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Monday, 20th September, 2010 E-mail article Print article
By Patrick Jaramogi
THE Police have issued new guidelines for public gatherings and events in Kampala. Under the new guidelines issued yesterday, wedding receptions will only go ahead after getting clearance from the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Kampala metropolitan Police commander Andrew Sorowen yesterday announced the new measures for gatherings of more than five people in the city and its suburbs. The measures cover Kampala Metropolitan area, which includes the city, Entebbe, Wakiso and Mukono districts and parts of Mpigi and Luwero districts.
He said the measures, which he described as “reminders”, take immediate effect.
“We are sounding a warning. No gathering of more than five people, even if it is in your compound, should be held without clearance from the Inspector General of Police. People intending to hold wedding parties, music galas, football matches and road processions should notify the IGP first,” said Sorowen.
“We want to ensure safety of our people. If 32 million Ugandans use their eyes and ears, there will be no space for terrorists in Uganda,” he said.
He told New Vision separately that the same measures affect funerals, vigils, last funeral rites (nyimbe) and bibanda, (local makeshift video halls).
He told the press at the Kampala Central Police Station that the Force would “block” gatherings that are not cleared by the IGP.
“It can’t be your human rights to wake up one day and decide to organise a rally. Yet when innocent people die from terrorist bombs, the Government is blamed for not providing security to its citizens. It is our role as police to ensure that citizens of this country are safe,” he said.
Sorowen noted that those intending to organise such events must do so in writing and hand-deliver the notification individually to avoid unnecessary delays.
“Get this right. We are not saying you should get permission from the Inspector General of Police but notify him. He is the only one who can ensure that enough security is deployed to guarantee safety of the people during such events,” he explained.
Sorowen said gatherings would not be allowed in markets.
He also noted that organisers should submit to the Police proof that the venue intended for such gatherings is cleared by the owners.
“The organisers should notify the Police a week in advance and indicate the venue, date, day and number of people expected at such gatherings,” he said.
Sorowen said the same applies to funerals and vigils. “Places like funerals attract very many people. Terrorists can use this chance to cause more mayhem. The vehicles also need protection from vandalism,” he added.
Sorowen asked district and divisional Police commanders to ensure that the bibanda (makeshift entertainment structures) have adequate security measures.
“Those who can’t afford the security gadgets, should hire bouncers or ask the Police to provide security,” he said.
He warned that local authorities that license the bibanda should ensure that they have security safeguards.
The Police have proposed enactment of the Public Order Management Bill which provides for management of public gatherings. But human rights activists and the opposition have criticised it, saying it is an attempt to restrict political demonstrations and assemblies of a similar nature.
But Police chief, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, told journalists last week that the proposed law is meant to ensure that the rights of non-protestors and protestors are safeguarded ahead of the general elections. “What people require is clearance and not permission,” said Kayihura.
The proposed Bill, if passed, would give powers to the Inspector General of Police to “regulate the conduct of public meetings.”
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Museveni, Kigongo, Kadaga, unopposed
Amama Mbabazi morale-boosts his supporters during the campaigns at Namboole stadium
By Milton Olupot and Barbara Among
SECURITY minister Amama Mbabazi was yesterday headed for a clear victory in the highly contested election for post of secretary general of the ruling National Resistance Movement.
Over 15,000 delegates gathered at Namboole stadium first endorsed President Yoweri Museveni as the party’s flag-bearer in next February’s presidential elections.
Provisional results announced by the NRM electoral commission chairperson, Felicitus Magomu, showed Mbabazi was ahead of his three opponents, including the Vice-President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, by a wide margin.
The acrimonious poll was characterised by accusations of manipulation, vote rigging and nepotism.
Other contenders were Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, Makerere University lecturer Elijah Mushemeza and Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Sekikuubo.
Candidates traded accusations at each other, forcing the party chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, to intervene time and again during their campaign speeches.
Otafiire, Bukenya, Ssekikubo and Mushemeza accused the incumbent of failing to run the NRM secretariat, messing up the primary elections, employing his family in party positions, not being accessible and scrambling for so many positions in the government and in the party.
The heat was turned on when Otafiire accused Mbabazi and the NRM electoral commission of rigging the process by failing to avail the candidates with the register of delegates. Otafiire also said the genuine delegates had been locked out and the wrong ones allowed in.
“Those contesting for positions are the same ones organising the elections. How free is this process?” he asked.
Waving two different accreditation cards, Otafiire asked Museveni: “Which of these cards will be used?”
One of the cards contained names and bore photos of the holder and the other had no identification.
He said Mbabazi had paid delegates less allowances than they were supposed to receive. Earlier, Mbabazi had reported to Museveni that a candidate was maligning his name by alleging that he had pocketed part of the allowances.
“I was the one who said it and I am going to repeat it here that delegates got less money than they were supposed to receive,” said Otafiire.
Ssekikubo accused Mbabazi of placing his family members to run the delegates conference. “It can’t be a party of one family, wife on women’s league and daughter as head of youth. We need clean hands to lead the party. I have clean hands,” said Ssekikubo.
Mbabazi vehemently denied that he had pocketed the delegates allowances, saying Otafiire was simply uninformed.
Magomu had an uphill task explaining to the candidates that the register was genuine and no rigging would take place.
“We are going to use the registers and not the cards around their necks. We have asked the district chairpersons and administrative secretaries of each district to go through the register and they have confirmed that those are their delegates.
When it came campaign time, vote buying was the norm contrary to the party’s rule. Candidates openly dished out money. The delegates scrambled for the spoils as campaign agents sorted out their votes. Money, T-shirts and sodas exchanged hands. The voting process got underway at about 4:30pm.
The positions of deputy secretary general was contested for by Dorothy Hyuha, the incumbent, Rose Namayanja, who was said to be in the lead, and Jacob Oulanyah. Betty Bigombe stepped down for Oulanyah.
The deputy treasurer position drew five candidates including the incumbent, Singh Katongole, Henry Banyenzaki, Dr. Noah Byenkya, Stephen Masinde and Davidson Serunjogi.
For the western regional vice-chairperson post, Brig. Matayo Kyaligonza was poised to retain his position. He competed against MP Chris Baryomunsi and Charles Asiimwe.
Karamoja region was poised to elect its first female regional chairperson, Janet Okorimoe, who was by press time in the lead. In Kampala region, Muhamad Nsereko was in the lead followed by former MP Francis Babu and Keneth Tukwekiriza.
In Central region, former MP Mulindwa Birimumaso was in the lead, closely followed by Abdul Naduli and Muyanja Mbabaali.
Dokolo MP Okot Ogong stood down for businessman Sam Engola for the position of vice-chairperson the northern region. This left five people in the race, including incumbent Lt Gen. Moses Ali. The race was, however, between Engola and energy minister Hillary Onek, who was poised to win.
In a surprise move, Kampala mayor Al Hajji Nasser Sebaggala walked in as the voting went on. It was not clear under what circumstances he was attending the meeting.
By Milton Olupot and Barbara Among
SECURITY minister Amama Mbabazi was yesterday headed for a clear victory in the highly contested election for post of secretary general of the ruling National Resistance Movement.
Over 15,000 delegates gathered at Namboole stadium first endorsed President Yoweri Museveni as the party’s flag-bearer in next February’s presidential elections.
Provisional results announced by the NRM electoral commission chairperson, Felicitus Magomu, showed Mbabazi was ahead of his three opponents, including the Vice-President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, by a wide margin.
The acrimonious poll was characterised by accusations of manipulation, vote rigging and nepotism.
Other contenders were Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, Makerere University lecturer Elijah Mushemeza and Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Sekikuubo.
Candidates traded accusations at each other, forcing the party chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, to intervene time and again during their campaign speeches.
Otafiire, Bukenya, Ssekikubo and Mushemeza accused the incumbent of failing to run the NRM secretariat, messing up the primary elections, employing his family in party positions, not being accessible and scrambling for so many positions in the government and in the party.
The heat was turned on when Otafiire accused Mbabazi and the NRM electoral commission of rigging the process by failing to avail the candidates with the register of delegates. Otafiire also said the genuine delegates had been locked out and the wrong ones allowed in.
“Those contesting for positions are the same ones organising the elections. How free is this process?” he asked.
Waving two different accreditation cards, Otafiire asked Museveni: “Which of these cards will be used?”
One of the cards contained names and bore photos of the holder and the other had no identification.
He said Mbabazi had paid delegates less allowances than they were supposed to receive. Earlier, Mbabazi had reported to Museveni that a candidate was maligning his name by alleging that he had pocketed part of the allowances.
“I was the one who said it and I am going to repeat it here that delegates got less money than they were supposed to receive,” said Otafiire.
Ssekikubo accused Mbabazi of placing his family members to run the delegates conference. “It can’t be a party of one family, wife on women’s league and daughter as head of youth. We need clean hands to lead the party. I have clean hands,” said Ssekikubo.
Mbabazi vehemently denied that he had pocketed the delegates allowances, saying Otafiire was simply uninformed.
Magomu had an uphill task explaining to the candidates that the register was genuine and no rigging would take place.
“We are going to use the registers and not the cards around their necks. We have asked the district chairpersons and administrative secretaries of each district to go through the register and they have confirmed that those are their delegates.
When it came campaign time, vote buying was the norm contrary to the party’s rule. Candidates openly dished out money. The delegates scrambled for the spoils as campaign agents sorted out their votes. Money, T-shirts and sodas exchanged hands. The voting process got underway at about 4:30pm.
The positions of deputy secretary general was contested for by Dorothy Hyuha, the incumbent, Rose Namayanja, who was said to be in the lead, and Jacob Oulanyah. Betty Bigombe stepped down for Oulanyah.
