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Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Museveni slams Western military intervention in developing nations
President Yoweri Museveni has criticized western intervention in developing countries saying it interferes with their development and that of local leaders. He made the remarks at the opening in Tehran, Iran, of a two-day Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.
“At this very moment, the former imperialist countries are exhibiting new ambitions of re-establishing hegemony over the Third Word – Africa, the Middle East, etc. There are plans of new military bases around the globe. Military bases to fight whom and why?” Museveni said.
“The recent phenomenon by some Western countries of “bombing for democracy”, “no-fly zones”, etc., is a mistake and it interferes with the development of the affected countries. If there is, indeed, oppression in a given country, the genuine freedom fighters will emerge and liberate that country.”
President Museveni mentioned a number of revolutions – Iran, the Arab Spring revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and the French Revolution of 1789 –that he said were not sponsored by anyone. “Genuine revolutions do not need sponsorship from outside, “ Mr Museveni said.
A total of 29 heads of state or government on Thursday are attending the summit, which accounts for around a quarter of the 120 members represented at the meet, and which Iranian officials are hailing as evidence of their country's important status in the world.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon is attending the summit as an observer. The NAM brings together many developing nations and accounts for two-thirds of the UN's 193-nation membership.
Below is the President’s speech in full.
Your Excellency Dr.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran;
Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations;
Heads of State and Government;
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.
By 1900, the whole of Africa, except for Ethiopia, was under colonialism. India, Indonesia, Indo-China, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, the Middle East and the Caribbean were also under colonialism. China was a semi-colony being predated on by European imperialism.
The colonization of Africa was because of our internal weaknesses – small chiefdoms and kingdoms or segmentary societies. This was in spite of the fact that the entire continent of Africa, eleven million square miles of land area, is occupied by only four language groups:
• the Niger-Congo group of languages (including the Bantu dialects);
• the Nilo-Saharan (including the Cushitic languages like the Nubian and the Somali);
• the Afro-Asiatic languages (Arabic, Tigrinya and Amharic); and
• the small Khoisan languages of Southern Africa (the so-called bushmen).
Therefore, Africa is not as disparate as it is made out to be by the foreigners and the local traitors as well as reactionaries. Moreover, the four language groups have linkages among themselves. Nevertheless, political integration was limited and this is where the problem was. Africans are similar or linked but they were not governed together for much of the time. Trade, however, took place from the coast to the interior. It is this low level of political integration that enabled the colonialists to conquer Africa. This is why we, the pan-Africanists, work for African political and economic integration.
Colonialism brought about serious distortions and human haemorrhage in the form of slave trade, massacres, genocide and the killing of indigenous industries. The other colonized peoples also suffered greatly under colonialism – although that colonialism took different forms. By the 1960s, European colonialism had been ejected from Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, etc. European imperialism was defeated because of three factors:
• the resistance of the colonized peoples;
• the emergence of the socialist camp in the USSR (1917), China (1949) and in other countries; and
• the inter-imperialist wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45 which had greatly weakened the imperialist countries to our advantage.
After the Second World War, the imperialist countries tried to re-impose or maintain their colonialism in Indo-China, India, Africa, etc. They were defeated by the anti-colonial forces supported by the socialist countries and other peace-loving peoples in the West (Western Europe, the USA, Canada, etc). There were outright military victories for the nationalist forces in Indo-China, Mozambique, Angola or negotiated retreats like in Kenya. The cleverer imperialists granted independence without the need for a military fight. This was the case in India and many countries in Africa.
In the case of Africa, the colonial distortions disabled the young countries from taking off. Colonial sergeants, now wielding batons of “Field Marshals” at the head of a few battalions, grabbed power from the independence civilians, wreaked havoc on our countries and population, off-loading on us their bestial colonial character and ignorance – a consequence of very low educational levels of the colonial times. We had to wage new struggles and new wars to get rid of these colonial sergeants – some of them (e.g. Mobutu) only 15 years ago.
Africa is beginning to move in all spheres – democracy, education, regional integration, health (that is why population has grown), some aspects of the infrastructure (e.g. mobile telephones, internet, etc) and some aspects of economic production (agriculture, tourism, industry, mining, etc.). Meanwhile, our partners in Asia, partly because of a much higher degree of political and economic integration, have made more strides, especially in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, etc. Brazil in South America is also emerging as a great industrial power.
Yet, at this very moment, the former imperialist countries are exhibiting new ambitions of re-establishing hegemony over the Third Word – Africa, the Middle East, etc. There are plans of new military bases around the globe. Military bases to fight whom and why?
The recent phenomenon by some Western countries of “bombing for democracy”, “no-fly zones”, etc., is a mistake and it interferes with the development of the affected countries. If there is, indeed, oppression in a given country, the genuine freedom fighters will emerge and liberate that country. I participated in two liberation wars in Uganda against two different regimes (i.e. 1971-79 and 1981-86). In the first war, we had support from our brothers the Tanzanians. After that war, we could not solve any political problems because even our own brothers, the Tanzanians, could not understand our internal issues. They were overwhelmed by opportunists and charlatans from within Uganda and they ended up making mistakes. In the second war, we were by ourselves and genuine freedom fighters came to the forefront. We did not only liberate Uganda, but also we built capacity that has even benefited the region.
There was a revolution here, in Iran. Who sponsored it to remove the very powerful government of the Shah? Recently, there were revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Who sponsored them? Who sponsored the French revolution in 1789? Who sponsored the Russian revolution in 1917? Genuine revolutions do not need sponsorship from outside. Certainly, not “bombings” and no-fly zones.
The universal awakening of the human race is unstoppable. Many of us are beginning to use electricity, to drive cars, to stay in good and permanent houses built from cement and steel bars (mitayimbwa) and to eat better food. This universal human advance has meant that the prices of steel, of oil, of copper, of food, etc., have gone up. This is good for Africa. It may not be good for those who are used to living a life of luxury at the expense of others. Some years ago, we tried to develop our iron-ore deposits but we could not get investors to do so. Why?
It was because, I was told, there was a ‘glut’ of steel in the world. Why was there that ‘glut’ of steel? It was because the users (consumers) were few (i.e. Western Europe, North America and Japan). What is the situation now? So many millions of people in China, India, Brazil, South America, Africa, other parts of Asia have got out of poverty. Therefore, the price of steel had jumped from US$ 200 per tonne around late 1980s and early 1990s to US$ 1,200 around 2009. This is good news for Uganda. If it is not good news for those who have been living well at the expense of others, they must learn how to earn an honest living, through hard work and fair trade. If they think that they will rely on the old vices of grabbing other peoples’ resources by war and aggression, then, they must be resisted ferociously. Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean and the progressive countries of Europe such as Russia have all the means to resist renewed hegemonic efforts by the declining former imperialist powers
This is exactly what we did in the anti-colonial phase. Besides, we know that even within the former imperialist countries, there are progressive forces that can have a balanced relationship with us. These progressive tendencies in the former imperialist countries will, however, only be encouraged if the adventurist schemes of the aggressors are defeated.
There is, however, one problem in the anti-imperialist camp apart from the absence of a common action. It is the problem of chauvinism and sectarianism: this religious sect against that religious sect; this tribe against that tribe; etc. This was the weakness of Africa in the past. We defeated colonialism wherever this problem was overcome – Mozambique, Tanzania, ANC of South Africa, Uganda in the anti-fascist wars within Uganda, etc. Mao Tse Tung exhorted the Chinese that imperialism was the main enemy and that all national forces had to combine to defeat this principal enemy.
He said:
The oppressed peoples and nations must not pin their hopes for liberation on the “sensibleness” of imperialism and its lackeys. They will only triumph by strengthening their unity and persevering in their struggle.
Here in the Middle East, there is the question of Israel and Palestine. The progressive forces in Uganda believe that the correct solution for that problem is the two State solution – a Palestinian State living side by side with Israel in peace and mutual recognition. I do not see any other solution because I know it from the Bible that Jews and other Canaanites lived in that Palestine as far back as 1550 BC when Abraham came from UR (Tell el-Mukayyar), which I am told, is somewhere in the present day Iraq. The Jews were dispersed by the Romans in AD 70, having earlier been enslaved by the Persians in the year 1700 BC and Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC. Both Arabs and Jews belong to that area.
