10 arrested in Kabale over smoking in public

Ten people were arrested over the weekend in Kabale Municipality for allegedly smoking in public.  

They were arrested in an operation headed by Patience Mutetsi, an official from the Tobacco Control  Program in the ministry of Health, Gilbert Mateeka, Kabale district health officer, Andrew Beija, Kabale Municipality health inspector, and the police.   

The operation was conducted in Kigongi, Keita, Nkunda, Rwakarara, and Bugongi. Seven people were arrested after they were allegedly found red-handed smoking in public while three were arrested for displaying and openly selling cigarettes.

Mutetsi said that whereas the law only allows a person to smoke when they are 50 meters away from the public, investigations indicate that this hasn’t been the case in Kabale. She says that the arrested risk being fined.

Mateeka says that authorities have embarked on sensitization to the public to explain how hazardous it is to smoke while in a public place.  

Article 12 of the Tobacco Control Act which was enacted in 2015 prohibits smoking in public places or any public transport and other outdoor places. The offenders of a crime of such nature are liable to pay a fine of 20 currency points or a jail sentence of not less than 6 months by a competent court.      

The law is aimed at protecting the environment from the effects of producing tobacco and exposure to tobacco smoke hence reducing related deaths.      

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Mpuuga speaks out on Bobi Wine’s claims that each MP will receive Shs100m for passing Shs3.5 trillion supplementary budget

Leader of the Opposition (LOP) Mathias Mpuuga has spoken out on claims by his party president Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, that each MP is being bribed with Shs100 million for passing the recent Shillings 3.5 trillion supplementary budget. Mpuuga stated that it’s the National Unity Platform (NUP) MPs, through the shadow finance minister, Muwanga […]

Shs 100m ‘bribe’ splits NUP MPs

Robert Kyagulanyi, the National Unity Platform (NUP) president, has warned members of his party not to be tempted to accept Shs 100 million each that he says was part of the supplementary budget that was passed last week by parliament.

However, his decision has been met with defiance from some party MPs, who accuse him of double standards. Speaking to journalists on December 12, 2023 at his party headquarters at Makerere-Kavule in Kampala, Kyagulanyi said of the Shs 3.5 trillion supplementary budget that was passed by parliament, Shs 55.6 billion was meant to ‘thank’ parliament for agreeing to pass the budget.

Kyagulanyi said they had got irrefutable information that of the Shs 78.6 billion that was passed for State House’s classified expenditure, Shs 55.6 billion is to be given to the 529 MPs, including ex-officios, with each taking home Shs 100 million.

“Imagine Shs 55.6 billion just going to MPs as a bribe! I want to use this opportunity to warn our MPs that we know about this and we have broken it to the population. I have said it many times and I will say it today that I will tell the truth and I will not defend or protect anybody that gets involved in this grand theft. With the way our taxpayers’ money is used now, you know why our roads are in such a bad state, you know why our schools are in such a sad state, now you know why the regime wants to silence us and now you know why the regime is bringing all manner of diversions in order to cover up for that,” Kyagulanyi said.

The Observer reached out to several NUP MPs but they insisted they haven’t received the Shs 100m.

“Please don’t quote me but just know many of my colleagues are masters at playing to the gallery because at the end of the day, they will not return the Shs 100m if it falls onto their accounts,” said the MP, who represents a constituency in Greater Masaka region.

“Even Kyagulanyi knows that some of his closes people in parliament took the Shs 40m last year but he turned a blind eye. Why come up now?”

Another MP who represents a constituency in Wakiso district but preferred not to be named says it will be foolhardy for the party to force the MPs to return the money.

“He [Kyagulanyi] always speaks with emotions but if we are to sit down as a party, each of us can offer to partake part of the Shs 100m and put it into party coffers to help families of our supports who have fallen victims of the regime. As for me, I will not return the money and would rather use it for development projects in my constituency.”

Speaking at the same press briefing, Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba, the leader of opposition in parliament, said although the money hasn’t yet been received, they have no doubt that it is what is contained in the classified expenditure of State House.

