University Staff Appeals Tribunal protesting her sacking from the university. 

The decision to sack Dr Nyanzi, a research fellow at Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), was reached by the university appointments board at it's 587th meeting held on December 11, 2018. She was sacked alongside 45 other personnel from various units at the institution. 

In a letter communicating her termination of employment with Makerere, Andrew Abunyang, the institution's human resources director directed that Nyanzi hands over all university property in her possession. This letter according to Nyanzi, was served to her through the officer-in-charge Luzira Women's prison, where she has been detained since November 7, 2018. 

She is currently on remand on charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication, for allegedly insulting President Yoweri Museveni's mother Esteri Kokundeka in a Facebook poem. In the poem, Nyanzi said Kokundeka brought a curse to Uganda when she gave birth to her son, Museveni who has turned out to be an ever-lasting problem to the progression of Ugandans through dictatorial rule, corruption and criminality. 

Now, through her lawyer Isaac Semakadde, Dr Nyanzi protests the decision of the appointments board to sack her in absentia without giving her a fair hearing. Nyanzi also indicates that the appointments board unlawfully and unjustifiably acted in contempt of the earlier decision of the Staff Appeals Tribunal of December 3, 2018, and in further contempt of the on-going court case in which she sued the university.

In her February 21, 2019 appeal notice, Nyanzi observes that the decision by the appointments board was taken secretively and pre-emptive of the matter then pending before the High court, which is of a superior jurisdiction to grant the necessary relief and thus making it illegal, null and void. 

Semakadde contends that the decision in dispute is wholly unfounded and inconsistent with the decision-making history of the appointments board.

"It is thus misconceived, arbitrary, and extremely hurtful to our client who has at all times been employed by the university under a contract of service on permanent terms and is nearly 17 years shy of retirement," Semakadde notes. 

He adds that; "the decision was also politically-motivated and intended to appease the First Family who have since publicly commended and condoned the decision."

President Museveni recently praised Makerere University vice chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe for sacking Nyanzi whom she accused of tainting the university's image when she undressed in protest after being locked out of office. 

Nyanzi wants the Staff Appeals Tribunal set aside the entire decision of the appointments board, prohibit it from further interfering with her security of tenure without following the established procedures, be compensated to a tune of the injury so far occasioned to her; and award costs of her appeal. 

According to Abunyang, the university no longer has any jurisdiction over Nyanzi, since her employment contract ended on May 31, 2016. Nyanzi's lawyers want the Staff Appeals Tribunal to treat her as a suspended staff, on half pay until the case is disposed of.

Semakadde says even when Nyanzi has been receiving half pay in protest, the money should not be deducted over the cessation of employment. 

He adds that; "Those funds are essential to the maintenance of a dignified livelihood for our client and her family of three children of school-going age and their caretakers."

Video: #Uganda's Ambassador to Burundi, Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza with his military guards assaulting a yet-to-be named female traffic officer who stopped them after they made a wrongful U-turn in Seeta, Mukono today, Sunday pic.twitter.com/qsh86XXBzv

— The Observer (@observerug) February 24, 2019

Makerere University Academic Staff Association (Muasa) chairperson Dr Deus Kamunyu Muhwezi has hit back at Prof Mahmood Mamdani, saying he is part of the problem at Makerere University. 

Kamunyu, who is currently on suspension on allegations of inciting staff, says Mamdani has produced a series of smear and propaganda campaigns against Muasa without much success.

Kamunyu was responding to Prof Mamdani's commentaries in the media, in which the director of Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR), accused the Muasa leadership of bending to the will of institutional authority in return for favours, in government and or in the university.

According to Mamdani, the Muasa leadership instead of speaking truth to power or holding those in power accountable, they seek to take power and to allegedly displace them in a "mob-style rule".

"Are Muasa leaders right to claim that because they are established by the same law, they are equal to the vice chancellor? Is this not a call either for sharing power or for exercising a veto on power?" Prof Mamdani asks.

In response, Kamunyu argues that it took the manipulation of the university human resource manual to accommodate Prof Mamdani as a director of MISR because he had reached the mandatory retirement age, and therefore has no moral authority to question anyone's integrity at Makerere.  