As I told His Excellency President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – our host, when I was here last time, the Bible does give us some useful information about this area, the Middle East. You remember, I told you about the Persians and Medians, who are mostly mentioned in the Book of Daniel in the Bible. Group chauvinism should be pushed aside so that we get lasting solutions to these endless problems. The tribes in Africa are a bit better on this score of mutual respect and tolerance. Moslems talk of ‘haram’ meaning something that is forbidden. I once told General Omar Bashir of Sudan that my list of ‘haram’ is much longer than his. According to my tribe, fish, chicken, pork, mutton, etc, are all ‘haram’ (ebihagaro). The difference with African tribes, however, is that each group minds its own business and never seeks to impose its culture on the neighbouring tribes. Consequently, our neighbouring tribes, who eat fish, would always come and, with our permission and support, catch mud-fish (eshonzi) in the swamp in our land. Chauvinism and ego-centrism irrationally perpetuate endless problems and endanger world peace. It is advisable that the respective human groups concentrate on common interests (trade, sharing of technology, etc) for mutual benefit and general human advancement and ignore the idiosyncrasies of the respective groups.
I thank all of you very much.
30th August 2012 - Tehran
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Uganda’s 40-year medal wait ends as Kiprotich wins marathon
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| Kiprotich races to win the 42km marathon during the London 2012 Olympic Games in London yesterday. AFP PHOTO
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Full name: Stephen Kiprotich
Races: (3,000m, 3,000m Steeplechase, 5,000m, 10,000m, Cross-country and marathon)
Place of birth: Kapchorwa, Uganda
Date of birth: 27-02-1989
Weight: 54kgs
Personal Bests
3000m 7:48.06
3000m steeplechase 8:36.2
5000m 13:23:70
10,000m 28:00.9
Marathon 2:07.12
Magnificent, fabulous and astounding genius. On the last day of a remarkably outstanding London 2012 Games, Stephen Kiprotich ran the greatest marathon in Ugandan history to become the most unexpected Olympic champion.
Crossing the finishing line in the Mall near Buckingham Palace in a time of 2:08:11, the Ugandan charmed tens of thousands camped at the Queen’s home – and a global television audience of more than a billion viewers - to strike gold.
He received a Ugandan flag on the home stretch, half-glanced to see the distance between him and the chasing pack before raising it as he raced through the tape.
“Since 1972, Uganda has not won a gold medal,” Kiprotich said after the race. “We are very happy.”
It was the most surreal moment. It was beyond unimaginable. Put simply, words don’t do justice to Kiprotich’s feat achieved on a beautiful early summer afternoon.
The boy-wonder is now a Greek god. Kiprotich stands tallest in the world of athletics today morning.
He is all out on his own in the marathon. Kiprotich rewrote history for himself, Team Uganda and all 35 million Ugandans. Finally Uganda appeared on the medals table for the first time in 16 years. Two weeks of disappointment are forgotten – for now.
The national anthem was played at the Olympic stadium for the first time in 40 years. That is more than 14,600 days since John Akii Bua clinched gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Kenyans pair of Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, odds-on favourites to win the race, could only watch in despair.
race. They appeared to have done the job.
Cue Kiprotich, the Ugandan one for avoidance of a mix-up. He was having none of it. Sensing blood, he overtook on a bend with just over 4km to go.
He now has a medallion round his neck to match great champions Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce and David Rudisha. And it is not just a medal; it is the treasured piece of silverware that brought athletes from thousands of miles away to London – gold.
Few gave Kiprotich a chance. It did not bother him a bit.
“Look out for the one athlete who everyone believes has nothing to prove,” Akii Bua always said. That athlete yesterday was Stephen Kiprotich. His shock was one that will be spoken about for ages. It was the most unforeseen gold of London 2012.
The only man who saw it coming is wearing the cherished silverware round his neck. His life has taken a positive turn forever. He is a legend of the Olympics. For the next four years, he will reign as the best marathoner in the world.
Two hours, eight minutes and eleven seconds that delivered nirvana in Uganda have skyrocketed Kiprotich’s brand world over. Endorsement deals will be at his door in the Games Village today morning with zealous marketing gurus keen to sign him on.
It is his moment. It will be his until Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Historic Curiosity probe lands safely on Mars
PASADENA, California (Reuters) - NASA's Mars science rover Curiosity landed safely late on Sunday after hurtling through the pink Martian skies at the start of a two-year quest for signs the Red Planet once hosted key ingredients for life.
Mission controllers burst into applause and cheered in relief as they received signals confirming that the rover had survived its perilous descent and arrived within its target zone at the bottom of a vast, ancient crater.
The robotic lab sailed through space for more than eight months, covering 352 million miles (566 million km), before piercing Mars' atmosphere at 13,000 miles per hour -- 17 times the speed of sound -- before starting its descent.
Moments after landing, Curiosity beamed back its first three images from the Martian surface, one of them showing a wheel of the vehicle and the rover's shadow cast on the rocky terrain.
"I can't believe this. This is unbelievable," enthused Allen Chen, the deputy lead of the rover's entry, descent and landing team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles.
The craft's descent through Mars' thin atmosphere, a feat called the most elaborate and risky achievement in the annals of robotic spaceflight, turned out to be short-lived cliffhanger, much to NASA's relief.
TOUCH DOWN
Curiosity, encased in a protective capsule-like shell, utilized a first-of-its kind automated flight entry system to sharply reduce its speed before landing.
Then it rode a giant supersonic parachute, a jet-powered backpack and a never-before-used "sky crane" to touch down inside a vast impact basin called Gale Crater, located near the planet's equator in its southern hemisphere.
NASA put the official landing time of Curiosity, the first full-fledged mobile science laboratory sent to a distant world, at 10:32 p.m. Pacific time (1:32 a.m. EDT/0530 GMT).
Curiosity will spend two years exploring Gale Crater and an unusual three-mile-high mountain consisting of what appears to be sediments rising from the crater's floor.
The purpose of the $2.5 billion mission is to look for evidence that Mars - the planet most similar to Earth - may have once harbored the basic building blocks necessary for microbial life to evolve. It represents NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes.
The landing marks a major milestone for a U.S. space agency beset by budget cuts and the recent loss of its 30-year-old space shuttle program.
"It's an enormous step forward in planetary exploration. Nobody has ever done anything like this," said John Holdren, the top science advisor to President Barack Obama, who was visiting JPL for the event. "It was an incredible performance."
The exact condition of the rover upon arrival was not immediately clear. NASA plans to put the rover and its laboratory gear through several weeks of engineering checks before starting its two-year surface mission in earnest.
The rover, launched on November 26 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, comes equipped with an array of sophisticated instruments capable of analyzing samples of soil, rocks and atmosphere on the spot and beaming results back to Earth.
One is a laser gun that can zap a rock from 23 feet away to create a spark whose spectral image is analyzed by a special telescope to discern the mineral's chemical composition
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Anti-tobacco activists want growing banned
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| A man smokes a cigarette. The anti-tobacco group says effects of tobacco are increasing each day, including lung and bladder cancers. |
The group under the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa while meeting in Kampala, said tobacco benefits only tobacco companies and its money does not help ordinary Ugandans.
The administrator of the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa, Dr Sheila Ndyanabangyi, said all the money got from tobacco companies ends up treating people who get lung cancer, which is caused by tobacco.
Growing effects
“Money comes through Uganda Revenue Authority to the Ministry of Finance and economic development, which then passes it through to the public hospitals, national medical stores and the Uganda cancer institute in form of drugs for treatment of the increasing number of patients suffering tobacco-related diseases,” Dr Ndyanabangyi said.
According to Dr Ahmed Ogwal, the regional WHO adviser on tobacco use, the list of diseases originating from smoking either directly or indirectly has been growing over time to include cancer of the bladder, esophagus, larynx, lung, mouth, and throat, while smoking also has been linked to chronic lung disease chronic heart and cardiovascular disease as well as reproductive problems.
A recent study by Mr Richard Carmona, a surgeon in the US, showed that tobacco smoking causes diseases such as acute myeloid leukemia and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach; abdominal aortic aneurysm, cataracts, periodontitis and pneumonia which were previously not linked to smoking.