The deputy treasurer position drew five candidates including the incumbent, Singh Katongole, Henry Banyenzaki, Dr. Noah Byenkya, Stephen Masinde and Davidson Serunjogi.
For the western regional vice-chairperson post, Brig. Matayo Kyaligonza was poised to retain his position. He competed against MP Chris Baryomunsi and Charles Asiimwe.
Karamoja region was poised to elect its first female regional chairperson, Janet Okorimoe, who was by press time in the lead. In Kampala region, Muhamad Nsereko was in the lead followed by former MP Francis Babu and Keneth Tukwekiriza.
In Central region, former MP Mulindwa Birimumaso was in the lead, closely followed by Abdul Naduli and Muyanja Mbabaali.
Dokolo MP Okot Ogong stood down for businessman Sam Engola for the position of vice-chairperson the northern region. This left five people in the race, including incumbent Lt Gen. Moses Ali. The race was, however, between Engola and energy minister Hillary Onek, who was poised to win.
In a surprise move, Kampala mayor Al Hajji Nasser Sebaggala walked in as the voting went on. It was not clear under what circumstances he was attending the meeting.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
AU slams latest al Shabaab attack
Kampala
The African Union yesterday condemned an attack by Somali militant group, al Shabaab, on a hotel in Mogadishu that left 32 people dead. Reports from Mogadishu said the dead included six members of the Somali parliament, five government officials and 21 civilians.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, Mr Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra, in reference to the Ramadhan season, bemoaned the fact that the group had attacked the hotel in defiance of one of the key pillars of the Islamic faith that they claim to profess.
“It is sad to learn that armed opposition groups do not see the wisdom of giving peace a chance in their country,” said Ambassador Diarra. “Today’s attack on innocent civilians clearly demonstrates the cowardly and barbaric mindset of those opposed to the peace process and cannot be condoned. I, on behalf of the African Union, would like to call upon all warring parties in the Somali conflict to stop such barbaric attacks on innocent civilian population.”
Amisom safe
No soldiers belonging to the African Union peacekeeping force – to which Uganda has contributed soldiers – were killed in the attack that came on the second day of heavy fighting between al Shabaab and troops of the transitional government, who are backed by the AU.
The spokesman for the AU peacekeepers, Maj. Ba-hoku Barigye, yesterday told the BBC that an 11-year-old shoe-shine boy and a woman selling tea in front of the hotel were among the dead. Reports say the al Shabaab fighters entered the hotel disguised as government soldiers, opened fire on the guard and then one of them blew himself up inside the building.
The attack is the second most daring raid on premises housing AU forces or the Somali government. Late last year, al Shabaab fighters drove a truck disguised as a UN vehicle into an AU compound and blew it up, killing the then deputy force commander, Maj. Gen. Juvenal Niyonguruza.
The latest incident comes nearly two months since al Shabaab claimed responsibility for twin bombings in Kampala that killed 76 people who were watching the 2010 World Cup final in Kabalagala and the Kyadondo Rugby Grounds.
The African Union yesterday condemned an attack by Somali militant group, al Shabaab, on a hotel in Mogadishu that left 32 people dead. Reports from Mogadishu said the dead included six members of the Somali parliament, five government officials and 21 civilians.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, Mr Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra, in reference to the Ramadhan season, bemoaned the fact that the group had attacked the hotel in defiance of one of the key pillars of the Islamic faith that they claim to profess.
“It is sad to learn that armed opposition groups do not see the wisdom of giving peace a chance in their country,” said Ambassador Diarra. “Today’s attack on innocent civilians clearly demonstrates the cowardly and barbaric mindset of those opposed to the peace process and cannot be condoned. I, on behalf of the African Union, would like to call upon all warring parties in the Somali conflict to stop such barbaric attacks on innocent civilian population.”
Amisom safe
No soldiers belonging to the African Union peacekeeping force – to which Uganda has contributed soldiers – were killed in the attack that came on the second day of heavy fighting between al Shabaab and troops of the transitional government, who are backed by the AU.
The spokesman for the AU peacekeepers, Maj. Ba-hoku Barigye, yesterday told the BBC that an 11-year-old shoe-shine boy and a woman selling tea in front of the hotel were among the dead. Reports say the al Shabaab fighters entered the hotel disguised as government soldiers, opened fire on the guard and then one of them blew himself up inside the building.
The attack is the second most daring raid on premises housing AU forces or the Somali government. Late last year, al Shabaab fighters drove a truck disguised as a UN vehicle into an AU compound and blew it up, killing the then deputy force commander, Maj. Gen. Juvenal Niyonguruza.
The latest incident comes nearly two months since al Shabaab claimed responsibility for twin bombings in Kampala that killed 76 people who were watching the 2010 World Cup final in Kabalagala and the Kyadondo Rugby Grounds.
Orphaned after playing dead
Natalie Wong
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Fifteen-year-old Tracey Wong Cheuk- yiu survived the Manila tour-bus massacre by playing dead on the floor as the crazed gunman opened up.
Last night she was recovering with minor foot injuries - but her parents and aunt were slain.
Wong told reporters from her hospital bed: "I hid under a chair. Police threw in tear gas and many people could hardly breath."
She learned later in the day that her father Wong Tze-lam, 51, and mother Yeung Yee-wa, 44, along with aunt Yeung Yee-kam, 46, were killed.
Her brother Jason Wong Ching-nat, 12, was among those released by the gunman before the carnage started.
Wong worked as an operation station officer with the MTR for more than 20 years. The company will pay his family a death gratuity equivalent to 52 months' salary.
The Wong tragedy unfolded as other heartbreaking stories emerged from the bloodshed.
Yik Siu-ling, 32, is in serious condition in Philippines General Hospital after she was shot in the lower jaw and lost two fingers.
She apparently used her hand to shield her face when struck by the bullet.
Yik's husband, Joe Chan Kwok- chu, 46, has gunshot wounds to the stomach and head. He is in stable condition.
Fu Cheuk-yan, 30, was killed, but his 40-year-old wife Tsang Yee-lai was released with her two children on Monday afternoon.
Tsang is a nurse at the Kowloon Hospital, which has promised her every help.
Lo Kam Fun, 66, and her daughter Lee Ying Chuen, 33, were both slightly injured during the siege.
Tour leader Masa Tse Ting-chunn, 31, was killed about one hour after he was handcuffed by the gunman to the exit of the coach.
Tse had alerted Hong Thai in Hong Kong of the hijacking using his cell phone. The gunman later used Tse to shield him during negotiations with police.
Tse, who is single, joined Hong Tai as a part-time tour leader five years ago.
More than 4,000 people went online to pay him tribute. A netizen named Shantal wrote: "You're the hero of Hong Kong. We're proud of you."
The Hong Kong Travel Industry (Outbound) Tour Escort and Tour Guide Union issued a statement saying: "He was a professional escort assisting tourists till the last moment in the tragic event."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Fifteen-year-old Tracey Wong Cheuk- yiu survived the Manila tour-bus massacre by playing dead on the floor as the crazed gunman opened up.
Wong told reporters from her hospital bed: "I hid under a chair. Police threw in tear gas and many people could hardly breath."
She learned later in the day that her father Wong Tze-lam, 51, and mother Yeung Yee-wa, 44, along with aunt Yeung Yee-kam, 46, were killed.
Her brother Jason Wong Ching-nat, 12, was among those released by the gunman before the carnage started.
Wong worked as an operation station officer with the MTR for more than 20 years. The company will pay his family a death gratuity equivalent to 52 months' salary.
The Wong tragedy unfolded as other heartbreaking stories emerged from the bloodshed.
Yik Siu-ling, 32, is in serious condition in Philippines General Hospital after she was shot in the lower jaw and lost two fingers.
She apparently used her hand to shield her face when struck by the bullet.
Yik's husband, Joe Chan Kwok- chu, 46, has gunshot wounds to the stomach and head. He is in stable condition.
Fu Cheuk-yan, 30, was killed, but his 40-year-old wife Tsang Yee-lai was released with her two children on Monday afternoon.
Tsang is a nurse at the Kowloon Hospital, which has promised her every help.
Lo Kam Fun, 66, and her daughter Lee Ying Chuen, 33, were both slightly injured during the siege.
Tour leader Masa Tse Ting-chunn, 31, was killed about one hour after he was handcuffed by the gunman to the exit of the coach.
Tse had alerted Hong Thai in Hong Kong of the hijacking using his cell phone. The gunman later used Tse to shield him during negotiations with police.
Tse, who is single, joined Hong Tai as a part-time tour leader five years ago.
More than 4,000 people went online to pay him tribute. A netizen named Shantal wrote: "You're the hero of Hong Kong. We're proud of you."
The Hong Kong Travel Industry (Outbound) Tour Escort and Tour Guide Union issued a statement saying: "He was a professional escort assisting tourists till the last moment in the tragic event."
Torn apart
Natalie Wong
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Of the five members of the Leung family on the Manila death bus, only Mrs Leung - Amy Ng Yau-woon - left it alive and unhurt.
Husband Ken Leung Kam-wing, 58, and daughters Doris Leung Chung-see, 21, and Jessie Leung Song-yi, 14, lay dead.
Nineteen-year-old son Jason Leung Song-xue was carried away in a critical state with a head injury.
Mrs Leung said she only survived because her husband used his body to shield her from a hail of bullets. And even if she had escaped physical harm, she was being torn apart by grief.
When officials from the Philippine government visited her yesterday, she had nothing for them but recriminations and tears.
"You have come too late," she cried. "Why was there no assistance when we were being held hostage for several hours?
"I know the gunman initially didn't want to kill us as he was making requests to the Philippine government. Why couldn't you satisfy him? Was it because of money?"