"This step that was conducted to favour him and others in some aspects later spread to other aspects of our HR manual including the famous unconstitutional clause and the costly M6 [salary] scale split. As we talk Mak[erere] is expected to deposit Shs 3.2bn with the Labour Office if it's to appeal the M6 case that a section of administrative staff won last year," Kamunyu said in a statement. 

Makerere was recently ordered by the KCCA Labour Office to deposit Shs 3.2bn with the Industrial court following an appeal by the university against a lost court case to staff arising out of salary discrepancies. Makerere appealed to the Industrial court against KCCA Labour court officer, Hannington Kasaga's decision that had ordered the university to refund the money to its administrative staff.

Kasaga's decision stemmed from hearing an application by Mary Nakyewa, Bennet Magara, Joseph Kalema, Thomas William Baguma and George Turyamureeba and 96 others in which they demanded an explanation from the university why the M6 scale salary scale was split in 2017 to create M6.1 and M6.2 salary scales.

The labour officer faulted the university for committing an illegality and ordered payment of the staff accrued salary arrears. Makerere however challenged the decision of the labour officer citing lack of jurisdiction. Dr Kamunyu further adds that manipulations, blackmail or propaganda which common political tools have become management tools instead.

"They have characterized our mode of management in the recent times and we should not be surprised. This is what we have watched done in our employment systems for the last 6 years progressively," Kamunyu observes. 

Kamunyu argues that scholars of Prof Mamdani's calibre would steer clear of all leadership malfunctions in favour of greater rights and equal opportunities for others than supporting them.

"I request Prof Mamdani to instead deconstruct his current propaganda driven narratives in favour of the actual narrative on a dispute whose premises are much littered with leadership malfunctions where he may not be an innocent player. One must stand on a higher moral ground in decision ethics to construct such narratives," Kamunyu sighed. 

Dr Moses Khisa, a political scientist and assistant professor at North Carolina State University observes that the struggles at Makerere are symptoms of autocracy and maladministration for which Mamdani is an active player.

"Mamdani sees no problem with the actions of the vice-chancellor because, at the unit he heads, he has summarily dismissed students critical of his autocratic modus operandi and manipulated rules whenever he wants to get his way," Dr Khisa observes. 

When contacted, Mamdani said he didn't want to comment.

"On the issue of Muasa, I have no comment, thank you," he said. 

The MTN Uganda chief executive officer, Wim Vanhelleputte was deported to Belgium for allegedly conspiring with other workers to record phone conversations of high ranking government officials and security chiefs.

Last week, minister of Internal Affairs, Gen. Jeje Odongo ordered for the deportation of Vanhelleputte who has been in the position since August 2016. His deportation came days after the arrest and deportation of three other senior employees of the telecommunications giant including chief marketing officer, Olivier Prentout (French), mobile money general manager, Elsa Mussolini (Italian) and Annie Tabura (Rwandan) who was the general manager for sales and distribution at the telecom giant.  

According to a reliable source in security, intelligence operatives kept a keen eye on Vanhelleputte and even had his phones tapped immediately after the three employees were deported. 

The operatives were able to discover that Vanhelleputte kept in constant communication with the three staff members even after they were deported. He was also alleged to have been speaking to MTN group top management on their behalf. 

It is also alleged that when Internal Security Organisation (ISO) operatives raided the MTN data center at Mutundwe last year, they discovered that MTN was tapping phones of ministers, security chiefs and State House. 

Intelligence sources say that after being reported to the Inter-Agency Security Committee about his actions, Vanhelleputte was first summoned to record a statement at Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in Kireka and it was after that it was unanimously agreed that he should also be deported. 

Deputy police spokesperson Polly Namaye when contacted refused to explain the exact reasons for Vanhelleputte's deportation. So far only Mussolini has spoken out on her deportation. In her statement, she revealed that she had been accused for inciting violence by allegedly funding member or parliament Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bob Wine.  

There are on-going investigations against other MTN staff members for allegedly compromising national security using their positions at the company. The employees have since recorded statements with the SIU. 

