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Museveni honours Cecil Atim Ogwal

President Yoweri Museveni has paid tribute to the late Dokolo Woman MP, Cecilia Ogwal for raising above partisan politics and being patriotic.

The president made the remarks at a vigil in honour of Ogwal at parliament. He said that while it was fashionable to loathe his government, the fallen legislator soared above hate politics and served the national interest.

“When she was elected to the Pan African Parliament (PAP), you would not know that she was not NRM [a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement party]; she was a big defender of Uganda out there,” he said.  

Fondly referring to the late as Cissy Ogwal, the president said that she was a very good leader and that her contribution was suppressed by the bad politics of hatred and bigotry.

"Cissy Ogwal was very firm in rejecting that politics; that politics of hatred is getting isolated,” said Museveni.

Recounting intelligence eavesdrops into the late Ogwal’s phone call with the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) deputy commander, Vincent Otti, Museveni said the former Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) assistant secretary-general weathered intimidation and denounced the rebellion.  

“We celebrate her achievements, her contribution because when you hear that the North is peaceful now, people who played a part in pacifying that area apart from the soldiers are people like Cecilia,” he said.    

The president also said that Ogwal was corrupt-free, recounting that during her time as Parliamentary Commissioner, Cecilia Ogwal emerged clean.

“She was in the parliamentary commission, we never heard of any dirt,” he said. 

Speaker of parliament, Anita Among, thanked the president for giving Ogwal an official burial and announced to mourners that the president had okayed the request by members of parliament for a special project in the late’s honour.  

“The prayers in the motion have been handled by the president,” she said.

Among said Ogwal never looked at issues through the narrow prism of political parties but rather approached every national issue with a patriotic spirit.

“Much as she was from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), she was an MP for Uganda; she put the country ahead,” speaker said.

Museveni also took a swipe at opposition activists, whom he criticized for what he said was their attempt to disrupt the recently concluded international conferences held in Uganda.

“You can imagine they were even trying to sabotage the Non-Aligned Movement conference; NAM is not for Museveni; this is what I don’t agree with,” he said.   

The vigil was also attended by chief justice, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, prime minister Robinah Nabbanja, government chief whip Hamson Obua, and members of parliament, among others.

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Restoring Kapkwata forest: UWA reaps Shs 7bn from softwood trees

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is set to reap substantial revenues from the sale of softwood trees that were planted 15 years ago as part of a restoration initiative for the then-degraded Kapkwata forest, situated within the Mt Elgon national park in eastern Uganda.

Samual Amanya, the UWA chief warden responsible for the Mt Elgon conservation area, has revealed that the wildlife agency anticipates earning up to Shs 7 billion through the sale of the matured softwood trees within the regenerated Kapkwata forest.

To realize this achievement, UWA initiated a tree planting project and engaged 180 former park encroachers in collaboration to care for these trees during their early stages of growth, spanning three to five years.

During a recent guided tour of the Mt Elgon national park, Amanya disclosed that approximately 250 hectares of softwood trees are now ready for harvest, and UWA has commenced selling them to private timber traders. The revenue generated from this endeavor will be partially allocated to support local communities in establishing alternative income-generating activities, ultimately strengthening relations and reducing encroachment issues.

Kapkwata forest, located in Kween district, had suffered deforestation due to encroachment by local farmers seeking farmland and timber loggers. In a bid to restore the forest, UWA launched a “taungya” tree-planting project, where the agency planted 10 square kilometers of trees and allowed farmers to cultivate short-term crops while tending to the trees.

Over the past 15 years, the 250 hectares of softwood trees planted during this project have matured. Bashir Hangi, UWA’s communications and public relations manager, explained that the agency plants both natural and softwood trees. Softwood trees can be sold to generate revenue and provide resources to communities, thereby reducing pressure on natural forests and allowing communities to access resources like firewood. Cuttings from softwood trees are distributed to local communities.

The 180 farmers involved in the taungya project have reaped substantial harvests by rotating short-term crops such as maize, barley, cabbages, and Irish potatoes over three-to-five-year cycles. This success has empowered these farmers to establish other businesses and supplement their incomes.

Moses Chelengat, a local council leader and beneficiary of the project, utilized his half-acre allocation to cultivate maize, resulting in a substantial yield that he sold to establish a retail shop in the Kwanyiny trading center. He commended the program and urged UWA to expand it to benefit more people, emphasizing the importance of educating communities about forest conservation.

Amanya has announced plans to engage between 300 and 500 additional farmers in the next phase of the taungya program. It’s noteworthy that the recently tarmacked road between Kapchorwa and Suam on the Uganda-Kenya border has improved transportation and market access for farmers in this region.