“No member has picked money yet but the money is in the supplementary and we are raising a red flag to all and sundry that that money is illegally contained in the supplementary and therefore we don’t expect any MP subscribing to the opposition to go and get that money. If the money is on your account, our expectation is that you will send it back to the sender. If it’s given to you in cash, our expectation is that you reject it,” Mpuuga said.

HOW THE MONEY WAS PASSED

Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, the shadow minister for Finance, said that in the schedules that were given to parliament before the budget was passed, it didn’t contain the additional Shs 78.6 billion for State House. However, Muwanga said, in the subsequent schedules given to the speaker of parliament, the classified budget of State House had been varied.

“After parliament had passed the supplementary, a document at the tail end signed by Matia Kasaija, the minister of Finance was smuggled to the speaker. It had Shs 78.6 billion out of which it had 55.6 billion that was for classified expenditure under State House. In the normal budget, State House had been allocated Shs 412 billion of which Shs 88 billion was classified,” Muwanga said.

In the schedule that this newspaper has seen, an additional Shs 23 billion is also included in the budget which is going into the organization of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that will be sitting in Kampala in January next year. Asked how he got to know that the Shs 55.6 billion was meant for bribing MPs, Muwanga said he knows because he sits on appropriations committees of parliament and, therefore, he knows some of the government players who are responsible for such things.

“By the time we wrote our minority report, the schedule had not been availed at the end of the plenary when we had adopted the supplementary schedules. It was smuggled in through an irregular way. Anybody who wants to challenge me on that, let them tell us where the Shs 40 million that was given to each MP last financial year was got from. That’s why I have argued that classified expenditures are conduits through which taxpayers’ money is stolen. It is unfortunate that State House is now being used for such evil schemes,” Muwanga said.

In the 2022/2023 financial year, each MP was given Shs 40 million for also helping in the smooth passage of the supplementary budget of that year. It was reported that the Shs 40 million for each MP was contained the State House classified expenditure. It was reported then that the MPs picked the money from the house of the speaker of parliament, Annet Anita Among.

When Kyagulanyi got wind of it, he instructed all his MPs to return the money to the person who had given it to them. However, Among vehemently denied that she had given any MPs money. Of the 57 MPs belonging to NUP, only Twaha Kagabo of Bukoto South tried to return the money.

However, he was also forced to apologize to parliament and the speaker after he was arrested by the Inspectorate of Government officials. In the end, he also denied that he had been given money by the speaker. Asked about what he will do to his MPs this this time round if they accept the money, Kyagulanyi conceded that there is nothing much he can do other than exposing them.

“We don’t have the police to arrest them, but we will expose them for who they are,” Kyagulanyi said. Efforts to speak to Kasaija or his deputy, Henry Musasizi, were futile as they never picked nor returned our calls.

Under the law, there is a limited number of MPs who are allowed to scrutinize in camera the classified expenditure of government. The ministry of Defence, State House and the Office of the President are entities that are most prone to asking for classified expenditures, which now goes in trillions.

In the current supplementary budget, State House alone was given Shs 352.957 billion under classified expenditure. It remains to be seen how the whole situation will unfold in NUP, but insiders intimate that 90 per cent of the opposition MPs will pocket the Shs 100m and the issue will pass on with time.

BLURRED STATEMENTS

Meanwhile, on the controversy that Kyagulanyi courted last week after speaking to the BBC, in which he said his MPs passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act because they work for Museveni, he said even when as a straight man with a wife and children, he disagrees with homosexuality, he nonetheless, wouldn’t wish for their death. Kyagulanyi said in 2013 when he was still a musician, he called for the burning of all homosexuals but as a leader, he has changed his stance.

“People grow and transform and as a leader, I transformed from calling for the death of people that differ from me. Regime propagandists tried as much as possible to twist my words but as a leader, I want to lead people even those that are not like me,” Kyagulanyi said.

He added that this issue has been turned from a moral issue into a political issue and it is used by Museveni as a political weapon.

“Whenever Museveni sees that he has no popular support, he picks up on something that he thinks will pick him support once again. I also mentioned that some of my MPs work with Museveni; it is a fact. Some you know them, some you don’t know them yet,” Kyagulanyi said.