That said, her thoughts returned to son Jason, in intensive care after undergoing brain surgery.
In Hong Kong, meanwhile, Leung family friends and colleagues were talking of the lost ones.
Ken Leung, who was managing director of Stadium Asia and who attended the same secondary school as lawmaker Fred Li Wah-ming, was being recalled by contemporaries in the University of Hong Kong industrial engineering class of 1977 as as "a straightforward, straight-talking man" who was always helpful and "gave 100 percent of himself to everything he did.
" They wrote: "By all accounts, Ken made the ultimate sacrifice, using his body to shield his loved ones from the killer's bullets.
"For his classmates, this was only to be expected of this brave man. We feel very sad, but are proud of him.
"We offer our deepest condolences to Ken's wife, Amy, and son, Jason, who is critically ill in hospital, and all the families and friends of the victims of this terrible and tragic event."
Doris had been studying in Canada and Jessie, the youngest victim of the tragedy, was a Form Two student at the Hong Kong Management Association David Li Kwok Po College.
The school has set up a memorial blog to mourn her and to send get-well wishes to her brother, who is an alumnus of the college.
Principal Nicholas Puiu described Jessie and Jason as "polite, well-spoken, well-mannered students who were a pleasure to teach."
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Of the five members of the Leung family on the Manila death bus, only Mrs Leung - Amy Ng Yau-woon - left it alive and unhurt.
Husband Ken Leung Kam-wing, 58, and daughters Doris Leung Chung-see, 21, and Jessie Leung Song-yi, 14, lay dead. Nineteen-year-old son Jason Leung Song-xue was carried away in a critical state with a head injury.
Mrs Leung said she only survived because her husband used his body to shield her from a hail of bullets. And even if she had escaped physical harm, she was being torn apart by grief.
When officials from the Philippine government visited her yesterday, she had nothing for them but recriminations and tears.
"You have come too late," she cried. "Why was there no assistance when we were being held hostage for several hours?
"I know the gunman initially didn't want to kill us as he was making requests to the Philippine government. Why couldn't you satisfy him? Was it because of money?"
That said, her thoughts returned to son Jason, in intensive care after undergoing brain surgery.
In Hong Kong, meanwhile, Leung family friends and colleagues were talking of the lost ones.
Ken Leung, who was managing director of Stadium Asia and who attended the same secondary school as lawmaker Fred Li Wah-ming, was being recalled by contemporaries in the University of Hong Kong industrial engineering class of 1977 as as "a straightforward, straight-talking man" who was always helpful and "gave 100 percent of himself to everything he did.
" They wrote: "By all accounts, Ken made the ultimate sacrifice, using his body to shield his loved ones from the killer's bullets.
"For his classmates, this was only to be expected of this brave man. We feel very sad, but are proud of him.
"We offer our deepest condolences to Ken's wife, Amy, and son, Jason, who is critically ill in hospital, and all the families and friends of the victims of this terrible and tragic event."
Doris had been studying in Canada and Jessie, the youngest victim of the tragedy, was a Form Two student at the Hong Kong Management Association David Li Kwok Po College.
The school has set up a memorial blog to mourn her and to send get-well wishes to her brother, who is an alumnus of the college.
Principal Nicholas Puiu described Jessie and Jason as "polite, well-spoken, well-mannered students who were a pleasure to teach."
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Opposition nominates four for presidential contest
Four candidates have been nominated to contest in a race that will determine who carries the flag for the coalition of five opposition political parties in next year’s presidential elections.
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Kizza Besigye, Hajj Hussein Kyanjo of the Justice Forum party, Conservative Party’s James Kigongo and Social Democratic Party president Michael Mabikke were yesterday nominated amid heightened security at Kololo.
Supporters of the candidates danced and ululated as they were declared dully nominated in an exercise presided over by IPC National Electoral Affairs chairman Rubaramira Ruranga.
However, speculation about the absence of Uganda People’s Congress leader Olara Otunnu threatened to overshadow the exercise.
Otunnu fears
The UPC reportedly asked for more time to deal with internal matters—mainly related to Mr Otunnu’s pending court case in which the state accuses him of sedition.
The IPC hastily organised a meeting and agreed to give the UPC a week to finish its internal processes and present its candidate for nomination.
Dr Besigye said Otunnu will show up for nominations as soon as the opposition successfully challenges the “illegal” arrest warrant issued against him.
At Kololo, each of the four nominated candidates was allowed 10 minutes to outline their programmes. Prof. Kigongo promised to introduce a federal system of government, saying it is the best solution to dictatorship and the NRM’s decentralisation programme.
Dr Besigye told the audience, “Let us unite and move forward rather than be scattered in fear. The 2011 elections must be about the future of Uganda not about the past.”
your candidate, and if you doubt me, go and ask my wife.”
He added, “If you are a businessman, I am a candidate of your choice, if you are that person who is tired of corruption, nepotism, and corruption with impunity, I am your candidate.”
Mr Mabikke said, “SDP has made its research and it is true that the opposition is going to win the 2011 elections.”
Mr Kyanjo said, “If you are a woman who is interested in a bright future, I am your candidate, and if you doubt me, go and ask my wife.”
He added, “If you are a businessman, I am a candidate of your choice, if you are that person who is tired of corruption, nepotism, and corruption with impunity, I am your candidate.”
Mr Mabikke said, “SDP has made its research and it is true that the opposition is going to win the 2011 elections
Monday, August 16, 2010
Mao: When I become president
Written by Hussein Bogere
Sunday, 15 August 2010 18:03
With few months away to the 2011 presidential elections, HUSSEIN BOGERE asked presidential hopefuls NORBERT MAO and KIZZA BESIGYE what they would do about some of Uganda’s most outstanding problems if they won.
If tomorrow you assumed power, how would your government deal with the issue of corruption?
I believe the best way to deal with corruption is through personal example. You can set up an Anti-Corruption Court, you can appoint an Inspector General of Government, you can have an auditor general, you can even involve the intelligence community, but if you are perceived as corrupt at the top, no one is going to change their ways.
So, three things are required to tackle corruption; leading from the front through personal example, ruthless measures against well known thieves, and the society frowning upon and shunning those in possession of ill-gotten wealth. As long as we praise thieves, thieving will be considered normal. And that has undermined the reputation of politicians.
Politics is now seen as an avenue for eating, not an avenue for leadership. Personal example is the key in fighting corruption. As we say, you cannot preach water and drink wine; you must walk the talk. I have said before that the fish rots from the head. The rot in the society needs major surgery. As president, I would tackle corruption ruthlessly, as opposed to what Museveni is doing which is similar to treating a cancer using Vaseline. The cancer has got to be cut out.
There seems to be a breakdown of public infrastructure in spite of the large amounts of money pumped in, how differently could the sector be handled?
The NRM government has been trying to undermine what was done in the past simply because they don’t want to acknowledge that the UPC government ever did anything good. But the public works department saved us a lot of money. It had employees who maintained specific sections of the road by making sure that no road was neglected. We would revive the public works department.
We will also invest in the railway because it would take away the burden from the roads so that they are largely for light loads. We would also empower local governments with equipment so that most of the work is done by government employees as opposed to private contractors who charge several times more than the normal cost of the road. We would revise the procurement process so that it is tighter. We would disclose the amount the government is willing to spend to eliminate competition based on pricing.
The breakdown of the infrastructure is partly to blame for the congestion within the city, but how can it be decongested?
Actually, we believe in another capital city. I think Kampala should be a commercial city and we build a new administrative city. Nigeria has done it, Tanzania has done it, and Brazil did it decades ago. A government led by the DP would definitely consult and come up with a new political capital. As for the congestion in Kampala, there are only three things to be done.
We have got to ensure that we have bigger roads and that means enforcing building regulations. It is not too difficult to enforce building regulations. Our government would go into a joint venture to provide public transportation. For those who don’t want to use passenger service vehicles, the licence fee would go higher. That will help deal with how many taxis or boda-bodas we have, particularly for the central business district. If you are operating there, the cost of the licence will determine whether you really get involved in that kind of business.
UTODA can be a Uganda government joint venture where government can guarantee huge loans for them to bring in buses. We also need to create some parks within the city and we should have at least 15 bus terminals in the area around Kampala with clearly demarcated bus stops, and that means we must get the expertise needed to plan a public transportation system. We will also enforce the traffic court. Right now our city is a free for all.
How do you rate the health sector?
Our health is in a shambles; that is why those who can afford it go abroad. Most Ugandans know that our health system was better in the decades past than now. Those days Mulago was a world class hospital. I still believe the government can transform Mulago into a world-class hospital and we can transform other health centres into modern facilities.
There has got to be a combination of public and private health services. We would procure modern medical equipment. The reason why people go to India and other places is because in Uganda we don’t have the basic equipment. There is a long queue in Mulago for those who want examination by endoscopy. Basic diagnostic machines are not available.
Secondly, we would increase the pay for health workers, probably anything up to Shs 3 million and more. Our policy would be to stem the brain drain. They need houses, good working conditions, assurance that they need to keep their body and souls within Uganda. We would also have to invest in training specialists. Uganda needs a younger team of specialists.
New diseases and epidemics are breaking out in Uganda. We must be able to invest in that kind of specialisation, and also in research. Our government would publish a patient bill of rights. A patient needs to know that when I go to a hospital these are my rights and no one can put a discount on them. We would have strategic partnerships in the region.
Why can’t East African countries invest in a health facility where heart surgeries and other complicated surgeries can be done? We can bring those specialists from Indian and we have a hospital within the region. There is no reason why we should not have a facility in our region where people can have these advanced medical examinations and treatments that would save our people the expenses of going abroad. I also believe that the health budget is too low.