The success of the taungya arrangement has pleased UWA officials, who view it as a potential game-changer in diffusing hostilities between park authorities and local communities. Over the years, the Mt Elgon national park area, spanning more than 15 districts in the Bugisu, Sebei, and Karamoja regions, has experienced violent clashes between UWA rangers and local communities over encroachment and poaching, resulting in loss of life, destruction of crops, and property damage.

For instance, UWA statistics show that the agency has lost 15 rangers in confrontations with park land encroachers since 2003.

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Mastercard promises to deepen digital economy among farmers

Mastercard held its second edition of its annual Community Pass Customer summit in Kampala, calling on the public to do more to bridge the gap in access to financial services.

The company, whose platform facilitates the growth of the digital economy, noted that the summit created the need for a discussion on how to deepen access to financial services among rural communities.

Speaking during the summit, Tara Nathan, EVP and Founder of Mastercard Community Pass, underscored the event’s transformative potential.

“Community Pass is not just a digital platform, it’s a catalyst for change, effectively bridging the gap between underserved communities and essential services. We are excited about coming together to showcase our shared dedication to enhancing digital and financial access, with a focus on addressing the specific needs of our users.”

The guests at the summit were taken through sessions that explored themes such as credit access, last mile delivery infrastructures, entrepreneurship enablement, digital market systems in agriculture, resilience building for smallholder farmers, and innovative financing for sustainable commercial and social outcomes.

Some major partnerships were announced at the summit, which promise to change some of the livelihoods of farmers. According to a press statement from Mastercard, the Community Pass team announced three major collaborations: the launch of the Yojana card, powered by Community Pass and in collaboration with Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions in India; a collaboration with Shell Foundation and Co-operative Bank of Kenya to provide below-market interest rates to smallholder farmers against lending for green technology; and the introduction of Equity Bank of Uganda’s financial inclusion card.

Gerald Begumisa, the managing director of Yo! Uganda, in a press statement, said: “Our continued partnership with Mastercard’s Community Pass has already reached 1.2 million smallholder farmers in Uganda and represents our unwavering commitment towards Uganda’s financial empowerment.”

The statement describes Mastercard’s Community Pass Solution is a platform that “enables rural and marginalized communities, many of whom lack digitized data records and connectivity, to digitally access a network of offline services.”

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Govt reclaims Masindi airfield after investor disappears

If Uganda was seeking a silver lining from the prospect of private companies managing some of its airfields, then there is a need for a rethink.

The government’s first experiment of such a strategy, where it handed a private company a concession to manage and upgrade the Masindi airfield, has fallen flat after it failed to meet basic expectations. The Civil Aviation Authority issued a public notice last week, saying it had terminated the concession it signed with Ndege Juu Africa Limited in 2012, citing the company’s failure to meet set targets of upgrading the Masindi aerodrome.

In a public notice issued last week, the Civil Aviation Authority further explained that it had failed to reach the directors of the company at their registered address.

“Please note that this public notice has been necessitated by the failure to reach Ndege Juu Africa Limited at its known address,” the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced last week.

Of the 13 airfields that the CAA manages, only the Masindi airfield had been handed to a private developer. The authority had been hopeful that an upgrade of the airport would transform that region’s economic fortunes.

The airfield, located in the Kyema suburb of Masindi municipality in Bunyoro sub-region, is close to Murchison Falls national park, the largest in Uganda. There was hope that an upgraded Masindi airfield could attract more tourists to the national park, especially those who do not wish to do the more than 150km drive from Kampala to Masindi.

Also, Masindi forms part of the Bunyoro oil region, where more than $10 billion worth of investments are being made. The Masindi airfield was anticipated to serve a number of workers working on Uganda’s oil project.

Instead, it is the Pakuba airfield in Nwoya district, which is an ecologically sensitive area, that now hosts many of the inbound flights into the oil region. Vianney Luggya, the spokesperson for UCAA, explained that the initial agreement with Ndege Juu Africa Ltd was aimed at developing the airfield to international standards and managing its daily operations.

Unfortunately, more than 10 years down the road, Masindi airfield still lags behind in terms of development, compelling UCAA to reclaim control and ensure the fulfillment of its original vision.

“We handed the aerodrome to them to develop it as per the agreement and to manage it but that was not done. So, that’s why we terminated the contact and we are repossessing the airfield,” Luggya said.

It is not clear why Ndege Juu Africa Limited, which entered the Uganda market promising heaven on earth, failed to meet even the basic standards. When we called the listed phone numbers on their address, the person who picked up said it was a “wrong number.” The company lacks a reasonable social media presence, making it hard to be traced.

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When Cecilia Ogwal rooted for federo, against quest for Museveni third term

Cecilia Ogwal, the deceased Dokolo Woman MP, was a key figure in Ugandan politics for more than four decades.