City socialite Shanita Namuyimba also known as Bad Black has been quizzed by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for allegedly abusing and defaming President Yoweri Museveni on social media. 

Bad Black arrived at the CID headquarters in Kibuli at 9am in the company of her lawyer Julius Galisonga. She was led to the Media Crimes Directorate office and questioned by two detectives about the video which she posted on social media in August 2018 at the time Kyadondo East member of parliament Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine was held in military custody on charges of treason. 

In the video in question, Bad Black while trying to explain that there is no way Bobi Wine could have stoned the president's vehicle, vulgarly abuses the president. In the video, she also claims that President had impregnated her and then forced her to abort. Bad Black now faces charges of offensive communication and criminal libel contrary to provisions of the Computer Misuse Act and Penal Code Act respectively.

During the 5-hour interrogation, Bad Black told the detectives that she had been paid to send out the video.

"They had paid me to defend Bobi Wine and abuse Museveni but I have since realized my mistakes and I won't do it again," she said even before entering the interrogation room.

Police spokesperson in charge of Criminal Investigations Vincent Sekate said Bad Black had been summoned to record a statement and was later released on police bond as investigations into the matter continue. 

Bad Black is the third person to be investigated for offensive communication against the president in the last one year with the first being Dr Stella Nyanzi who is currently on remand at Luzira prison for vulgarly abusing the president's late mother Esteri Kokundeka in a poem published on social media.

The second was Susan Namata, a 21 year-old woman who allegedly used social media and threatened to hit the president with her genitals. She has since been released on bail.

Kawempe South member of parliament Mubarak Munyagwa has finally assumed the leadership of the parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase).

He replaces Abdul Katuntu, the Bugweri County MP who was dropped by the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) late last year but had his tenure extended by speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga so as to complete the probe into Bank of Uganda's role in the closure of commercial banks. 

Cosase is one of the four accountability committees of parliament mandated to examine the audited accounts by the auditor general detailing the appropriation of government funds to different commissions, authorities and enterprises. While handing over to Munyagwa on Monday, Katuntu regretted that the process had been delayed by investigations into the closure and sale of seven commercial reports, whose report was tabled in parliament last Thursday. 

He told Munyagwa that despite the fact that Cosase is one of the interesting committees, it has a backlog of reports to handle. According to Katuntu, Cosase has been able to handle just 14 of the 112 statutory bodies during his two and half year tenure in office.
 
Katuntu explained that they zeroed in on the 14 institutions because of the huge budget allocations they receive. He advised Munyagwa to analyze the budgets allocated to all the institutions to guide his leadership. 

He also said that it was important to look at the budgets allocated to the institutions hand in hand with the auditor general's report, which usually highlights accountability issues.
 
Katuntu added that other than the 14 institutions handled, his leadership completed and wrote a report on the beneficiaries of the so-called Shs 6bn presidential handshake, a report on the Centenary Park land row between Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Nalongo Estates and other reports laid on table yet to be debated by parliament.
 
He said that his biggest success was to produce a number of reports without minority reports from members. He urged Munyagwa to work hand in hand with all committee members regardless of party affiliation. 
 
Katuntu also cautioned his successor to be aware of the difficulty of raising quorum when handling business before the committee and pledged his support whenever called upon. In his acceptance speech, Munyagwa described Katuntu as a great personality and a brilliant lawyer he was replacing. He appealed to the public not to compare his working methods with Katuntu because they are totally different people.

Asked what he is going to do first as the new Cosase chairperson, Munyagwa said that he was going to meet the clerk to parliament attached to the committee and come up with a work plan, which will be discussed by the entire committee.

Munyagwa also noted that he wasn't assigned a vice chairperson, saying that he was to meet the speaker and LoP about the matter. 

LoP Betty Aol Ocan had assigned Rubaga North MP, Moses Kasibante, an independent to deputize Munyagwa but Kadaga assigned him to the Appointments Committee. He assured the public that he was more than able to steer the committee having served as Kawempe Division mayor before joining parliament. 
 