He, however, refused to be drawn in the debate of whether he supports the Act or not regardless of what was Museveni’s calculus was when he passed it. Kyagulanyi also deflected the question of whether he thinks all his MPs who almost unanimously passed the bill were compromised by Museveni.

“I will only say what I want to say; you will not force me to say what you want me to say. This law was brought to target the opposition because they knew whatever I say, I will be watched by the West, but I’m not stupid. Therefore, it’s very important that you can’t trick us using that law because it was brought to trick us and we are smarter than that. You die in your movie, Museveni!” Kyagulanyi said.

Kenzo to Bobi Wine: I’m your president in the music industry

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Pagirinya and Rwamwanja refugees find saving grace in football

At the age of 15, Yannick Nowa Longolongo witnessed armed militants break into their home in Beni.

This is in one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) known as South Kivu, whose capital is Bukavu. This is not far away from the border point with Uganda on the western side. But while the militants were inside Longolongo’s home, they asked his father, to give them $30,000. Longolongo’s father was a businessman trading in gold. But at the time of the break-in, he only had $5,000.

Unsatisfied with his explanation, the militants shot him in the chest, before they did the same to his wife, right in front of Longolongo and his eight siblings. As they watched their parents bleed out and breathe their last, Longolongo’s 17-year-old sister was also being gang-raped by another group of the militants from the same troop.

Such was the horror the village lived on a daily; the insecurity in their village had reached boiling point. Once the militants were on their way, headed to possibly another home to wreak similar havoc, Longolongo and his siblings headed to the bushes amidst heavy shelling and gunshots.

Home was no longer safe, as there were bodies lying by the roadside, too, Longolongo recalls. So, together with his siblings, Longolongo decided to jump onto one of the trucks that were headed to Uganda. He remembers that there were probably 700 people crammed in the trucks.

All were escaping the brutality that was taking place in Bukavu, hence becoming refugees in Rwamwanja, Kamwenge district from January 2016. Life can really be difficult when one is uprooted from their home. From new surroundings, different language, culture, food and, above all, becoming an adult before your time in order to sustain oneself, life of a refugee is never a walk in the park.

It even gets worse when one has to contend with the trauma of losing loved ones, as Longolongo experienced. It can easily result in mental health problems. Yet, after all that Longolongo, who is aged 22 now, has lived through, he has overcome the agony and started on the journey of building a future for himself and his siblings here in Uganda.

At the time of the unrest in Bukavu, Longolongo was heading to what is the equivalent of senior four in the DRC. But he was unable to continue with his formal schooling in Rwamwanja settlement because of the responsibilities he carried, to try and see that he and his siblings survived.

He learnt how to be a mason on building sites within the settlement and the surrounding host communities. From the building projects, he earned some money that supplemented the rations from World Vision, an NGO that helps in humanitarian causes.

BEAUTIFUL GAME TO THE RESCUE

However, he also loved football to bits. As a young boy, he admired defenders Sergio Ramos of Spain and Thiago Silva of Brazil because of their game intelligence and technique. As a refugee, Longolongo did not see how his football dream would be realized, but the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in Uganda has passionately been involved in refugee work here for a protracted period.

Jica has widely focused on how to create opportunities for refugees in Uganda so that they can also enjoy a sustainable future. So, through Jica’s connections with Soltilo Bright Stars, a Uganda Premier League side owned by Japanese football legend Keisuke Honda, they started football clinics in Rwamwanja, where refugees were given football training, as both players and coaches.

Longolongo was one of the first beneficiaries, and the training organized by Jica has seen his game grow significantly. He plays in the regional league (third tier of Ugandan football) for Kawunge town council football club. And with his side lying fifth on the 12-team log, he carries hope that they will secure promotion to the Fufa Big League, which is the second tier of the Uganda football pyramid.

At his football club, Longolongo is able to earn at least Shs 30,000 ($9) every week to supplement his other earnings.

“I feel Jica has been a real godsend for many of us, because I do not only play football, but the fact that they provided me with a platform to interact with the Bright Stars coaches, I now coach in an academy with kids under 12. I make some extra money from that, too,” Longolongo said.

Notably, it is not only Longolongo who sees a bright future ahead because of Jica’s intervention.