The anti-tobacco supporters are appealing to government to pass laws that should put a total ban on all tobacco farming and selling in the country, saying the burden of treating people with these diseases lies with the government, which spends tax payers’ money on treatment of diseases which are being legally manufactured in the country every day.
They revealed that an estimated 30,500 people in Uganda die of smoke-related infections every year.
Many more, according to the survey, die due to health complications accruing from passive smoking.
While there is no exact figure of the number of people who die of tobacco-related illnesses in Uganda, what is clear is that government spends billions in treatment annually.
The Uganda Cancer Institute’s 2012/13 Budget stands at Shs103 billion, while the amount of money in terms of revenue collected from tobacco industries in Uganda every year amounts to Shs68 billion, which the anti-tobacco crusaders say is way too little to treat the diseases they help to create.
The spokesperson of British American Tobacco, Mr Solomon Muyita, however, said the tobacco industry contributes largely to the economy of Uganda in terms of foreign exchange, tax revenue and employs over one million Ugandans.
“Apart from opposing tobacco growing, they are not doing anything to contribute to the economy unlike BAT which contributes $70m.”
aayebazibwe@ug.nationmedia.com
Monday, July 2, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
2012 Budget breakdown
2012/13 Budget. Govt introduces new taxes as it seeks to spur growth.
WINNERS
EDUCATION
Education continues to take the biggest chunk of the budget. Ms Kiwanuka allocated Shs1,669 billion to the sector (or 17 per cent of total budget). This is an increase from the Shs1,418b allocated in the last financial year. Primary school teachers can expect a pay rise.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The works and transport sector also got an increment in allocation. The sector will spend Shs1,651 billion up from last year’s Shs1,291 billion.
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
An additional Shs3.25 billion has been provided to boost the Youth Venture Capital Fund for which Shs25 billion is currently being lent out to youth. The minister said Shs8b has been lent out so far.
PAYE
Government has increased the Pay As You Earn threshold from Shs130,000 to Shs235,000 per month. That means people with earning of Shs230,000 and below are exempted from this tax.
DIGITAL TECH
To facilitate smooth transition from analogue to digital terrestrial transmission by use of Set Top Boxes, import duty on Set Top Boxes was reduced from 25 percent to 0 percent for a period of one year.
GAMING AND BETTING
Whereas the minister announced that she was reinstating the VAT exemption on gambling, she increased the Gaming and Pool Betting Tax from 15 per cent to 20 per cent. This measure, she says, will generate Shs.4.3 billion.
SPIRITS/COSMETICS
The excise duty on spirits from locally-made raw materials has been raised from 45 per cent to 60 per cent. Minister also announced the introduction of a 10 per cent tax on cosmetics and perfumes.
WATER
The cost of piped water is expected to rise after the minister announced the reintroduction of VAT at 18 per cent. The measure, Ms Kiwanuka says, will generate Shs21.7 billion.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Museveni delivers Uganda State of the Nation Address 2012
H.E. the Vice President,
Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament,
His Lordship, The Hon. The Chief Justice,
Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker of Parliament,
Her Ladyship, The Deputy Chief Justice,
Rt. Hon. Prime Minister,
Honourable Ministers,
Rt. Hon. Leader of the Opposition,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
As usual, I will start my State of the Nation Address with the economy. This time, however, I will concentrate on only four aspects:
i)the recovery of the economy in the last 26 years;
ii)disagreement amongst us on the priority of allocation of scarce resources and the consequent delay in infrastructure development, with its implications for the delay of socio-economic transformation;
iii)sabotage of vital development projects by the indiscipline and, sometimes, selfishness of various actors, including some political leaders; and
iv)corruption as well as selfishness.
Before I talk about the above four aspects, I should also talk about the five reasons that have caused the recovery of the economy since 1986 to-date. These are:
i) security of person and property brought about by the NRM, but more especially by the discipline of NRA/UPDF;
ii) the Private Sector, whose investments account for about 77% of all total investments in the economy, including investments of our citizens of Indian origin (who contribute 25-30% of all the total investments);
iii)the macro-economic stabilization and liberalization of the economy, which enabled us to control inflation for a very long time and to free the Private Sector from bureaucratic interference;
iv) the ever-expanding consumer demand in Uganda and in the Region; and
v) some little support from Development Partners that enabled us to repair some roads, repair the Nalubaale power station, etc.
In particular, I would like to salute the former British Minister, Baroness Linda Chalker, who helped us to repair Nalubaale.
Most of these five are obvious and they need no explanation. The fact that people’s property cannot be grabbed by soldiers and that Ugandans can no longer disappear without a trace needs no explanation. I will only comment on two of the five. These are the nature of the Private Sector that propelled our recovery and the support from the Donors (Development Partners). Regarding the Private Sector that propelled our recovery, it comprises of three elements:
i) those engaged in services such as transport (matatus, boda bodas, buses, etc.), hotels, restaurants, beauty saloons, fuel stations, real estate and shopping malls;
ii) those engaged in light industry manufacturing for import substitution as well as some limited exports; and
iii) those engaged in trading, especially importing – the Kampala City Traders Association (KACITA) type.
Some of the industrial activities are linked with agriculture like fruits juices, coffee, cotton, etc. Agricultural production has certainly contributed to the recovery of the economy. Three players in agriculture have done so. These are:
i) the plantation owners (sugar, tea and coffee);
ii) the big scale farmers; and
iii)the medium scale farmers.
The subsistence farmers, who, according to the 2002 census, comprised 68% of all homesteads, still have much of their potential untapped because we have not yet mobilized them to do. The Mrs. Josephine Kizza’s model farm is the solution to their problem.
Nobody here can claim that I have not exposed all of you to this fact. If all the 40 million acres of land of Uganda that are suitable for arable farming are put to their full potential, there will be a revolution in this country. Everybody will be richer – the families themselves, the Local Governments, the churches and the mosques and the country. Through our zonal meetings, we identified the packages of enterprises for each area according to the households’ landholdings. Let all the leaders get moving on this one.
The first two elements of the Private Sector, i.e. those engaged in services and light manufacturing industries, are the most useful because they add value to the goods and services produced in Uganda. They are not like KACITA which concentrates on turning Uganda into a perpetual market for the products of foreign countries. This is where the future lies. We should have more and stronger enterprises of this type. These groups must be specifically encouraged. They should not be delayed in any way by anybody
if we want our country to go beyond where we are now. Yet the economy cannot stay where it is now. This is because it is already being overtaken by the demand for jobs by the young people as well as the demand for dollars for imports.
As you know, the light manufacturing has been in sugar, soft drinks, beer, soaps, some little textiles operations, vegetable oils (Mukwano and BIDCO), fish processing, cotton-ginning, coffee-hulling (removing the skin of the coffee berry), cement production, steel bars production (mitayimbwa), recycling of batteries, milk processing, fruit juice processing, plastics, etc. These light industries save or earn the equivalent of US$ 1,230 million for Uganda per annum. This category has got a lot of potential for expansion. If we could, for instance, stop the bad fishing practices on our lakes, deepen coffee processing beyond coffee-hulling to coffee-roasting and grinding, expand juice and milk processing, link the steel mills with the iron-ore deposits at Muko and Sukuru hills, etc, this economy would be totally transformed.
We have seen that among the categories of the Private Sector, the most useful ones are: agriculture, services (transport, banking, hotels, etc) and light industry. The perpetual importers of products that can be made here are not a positive element in the long run. As already mentioned, trading is partly positive if it involves internal distribution in Uganda and exporting our products to the Region or beyond.
Importers, however, have caused chronic haemorrhage in Africa, especially because most of the imports are simply luxury goods, not production inputs. It is important to point out that, even when they are inputs for production, it would be better if most of them were produced in Uganda and if the local products are comparable in price as well as quality to the imported ones.
Light industry is the most promising of all these. It produces products that are, indeed, very much needed for human sustenance. These include transport, food, clothing, building materials, medicines for human beings, drugs for pest control and for livestock and so on. These are all basics for human life and their demand is durable. In addition, light industries produce weapons for self-defence and, then, a country’s future is assured. These days, brains, in the form of computers, are the ones that operate machines – guiding them to do work. These are the sectors where the whole political and administrative groups should focus their attention. This is where the future of the country lies. In time, light industries will move into sectors of heavy industry such as steel manufacturing out of our good iron-ore deposits, fertilizer manufacturing, earth-moving equipment and so forth.