Asked about pending corruption case against him before court, Munyagwa said that he should be given chance to serve, adding that he is innocent until proven guilty.

Medics have identified the absence of a proper tracking mechanism for people who have tested positive to HIV/Aids and those on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) as major bottlenecks in the effective management of HIV in Uganda. 

They are equally concerned that the various HIV/Aids service providers are operating in isolation, which sometimes results into duplication of services on clients. Often, HIV/Aids patients visit more than one health center for the same service, a move which cannot be stopped in the absence of a tracking mechanism. 

Now Dr Nelson Musoba, the director general of Uganda Aids Commission says they are developing a tracking mechanism that will help address the lapse, by having people's National ID details interlinked to the HIV central referral system for proper follow-ups.

"One of the challenges we have now is because we lack what we would call a unique identifier. If I go to Masaka and test and then go to Mulago and test the second time the system [should be able to] say; last week you picked drugs for three months. And because our people are mobile, they pick drugs from one place and another. We do not have a system in place yet that can help with that." said Dr Musoba. 

Dr Musoba explains that the considered mechanism will also create a unique identifier where patients are given special cards and unique codes upon which they can effectively be traced by all healthcare service providers.

"We’re going to work with the ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Identification Registration Authority to make sure that once the identification mechanism is rolled out to the entire population because a national ID is a unique ID, we need to link that to the national health system so that every time you pick your ARVs, every time you go to test, we can track you and even when you have not gone to pick your replenishment, the health workers can call us and find out whether you have moved to another place and maybe that is why you’re not picking." said Dr Musoba. 

According to him, the process will also help build the most reliable data bank of HIV patients and ensure that the available ARV drugs are not misused, to eliminate shortages.
 
Mubende municipality mayor engineer Innocent Ssekiziyivu, the general secretary of Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDs in Africa-(AMICAAL) Uganda chapter, proposes that the mechanism be supported with compulsory testing for all adults, for purposes of getting clear statistics on the prevalence rates and required interventions. 
 
Ssekiziyivu has also asked the government to consider a formula of profiling couples and be able to track those with extramarital relationships. In 2017, President Museveni launched a new campaign codenamed; the Presidential Fast Track Initiative on ending HIV and AIDS in Uganda by 2030.

The campaign is domiciled on five key areas that include engaging men in HIV prevention and close the gap on new infections particularly among adolescent girls and young women, accelerate implementation of test and treat and attainment of 90-90-90 targets particularly among young men and young people.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says his administration has auctioned off most of the bulletproof and luxury vehicles used by past presidents.

Early results from Nigeria's presidential election show incumbent Muhammahu Buhari in the lead, but the main opposition party is rejecting the vote counts, calling them "incorrect and unacceptable."

The Smart Online Driver's Association has petitioned the speaker of parliament over what they termed as unfair treatment and low fares by their parent companies.

The petitioners who offer special vehicle hire services under Uber and Taxify, accused the two companies of offering low fares to customers at the drivers' expense. 

Musa Kawunga, the chairperson of the association says that although both Taxify and Uber started with a base fare of up to Shs 8,000 about two years ago, the figure has been lowered to Shs 4,000 yet the companies take up to 25 per cent of the pay as their share. 

They are now demanding that the government takes over the regulation of the industry, to protect the special hire drivers from exploitation. According to the petitioners, those who have openly spoken against the unfairness have been blocked from using the app, which tantamount to throwing them out of business. 
 
Workers MP Margaret Rwabushaija equally calls for the intervention of the government to ensure that the drivers' interests are safeguarded.

"The partners who are the investors in this case they are extortionists. They are taking so much when out of every Shs 4500 they are taking 25%, then what is the carry home? If am supposed to go home with a coin then how much do I take and I hope that the speaker will come up with a solution." said Rwabushaija. 
 
Speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga says that parliament will take up the matter and establish whether using the applications forms a contractual obligation and engage the companies to improve the business. 

Attackers set fire to an Ebola treatment center run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo late Sunday, forcing staff to evacuate patients, the charity said.

Vote counting continues in Nigeria after last Saturday's presidential election. Initial results indicate incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is in the lead.