She was 77 years. In the last years of her political career, she was a calm, conciliatory figure that was greatly respected by government and the opposition, far from the firebrand politician from 20 years ago who regularly spilled fire.

In a 2003 interview with Richard Kavuma, she candidly spoke about Uganda’s tumultuous past, state of politics in the country and what the future held.

On accusations of UPC messing up the country…

Given an opportunity for the Movement and UPC to argue out case before the people, I don’t think the Movement can overpower our argument. The image of the Movement government has been marred by carnage in every part of Uganda.

The Corner Kilak carnage, the perpetual war and the failure of the government to protect the people have never left the mind of the people of Acholi. In eastern Uganda, the government has failed to protect the people. Cattle-rustling has robbed the people of their animal populations.

In the west, the government failed to protect the people from ADF. There is the Kanungu horror and the Kichwamba horror. The way tribalism is entrenched to deeper than we have ever experienced in this country. All these are negative forces that run against the NRM. How will they fight against them?

On the Buganda question…

I think what one can say is that politics is very dynamic. What was prevalent in 1960s is not prevalent today. I know that there were reasons that led to the abolition of the monarchy but that did not abolish federalism. We have agreed that mistakes do happen and probably mistakes did happen in the 1960s.

The way forward is to come up with a compromise that would take care of all interests. Looking at the 1962 Constitution, there were a lot of favours from the central government to Buganda. What we came up with in the Constituent Assembly was a model that would be acceptable to all.

Federalism in itself as a political system is not only good for those who promote monarchism but good for all. Federalism devolves power to the district and region, and entrenches that power. It is not like decentralization, which leaves that devolution shaky - where it can be tampered with by the central government.

So, I prefer the federal approach to decentralization. We proposed that if we create federal regions in Uganda, they should enjoy equal treatment from the centre. We promoted that nationalistic model of federalism and in fact it was the Buganda representative in the CA who rejected it.

I was very distressed at the manner in which the Movement manipulated a Buganda member to shoot down that arrangement. You know very well that dictatorships hate power centres because they fear any kind of opposition. One of these power centres are the political parties and the first thing the Movement did was to ban parties.

Any dictatorship would fear Buganda because of its big population, its being the centre of our economic activity and because of its long history. Any dictatorship would not want Buganda to be semi-independent of the central government.

On atrocities in Luweero…

How big is Luweero compared with the rest of the country? And not only that, we have an explanation for Luweero triangle. That is where Museveni entrenched himself when he was fighting against the UPC government.

So, whatever happened in Luweero, it is Museveni who is responsible because he was the one recruiting and the method of recruiting we now know; if you don’t kill, you cannot recruit.

That is the method of recruiting for any guerrilla movement. Museveni cannot deceive the people of Luweero anymore. The people of Luweero know who killed them. They know who was responsible for the skulls that were displayed there.

On Museveni’s quest for the third term…

For me, I saw what the Movement wanted right from the start. A political organisation cannot claim to be democratic when its foundation is based on militarism. The Movement came to power by the barrel of the gun to entrench dictatorship.

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Schools to face closure over early reporting for term one

All schools and technical institutions planning to open their doors for students before February 5, 2024, the official opening date, risk being closed by the ministry of Education and Sports, writes YUDAYA NANGONZI.

The ministry directive of adherence to the school calendar which also blocks schools from teaching during the holidays is being enforced by the Directorate of Education Standards (DES) – the quality assurance arm of the ministry.

Last week, DES officials conducted surprise visits in various schools following tip-offs from whistleblowers to enforce compliance with the ministry guidelines. The commissioner in charge of pre-primary and primary school standards, Doreen Ankunda, said the move is aimed at ensuring that schools don’t exert unnecessary pressure on the learners.

“It is unfortunate that schools keep children under academic stress and pressure throughout the year. When we give them holidays, they still want to cheat on their free time meant for social, emotional, physical growth, and development with their families,” Ankunda said.

She explained that some schools use the holiday time to extort money from the parents who are also required to pay school fees in full as the term officially begins. In some schools, the parents complained to the officials that the holiday classes had been made compulsory.

SCHOOL FIELD VISITS

Out of the several visits, The Observer took part in at least five; at Green Hill Academy Buwaate, Gayaza Junior School, St Savio Junior School, Kisubi, St Theresa Girls Schools, and St Donozio Ssebuggwawo Kisubi Boys School. At Green Hill Buwaate, the inspectors found children being engaged in music and swimming lessons from 9 am to 1 pm.

Whereas those studying violin classes had left, the team found other children inside the swimming pool. Children were being charged Shs 150,000 for three weeks to access the pool. The personal assistant to the Green Hill head teacher [Benon Takirambudde] who wasn’t at the school, Elizabeth Nabukeera, was ordered to immediately close the pool and make arrangements to refund parents their money.