Yet, if you examine the sectors that have been growing fast in the last decade, you will find that they are the following: importing vehicles i.e. transport in that sense – not in the sense of manufacturing the means of transport here; beauty saloons; restaurants and hotels; bars; real estate; shopping malls and many others. These have been growing at the following average annual growth rates: banking sector – 17.2%; transport and communication services including mobile telephones – 14.3%; hotels and restaurants – 8.8%; real estate – 5.6%; other business services (saloons, stationery sales, etc) – 9.7%. If you compare them with growth in manufacturing and agriculture, the figures are as follows: 6.5% and 1.4% respectively (period 2004-2011). All these, except for hotels, are characterized by little employment potential, no export earnings and low or no technology. This is where Uganda is now.
High rates of growth but in sectors that create little employment, bring in little or no foreign exchange and, actually, sometimes squander the little foreign exchange we earn from coffee, etc, in the form of inputs imported for their operations. This source of growth does not bring socio-economic transformation quickly. Their main attraction is that they are of low technology and require little capital to start-up. These are what the indigenous Private Sector can afford as of now. This is the paradox of the present economy of Uganda: growth without creating enough employment and without earning enough foreign exchange but instead squandering the foreign exchange earned from coffee and other raw-material exports. I, therefore, think that it may be useful to distinguish between core industries that are a must in terms of sustaining human life and, then, peripheral or dependent industries that are either not as important as the other ones or dependent on the others to thrive.
The second category is easy to set up by the Private Sector as they have done in Uganda. The core ones need deliberate nurturing by the State even if they are done by the Private Sector. It is the country that needs them and not the Private Sector.
More often, you hear misnomers such as “factory y’ omuyindi”. There are no Indians’ factories in Uganda. The Indians’ factories are in India even if they are built and owned by non-Indians. What we have in Uganda are Ugandan factories operated or owned by Indian families. Those Indians are working for us. Those factories, by whomsoever, expand our GDP, not that of India. Whose raw-materials do they buy? Whose utilities (electricity, water, telephones, etc) do they use? Which market do they produce products for? Who benefits from their export earnings? Whose youth are employed by these factories – ours or the Indian ones? To which Government do they pay taxes? When you answer each of the questions above, you will discover that these are Ugandan factories and not Indian factories. That ignorant talk should stop.
The three sugar factories in Uganda i.e. Kakira, Lugazi and Kinyara save Uganda US$ 232 million in import substitution per annum. They paid 400 billion shillings in taxes in the Financial Year 2010/2011. They employ 19,000 Ugandans and engage over 200,000 people in indirect employment including out-growers, transporters, traders, stockiest, etc. In the Financial Year 2010/2011, they earned US$ 41 million in export earnings. When all the three expand as they plan to, these factories will earn about US$ 60 million in export earnings and will pay over 600 billion shillings in taxes per annum. The three factories will also employ 25,000 Ugandans and produce a total of 450,000 metric tonnes of sugar per annum instead of the present 290,000 metric tonnes per annum.
What is planned for sugar should also be planned for coffee, milk, fruits, maize, rice, irish potatoes, beans, wheat, beef and so on. It should be the same plan for minerals, wood products and, of course, fish products.
This brings me back to the four factors I mentioned at the beginning of this speech, namely:
i) the recovery of the economy in the last 26 years;
ii) disagreement amongst us on the prioritization of the allocation of scarce resources and the attendant delays in our infrastructure projects;
iii) sabotage of vital development projects; and
iv)corruption as well as egocentrism based on monetary gain or political opportunism.
Political opportunism involves failure to tell the people what the country needs and instead pandering to uninformed, wrong and populist positions. This is suicidal. Calling cancer ‘flu’ is the surest way of killing the patient. Uganda needs more factories, not just beauty saloons, bars, fuel stations, boda bodas and taxis.
As already said above, I have talked about elements of a modernized Ugandan economy based on natural resources such as agriculture, minerals, fishing, wood products, tourism, etc. There are, however, also knowledge-based industries. These are products of the brain such as cars, machines, computers, processing formulae for food (value addition), medicines, vaccines, etc. Fortunately, our people have designed an electric car. They have processed flour out of bananas. They have made juices out of our traditional foods and medicines out of our traditional medicinal herbs. They have made perfumes out of our traditional herbs (emigaju), etc. These have got huge economic potential – much more than coffee as a raw-material and the like. Scientific innovations and scientists in general must, therefore, be given priority, in terms of Government funding.
I have already told you the factors that led to the recovery of Uganda, namely
•security of persons and property;
•macro-economic stabilization and liberalization;
•expanding national and Regional demand;
•the Private Sector that is responsible for most of the investments; and
•some little Donor support.
All these factors would, however, have assisted greater and faster expansion if we had dealt more decisively with the issue of infrastructure - especially electricity, roads and the railway. Depending on Donor support, we have done some roads, repaired Nalubaale, etc. However, socio-economic transformation needs much more than that. For example, to be where Malaysia is now, we need, at least 11,954 MW of electricity. With Bujagali, we shall be having only 781 MW. This will give us a kWh per capita of 196 compared to the one of the USA of 12,914. Although, we are still lagging behind other developed countries, we recognize that we have made progress in this area. In 1986, Uganda was generating only 60 MW and had a kWh per capita of 28. This was a big shame.
We must also tarmac all the major roads for both economic and political reasons. Depending on funding from foreign sources is not enough. The only sure answer is to rely on our own means. Tax collection in 1986 was only 5 billion shillings. Our tax collection next Financial Year is projected at 7,132 billion shillings. In the Financial Year ending June 2012, we collected 6,169 billion shillings. It was shared out as follows:
) Wage bill and allowances - 1,807 billion
2) Roads - 1,284 billion
3) Energy - 1,200 billion
4) Education - 664 billion
5) Health - 792 billion
6) Defence and Security - 407 billion
7) Local Government - 212.9 billion
As you can see, the wage bill takes about 1,807 billion shillings. This is the largest share in our budget distribution. Recently, I launched the construction of the Arua-Oraba-Kaaya road which will cost us 142 billion shillings including 10 billion shillings for compensating people’s properties near the road. If, therefore, the wage bill was 1,000 billion shillings instead of being 1,807 shillings, we would have saved about 800 billion shillings per annum for roads and dams. Over a five year period, we would have accumulated about 4,000 billion shillings. That would enable us to do about 29 roads like Arua-Oraba-Kaaya. What impact would this have on the economy?
According to Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) and according to me, in my capacity as President who travels across the country quite often, there are 44 roads in Uganda with a total length of 3,466 kms that should be tarmacked. The list is attached as appendix I. The estimated cost is US$ 4,076 million or 9,791 billion shillings. UNRA puts these roads in two categories: A and B. There are 19 roads in category A. These need US$ 1,428 million or 3,435 billion shillings. These roads are the following
1. Olwiyo-Gulu-Kitgum (167 kms)
2. Moroto-Nakapiripirit (92 kms)
3. Muyembe-Nakapiripirit/Moroto-Kotido (193 kms)
4. Soroti-Katakwi-Moroto-Lokitanyala (208 kms)
5. Kapchorwa-Suam (77 kms)
6. Villa Maria-Sembabule (48 kms)
7. Mpigi-Maddu-Sembabule (135 kms)
8. Mukono-Kyetume-Katosi-Nyenga (74 kms)
9. Ntungamo-Kakitumba/Mirama Hills (37 kms)
10. Rukungiri-Kihihi-Kanungu-Ishasha (74 kms)
11. Kyenjojo-Kabwoya (102.4 km)
12. Buwaya-Kasanje-Mpigi-Kibibi-Mityana (90 kms)
13. Hoima-Butiaba-Wanseko (111 kms)
14. Kayunga- Bbale-Galiraya (88.5 kms)
15. Kabale (Ikumba)-Kanungu-Buhoma (120.0 kms)
16. Ishasha-Katunguru (88.0 kms)
17. Kabale-Bunyonyi (6.0 kms)
18. Mbale-Lwakhakha (41.0 kms)
19. Atiak-Adjumani-Moyo-Afoji (104.0 kms)
Today, I stand here with pride as one of the founders of NRM, ever since 1971, when we started the struggle against criminality and misrule in Uganda. As I have repeatedly told you, tax collection was only 5 billion shillings in 1986. It is now 7,000 billion shillings. If this money was distributed in a kiyekera (guerrilla) way, we could certainly do these roads ourselves – at least the 19 roads in the UNRA’s
category A that need 3,400 billion shillings. If the wage bill was only 1,000 billion shillings instead of 1,800 billion shillings, by saving 800 billion shillings per annum, we would accumulate 4,000 billion shillings in five years. This sum of money is more than enough to do the 19 roads we have been struggling with.