We have got to increase the health budget so that essential drugs are available, but above all, our government would invest more in preventive healthcare. We still don’t have the financial muscle to do all the things we would want to do. There are simple things that citizens have to do; drinking boiled water, sleeping under a mosquito net, using pit latrines, basic sanitation. And also, health is not about hospitals and medicines. We would make sure that our approach to public health is holistic.
If you don’t provide clean water to the people, there is no way they are going to be healthy, if they are too poor, their diet is going to be predominantly starch; then they end up with diabetes. We would revive the public health sector.
There must be vigorous enforcement of the public health laws. We would also protect our citizens from being victims of dumping. Most of the drugs that come into the country are fit for disposal. Uganda is used as a dumping ground. For a country at the level of economic growth of Uganda, prevention would make economic sense.
We need to protect our citizens from quacks; we need supervision of health workers, an army of public health inspectors to ensure that people know that they have a responsibility to the public. I think the government has left the citizens at the mercy of private clinic owners. The government must ensure that it is present in the health sector. It is not enough to claim that people are buying drugs or training a few doctors. What the citizens want is that those who mistreat citizens pay a price.
You have been known to be critical of UPE and USE introduced by the NRM government, how differently would you approach them?
By having an education system that is not equitable, we are developing two Ugandas; the Uganda of the rich and one of the poor. It was actually good for government to offer universal education and a level of access in secondary education. But access isn’t enough, we also need quality. The world is very competitive. Many of the kids who go to UPE schools are doomed to 3rd rate education.
The only ones that escape are the lucky ones that get a sponsor. The education in the university depends on grades. You cannot get good grades unless you go to the good schools. That means the poor are being marginalised. I believe that by only concentrating on access as opposed to quality, the government is just giving the poor some painkiller, not a cure.
In my view, our kids go to school so that they can learn social skills, how to take care of their bodies, to figure out solutions to problems that are going to confront them in their lives, so as to deepen their faith. In other words, we need a holistic education system. We cannot just have an education system that is exam centred. The education system should not just be about printing certificates.
We would review the education system completely. What is required is that government should upgrade the schools around the country; that teachers have houses. Our teachers should also be well paid. The low pay for teachers has turned them into laughing stocks. I believe we have got to make UPE schools suitable for anybody. Right now anybody who has got a bit of money is scared of taking his kid to a UPE school.
Another issue that is co-joined with education is employment, or the lack of it. Is this a problem in Uganda and if so, how can it be tackled?
Uganda needs to concentrate on polytechnic education. There are many people clad in neckties and suits with clipboards chasing very few jobs. The Ugandan economy creates less than 20,000 jobs every year yet more than 50,000 people graduate every year. So, we are only meeting 40% of the job needs and the figures are cumulative.
What we need now is to tap into the global economy by having information and call centres the way India is doing, so that we can give international jobs locally. Secondly, we need an education system to equip our people with skills to make something, whether chairs or candles, or table clothes; you have something to sell and that means all you need to do is get a buyer.
But if all you can do is to say that you can do anything when asked, then it is a disaster. It is important, in my view, that our universities be linked to the job market, diversify our education system, teach people trade that equips them with means to make something that they can sell, tap into global trends using technology, harness the power of the internet to create opportunities for our people. We also need to consider the need for relevance.
We need to invest in sciences. There will never be a shortage of opportunities for those who are skilled in computer, mechanical, or even civil engineering. We need to train more doctors and look after them. We need to interest our people in fields like agriculture.
People must know that you can get rich through organic farming, green houses, you can tap into international markets. In the next election, the question of employment is going to be very crucial. A problem like unemployment requires innovation, that is why we are proposing that our government would invest in sectors that are modern; science and technology, computers, call centres and tour guides.
Public infrastructure also offers opportunities for jobs every time we have highways and dams being built, school and hospital projects. All those are opportunities for jobs. We must make sure that there is a hub where Ugandans can get information on job opportunities. It is possible we can create 100,000 jobs every year.
One of the avenues the NRM has used to create jobs for its cadres is through balkanisation, will your government reverse the process?
As a general policy we don’t need new districts because that has not improved service delivery. Our challenge is to strengthen sub-counties so that they can give us access to services that districts can give. The districts have now become a lounge for job seekers. I am not an apologist of these new districts. My view would be to build stronger sub-county governments.
The discovery of oil is another issue that is proving to be contentious, how can it be handled to avoid conflict?
Uganda, as the cliché goes, is gifted by nature but, we are cursed with corrupt leaders. The question, as we go into 2011, is who would you trust with Uganda’s oil wealth? To manage oil wealth requires a government which is not tainted with corruption. If we elect NRM, then we know our oil is going to be sold to the highest bidder and the proceeds shared between a clique, which is in charge of government and probably some foreign interests.
The ordinary citizens may not benefit. But what would we do with the oil? I don’t know what is going to happen in Southern Sudan, but if it is independent, then it is possible for Uganda to collaborate with Southern Sudan to have one oil refinery in Uganda to refine the oil in Sudan and the one we are to extract.
So, it would require some cross-border collaboration. Secondly, we will also ensure that we get involved in some retail business because cash flow is very important. Countries like Venezuela are benefiting from having petrol stations in North and South America. I have proposed before that Uganda could consider acquiring the outlets of Shell.
Other people think that government should not be in that kind of business but I believe you can have efficiently run parastatals like National Water and Sewarage Corporation. Thirdly, this oil doesn’t belong only to those who are alive today, but also the unborn. It is our duty to create a future fund where the money from oil can be kept so that even those who will be born when there is no more oil flowing will benefit from the oil money.
It works in Norway. We would offer better stewardship for oil than any other government on account of our fight against corruption. So the challenge is of good stewardship and this means that you must know that this is a public asset, not private.
And finally, federalism and Buganda issues which have become a hot potato in our politics. Have your views changed on federalism?
Not at all, I belong to DP and since 1961 it has supported federalism. You could call it democratic federalism; there is no contradiction between being strongly republican and also being strongly decentralised. There is no overwhelming reason why our government shouldn’t support federalism.
Implementing federalism would also reduce this winner-take-all mentality. It would reduce the life and death struggle for power which we currently witness in Uganda. It would also make the sharing of national wealth equitable. Right now, local governments receive 20% of the national budget. Under federalism the figure would increase, giving the local government more say in prioritisation and allocation of public resources.
I also believe that the struggle for power would reduce because if power is at the local level, the struggle to capture Kampala would be less fierce because there would be power at these levels. DP will hold a national conference to discuss this matter and then the question will be put to a national referendum so that it is settled once and for all.
How will your government improve the wellbeing of its citizens?
First of all, we would guarantee a minimum budget of agriculture at 10%. That is not too big; it is actually what was agreed on in Maputo. In Uganda, the agriculture budget is being cut very frequently yet it employs over 70% of our people. I think that is where most of our money should go. Secondly, we would create what we call a citizens’ empowerment fund to support small and medium size enterprises.
Thirdly, we shall not be shy to lock out foreigners from retail trade. Our government would invite investors in wholesale trade, retail trade would be exclusively for citizens. I think it is important that we have a policy that protects certain sectors. We also believe that we should project our strength by negotiating on issues of trade.
We should be able to export some of our organic fruits to these foreign markets and make sure we project our strengths. Our government would strengthen our ability to bargain because much as we are weak, we are not as weak as we think. It is only that we haven’t known our strength. We can negotiate as a block, either as East Africa or Africa.
In short, our agenda for fighting poverty would be promoting exports, investing in agriculture to support small and medium enterprises, opening more retail avenues for our people, and also re-tooling our people. We will also revive cooperatives. We believe cooperatives allowed access to markets to even the people in the villages. We would also need to open a farmers’ bank. The cooperative bank was shut down so farmers need to contend with these loan sharks.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Is 'Grandpa Wen' as nice as he seems?
By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing
Mr Wen has visited the scene of several recent natural disasters, including landslide-hit Zhouqu Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stood shoulder to shoulder with rescuers as they searched for survivors at the scene of a recent landslide in Gansu province.
Dressed in casual clothes and wearing an expression of concern, he spoke words of encouragement to residents trapped beneath the rubble of their collapsed homes.
"Folks, hold on - we're trying to pull you out," he shouted in the direction of where two people were thought to be still alive.
This is not the first time Mr Wen has visited a disaster or shown sympathy with ordinary people struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing society.
He has consoled the elderly, sympathised with stranded travellers and shed public tears.
It has allowed the premier to become perhaps the country's favourite politician. He is seen as a man of the people and known affectionately as Grandpa Wen.
But not everyone believes this image to be a true reflection of the premier's character.
The title of a new book by Chinese writer Yu Jie leaves little doubt about the views of its author. It is entitled China's Best Actor: Wen Jiabao.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The policies supported by the premier are very different from his behaviour in front of the media ”
End Quote
Yu Jie
Author
Mr Yu contends that Mr Wen's frequent visits to the scenes of disaster are just a show of concern; he does not support the policies that would really show he cares.
"[Chinese President] Hu Jintao's personality is steady and cold. He likes to give orders from behind the scenes. Acting is not his strong point," reads one extract from the book.
"Wen Jiabao makes up for his shortage. He likes to be down mines, visiting farmhouses, crying his heart out," it goes
Mr Yu believes the premier is acting, only showing he cares so people will maintain their trust in the government.
Contradictions
The 37-year-old writer is not alone in these views, but he is certainly in the minority in China, as a selection of online comments following the premier's visit to the landslide reveal.
"If we had more people like Grandpa Wen in China, our country would be more civilised, stronger and richer," said one bowled-over internet user.
Author Yu Jie says that he is monitored by security personnel "We have no fear when disaster happens because we have such a good premier," said another.
But Mr Yu, who has no special contacts within the higher echelons of the Chinese Communist Party, merely advises readers to consider the facts.
