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@observer Sat, 02 Dec 2023 23:01:32
Pardoned Rwenzururu kingdom royal guards awarded amnesty certificates
203 former Rwenzururu kingdom royal guards are set to receive their amnesty certificates on December 12 as the official acknowledgment that they have been pardoned by the government for any atrocities committed.
Together with their king Charles Wisely Mumbere, the group, consisting of 218 suspects, was arrested in 2016 and charged with murder, terrorism, treason, malicious damage to property, attempted murder, and aggravated robbery, following a security raid on Buhikira Royal palace.
In June this year, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Jane Frances Abodo, withdrew all charges against all those who pleaded guilty. According to the western region Amnesty Commission coordinator, Ronald Ssakatawa, they are encouraging all persons engaged in rebel activities to come out and abandon them.
The Amnesty Commission completed the documentation exercise in the districts of Kasese, Kabarole, Bunyangabu, Ntoroko, and Bundibugyo.
Ssakatawa noted that whereas the government has given amnesty to the group anyone who engages in criminal acts thereafter will be arrested and prosecuted. Ssekatawa noted that the commission also intends to support the group to start income-generating activities once they acquire resources. He stressed the challenge of funds that limits the commission from carrying out its duties effectively, especially in areas of rehabilitation.
Edwin Mumbere, the coordinator for former Rwenzururu royal guards applauded the guards and thanked the government for setting them free but requested support so that they could enhance their livelihoods. He is also concerned that a number of royal guards lost key identification properties like IDs and this is preventing them from accessing key services that require identification.
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@observer Mon, 04 Dec 2023 04:50:06
6 killed, 11 injured in Apaa land conflicts
At least six people have been confirmed dead and 11 others severely injured in separate attacks over land wrangles in Apaa township in Adjumani district.
The attacks according to available information happened over three days between Thursday and Saturday in the parishes of Oyanga, Luru, and Acholi Ber in Itirikwa sub-county, Adjumani district. According to security reports, three of the deceased persons hail from the central part of Uganda while three others are local farmers of Madi origin. Their identities weren’t readily available by press time.
Charles Okoya, LC I chairperson of Apaa township said Sunday that the unknown assailants attacked their victims with machetes, bows, and arrows during the separate raids. He says one of the victims of the attack was killed on Saturday at about 5 pm in Luru parish and the body burnt beyond recognition while another person was killed on Friday at about 11 am from Rwot Romo village. The deceased are reportedly from unknown districts in central Uganda.
Three other victims who are local farmers of Madi origin according to Okoya were killed between Thursday and Friday in Acholi Ber parish. Okoya says efforts to transport the bodies of the deceased had proved futile due to the prevailing insecurities in the area.
He adds that 11 people also sustained severe injuries from the separate attacks and are receiving medical treatment from various health facilities in Amuru and Adjumani districts. URN couldn’t independently verify the figures by press time. Peter Taban Data, the Adjuman resident district commissioner confirmed the attacks to Uganda, adding that two other people were still missing.
He says hundreds of makeshift structures and grass-thatched huts have been razed down in the attacks in Zoka Central forest reserve by yet-to-be-identified arsonists. Taban notes that the army has been heavily deployed in the affected areas to beef up security adding that an investigation is ongoing to understand what triggered the attacks and unearth the perpetrators behind the crimes.
Abraham Opira, a resident of Lulai village says the separate attacks have caused panic among community members in the neighbouring villages where the attacks happened adding that many have since fled their homes fearing retaliation. Opira called on the army to beef up the deployment of its personnel to guarantee the safety of lives and properties.
The 4th Infantry Division commander Brig Michael Kabango visited the disputed area and met with affected persons and area local leaders. The attacks come three months after four people were killed by unknown assailants in Te-Okono village between Acholi ber and Punu Dyang parishes.
This brings to more than 30, the reported numbers of people so far killed in separate attacks on the disputed Apaa land since 2012 according to local leaders. Conflicts over the Apaa land date back to 2012 when the government began the forceful eviction of locals occupying the area claiming it’s a gazetted East Madi Wildlife Reserve under the management of Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Parts of the land are also claimed by the National Forestry Authority as gazetted Zoka Central Forest Reserve inside the Adjumani district.
Efforts by the government, political, religious, and traditional leaders to quell the tension between the communities of Acholi and the Madi have over the years been unsuccessful. In August this year, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni commissioned the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the Apaa land conflicts headed by retired chief justice Bart Katureebe as a last resort to solve the land conflicts. The commission is however yet to kick start their works on the ground.
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@observer Mon, 04 Dec 2023 07:46:52
Govt ordered to deploy King Ceasor University students on medical internship
The High court in Kampala has ordered the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council to forward a list of King Ceasor University (KCU) students to the ministry of Health for internship deployment across the country.
This follows a decision by the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council not to forward the names of more than 100 students of KCU for internship deployment. But now in his November 30 decision, justice Musa Ssekaana issued an order of mandamus (an immediate order) compelling the council to forward the names of the applicants and other medical graduates from KCU for the national medical internship programme.