The clamour for higher pay by public servants and political leaders is, therefore, untimely and unfair to the 34 million Ugandans. Remember political and public service workers are only 300,000 in number. Even if you assume that each one of them has 5 persons under him or her, that would put the figure at 1.5 million beneficiaries. How about the other 32.5 million? The correct thing to do, now that we have some money, is to serve the many before we serve the few. If we were patriotic and undertook a voluntary salary cut for a number of years, we would build these roads ourselves.
While I still await patriotic offers about the voluntary salary cuts, I have initiated some talks with National Social Security Fund (NSSF) regarding the possibility of borrowing some money from them to do some of the roads. The NSSF does not have that much money. It only has 2,800 billion shillings. Possibly, we could borrow something like 1,000 billion shillings from them. That would cover some of the roads but not all of them.
There are other funding options which we are looking at with some people in connection with European and Chinese Banks, with some foreign countries, etc.
With our oil, matters will be easier. We shall be able to fund the roads, the railway and the power stations easily using our own money.
For some of the roads, we may have to forego some of the expenditure items and concentrate on the roads instead.
In the meantime, I demand that the clamour for more pay and allowances by public servants and political leaders must stop so that we concentrate on the roads and power. The only public servants that deserve pay rise are the scientists because they contribute decisively to the economy and their contribution is unique. It is not easy to replicate. The promise we had made to the teachers and other public servants of 250 billion will go ahead for at least this Financial Year. I feel very bad to see this 6,169 billion shillings we have succeeded in generating being used in a manner that does not build a higher threshold for our economy. Once we build a road, it will be there for 20 years. Salaries are monthly. Increment of salaries should wait until we have dealt with infrastructure or until our oil and gas are operational so that we can use the proceedings to fund infrastructure. Then, we can start moving again on wages.
I know inadequate salaries are also a challenge to the families of public servants. Uganda, however, is not like Europe. Many of the public servants have land at home and can grow food to supplement the yet small salaries until the situation improves. When we build the base of our economy, we shall all be better off.
Although I am not in favour of salary increases in the public service, there are two categories that are still left out. These are the councilors at the district level and the LCI Chairpersons. These persons monitor Government programmes, maintain security in villages and adjudicate cases. Yet, they have been getting very little or no facilitation at all. A provision of about 20 billion shillings per annum could cater for these two groups provided creation of new villages and new sub-counties stops.
Therefore, those who have been pushing for salary and allowance increases at this time, when we have not finished the base of the economy, are committing a serious mistake. The only people that should get salary increases should be the scientists, as I have already said. These are people we cannot easily replace. Yet we need them for the knowledge-based economy such as making cars, making computers, adding value to agricultural products, fabricating machines and machine-parts, etc. I have already talked about this above.
Those who push for salary and allowance increases as well as endless travels abroad are the same ones that complain that this road is not done, that project is not done, etc. This is hypocritical and should stop. Our discipline of Buhekyera (guerrilla strategy) educated us in the art of first dealing with the core issues and then dealing with peripheral issues later. As bush fighters, I have always told you that we concentrated on the gun and its ammunition, the recruit and some food. The rest, including clothes, medicine, etc., would be got by attacking the enemy units. This is how we built our Army.
The core issues in this economy are:
•defence and security;
•law and order;
•electricity;
•roads;
•the railway;
•piped water for the big towns;
•education;
•health;
•tourism; and
•scientific innovation.
With this foundation in place, we can, then, start looking at wage increases. It was not accidental that the salary of the President was 150,000 shillings between 1986 and 1996. It was deliberate. If one consumes little and invests more, the future will be guaranteed. If one consumes a lot and invests little, the future will be doomed. Spending prematurely on wages is really bad planning. It makes Government spend too much on recurrent costs, yet with capital projects, you spend only once and you do not repeat such expenditure for decades.
Since I am always under harassment for roads and electricity by people who at the same time agitate for higher salaries and allowances, as I have already pointed out above, I may resort to one alternative i.e.
borrowing from NSSF to do some of the urgently required roads. We may have to give a ten-year bond to NSSF in order to get 1.4 trillion shillings to construct about ten good roads like Arua-Oraba-Kaaya. Internal borrowing should always be looked at before we look at external borrowing. Therefore, those who have been talking about the roads in the manifesto should know that these roads will be done in one way or the other.
I have spent a lot of time talking about two of the four factors I said were the main themes of this Address as far as the economy was concerned. These are: the recovery of the economy in the last 26 years and disagreements amongst us on the prioritization for the use of scarce resources.
There are two other factors I need to talk about briefly. These are: sabotage or delay of vital projects as well as corruption and selfishness. It is bad enough for villagers to not fully understand the importance of factories. It is a disaster for leaders to do the same while at the same time they are drawing salaries out of salaries paid by the very factories. We have had delays of factories in Lugazi, Amuru, Tororo, etc caused by this failure of leadership. This is not acceptable. If a leader has a criticism about the method of introducing a factory in one’s area, bring out the criticism in a constructive manner, in the right forum, as you also quickly bring forward a solution. There should be no acrimony, no delays because this is our factory.
Do not deceive yourselves that investors are dying to come here. They have got many places to go to. I attracted BIDCO to come to Kalangala. After some hassles, they started. Kalangala is now completely transformed because of their effort. They, from the beginning wanted to expand since they have idle machinery here. As usual, there were delays by the system here manned by people who do not know where the future belongs. Meanwhile, BIDCO has already got 70,000 hectares of land in Nigeria where they are going to produce 350,000 metric tonnes of palm oil
This is compared to 16,000 metric tonnes of palm oil produced in Kalangala where Government gave them 6,200 hectares of land plus 2,800 hectares of land from out-growers. Who is the loser? Certainly, not the investor. The ones tied to an under-developed Uganda are not the investors; it is the Ugandans, especially the poor ones who cannot go for greener pastures. The investors are mobile with their money.
All the Ugandan leaders must learn how to ‘kwogeleza’ (to woe) as we do with brides when it comes to investors. You do not hold press conferences to discuss the issues with your intended bride. Matters are discussed confidentially and with respect. You may not agree, you may modify arrangements, but it is all done with seriousness and courtesy. If you can do all that for a single bride how about this country of 34 million people? Are we not condemning to doom the future of this ‘bridegroom’ by our conduct, we, his agents? Nevertheless, the officials who handle these should also be serious. Ask the right questions quickly. Who is the legal owner of this land? If there are bibanja-owners, how are you engaging with them? If there are illegal squatters, how do we handle them? Handle issues thoroughly, knowledgeably but firmly and fairly. Knowledge creates confidence and firmness in decision making.
There is the issue of corruption and selfishness. Some of the frustrations to the investors are caused by corruption. Investors are harassed for bribes by these traitors. I do not know why the investors do not report this. I intend to bring a law to punish severely those who endanger our future on account of corruption, selfishness and opportunism.
Before I leave the sections on the economy, I would like to touch, briefly, on how the economy has performed since last year. You remember, soon after the elections of last year, the economy hit what I had long anticipated – some bad times. Owing to some drought but also due to increased Regional demand (which itself is a great opportunity for the region and serious producers), commodity prices went up. This was also due to increased world prices owing to the emergence of bigger middle classes in China, India, Brazil and to some extent, in Africa. As I told you in my previous speeches, it is, actually, good news for serious producers. On account of increased construction in the world, price for steel has gone up, price for sugar has gone up globally because of increased demand and so has the price of petroleum because of more people in the world, including Ugandans who are driving cars.
