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@observer Fri, 10 Nov 2023 07:33:33
Uganda treading on egg shells with new fuel deal
Uganda is walking on egg shells as it navigates a delicate trade issue with its neighbour Kenya after it handed the Uganda National Oil Company and Vitol Bahrain E.C. the responsibility of being the main importer of petroleum products into the country.
In doing so, Uganda’s government has cut out Kenyan dealers who used to sell petroleum products to oil marketing firms from Uganda through the open tender system. Now, Uganda’s government will simply import the petroleum products by way of a government- to-government agreement with international suppliers such as Saudi Arabia, with Kenya simply being a trade route.
President Yoweri Museveni applauded the new development, saying this will drag down pump prices.
“Without my knowledge, our wonderful people were buying this huge quantity of petroleum products from middlemen in Kenya. A whole country buying from middlemen in Kenya or anywhere else!! Amazing but true,” Museveni wrote recently.
He said UNOC and Vitol will now buy fuel at lower prices. It is not clear if Kenya, which offers the shortest and cheapest trade route for Uganda’s imports, will retaliate over this loss of revenue, considering the trade wars the two countries have had in the past over products such as day-old chicks, milk, sugar, just to mention a few.
More than 90 per cent of Uganda’s imports go through Kenya. Plus, it is likely Uganda will avoid a tax component if the fuel is simply moved through Kenya as against it being bought from Kenya’s open tender system.
Although while Uganda might feel the relief of a zero tax component, it will have to deal with the distress over the longer and bureaucratic measures of importing products from lands afar.
Uganda is not taking any chances over the possibility of Kenya’s mood swings; a delegation from the ministry of Energy, led by Minister Ruth Nankabirwa, was in Tanzania last week where they met Tanzania’s president Suluhu Hassan over, among other things, easing trade barriers along the long Uganda-Tanzania trade, where less than 10 per cent of Ugandan imports pass.
Now, attention turns to whether UNOC will pass the test of being a dependable sole importer of petroleum products. UNOC already runs a petroleum storage terminal in Jinja and is embarking on building one in Buloba. The company made its first supply of petroleum products to the market in March 2020.
Uganda imports 2.5 billion litres of petroleum products per year, valued at about $2 billion. The flow of these petroleum products into Uganda is heavily dependant on a smooth route through Kenya.
This route was tested at the height of Kenya’s disputed 2007 presidential elections, whose results triggered widespread violence, with protestors cutting off roads that ultimately led to a shortage of fuel in Uganda, and a spike in the price of imported products.
As Uganda embarks on this new journey, there are many consumers who will hope that Kenya does not sneeze on this trade deal. If it does, it is certain Uganda will catch a cold.
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@observer Sat, 11 Nov 2023 07:17:00
3 children crushed to death by wall collapse in Kajjansi
Three children were yesterday Friday crushed to death by a wall that collapsed on them during the morning heavy downpour.
The incident that happened at Nakigalala village Kajjansi town council, in Wakiso district killed Daniel Sekatawa Daniel aged 3, Grace Senabulya aged 18 months, and 2-month-old Hel Mary.
Gorreti Nakyanz, their mother said it was around 4 am when the wall suddenly collapsed on the children during a heavy downpour.
“We’re in the house together with our four children and their father was sleeping while the heavy rain poured. The wall of our house fell on our children. I made an alarm that attracted our neighbours but the children were already dead by the time they were removed from the rubble,” Nakyanzi told police.
Patrick Onyango the Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson said the locals rescued the fourth child alive and was rushed to the hospital. The bodies of the trio have been taken to Mulago hospital morgue for a postmortem.
“Police were notified and responded to the crime scene. One child was rescued and the three died on the spot. Police documented the scene and recorded statements from relevant witnesses. Bodies were taken to Mulago city mortuary pending postmortem,” Onyango said.
Onyango said police observed that the wall collapsed due to poor construction of the house. It has since been established that walls were built using unbaked bricks and that the person who did the construction was unqualified.
Nearly 10 children have been killed by the floods, collapsing walls, and houses, and some have drowned crossing water channels. These incidents have happened in Kira, Namungoona, Nalukolongo, and Kireka Biira.
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@observer Sat, 11 Nov 2023 07:26:12
IGG Kamya orders audit into Emyooga funds in Soroti
The Inspector General of Government (IGG), Beti Olive Kamya has ordered the accounting officers of Soroti district and the city council to submit documents and reports of Emyooga and the procurement plan for the 2022/2023 financial year.
Kamya issued the directives during her on-spot-check visit to Soroti on Thursday.
“For today, my team will be looking at Emyooga. I want all the names of Saccos, the amount of money received per Sacco, the beneficiaries, and their contacts submitted by close of the day,” Kamya said.
She also asked the Soroti chief administrative officer, Andrew Ochen to produce the procurement plan for the last financial year with all the adverts and the award letters to different contractors.
According to Kamya, while their mandate is to foster strict adherence to the rule of law by eliminating corruption and abuse of office, her visit to Teso is to interact with the institutions of government in order to find better means of service delivery.
In the report submitted to the minister of state for Microfinance, Haruna Kasolo Kyeyune last month, only 20 per cent of the Emyooga funds disbursed to the communities in Soroti district had been recovered. Some of the targeted groups like the mechanics, taxi operators, and journalists declined to take the money which they dubbed “NRM money”.
However, Kamya added that arrests and prosecutions of public servants over corruption are like postmortem, arguing for preventive measures through creating awareness of strict adherence to the rule of law.
“We need a mindset change for our communities. Look at our health facilities; there are no drugs but you find people praising the corrupt who amass wealth fraudulently when they come with pocket change to relieve them from the agony of losing their beloved ones,” she said.
She reiterated that corruption practices cost Uganda more than Shs 10 trillion annually. Soroti district council speaker, Stephen Olebe asked the IGG’s office to intervene in the several cases that the district is battling in the courts of law over unresolved conflicts arising from lack of resources.
“Local governments are limping because of the meager funding from the central government. Some of the little monies that we get also end up in court battles,” Olebe said.
Information from sources in the district indicates that Soroti is battling over 40 cases in different cases over contracts and other complaints.
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