Ssekaana also declared that the applicants and all medical graduates from King Ceasor who completed their bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery have a right to be deployed for internship and the decision not to deploy them was illegal.
Two students; Brian Munyambabazi and Ronald Masereka sued the attorney general and the Uganda Medical and Dental Council seeking a declaration that the decision to exclude them and 136 other graduates from KCU in the internship placement was unfair, illegal, unlawful, biased, unreasonable, unenforceable, irrational, null and void and of no legal effect.
Records show that although the attorney general has been exonerated for having been sued wrongly, on July 27, 2023, the ministry of Health issued a press release wherein it communicated that it had received clearance to deploy medical interns to 58 internship centers across the country.
The ministry released a deployment list for the interns under revised terms as guided by the government indicating that they were to deploy 1,901 medical interns within the available budget of a net monthly allowance of Shs 1 million per intern to facilitate accommodation and feeding and that all interns were expected to report to their various training centers by August 3, 2023.
A day later, the ministry forwarded the list of medical interns to the internship placement centers. The list had medical graduates from all universities teaching bachelors of medicine and surgery (MBCh.B) in Uganda and outside Uganda except for medical students from KCU.
The applicants said they studied their course for five years and graduated and as such, in refusing to deploy them and their classmates it was irrational, unreasonable, and unfair more so, since there was no reason given for failure to deploy them.
Ass. Prof Joel Okullo, the chairperson of Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioner’s Council opposed the case saying the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), together with the council in the exercise of its statutory duty unanimously agreed that the graduates from KCU of the MBChB program could not be forwarded for the pre-registration.
This, he said was after two inspections including one done by the 3rd Joint East African Community Medical and Dental Practitioners Councils/boards inspection team conducted found that it did not meet the minimum standards for training medical students registrable in the East African Community.
They said they had the duty of safeguarding society against ill-trained, unqualified, and inexperienced medical practitioners. However, the students insisted that their university’s medical school was accredited by NCHE to teach bachelor of Medicine and bachelor of Surgery and this accreditation has never been withdrawn.
Court heard that the university has all the facilities to teach the course and during the 3rd, 4th and 5th years when the students do clinicals in Mulago, Kiruddu and Kawempe hospitals together with students from Makerere University. Further, it was noted that the students are taught and trained by the same staff at these hospitals and some of the Medical Council staff have taught the students of King Ceasor University throughout this period of five years.
In his decision, Ssekaana ruled that actions of the Medical Council in refusing to recognize medical graduates of KCU would amount to usurping the powers of the NCHE which is mandated to accredit universities to teach medical courses. He said the exercise of the power conferred under the Medical and Dental Practitioner’s Council should not be interpreted to render another statutory body useless or subservient to its authority.
Ssekaana said he was satisfied that the university is licensed by the NCHE to teach the profession in question and there is no way their successful graduates cannot be deployed for internship.
“The 1st respondent/Medical Council pursued a purpose outside the four corners and took in irrelevant considerations and they have failed to set out reasons for the decision of denying the applicants and other graduates of King Ceasor University. The absence of reasons may infer that the 1st respondent pursued a purpose that is different from the one that is empowered under the law," said Ssekaana.
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@observer Mon, 04 Dec 2023 10:14:39
Tanzania floods, landslide death toll jumps to 47
The number of people killed by floods and landslides in northern Tanzania has jumped to 47, with another 85 people injured, following torrential rain, a senior government official said.
Severe flooding caused by a combination of the El Nino and Indian Ocean dipole weather phenomena has killed hundreds of people in Kenya and Somalia and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes since seasonal rains began in October.
Search and rescue operations were underway in the Manyara region as authorities fear some bodies might be trapped in the mud, Manyara region commissioner Queen Sendiga told reporters late on Sunday.
"As of the evening, we have rescued 85 injured persons who are continuing with the treatments and others have been discharged. The death toll has increased to 47 people," she said.
Around 100 houses in the village of Katesh, Hanang district, were swallowed by a landslide, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said in a video message posted online by the ministry of Health.
"We are very shocked by this event," Suluhu said.
Climate change is causing more intense and more frequent extreme weather events, according to climate scientists.
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@sqoop Sat, 02 Dec 2023 09:08:11
Is Sasha Vybz cooking something with Shaggy?
Shaggy’s love for Uganda cannot be questioned. In fact, it is said if contacted today, he will be on the next flight to the Pearl of Africa…mbu. Anyway, numerous rumours also have it that the singer even fathered a child in Uganda… again, mbu. Sasha Vybz on the other hand is one of Uganda’s greatest […]
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@chimpreports Sat, 02 Dec 2023 09:33:45
An electrifying finale awaits At Singleton Match Play Challenge this Saturday
After six exhilarating months on the greens, Season Seven of the Singleton Match-Play-Challenge is gearing up for a thrilling conclusion this Saturday at the picturesque 72 Par Entebbe Golf Club. Kicking off the day is a nail-biting head-to-head showdown between the semifinal victors: Joseph Bogere paired with Kenneth Kiddu and the formidable duo of Richard …
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