Additionally, the economies of the West are in decline because for long they have been leading an affluent lifestyle at the expense of the rest of the world especially Asia, Africa and Latin America. Prior to the emergence of China, India, Brazil and to some extent some parts of Africa out of poverty, much of the global resources were only supplying the West. That is why in the 1990s, when I was trying to market our steel in Muko near Kabale and Sukuru hills near Tororo, I was told that there was too much steel in the world, that there was a “steel glut”, as a consequence of that there was nobody willing to invest in iron-ore processing. At that time, the price of a tonne of steel was US$ 200. By last year, a tonne of steel had gone up to US$ 900. Why? It is because steel which was previously being used by only a small population of the world for construction of houses, making cars, etc., is now being used by billions of the world population. This is good news for Africa and for Uganda. Indeed, in 2011, we earned US$ 449 million from the export of coffee against US$267 million which we earned in 2010. In previous years, we earned as less as US$ 120 million annually from export of the same amount of coffee.
Therefore, Uganda had a lot of opportunities. On the one hand, Regional demand was going up and, on the other hand, prices for our commodities were also going up globally. The only negative aspect was that the consumption in Europe and USA was going down. We could, however, not fully take advantage of these opportunities because of previous mistakes committed against my advice and my entreaties to the various power centres. Particularly, relevant for these problems were the delays of Bujagali and sugar factories in Lugazi and Amuru. Instead of taking advantage of the Regional demand, the prices went up for the consumers. The price of sugar went up to about 10,000 shillings per kilogram.
The charlatans went into full gear. “The NRM Government has failed”. “They are useless”. I took time and explained to Ugandans on the radios and also explained to the NRM leaders at Kyankwanzi. You can go back and refer to my speeches and see that there is nothing I predicted that has not turned out to be true. The price of sugar is now at 3,000 shillings per kilogram. The exchange rate that had gone to 2,800 shillings per dollar has been hovering around 2,450 shillings per dollar, etc. Yet, we have not completed dealing with the real bottlenecks except electricity which is beginning to work out miracles in the economy. With just three turbines operational at Bujagali, i.e. 150 MW of the 250 MW total, there is already a remarkable change. I am told that industrialists are already very excited. They have shut down the standby generators that were causing them to ‘bleed’ so much. This is just the beginning. The Banyankore say: Ekihambo kirakutambire kikubanza obutuutu – the pumpkin plant that will solve your hunger problems starts by giving you the young pumpkins. English is a poor language; you cannot easily translate these very precise statements. What, then, will happen when Lugazi is expanded, Amuru is built
Sango Bay is built, Ziwa Ranch is turned into a sugar-cane plantation, Casement sugar in Kaliro starts, irrigation around the Rwenzori and the Elgon areas are expanded and we start using fertilizers, etc? The sky is the limit!
Nevertheless, I should not forget to say “shame to the charlatans”, “shame to the liars”, “shame to the opportunists”.
Before I conclude this section, I would like to add that Besigye’s lawlessness added to the problem of the relative scarcity of the dollars hence the loss of value of the Uganda shilling. The fujo and the false stories that were being sent out of Uganda scared tourists for some time. This meant less dollar inflows, dollar appreciation and more difficulties for KACITA, the importers. However, for exporters and those who are dependent on local production, it meant more opportunities. Whenever you would export, you would earn more because a dollar was giving you more shillings. It should, however, be sacrilege to have political actors who tell lies about the destiny of Ugandan people.
The Minister of Finance, in the budget speech, will deal with the short-term and medium-term tactical issues that are meant to further help the economy. I have been dealing with the strategic issues in this speech.
Apart from the economy, the other issue has been the indiscipline of Dr. Besigye and a small clique of his. I congratulate the Parliament of Uganda for administering democratic political kiboko to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) during the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) elections. I congratulate all the candidates that were elected - NRM and non-NRM. The egocentrism
of Dr. Besigye and his group has totally isolated them from all positive thinking people. Once you pass the Public Order and Management Bill and I sign it, the fujo will stop. I congratulate the Police for defeating this conspiracy by Dr. Besigye of attempting to overthrow the Constitution by insurrection.
The Police was able to protect people’s property in the markets and shops from looters organized by Dr. Besigye. Unfortunately, there were some deaths including that of a Police officer. The Public Order and Management Act will make all this impossible. There is, however, some laxity in the legal system. Why should any judicial officer release on bail somebody who has repeatedly abused the terms of the bail? Is this not an abuse of office? Is this not possibly corruption?
The media is also another corrupt, irresponsible and unprofessional group. Some of my supporters have been asking me for money to bribe characters that are called DJs so as to get favourable coverage in the media. I told my supporters that I would never give them that money. It is the duty of every Media House (radio, TV or news paper) to ensure that they give balanced and objective coverage of any story. It is an obligation on them and not a favour to the public. Any Media House that does not do it will lose out. I will show you how if they continue. We do not have to bribe anybody. The power of licensing belongs to the State. The State of Uganda has got a historical mission: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, Socio-economic transformation and Democracy. It is the duty of every Media House to further these aims. I hope they will listen to my advice.
Otherwise, the country is peaceful. The UPDF is much stronger than ever before. There are only a few gaps in our overall defence, which will be closed in the coming years’ budgets.
Ugandans have relaxed on HIV/AIDS. I hear the prevalence rate has gone up to 7%. More dangerously, new infections were 129,000 in 2011 up from 115,000 in 2007. This is an increase of about 3,500 new infections per annum. What a big shame! Why should anybody get HIV/AIDS today when all the information on prevention is available? HIV/AIDS only is transmitted through promiscuity. Close this gap. Some of the interventions cover up this failure. Anti-promiscuity measures must be emphasized.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate you, your Deputy and Hon. Members upon completing some of the work of Parliament over the past year, who as at 21st May 2012 had been able to transact business as follows:
(i) Bills passed – 11
(ii) Motions for Resolutions – 40
(iii) Reports considered and adopted – 23
(iv) Petitions considered – 20
(v) Ministerial Statements presented and debated – 35
(vi) Other Statements – 15
vii) Questions for oral answer responded to – 07
Among the Bills passed were:
(i) The Companies Bill 2009.
(ii) The Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010.
(iii) The Uganda National Meteorological Authority Bill 2010.
(iv) The Transfer of Convicted Offenders Bill 2007.
I thank you Madam Speaker, Your Deputy, Hon. Members and the Technical Support Staff for what you have been able to accomplish during the last twelve months. Since quite a number of Bills are still pending, I request the Business Committee to look at what is pending and sort out what can be fast tracked.
A list of Bills from Ministries/Departments which may be presented to Parliament during the next twelve months is appended hereto. (Appendix II).
Finally, I congratulate the Honourable Margaret Zziwa who was elected as Speaker of EALA the other day. There was some confusion in the Newspapers to the effect that there was an NRM official candidate. There was no official candidate because the NRM Caucus had not chosen one.
I thank you very much.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Mafabi sacks UPC, DP ministers over elections
The rift in the Opposition in Parliament was yesterday laid bare after the leader of opposition sacked the UPC and DP shadow ministers over a disagreement on EALA representation.
In yesterday’s election, official results indicated that NRM’s Dora Byamukama, Bernard Mulengani, Dan Kidega, Nusura Tiperu, Michael Kennedy Ssebalu and Margaret Zziwa would be joined by UPC’s Chris Opoka (233 votes) and DP’s Fred Mukasa Mbidde (247) as Uganda’s representatives.
The tight race for the single independents slot was won by Ms Susan Nakawuki (106), having defeated fellow former MPs Martin Wandera (95) and Ben Wacha (87).
However, Leader of the Opposition Nandala Mafabi questioned the manner in which the UPC and DP nominated members for EALA yet, “there were no consultations between the different parties.” UPC Whip and the DP Deputy Whip still sharply disagreed with him. Ms Betty Amongi, the UPC whip, was the first to object, saying UPC consulted and even reached out to the NRM for support. “I would like to put it on record that after the meeting [of all parties] in Parliament, UPC as an independent party in Parliament consulted and the party made a decision to nominate a candidate,” she said.
“We consulted with the DP President Mao and he also told us that he had consulted his fellow members and had nominated a candidate.”
And then DP chipped in.
“Democratic Party is a party on its own and its sign is a Hoe. Not a bus, not fingers or any other thing,” said Mr Joseph Ssewungu, the deputy DP Whip. “We as MPs follow what both our Party president Norbert Mao and secretary general tell us and when they met, they decided on a candidate we should support and that’s the person we presented here.”