The DES officials’ move left the coaches disgruntled as the swimming and music classes are meant to resume when the school term begins as part of co-curricular activities. The inspectors proceeded to Gayaza Junior School where pupils promoted to P7 this year had reported and attending lessons.

The head teacher, Sarah Tebugulwa Kizito, was pressed to defend the early reopening but she declined to delve much into the inspectors in her office space.

“My kind request is that you accept my apology. I am sorry for this. That is the only thing that I can say,” a shaky Tebugulwa with teary eyes told the inspectors.

She added: “We request that you forgive us since it’s our first time to do this. We have learnt our mistake and we shall not repeat it.”

The team directed her to call an assembly to address the pupils about the mishap but she humbly requested the team that she wasn’t in a better state to address the pupils – to which the team agreed – and handed over an implementation notice dated January 17, before exiting her office.

It was alleged that P6 learners at Gayaza had also reported but by the time the team left the school, the allegations could not be confirmed. At least 238 Gayaza pupils were promoted to P7 last year. At the time of the inspection, a head count revealed 216 pupils had reported back on January 14.

Each pupil was charged Shs 250,000 for the three-week holiday programme. This money doesn’t include term one 2024 school fees of P7 pupils of Shs 1,350,000. Ankunda said she had interacted with the children and they informed her that they had not rested enough before they returned to school.

“Life is not only about academics. The children need to engage in domestic activities and teachers need time to do their private work during the holidays. We don’t come up with these calendars to pass time but to help schools plan better,” Ankunda told the Gayaza head teacher before ordering her to either refund the money to the parents or advise them to make top-ups for term one fees.

As of Thursday last week, all children had long been picked by their parents.

SAVIO, KISUBI BOYS

At St Savio Junior School, Kisubi, the head teacher, Bro James Mukhwana, burst into laughter when the team informed him that they received information that he had reopened early. Renovations were ongoing at the school and most classrooms were locked.

“We have been holding interviews for new entrants and the parents you see around with kids have either come for their admissions or school uniforms. At our new branch, we are also closed. We are faithful and always open on Monday officially for all children.”

Last year, the school promoted 260 pupils to P7. When they report for the new term, Mukhwana said they normally have evening lessons to compensate for any lost time.

“We have no arrangement for holiday programmes and if teachers do so, they do it at an individual level,” he said.

The head teacher of St Donozio Ssebuggwawo Kisubi Boys PS, Bro John Mary Vianney Twongyeire, was also ordered to stop the music lessons that were running at the school.

“My intentions for the music classes were good but if people out there reported that we are teaching during holidays, then we have no option but to obey the ministry orders,” Twongyeire said.

According to George Okidi, a senior inspector at DES, schools that closed early to give room for national education activities like marking exams and sports, are allowed to open early upon seeking permission from the ministry’s permanent secretary. He said that even schools that suffered any challenges that disrupted the normal school term can seek permission to reopen early or extend beyond the school term.

The Observer understands that inspectors in local governments are by law allowed to recommend the closure of schools violating the guidelines but many have their hands tied.

“The primary school teachers and head teachers are managed by the local governments. As a result, some politicians in the local governments have a lot of power over them. For fear of being interdicted or dismissed for closing a school, the inspectors – sometimes – fear the school proprietors. As a result, DES swings into action to assist them,” a source said.

Surprise inspections to continue

The assistant commissioner in charge of Education Standards, Judith Akurut, told The Observer that the “surprise” inspections will continue across the country until February 1, 2024.

“If a school is caught on the second attempt [of reopening early], disciplinary action shall be taken against the head teacher. We may interdict the head teachers or suspend them from duty. Follow-up visits will also be made in all the schools that were visited last week,” Akurut said.

When the school calendar starts on February 5, inspectors will be on the lookout for schools that enroll children below eight years in boarding sections and penalize them for contravening the ministry guidelines. Schools without designated boarding facilities will also be closed.

Akurut urged head teachers to adhere to the approved school calendar and desist from conditioning parents to send pupils back to school before time. The school’s first term will run for 89 days from February 5 to May 3, 2024. Term two will begin on May 27 and end on August 23 while the third term will commence on September 16 and close on December 6, 2024.

Kasubi tombs restoration close to completion – Mayiga

Buganda Kingdom Premier Charles Peter Mayiga has announced the near completion of rehabilitation works at the Kasubi tombs. He made the revelation while inspecting the construction progress at Muzibu Azaala Mpanga House on Friday, January 19, 2024. Mayiga expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved since his last inspection in September 2023. He noted that while final touches are underway inside the house, minimal work remains on the exterior. The Kasubi tombs were damaged by fire in 2010 but rehabilitation efforts officially began in 2013.

Fistula patients to benefit from Shs11b program

Ms Gift Malunga, UNFPA country representative said the partnership focuses on eliminating fistula.