"The policies supported by the premier are very different from his behaviour in front of the media and the public. Sometimes they contradict each other," said the writer in an interview.
Mr Yu, whose book is out on Monday, cites the example of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.
While visiting Sichuan, Mr Wen promised parents whose children died in their classrooms that they would be told why so many schools collapsed in the earthquake.
But the premier never followed up on that promise, said Mr Yu. Instead, independent researchers who tried to find their own answers to this question have been locked up.
It is difficult to assess the accuracy of the author's viewpoint: Chinese politicians, even Mr Wen, rarely give interviews and those they do tend to focus on policies not image.
But one man who has worked with Mr Wen, former official Bao Tong, who lost his job and was imprisoned after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, seems to think the premier's concern is genuine.
Questioned
It is less difficult to work out why Mr Yu's views are in the minority.
Through their control of the media, China's leaders are able to guard their image in a way that would be impossible without censorship.
Authors who reflect a different point of view are not able to publish books in mainland China. The offering about Mr Wen can only be released in Hong Kong, which has more liberal publishing laws.
Many authors, like political activists, are also monitored by the police.
Mr Yu said he often sees security officers outside his home, particularly at sensitive times, such as when China's annual parliamentary session is being held.
When the authorities found out he was planning to publish a book on Mr Wen - the writer revealed it to friends on the social networking site Twitter - he was hauled in for questioning.
Despite the problems, Mr Yu thinks publishing his book is worth the risk. "I think modern citizens in a modern society should have the right to criticise and be suspicious of their leaders.
"The purpose of this book is not only to criticise individuals and the communist system, but also to develop the idea of freedom of speech.
BBC News, Beijing
Mr Wen has visited the scene of several recent natural disasters, including landslide-hit Zhouqu Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stood shoulder to shoulder with rescuers as they searched for survivors at the scene of a recent landslide in Gansu province.
"Folks, hold on - we're trying to pull you out," he shouted in the direction of where two people were thought to be still alive.
This is not the first time Mr Wen has visited a disaster or shown sympathy with ordinary people struggling to adapt to a rapidly changing society.
He has consoled the elderly, sympathised with stranded travellers and shed public tears.
It has allowed the premier to become perhaps the country's favourite politician. He is seen as a man of the people and known affectionately as Grandpa Wen.
But not everyone believes this image to be a true reflection of the premier's character.
The title of a new book by Chinese writer Yu Jie leaves little doubt about the views of its author. It is entitled China's Best Actor: Wen Jiabao.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The policies supported by the premier are very different from his behaviour in front of the media ”
End Quote
Yu Jie
Author
Mr Yu contends that Mr Wen's frequent visits to the scenes of disaster are just a show of concern; he does not support the policies that would really show he cares.
"[Chinese President] Hu Jintao's personality is steady and cold. He likes to give orders from behind the scenes. Acting is not his strong point," reads one extract from the book.
"Wen Jiabao makes up for his shortage. He likes to be down mines, visiting farmhouses, crying his heart out," it goes
Mr Yu believes the premier is acting, only showing he cares so people will maintain their trust in the government.
Contradictions
The 37-year-old writer is not alone in these views, but he is certainly in the minority in China, as a selection of online comments following the premier's visit to the landslide reveal.
"If we had more people like Grandpa Wen in China, our country would be more civilised, stronger and richer," said one bowled-over internet user.
Author Yu Jie says that he is monitored by security personnel "We have no fear when disaster happens because we have such a good premier," said another.
"The policies supported by the premier are very different from his behaviour in front of the media and the public. Sometimes they contradict each other," said the writer in an interview.
Mr Yu, whose book is out on Monday, cites the example of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.
While visiting Sichuan, Mr Wen promised parents whose children died in their classrooms that they would be told why so many schools collapsed in the earthquake.
But the premier never followed up on that promise, said Mr Yu. Instead, independent researchers who tried to find their own answers to this question have been locked up.
It is difficult to assess the accuracy of the author's viewpoint: Chinese politicians, even Mr Wen, rarely give interviews and those they do tend to focus on policies not image.
But one man who has worked with Mr Wen, former official Bao Tong, who lost his job and was imprisoned after the Tiananmen massacre in 1989, seems to think the premier's concern is genuine.
Questioned
It is less difficult to work out why Mr Yu's views are in the minority.
Through their control of the media, China's leaders are able to guard their image in a way that would be impossible without censorship.
Authors who reflect a different point of view are not able to publish books in mainland China. The offering about Mr Wen can only be released in Hong Kong, which has more liberal publishing laws.
Many authors, like political activists, are also monitored by the police.
Mr Yu said he often sees security officers outside his home, particularly at sensitive times, such as when China's annual parliamentary session is being held.
When the authorities found out he was planning to publish a book on Mr Wen - the writer revealed it to friends on the social networking site Twitter - he was hauled in for questioning.
Despite the problems, Mr Yu thinks publishing his book is worth the risk. "I think modern citizens in a modern society should have the right to criticise and be suspicious of their leaders.
"The purpose of this book is not only to criticise individuals and the communist system, but also to develop the idea of freedom of speech.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The story of the African unity effort
The 2010 summit of African heads of state and government opens in Kampala today. It is the latest in many summits by African leaders that go back to the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963 as TIMOTHY KALYEGIRA reviews:-
TRADE TIES: AU Commissioner for Trade Elisabeth Tankeu (l) with Vice President Gilbert Bukenya after launching the African Private Sector Forum in Kampala on Thursday.. PHOTO BY YUSUF MUZIRANSA
The drive to make something of Africa can be traced back to the 1920s and the early efforts by such leaders as the Jamaican Marcus Garvey with his demand that Africans and descendants of Africa dispersed worldwide reclaim their roots and return to their mother continent.
“Africa for the Africans!” was the rallying call. Thousands of Africans were enlisted to fight on behalf of the European colonial nations during the Second World War. They fought in trenches and the open battlefield with European soldiers. They witnessed Europeans fear, fight, win, lose, get injured, and die.
Many Africans, used to Whites in a dominant position at home in the colonies, were shocked to discover that these men too were human after all. The African fighters also felt that since they had risked their lives and shed their blood for this essentially European war, then they should be rewarded with self-rule, if not outright independence. Most independence movements in Africa, then, started or at least gained
momentum after the end of the Second World War.
Soul-searching
Many African students had also been to Europe and the United States for their university education. The racism they encountered and the aloofness of western society caused them to engage in soul-searching.
In 1912, the African National Congress (ANC) was founded in South Africa. It was the first political party in Africa. The ANC, even in those early years, was already viewing Africa as a whole and not just the situation in South Africa.
Among these vocal students in Africa were Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenneth Kaunda, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Namdi Azikiwe, Ahmed Ben Bella, Julius Nyerere and many others who would go on to become either the first prime ministers of their nations or first presidents and foreign ministers.
The racist policies of White-ruled South Africa, the tensions created by the post-War Cold War and the instability brought on by military coup after military coup starting in 1963 helped solidify a sense of African unity.
Many African children born in the 1960s were named after these African leaders and it is not uncommon to meet people in their 50s and 40s today named Patrick Lumumba, Ben Bella, or “Kinyata” in much of Black Africa. That demonstrated the extent to which even the ordinary people embraced the new sense of oneness on the continent.
However, no sooner had the 1960s decade started than it quickly became clear that this was going to be a disastrous beginning for Africa. There were assassinations in Togo and Nigeria of leaders, military coups in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Comoros, Madagascar, Libya, Somalia, Lesotho, Ethiopia and several other states from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Power struggle
Even as recently as 2000s, just when there was hope that there would be no more coups in Africa, coups resumed in Mauritania, Guinea, Niger and the Comoros.
With the arrival of the new millennium in 2000, the visionaries and dreamers around the world and Africa started looking to the future. There was general talk that this coming 21st century should be Africa’s, it should see a revival or “renaissance” of the African people.
Chief among these dreamers was the mercurial and colourful Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi and the then South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Col. Gaddafi started a campaign to reinvigorate the African unity drive, making several trips across the continent and pushed for the name of the OAU to be changed to the African Union, which it became in 2001.
Looking back now, it is hard to see what it was that filled statesmen and the media in Africa and beyond with hope that there was to be an African revival.
In all the efforts toward the achievement of African unity, it was obvious that Africa’s statesmen and bureaucrats were modelling their creations along the lines of the European cooperation moves. The name “African Union” sounded much like the “European Union”.
These Africans who studied in Europe and the United States and fought in British, French and Portuguese units during the war also saw something else; the undeniable advancement, orderliness and prosperity that were western society.
There was never any question that at some stage in the future, Africa’s European colonies had to start moving toward and eventually gain full self-rule. However, a few far-sighted and realistic young and western-educated Africans also knew that the attainment of political self-rule was only the start of a much bigger struggle.This much bigger struggle was the quiet realisation that it could be possible to win political or “flag” independence but still remain in a state of dependence and subordination to European powers and exploitation, if some form of economic unity and growth were not achieved.
With the formation of the OAU came other regional efforts, among them over the years, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) , the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Kagera Basin Organisation (KBO), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), and several other bodies.
It was not clear at the time they were founded and it remains unclear to this day what many of these regional groupings of nations stand for.
The longest-running pan-African effort on the continent has been the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. It was first played in 1957 and has been one of the few consistent all-Africa efforts, apart from the heads of state summits.
This much bigger struggle was the quiet realisation that it could be possible to win political or “flag” independence but still remain in a state of dependence and subordination to European powers and exploitation, if some form of economic unity and growth were not achieved.
With the formation of the OAU came other regional efforts, among them over the years, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) , the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Kagera Basin Organisation (KBO), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), and several other bodies.