After failing to rally the two parties to support his proposal to block the election process, Mr Mafabi, who was accused by NRM MPs of “failing in his work as the Leader of Opposition and exposing his lack of power to manage the opposition”, stood up and announced the dismissal of the “uncooperative” parties from the shadow cabinet.
“I am now going to show you that I have power,” he said. “FDC is not going to participate in these elections and furthermore, I suspend UPC and DP from the opposition cabinet henceforth.”
He added: I thought that we were working together as opposition. Little did I know that the colleagues I was leading turned against me! I thought these were colleagues I was with in the opposition but I was wrong.”
Mr Mafabi told Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, whom he was looking directly in the eye, to only deal with FDC as the only Opposition in Parliament. “To the Prime Minister,” said Mr Mafabi, “from now on there is only one party in the Opposition that you should deal with and that is FDC.”
Mr Odonga Otto (FDC, Aruu) accused the two parties of betrayal. “They should formally form an alliance with the NRM because we [Official Opposition] are being shot from the front and from the back,” he said.
However, the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, told the LOP that all MPs from the Opposition were elected from independent parties. “The MPs from DP and UPC were elected to this House on their independent tickets and they are here as such. The shadow cabinet is your business,” she said.
The sacked shadow ministers include Fr Jacinta Ogwal, UPC and minister for disaster, Benson Obua Ogwal, UPC and minister of ICT and communication and Ms Amongi, UPC.
From DP, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, the minister of corruption and presidency; Mr Medard Ssegona, the minister for justice; Ms Betty Namboze Bakireke, minister of local government, Mr Lulume Bayiga the minister for health and Mr Ssebuliba Mutumba the minister of works.
On May 22, 2012, the five opposition parties in Parliament signed a joint statement in which they committed not to nominate candidates to EALA before consensus is reached on satisfying the requirement of Article 50(i) of the EAC Treaty. The statement was read out at a press conference at the Inter-Party Cooperation headquarters.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Volvo’s self-driven car convoy treks 125 miles across Spanish motorway
Motorists may soon be able to use their cellphones while driving without fear of getting a ticket. In fact, they may be able to take their eyes off the road completely.
Volvo has successfully completed a public test of a self-driven convoy of cars. A human driver led the convoy of three self-driven vehicles, which mimicked the lead driver's actions through a wireless link.
"Driving among other road-users is a great milestone in our project. It was truly thrilling," Linda Wahlstroem, project manager for the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) project at Volvo Car Corp., told the BBC. "We covered 200km in one day and the test turned out well. We're really delighted."
The four vehicles completed a 125-mile voyage across a Spanish roadway traveling at an average speed of 52 mph.
You can watch a 2011 test video of the SARTRE system:
The SARTRE test was carried out as part of a European Commission research project. If offered to the public, Volvo says, the self-driving convoys could also allow commuters to "work on their laptops, read a book or sit back and enjoy a relaxed lunch" while traveling.
Of course, while the technology is exciting (the SARTRE system uses cameras, radar and laser sensors), the net effect would have some of the same drawbacks as public transportation. After all, you'd have to be traveling in the same direction as your convoy leader.
Still, Volvo says, the "road train" may be a viable future option for motorists and has added value since it would not require the development of new vehicles or roadways.
"People think that autonomous driving is science fiction, but the fact is that the technology is already here. From the purely conceptual viewpoint, it works fine and road train will be around in one form or another in the future," Wahlstroem told the BBC.
"We've focused really hard on changing as little as possible in existing systems. Everything should function without any infrastructure changes to the roads or expensive additional components in the cars."
No word on whether the SARTRE name was inspired by the French existentialist author Jean-Paul Sartre.
Volvo has successfully completed a public test of a self-driven convoy of cars. A human driver led the convoy of three self-driven vehicles, which mimicked the lead driver's actions through a wireless link.
"Driving among other road-users is a great milestone in our project. It was truly thrilling," Linda Wahlstroem, project manager for the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) project at Volvo Car Corp., told the BBC. "We covered 200km in one day and the test turned out well. We're really delighted."
The four vehicles completed a 125-mile voyage across a Spanish roadway traveling at an average speed of 52 mph.
You can watch a 2011 test video of the SARTRE system:
The SARTRE test was carried out as part of a European Commission research project. If offered to the public, Volvo says, the self-driving convoys could also allow commuters to "work on their laptops, read a book or sit back and enjoy a relaxed lunch" while traveling.
Of course, while the technology is exciting (the SARTRE system uses cameras, radar and laser sensors), the net effect would have some of the same drawbacks as public transportation. After all, you'd have to be traveling in the same direction as your convoy leader.
Still, Volvo says, the "road train" may be a viable future option for motorists and has added value since it would not require the development of new vehicles or roadways.
"People think that autonomous driving is science fiction, but the fact is that the technology is already here. From the purely conceptual viewpoint, it works fine and road train will be around in one form or another in the future," Wahlstroem told the BBC.
"We've focused really hard on changing as little as possible in existing systems. Everything should function without any infrastructure changes to the roads or expensive additional components in the cars."
No word on whether the SARTRE name was inspired by the French existentialist author Jean-Paul Sartre.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Winnie Byanyima: No ordinary woman
Imagine a picture captioned with “Mrs Winifred Besigye, aeronautical engineer for the Uganda Space Programme, conducting orientation for entrants to the Flight Engineers Training Workshop”. Feels strange on the tongue and mind if you are Ugandan, doesn’t it?
It gives the impression that someone other than Winnie Byanyima, Ugandan politician and women-rights activist, is the subject. Perhaps this is as it should be, because for a long time, Byanyima has been phenomenal in proving that it is only challenging, not impossible, for a woman to score successes while working with or against patriarchal structures.
Besides rather than behind
In hindsight, it seems like a deliberate branding strategy on her part for never overtly using her husband’s name to get ahead, since her 1999 marriage to retired Colonel Kizza Besigye, leader of the opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). Her example proves that women can be besides successful men, instead of behind them as the popular adage maintains.
She could have scripted her bucket list like most girls: understudy other women for the role of wife and mother; study “soft” courses if the family was either willing or able to send her to school and have many babies really quickly. She could have settled for talking about and leaving women’s issues at the village well, never dabbling in politics beyond voting passively, and generally being satisfied with whichever dream, life or her husband, allowed her to chase.
Instead, she lived the very opposite of such type-cast roles; magnetised to politics by her father’s example, studying engineering at university mainly to defy society’s expectations of girls and excelling at it and winning a scholarship. She refused the token seat and beat men in hotly-contested Women member of Parliamentary elections, spearheading censure of the corrupt, actively contributing to a guerrilla war effort when she was aged 22, being vice chairman to a group in opposition to the government she once worked for and founding, and directing, organisations devoted to bettering the circumstances of women.
Leading by example
The impact on Ugandan society and women in particular is as wide-ranging as the various facets of her personality. Where her father was once National Chairman of the Democratic Party, she ended up being the third Vice-Chair of the Reform Agenda, before it evolved into the FDC. She aided its transformation from an Elect Kizza Besigye Task Force into a party formed on July 12, 2002, aimed at achieving political reforms for good governance, sustainable national unity, democracy and national development.
Her election in 1994 to the parliamentary seat for Mbarara Municipality was one small step for her, but one giant leap for Ugandan women. At the time, she was one of the few women who stood for direct election when others were content with the seats available to them on government’s affirmative action.
“The day I was first elected, women ran out on the streets, sat in the middle of the road, they climbed on top of the cars, ululating and even taking off their tops”, she recounted in a 2004 interview with the magazine Feminist Africa.
Partly, the euphoria was because she was on the road to fulfilling her pledge to campaign for equal value in government policies for women and children. Partly, it was because she had dared Ngoma Ngime, an incumbent Constitutent Assembly delegate, on President Museveni’s own home turf.
But more than dare, she actually had beaten a sitting National Political Commissar who had the resources of the NRM’s machinery at his disposal while her strongly feminist platform seemed like political suicide and won her no favours from her party, despite her longer track record and achievements.