GIRLS UNITED IN FOOTBALL

Up north is the Pagirinya refugee settlement in Adjumani. It hosts thousands of refugees from South Sudan. One of those is Makpwe Anzo, 37, who moved to Pagirinya in 2016 after heightened tensions in South Sudan. But after arriving in Pagirinya, there was little activity for them, Anzo recalls. This pushed a number of young girls into early pregnancies.

“Defilement cases were very rampant because of the redundancy,” Anzo said. Beyond schools, which, because of the circumstances also took some time to be set, Anzo felt they needed to do more to protect the girls especially.

Matters started making sense when Jica (Bright Stars) set foot in Pagirinya, providing the young girls with an opportunity to play football in 2021. Now, they are in their hundreds, and because of how football brings people together, anti-social behaviours have been tamed significantly, according to Anzo.

More importantly, though, this has been a platform that has boosted the confidence of many. Consy Maridio, 20, was part of the Pagirinya girls football team that took part in the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (Ticad) sponsored football tournament in 2022 and 2023, that was held at the Fufa Technical Centre in Njeru.

Maridio said: “This tournament provided us with an opportunity to play competitive sport for the first time against better players. Yes, we lost our games, but we also learnt a lot, which can enable us improve, to become the top players in women’s football that we dream of.”

According to Gladys Mazira, 19, by meeting their peers from Kampala, Jinja and Fort Portal, for example, they have made contacts, who
can be the gateway to success in future.

Manna Kongkong 20 added: “Learning life skills, such as indigenous languages is another positive that can help us succeed in these parts.”

Kongkong, who proved to be a good goal scorer, believes that her skills can easily get her an academic scholarship in one of the top girls football schools in the country. So, she is striving and training hard, preparing to seize the opportunity whenever it arises. Her coach Anzo is not in any doubt that with more resources and sports equipment, the girls in Pagirinya can strike gold in future.

Matthew Crentsil, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) country representative, noted: “It is nice to see how warm Ugandans are towards refugees. They do not only enable them feel at home by settling into the surroundings, but they also enable them to lead a normal life like ordinary citizens without any discrimination.”

The state of peaceful co-existence between refugees and natives is clearly the mantra to a successful society. Mathias Rukira, 37, and Eric Mirimo, 32, started an NGO in Rwamwanja known as Tomorrow Vijana, which literally means Youth of Tomorrow. Its programme ensures that more and more refugees get education by teaching them how to speak English, get computer skills and book and record- keeping skills, on top of providing insight on enterprise.

For Rukira and Mirimo, they also use this platform to train refugees in the local dialects like Rutooro, Luganda and Runyankore. Beyond that, they also engage in projects of conserving the environment, tree planting and crop production, as avenues through which the refugees can earn a living, but also work hand in hand with the hosting communities.

While Longolongo and his refugee colleague, Allan Katabana, 31, with whom they aspire to reach the top of Uganda’s football pyramid, feel the future is promising, certain things are still holding them back.

Without a national ID, they cannot play in the top league, as is a requirement. For now, the young men strive against the odds to overcome trauma and not let what happened in their home villages limit their destinies.

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NCHE sets new rules for university intake into medical school

The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) has halted dual admissions into medical and health sciences programmes, saying each training institution should have only one intake a year to optimise the quality of graduates. However, Kampala International University (KIU), a private institution with three intakes a year (January,April and August), said they would engage the Council because they have strong reasons for having more than one intake a year. Prof Mary Okwakol, the NCHE executive director, in a December 1 circular to all vice chancellors and principals, said the government is facing challenges in handling the high number of students graduating from the different institutions that offer medical and health sciences programmes. Prof Okwakol added that the Ministry of Education […]

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Water Supply & Sanitation Reforms to accelerate service delivery in Africa possible with correct leadership – NWSC MD Dr. Mugisha

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Kenya: Ruto Declares Kenya Visa-free

Kenyan President William Ruto has declared that Kenya will be visa free for all foreign visitors starting January 2024, making the end of visa requirements for foreigners. Ruto said that his government had abolished visa requirements on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, during his national address at the 60th Jamhuri Day National Celebrations held at Uhuru …

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