It was not clear at the time they were founded and it remains unclear to this day what many of these regional groupings of nations stand for.
The longest-running pan-African effort on the continent has been the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. It was first played in 1957 and has been one of the few consistent all-Africa efforts, apart from the heads of state summits.
More plans
The All-Africa Games - a festival of sports mapped after the Olympic and Commonwealth Games - is also staged. In recent years, there have been other major African events spreading into the entertainment fields, notably the Big Brother Africa reality television show, the M-Net Face of Africa modelling competition, the Zain Africa quiz challenge and the Kora African music awards
Most of these pan-African entertainment competitions have been held in South Africa as South Africa is the only country with the resources, glamour and facilities to host such major television extravaganzas.
As a matter of fact, one of the major ironies of recent African history has been how the pariah country, South Africa, moved from its isolation of the apartheid years to becoming not only the pride of the continent but the one country that has helped drive economic growth in the fields of mining, mobile telephony, supermarket chains and the media.
The journey from most shunned country to most glorified climaxed this month with the hosting of the football World Cup finals in South Africa. However, the African unity effort also has shown its weaker side over the decades. When famine struck Ethiopia and eastern Sudan in 1984, it was a British Pop music campaign that brought the tragedy to international prominence, not the OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
With civil war raging in Somalia, even after desperate calls have been made to African countries to contribute peacekeeping troops to the war-torn country, so far it has only been Burundi and Uganda that have responded and neighbouring Ethiopia intervened in any direct way.
Africans have long had an ambivalent view of each other. Many in sub-Saharan Africa often complain about the racism they face in North Africa and during the World Cup finals or the Africa Cup of Nations, there remains a distinct air of indifference by Black African countries when it comes to supporting the
HomeNewsNational National
Most of these pan-African entertainment competitions have been held in South Africa as South Africa is the only country with the resources, glamour and facilities to host such major television extravaganzas.
As a matter of fact, one of the major ironies of recent African history has been how the pariah country, South Africa, moved from its isolation of the apartheid years to becoming not only the pride of the continent but the one country that has helped drive economic growth in the fields of mining, mobile telephony, supermarket chains and the media.
The journey from most shunned country to most glorified climaxed this month with the hosting of the football World Cup finals in South Africa. However, the African unity effort also has shown its weaker side over the decades. When famine struck Ethiopia and eastern Sudan in 1984, it was a British Pop music campaign that brought the tragedy to international prominence, not the OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
With civil war raging in Somalia, even after desperate calls have been made to African countries to contribute peacekeeping troops to the war-torn country, so far it has only been Burundi and Uganda that have responded and neighbouring Ethiopia intervened in any direct way.
Africans have long had an ambivalent view of each other. Many in sub-Saharan Africa often complain about the racism they face in North Africa and during the World Cup finals or the Africa Cup of Nations, there remains a distinct air of indifference by Black African countries when it comes to supporting the North African teams.
African migrants and refugees regularly complain of mistreatment in North Africa as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.
Most of the gruesome massacres of the 1990s civil wars in Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Somalia have been of African against African.
There is still very little trade between African countries. Communications ventures like the SEACOM, ESSYS, and other undersea fibre optic Internet and data cables, although they carry the symbolism of African connectivity, are largely European in financing and capital.
The Sudanese businessman, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, has instituted a prize to be awarded to African leaders who either govern well or leave power without a fight. It says a lot about the state of leadership in Africa that this prize had to be created at all or that in some years, no African leader meets the criterion that the prize demands.
In November 2008 when the US Senator, Mr Barack Obama, was elected as the first Black President of the United States, the euphoria that greeted that way was one of the greatest in recent African history.
Many Africans were convinced that this was the start of a new day for them. By mid-2010, the Obama euphoria had largely died out across Africa as Africans went about their back-breaking daily routine and struggles, having realised that apart from the token and symbolism, Mr Obama was no more a voice of hope for Africa than his predecessors in the White House.
This inability of President Obama to impact the continent of his birth should not have come as a surprise. Before Mr Obama, there had been several key African and Black first in key international positions but with little to show for it.
Kofi Annan in the 1990s and Chief Emeka Anyoku of Ghana and Nigeria became United Nations and Commonwealth Secretaries General respectively, but the bearing of these offices did not halt the 1990s civil wars and the ravages of Aids, for example.
Africa remains a weak continent. It remains the poorest continent in almost all measurements - its contribution to world trade, number of phones, TV sets, doctors per 1,000 people, Internet connectivity, number of Twitter and Facebook users, road network size, electricity consumption, literacy and other development or progress indicators.
As a percentage of any global figure, Africa consistently shows lower single-digit figures. Some of this weakness can be seen in the meetings that world power nations hold with Africa. China and France in recent years have held joint summits with dozens of African countries and a handful of African countries are regularly invited to G-8 and G-20 in what usually turns out to be more token and politically correct gesture than substantive meeting.
In the 1990s as Africa was being trumpeted as the next frontier of international investment and growth, many did not see an Asian giant rising in the form of China. That 1990s decade was largely squandered by Africa.
Today, China has become the world’s second-largest economy and has swiftly and successfully taken up the place that should have been Africa’s. Africa, for its turn, has become what many would consider a dumping ground for cheap Chinese manufactured goods.
There is also a rush by several established and rising world powers to secure Africa’s gold mines, oil and natural gas reserves that seem to be discovered very often these days.
There are few signs that African countries will be able to pool together their political, diplomatic and military resources to fight off the new designs by foreign powers on their resources.
Cause for celebration?The Africa whose leaders sit in Kampala this week will have a few immediate things to celebrate, most of it being the football World Cup and perhaps the impression in their minds that Africa is now no longer ignored as it once was in world affairs.
Much of this, though, remains unrealistic optimism. As the older generations that remember the days before or not long after independence, many have become circumspect and it is often said by them that on hindsight, the colonial era, with its sense of order and efficiency, might after all have been the golden age of Africa, the humiliation of being ruled notwithstanding.Many more Africans certainly have been tortured, killed, raped, maimed and reduced to poverty in the independence era than those that suffered these abuses during all of the colonial period combined.
The drive to make something of Africa can be traced back to the 1920s and the early efforts by such leaders as the Jamaican Marcus Garvey with his demand that Africans and descendants of Africa dispersed worldwide reclaim their roots and return to their mother continent.
“Africa for the Africans!” was the rallying call. Thousands of Africans were enlisted to fight on behalf of the European colonial nations during the Second World War. They fought in trenches and the open battlefield with European soldiers. They witnessed Europeans fear, fight, win, lose, get injured, and die.
Many Africans, used to Whites in a dominant position at home in the colonies, were shocked to discover that these men too were human after all. The African fighters also felt that since they had risked their lives and shed their blood for this essentially European war, then they should be rewarded with self-rule, if not outright independence. Most independence movements in Africa, then, started or at least gained
momentum after the end of the Second World War.
Soul-searching
Many African students had also been to Europe and the United States for their university education. The racism they encountered and the aloofness of western society caused them to engage in soul-searching.
In 1912, the African National Congress (ANC) was founded in South Africa. It was the first political party in Africa. The ANC, even in those early years, was already viewing Africa as a whole and not just the situation in South Africa.
Among these vocal students in Africa were Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenneth Kaunda, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Namdi Azikiwe, Ahmed Ben Bella, Julius Nyerere and many others who would go on to become either the first prime ministers of their nations or first presidents and foreign ministers.
The racist policies of White-ruled South Africa, the tensions created by the post-War Cold War and the instability brought on by military coup after military coup starting in 1963 helped solidify a sense of African unity.
Many African children born in the 1960s were named after these African leaders and it is not uncommon to meet people in their 50s and 40s today named Patrick Lumumba, Ben Bella, or “Kinyata” in much of Black Africa. That demonstrated the extent to which even the ordinary people embraced the new sense of oneness on the continent.
However, no sooner had the 1960s decade started than it quickly became clear that this was going to be a disastrous beginning for Africa. There were assassinations in Togo and Nigeria of leaders, military coups in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Comoros, Madagascar, Libya, Somalia, Lesotho, Ethiopia and several other states from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Power struggle
Even as recently as 2000s, just when there was hope that there would be no more coups in Africa, coups resumed in Mauritania, Guinea, Niger and the Comoros.
With the arrival of the new millennium in 2000, the visionaries and dreamers around the world and Africa started looking to the future. There was general talk that this coming 21st century should be Africa’s, it should see a revival or “renaissance” of the African people.
Chief among these dreamers was the mercurial and colourful Libyan leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi and the then South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Col. Gaddafi started a campaign to reinvigorate the African unity drive, making several trips across the continent and pushed for the name of the OAU to be changed to the African Union, which it became in 2001.
Looking back now, it is hard to see what it was that filled statesmen and the media in Africa and beyond with hope that there was to be an African revival.
In all the efforts toward the achievement of African unity, it was obvious that Africa’s statesmen and bureaucrats were modelling their creations along the lines of the European cooperation moves. The name “African Union” sounded much like the “European Union”.
These Africans who studied in Europe and the United States and fought in British, French and Portuguese units during the war also saw something else; the undeniable advancement, orderliness and prosperity that were western society.
There was never any question that at some stage in the future, Africa’s European colonies had to start moving toward and eventually gain full self-rule. However, a few far-sighted and realistic young and western-educated Africans also knew that the attainment of political self-rule was only the start of a much bigger struggle.This much bigger struggle was the quiet realisation that it could be possible to win political or “flag” independence but still remain in a state of dependence and subordination to European powers and exploitation, if some form of economic unity and growth were not achieved.
With the formation of the OAU came other regional efforts, among them over the years, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) , the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Kagera Basin Organisation (KBO), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), and several other bodies.