Leveling the political ground for women
In Parliament, she formed the Women’s Caucus, which was instrumental in creating a constitutional basis for a Uganda where the genders were equal. The women’s caucus helped shape the writing of the 1995 Constitution in gender-sensitive language.
It sponsored the inclusion of an explicit statement of equality before the law, which invalidates all other laws, cultures, traditions or customs that undermine the dignity and well-being of women, and provides affirmative action for women to redress historic imbalances. In 1995, she became a founding member and first chair of the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), which grew out of the caucus. FOWODE extended the caucus’ scope by promoting gender equality in all decision-making through advocacy, training research and publishing.
After two terms as Mbarara Municipality’s representative in Parliament, she voluntarily stepped down in 2004. Hers is an example very immediate as Uganda currently debates the presidential term limits.
Ironically, she has expressed interest in standing for President, come 2016. If she does, she will be the third woman, after Miria Kalule Obote in 2006 and Betty Kamya in 2011, to stand for president.
Popular opinion maintains she might be the first one with a serious chance of succeeding where even her husband has yet to.
Fact file .
Born January 1, 1957.
Married to Dr Kizza Besigye, FDC Chairman, with whom she has a son, Anselm.
Education: Mt St Mary’s College, Namagunga. Has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, the first female Ugandan to become an Aeronautical Engineer.
Profession background: Aeronautical engineer, politician and diplomat. Byanyima worked as a flight engineer for the now defunct Uganda Airlines. She has served as the Director of the Gender Team in the Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 2006.
Political background: Byanyima is a member of the FDC party, although she has significantly reduced her participation in partisan Ugandan politics since she became a Ugandan diplomat in 2006.
Political jobs she has held over the years:
•She was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Ugandan 1995 Constitution
•She served two consecutive terms as a Member of Parliament, representing Mbarara Municipality, from 1994 until 2004.
•Appointed Director of the Directorate of Women, Gender and Development at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2004. She left this for appointment at UNDP.
Monday, April 9, 2012
South Korea says North preparing for nuclear test
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Recent satellite images show North Korea is digging a new underground tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third nuclear test, according to South Korean intelligence officials.
The excavation at North Korea's northeast Punggye-ri site, where nuclear tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009, is in its final stages, according to a report by intelligence officials that was shared Monday with The Associated Press.
Its release comes as North Korea prepares to launch a long-range rocket that Washington and others say is a cover for testing missile technology that could be used to fire on the United States.
The Obama administration said Monday it would consider both a rocket launch and an underground nuclear test as highly provocative and leave Pyongyang more isolated.
"In each case this would be an indication of North Korea's decision at the leadership level not to take the steps that are necessary to allow North Korea to end its isolation, to rejoin the community of nations and to do something about the extreme poverty and depravation that its people suffer," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing in Washington.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current Security Council president, told CNN on Monday that "either or both developments would be a blatant violation of North Korea's international obligations under Security Council resolutions."
"In the Security Council in New York, I anticipate that the council would convene to discuss this and to respond in a credible fashion, both to the missile launch and to any potential additional subsequent actions," she said.
Observers fear a repeat of 2009, when international criticism of the North's last long-range rocket launch prompted Pyongyang to walk away from nuclear disarmament negotiations and, weeks later, conduct its second nuclear test. A year later, 50 South Korean were killed in attacks blamed on the North.
"North Korea is covertly preparing for a third nuclear test, which would be another grave provocation," said the intelligence report, which cited U.S. commercial satellite photos taken April 1. "North Korea is digging up a new underground tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in addition to its existing two underground tunnels, and it has been confirmed that the excavation works are in the final stages."
Dirt believed to have been brought from other areas is piled at the tunnel entrance, the report said, something experts say is needed to fill up tunnels before a nuclear test. The dirt indicates a "high possibility" North Korea will stage a nuclear test, the report said, as plugging tunnels was the final step taken during its two previous underground nuclear tests.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/28898968
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters she was not in a position to confirm whether North Korea was preparing for a nuclear test after the rocket launch.
She said a launch would be "highly provocative" and a nuclear test "would be equally bad, if not worse."
Nuland said the U.S. was urging China to use its influence with North Korea to dissuade it from going ahead with the launch.
Asked about Japanese and South Korean preparations to shoot down any parts of the rocket that threaten to fall on their territory, Nuland told reporters that countries in the region have the right to "self-defense."
North Korea announced plans last month to launch an observation satellite using a three-stage rocket during mid-April celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.
The U.S., Japan, Britain and other nations have urged North Korea to cancel the launch, warning that firing the long-range rocket would violate U.N. resolutions and North Korea's promise to refrain from engaging in nuclear and missile activity.
Nuland declined to specify what consequences Pyongyang might face if the launch goes ahead
At the very least, it would ruin a Feb. 29 U.S.-North Korean accord under which the North agreed to a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and a freeze on its uranium enrichment program in exchange for U.S. food aid.
Wikileaks: Kony video maker spied for UPDF
 |
| Felix Kulayigye |
Posted Tuesday, April 10 2012 at 00:00
Leaked cables of secret diplomatic notes by American officials in Uganda to Washington reveal that Invisible Children, the makers of the controversial film, Kony 2012, shared intelligence information with Ugandan security operatives that led to the arrest of a number of suspected regime critics. According to the memos posted by whistle-blower Wikileaks, Mr Patrick Komakech, a reported ex-LRA child soldier currently facing treason charges with a dozen other co-accused, was arrested on March 5, 2009, following a tip-off from officials of Invisible Children.
The development will offer critics fodder to suggest that the US charity should not be entitled to its not-for-profit status that presents fringe benefits such as tax exemptions. Mr Komakech’s arrest, the cable said, was made possible because he had been featured in past documentaries by Invisible Children, and is understood to have led to a swoop that eventually uncovered the supposed recruitment of disgruntled “northerners into anti-Museveni rebel groups”, backed by LRA-leaning individuals from the Acholi Diaspora
“Invisible Children reported that Komakech had been in Nairobi and had recently reappeared in Gulu, where he was staying with the NGO. Security organisations jumped on the tip and immediately arrested him,” wrote former US ambassador to Uganda Steven Browning in the June 11, 2009 cable.
“He had a satellite telephone and other gadgets which were confiscated when he was picked up.”
Both the UPDF and Invisible Children moved to dismiss details of the leaked memo yesterday, while officials from the US Mission in Kampala were unavailable for comment due to the Easter holiday.
“That’s a lie. Komakech was arrested in broad day light and we didn’t need a muzungu to tell us where he was,” UPDF Spokesperson Felix Kulayigye said.
Invisible Children Uganda Spokesperson Florence Ogola said: “That is not true. We are not involved in anything to do with security. We only deal with development.”
She said allegations that the charity was involved in spy work on behalf of the UPDF is part of the “propaganda” and “tagging” that is gaining prominence after the release of the 30-minute Kony 2012 video early this year, which critics dismissed for its supposed simplistic portrayal of the two-decade conflict and insistence on a military solution.
In an interview yesterday, Water Minister Betty Bigombe, who was at the heart of negotiations between government and the LRA, admitted that she “got wind of the role” Invisible Children played in bringing Mr Komakech back to Uganda from Nairobi, where he had been holed up but said she was “unaware” if the charity may have helped Ugandan security in having him arrested.
Mr Browning wrote that Ms Bigombe, “who has known Mr Komakech for 10 years, said he had confessed to being part of a new anti-government movement in the north.”
Mr Komakech is said to have been on the Ugandan security radar, reputedly for impersonating LRA leaders to extort money by presenting “fake defection” plans.
Ms Bigombe said she knew Komakech “very well”, as a child soldier she met during the first peace process in the early 90s and eventually a resourceful individual during the Juba peace process but admitted she was “shocked” to discover “he was playing games with other ex-rebels.”
Mr Browning wrote, however: “Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence officers confirmed Komakech’s confession and said the new group, previously called the Uganda People’s Front, is now the PPF.”
The ex-envoy said Mr Komakech reportedly gave the locations of several arms caches in Pader District with a total of 600 weapons recovered, and reported that the group had begun recruiting throughout the north, from West Nile to Pader.
Mr Komakech is said to have named several former LRA combatants that had been integrated into the UPDF as members of the new group as well as other civilian participants.
egyezaho@ug.nationmedia.com
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