It was not clear at the time they were founded and it remains unclear to this day what many of these regional groupings of nations stand for.
The longest-running pan-African effort on the continent has been the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. It was first played in 1957 and has been one of the few consistent all-Africa efforts, apart from the heads of state summits.
This much bigger struggle was the quiet realisation that it could be possible to win political or “flag” independence but still remain in a state of dependence and subordination to European powers and exploitation, if some form of economic unity and growth were not achieved.
With the formation of the OAU came other regional efforts, among them over the years, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC), the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) , the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Kagera Basin Organisation (KBO), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), and several other bodies.
It was not clear at the time they were founded and it remains unclear to this day what many of these regional groupings of nations stand for.
The longest-running pan-African effort on the continent has been the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. It was first played in 1957 and has been one of the few consistent all-Africa efforts, apart from the heads of state summits.
More plans
The All-Africa Games - a festival of sports mapped after the Olympic and Commonwealth Games - is also staged. In recent years, there have been other major African events spreading into the entertainment fields, notably the Big Brother Africa reality television show, the M-Net Face of Africa modelling competition, the Zain Africa quiz challenge and the Kora African music awards
Most of these pan-African entertainment competitions have been held in South Africa as South Africa is the only country with the resources, glamour and facilities to host such major television extravaganzas.
As a matter of fact, one of the major ironies of recent African history has been how the pariah country, South Africa, moved from its isolation of the apartheid years to becoming not only the pride of the continent but the one country that has helped drive economic growth in the fields of mining, mobile telephony, supermarket chains and the media.
The journey from most shunned country to most glorified climaxed this month with the hosting of the football World Cup finals in South Africa. However, the African unity effort also has shown its weaker side over the decades. When famine struck Ethiopia and eastern Sudan in 1984, it was a British Pop music campaign that brought the tragedy to international prominence, not the OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
With civil war raging in Somalia, even after desperate calls have been made to African countries to contribute peacekeeping troops to the war-torn country, so far it has only been Burundi and Uganda that have responded and neighbouring Ethiopia intervened in any direct way.
Africans have long had an ambivalent view of each other. Many in sub-Saharan Africa often complain about the racism they face in North Africa and during the World Cup finals or the Africa Cup of Nations, there remains a distinct air of indifference by Black African countries when it comes to supporting the
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Most of these pan-African entertainment competitions have been held in South Africa as South Africa is the only country with the resources, glamour and facilities to host such major television extravaganzas.
As a matter of fact, one of the major ironies of recent African history has been how the pariah country, South Africa, moved from its isolation of the apartheid years to becoming not only the pride of the continent but the one country that has helped drive economic growth in the fields of mining, mobile telephony, supermarket chains and the media.
The journey from most shunned country to most glorified climaxed this month with the hosting of the football World Cup finals in South Africa. However, the African unity effort also has shown its weaker side over the decades. When famine struck Ethiopia and eastern Sudan in 1984, it was a British Pop music campaign that brought the tragedy to international prominence, not the OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
With civil war raging in Somalia, even after desperate calls have been made to African countries to contribute peacekeeping troops to the war-torn country, so far it has only been Burundi and Uganda that have responded and neighbouring Ethiopia intervened in any direct way.
Africans have long had an ambivalent view of each other. Many in sub-Saharan Africa often complain about the racism they face in North Africa and during the World Cup finals or the Africa Cup of Nations, there remains a distinct air of indifference by Black African countries when it comes to supporting the North African teams.
African migrants and refugees regularly complain of mistreatment in North Africa as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.
Most of the gruesome massacres of the 1990s civil wars in Burundi, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Somalia have been of African against African.
There is still very little trade between African countries. Communications ventures like the SEACOM, ESSYS, and other undersea fibre optic Internet and data cables, although they carry the symbolism of African connectivity, are largely European in financing and capital.
The Sudanese businessman, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, has instituted a prize to be awarded to African leaders who either govern well or leave power without a fight. It says a lot about the state of leadership in Africa that this prize had to be created at all or that in some years, no African leader meets the criterion that the prize demands.
In November 2008 when the US Senator, Mr Barack Obama, was elected as the first Black President of the United States, the euphoria that greeted that way was one of the greatest in recent African history.
Many Africans were convinced that this was the start of a new day for them. By mid-2010, the Obama euphoria had largely died out across Africa as Africans went about their back-breaking daily routine and struggles, having realised that apart from the token and symbolism, Mr Obama was no more a voice of hope for Africa than his predecessors in the White House.
This inability of President Obama to impact the continent of his birth should not have come as a surprise. Before Mr Obama, there had been several key African and Black first in key international positions but with little to show for it.
Kofi Annan in the 1990s and Chief Emeka Anyoku of Ghana and Nigeria became United Nations and Commonwealth Secretaries General respectively, but the bearing of these offices did not halt the 1990s civil wars and the ravages of Aids, for example.
Africa remains a weak continent. It remains the poorest continent in almost all measurements - its contribution to world trade, number of phones, TV sets, doctors per 1,000 people, Internet connectivity, number of Twitter and Facebook users, road network size, electricity consumption, literacy and other development or progress indicators.
As a percentage of any global figure, Africa consistently shows lower single-digit figures. Some of this weakness can be seen in the meetings that world power nations hold with Africa. China and France in recent years have held joint summits with dozens of African countries and a handful of African countries are regularly invited to G-8 and G-20 in what usually turns out to be more token and politically correct gesture than substantive meeting.
In the 1990s as Africa was being trumpeted as the next frontier of international investment and growth, many did not see an Asian giant rising in the form of China. That 1990s decade was largely squandered by Africa.
Today, China has become the world’s second-largest economy and has swiftly and successfully taken up the place that should have been Africa’s. Africa, for its turn, has become what many would consider a dumping ground for cheap Chinese manufactured goods.
There is also a rush by several established and rising world powers to secure Africa’s gold mines, oil and natural gas reserves that seem to be discovered very often these days.
There are few signs that African countries will be able to pool together their political, diplomatic and military resources to fight off the new designs by foreign powers on their resources.
Cause for celebration?The Africa whose leaders sit in Kampala this week will have a few immediate things to celebrate, most of it being the football World Cup and perhaps the impression in their minds that Africa is now no longer ignored as it once was in world affairs.
Much of this, though, remains unrealistic optimism. As the older generations that remember the days before or not long after independence, many have become circumspect and it is often said by them that on hindsight, the colonial era, with its sense of order and efficiency, might after all have been the golden age of Africa, the humiliation of being ruled notwithstanding.Many more Africans certainly have been tortured, killed, raped, maimed and reduced to poverty in the independence era than those that suffered these abuses during all of the colonial period combined.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Death toll reaches 74
Kampala
The death toll following Sunday night’s bomb explosions that ripped through a city restaurant and sports club climbed to 74 yesterday, as reports trickled in that the Somali Islamist militia group, al Shabaab had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The development came as President Museveni declared a week of national mourning for victims of the bomb blasts starting today. A statement from Presidency Minister Beatrice Wabudeya said the President had taken the decision “due to the barbaric and cowardly act”.
Reuters news agency quoted Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab’s spokesman, telling reporters in Mogadishu: “Al Shabaab was behind the two bomb blast in Uganda.”
A report by the Chinese news agency Xinhua said a senior member of the Somali terrorist group had said the blasts were reprisal attacks against Uganda for sending peacekeepers to Mogadishu under the auspices of the African Union. “We have reached our object,” said the senior al Shabaab militant, who reportedly declined to be named. “We have killed many Christians in the enemy capital (Kampala).”
Three explosive devices were detonated on Sunday at the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala and at the Kyadondo Rugby Club where hundreds of revellers were watching the World Cup final match between Spain and the Netherlands.
Suspects arrested
Security agencies yesterday made some arrests in connection with the attacks. The police declined to give details, saying the investigations were ongoing. However, a source said one of the suspects was arrested at Oasis Mall in the heart of Kampala.
Primary Health Care Minister James Kakooza told reporters at Mulago Hospital, where friends and relatives of victims of the blasts have pitched camp since Sunday, that at least 70 people had been confirmed dead. But Mr Fred Opolot, the executive director of the Uganda Media Centre, told a media briefing late last evening that a preliminary report put the death toll at 74.
Twenty-eight were Ugandans, 11 Ethiopians/Eritreans, one Irish lady and an Asian. Thirty-three people are still unidentified. “We expect the number to rise because some people were taken to private clinics,” said the minister.
Recounting events in the aftermath of the blast, Mr Kakooza reported that at least 58 people had been admitted at Mulago Hospital “with serious injuries”. “Last night [Sunday] five died on arrival,” he said, “three have since died in intensive care unit.”
The minister said three American nationals who had been admitted at the hospital were transferred yesterday to the International Hospital Kampala “for evacuation to Nairobi.” He also reported that three people were “in critical condition” on life support, while 45 were undergoing surgery after sustaining different injuries including head, chest, abdominal and soft-tissue injury.
“We have ordered the National Medical stores to immediately supply Mulago with x-ray films, canulars and any other medical equipment needed right away,” he said. “Ugandans should be calm because we shall do whatever is possible to save the lives of those still under our care.”
President Museveni visited bed-ridden victims at Mulago and found moment to inspect the bomb blast scenes. All flags on public buildings will fly at half mast today at the start of the weeklong period of national mourning.
Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba told journalists that of the dead, 15 were killed at the Ethiopian Village and 49 at Lugogo Rugby Club, adding that 10 of the dead were either Ethiopian or Eritrean. She was speaking before the death toll rose to 74.
Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Uganda Terfa Mengesha told Daily Monitor by telephone that preliminary reports had indicated that six Ethiopian nationals had been confirmed dead. “I think the other four were Eritrean,” he said.
Ms Nabakooba said investigations had kicked off in earnest, headed by the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force to establish who had masterminded the deadly attacks. Her comments came before reports emerged that the al Shabaab had claimed responsibility.
The reports moved to vindicate government suspicions as told by Mr
Fred Opolot, the Media Centre boss, who said the government “suspected this is an act of suicide bombers” and comments by army spokesman Felix Kulayigye who said: “At one of the scenes, investigators identified a severed head of a Somali national, which we suspect could have been a suicide bomber.”
In the recent past, Somali Islamists have threatened to attack Uganda for sending peacekeeping troops to their country to protect the transitional government of President Sheikh Ahmed Sharif.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
MPs order inquiry into illegal immigration
By Yasiin Mugerwa (email the author)
Posted Tuesday, July 6 2010 at 00:00
Members of Parliament yesterday asked the police to investigate the Internal Affairs ministry after a report showed that 323 people had been arrested over illegal immigration. The report compiled by the directorate of citizenship and immigration control office and released yesterday puts Asians of Indian and Chinese origin in lead positions followed by Kenyans.
The MPs on the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee learnt that of the 323 illegal immigrants arrested between July 2008-June 2009, 129 were legalised through unclear circumstances, seven escaped and 21 were only cautioned and released.
Shocking revelations
“In which country would you be arrested for being an illegal immigrant and cautioned, legalised and released?” PAC chairman Nandala Mafabi asked Ministry of Internal Affairs officials led by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Steven Kagoda. “In other countries, our people are kept in detention centres like animals yet here we only caution them and even legalise their stay. This is unfair to Ugandans and we want the police to investigate officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
Other illegal immigrants include those from Kenya and Pakistan (eight each), Somalia (three), Chad (five) Sri Lanka (one) (Burundi (one), Turkey (one), Lebanon (one), Guinea and Bangladesh (three).
The lawmakers accused Internal Affairs Ministry officials, who were appearing in the committee to respond to audit queries, of letting down Ugandans in the fight against unemployment. “It’s unfortunate that illegal immigrants have been allowed to compete with Ugandans for the few available jobs in the country,” Mr Mafabi (FDC) said.
Sharing the findings with PAC, Ms Josephine Okwany, the commissioner inspection and legal services said 62 were released after presenting valid immigration documents, 97 were deported and others escaped due to lack of a detention facility.
While Mr Tom Kazibwe (NRM) cited bribery in illegal immigrants’ escape and release, Ms Okwany said: “The Chinese jumped off the Pick-up after we arrested them and escaped. It was not our intention to let them go otherwise we have deported a number of illegal immigrants.”
Lack staff
Dr Kagoda, however, said: “Internal Affairs treats illegal immigrants seriously and we have been carrying out regular swoops but the problem is lack of facilities and staff in the department dealing with inspection at the ministry.”
The committee heard that there were only 15 officers at the inspection and legal services department overseeing issues of illegal immigrants in 110 districts. The department has only two vehicles, something that has complicated government efforts to deal with illegal immigrants.
The Committee noted that there were many people whose permits expired but were still in the country. Mr Okello Oduman (FDC) said some illegal foreigners pretend to be investors and operate small businesses in the guise of investment to the disadvantage of unemployed Ugandans.
Posted Tuesday, July 6 2010 at 00:00
Members of Parliament yesterday asked the police to investigate the Internal Affairs ministry after a report showed that 323 people had been arrested over illegal immigration. The report compiled by the directorate of citizenship and immigration control office and released yesterday puts Asians of Indian and Chinese origin in lead positions followed by Kenyans.
The MPs on the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee learnt that of the 323 illegal immigrants arrested between July 2008-June 2009, 129 were legalised through unclear circumstances, seven escaped and 21 were only cautioned and released.
Shocking revelations
“In which country would you be arrested for being an illegal immigrant and cautioned, legalised and released?” PAC chairman Nandala Mafabi asked Ministry of Internal Affairs officials led by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Steven Kagoda. “In other countries, our people are kept in detention centres like animals yet here we only caution them and even legalise their stay. This is unfair to Ugandans and we want the police to investigate officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
Other illegal immigrants include those from Kenya and Pakistan (eight each), Somalia (three), Chad (five) Sri Lanka (one) (Burundi (one), Turkey (one), Lebanon (one), Guinea and Bangladesh (three).
The lawmakers accused Internal Affairs Ministry officials, who were appearing in the committee to respond to audit queries, of letting down Ugandans in the fight against unemployment. “It’s unfortunate that illegal immigrants have been allowed to compete with Ugandans for the few available jobs in the country,” Mr Mafabi (FDC) said.
Sharing the findings with PAC, Ms Josephine Okwany, the commissioner inspection and legal services said 62 were released after presenting valid immigration documents, 97 were deported and others escaped due to lack of a detention facility.
While Mr Tom Kazibwe (NRM) cited bribery in illegal immigrants’ escape and release, Ms Okwany said: “The Chinese jumped off the Pick-up after we arrested them and escaped. It was not our intention to let them go otherwise we have deported a number of illegal immigrants.”
Lack staff
Dr Kagoda, however, said: “Internal Affairs treats illegal immigrants seriously and we have been carrying out regular swoops but the problem is lack of facilities and staff in the department dealing with inspection at the ministry.”
The committee heard that there were only 15 officers at the inspection and legal services department overseeing issues of illegal immigrants in 110 districts. The department has only two vehicles, something that has complicated government efforts to deal with illegal immigrants.
The Committee noted that there were many people whose permits expired but were still in the country. Mr Okello Oduman (FDC) said some illegal foreigners pretend to be investors and operate small businesses in the guise of investment to the disadvantage of unemployed Ugandans.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Chief sees democratic 'ray of hope' with Legco vote likely in the bag
There is a "ray of hope" for democracy in Hong Kong, according to the chief executive, with Legco now likely to approve a revised constitutional reform package tomorrow.
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen made the comment yesterday when announcing that the Executive Council had approved in principle a Democratic Party proposal to revise the package.
The party's "one-person, two votes" proposal, which would see the public returning the five new district council functional constituency seats in the 2012 Legislative Council elections, will be added at the domestic legislation stage if the reform package is passed tomorrow.
The revision is crucial for swinging the vote in the government's favor.
Tsang, appealing to all lawmakers to back the package, said: "We believe this proposal will make our elections more democratic and will pave the way for universal suffrage."
The motions to be voted on in Legco - regarding constitutional amendments on 2012 chief executive and Legislative Council election methods - will remain unchanged.
"The political reality is that our original package falls short by a few votes to meet the 40-vote threshold for its passage in Legco," Tsang said. "But we did not give up ... I am very happy that we have made a major breakthrough."
He added: "After discussions with various political factions in Legco recently, I am very happy to see a ray of hope in progress in democracy."
Tsang said room for negotiation arose after the Democratic Party no longer insisted that all demands it raised last month had to be met.
Political groups including the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Federation of Trade Unions, Economic Synergy, Liberal Party and Professional Forum have pledged to support the revised package "in the best interest of the community," Tsang said.
Under the latest proposals, candidates for the five new functional constituency seats will be nominated by elected district councillors and then elected by 3.2 million registered voters who do not have a vote in functional constituencies, on a one person, one vote basis. The existing Legco district council seat will be returned through a vote among elected district councillors.
That means every voter will have two votes in the 2012 Legco elections, one for the geographical constituencies, and the other for functional constituencies.
Secretary for Justice Wong Yan- lung said the revised method is in line with the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee decision in 2007.
Xinhua News Agency quoted a spokesman for the central government liaison office as saying the office eagerly supports the government's decision in accepting the proposal.
In Beijing, NPC Standing Committee member and former Legco president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai said this proposal has set a precedent for the way of electing Legco district council seats.
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen made the comment yesterday when announcing that the Executive Council had approved in principle a Democratic Party proposal to revise the package.
Chief Secretary Henry Tsang has a word with Donald Tsang at a press conference yesterday
The party's "one-person, two votes" proposal, which would see the public returning the five new district council functional constituency seats in the 2012 Legislative Council elections, will be added at the domestic legislation stage if the reform package is passed tomorrow.
The revision is crucial for swinging the vote in the government's favor.
Tsang, appealing to all lawmakers to back the package, said: "We believe this proposal will make our elections more democratic and will pave the way for universal suffrage."
The motions to be voted on in Legco - regarding constitutional amendments on 2012 chief executive and Legislative Council election methods - will remain unchanged.
"The political reality is that our original package falls short by a few votes to meet the 40-vote threshold for its passage in Legco," Tsang said. "But we did not give up ... I am very happy that we have made a major breakthrough."
He added: "After discussions with various political factions in Legco recently, I am very happy to see a ray of hope in progress in democracy."
Tsang said room for negotiation arose after the Democratic Party no longer insisted that all demands it raised last month had to be met.
Political groups including the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Federation of Trade Unions, Economic Synergy, Liberal Party and Professional Forum have pledged to support the revised package "in the best interest of the community," Tsang said.
Under the latest proposals, candidates for the five new functional constituency seats will be nominated by elected district councillors and then elected by 3.2 million registered voters who do not have a vote in functional constituencies, on a one person, one vote basis. The existing Legco district council seat will be returned through a vote among elected district councillors.
That means every voter will have two votes in the 2012 Legco elections, one for the geographical constituencies, and the other for functional constituencies.
Secretary for Justice Wong Yan- lung said the revised method is in line with the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Standing Committee decision in 2007.
Xinhua News Agency quoted a spokesman for the central government liaison office as saying the office eagerly supports the government's decision in accepting the proposal.
In Beijing, NPC Standing Committee member and former Legco president Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai said this proposal has set a precedent for the way of electing Legco district council seats.
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