Crime Preventers

In January 2014, when Peninah Kobusingye, a second year student at Makerere University, was gang-raped before being killed near the same university, Gen Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police, quickly ascended the campus.

Kobusingye, like several other girls attacked at the university, died without a fight.

Gen Kayihura quickly organised a seven-day training for 700 Makerere University students in self-defence skills. The students’ response to the training in a university that often demonised him was something to celebrate about.

The group was swiftly transformed into the National Youth Crime Preventers Forum (NCPF) under the leadership of Blaise Kamugisha, a law student at Makerere University.
The difference between NCPF and other student groups was that it didn’t focus on crime prevention alone, but was “ideologically upright” and was ready to mobilise for government in areas where the ruling party has been a minority – universities.

Funding came along, so did the mobilisation.
In November 2014, more Makerere University students were mobilised and taken to Police Training School, Kabalye in Masindi District where they underwent training in political ideology and economy, martial arts, military drills, and gun stripping and assembling skills.
The forum recruited more students in different tertiary institutions around the country.
Mr Kamugisha claims his forum now has five million crime preventers, but many of his members say the statistics are exaggerated.

The mobilisation is now full-blown that some political sections are fearing that the trained youth could be used in politics as was the case with crime preventers who were recruited in 2010 but were later given police uniforms to provide security during the 2011 general elections.

Others were taken on as Special Police Constables. In many areas, residents were shocked to see people they regarded as criminals in police uniforms.

Some crime preventers even run away with police property after their contracts ended. Police had to send them a warning.

First crime preventers
In 1994, when the first crime preventers were passed out at Katwe Police Station in Kampala, the idea was to have citizens who would sensitise the community about policing.

The programme continued at the same pace until Gen Kayihura was appointed the police chief in 2005.

“I found the police on one side and the people on the other. But when I looked around, there was a programme that could bring the two together and the programme was community policing,” Gen Kayihura said during the opening of the first community policing post at Muyenga, a Kampala suburb.

By 2007, the programme had started taking a new shape after spontaneous riots in major urban areas. Most of the riots hard taken a political direction.

Taxi operators were rebelling against then leading public transport organisation, the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (Utoda).
Market vendors were demanding better leadership. Universities had become hotspots of dissenting views and took to the streets to express them.
Boda boda cyclists were also blocking roads. Police needed to get some of these groups on their side.

In 2010, towards the general elections, city boda boda cyclists were engaged through Abdu Kitatta as crime preventers and they established an organisation called the Boda Boda 2010.
Mr Kitatta, the head of Boda Boda 2010, then said the organisation was to stop criminal activities among cyclists and empower them to fight poverty.
The organisation turned out to be a political outfit used against the Opposition during the 2011 general elections.

Boda boda cyclists who demonstrated their support for the Opposition were either forced off their stages or targeted as criminals.




http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/PeoplePower/Crime-preventers-or-just-another-militia-group/-/689844/2842418/-/si34kwz/-/index.html

New districts too costly – finance

Although Minister Adolf Mwesige projected a business-as-usual demeanor as he tabled a motion for creating new districts on Tuesday, he faces resistance from within his own government.

The Observer can reveal that the finance ministry has warned the local government minister about the cost of splitting the country into more struggling units. Mwesige’s motion, tabled in parliament on Tuesday seeks to create 25 new districts beginning next financial year. This would shoot the number of districts from 112 to 137.

Earlier, Mwesige had written to the ministry of finance, planning and economic development, seeking a go ahead to create the new districts over the next four financial years.

“Reference is made to the cabinet memorandum 150 (CT2015) which was presented, discussed and cleared by cabinet, yesterday, August 17 for creation of 25 new districts effective 2016/17,” Mwesige’s August 18 letter to the minister of finance, planning and economic development partly reads.

President Museveni is understood to have convened a crisis cabinet meeting on August 17, to respond to pressures from MPs who last week shot down Mwesige’s motion for the creation of 12 new municipalities.

The MPs’ anger was drawn by government’s reluctance to create 23 districts that were proposed in 2013. From the cabinet meeting, according to contents of Mwesige’s letter to the minister of finance, he was directed to create four districts of Kagadi, Kakumiro (from Kibaale district), Omoro and Rubanda from Gulu and Kabale districts respectively, effective July 1, 2016.

“The purpose of this letter is therefore to request you to issue a certificate of financial clearance, creating the 25 districts with effect from 2016/2017,” Mwesige wrote.
The letter further suggested that Mwesige needed the clearance before he went to Parliament later that day to table the motion.

RED LIGHT

Keith Muhakanizi, the finance ministry’s permanent secretary and secretary to the treasury, wrote back urging the local government minister to drop his motion.

“I have noted the budget implication for creation of one new district is Shs 16.63bn and Shs 59.25bn in the first year of operation which translates into Shs 1.465 trillion for the 25 districts,” Muhakanizi wrote.

The figures, Muhakanizi noted, included costs required for creation and operation of the district headquarters, offices of the Electoral commission, police, internal security, district hospitals among others.

“I wish therefore to reiterate my earlier concerns raised in my letter of July 27, on the creation of new municipalities, that costs for creation of new administrative units have become excessive, exerting pressure on the resource envelop and therefore unaffordable,” Muhakanizi wrote.

“Given the commitments government has undertaken in infrastructure development, the national budget can no longer accommodate the additional expenditures arising out of the creation of new administrative units [counties, districts, municipalities and cities],” Muhakanizi further wrote.

“The purpose of this letter is therefore to inform you as above and to advise against the creation of more administrative units,” he added.

DEFIANT

Without the much-needed clearance from finance, Mwesige took his motion to Parliament and on the floor, his shadow counterpart, Betty Nambooze Bakireke (Mukono municipality) asked him to table the clearance alongside his motion.

Mwesige told Parliament that it was not necessary because the proposed districts would not become operational until next financial year. Nambooze remained wondering how the districts would be operationalised because the involved costs are not reflected in the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF).

The MTEF is a finance performance and monitoring tool developed by the World Bank. It reflects the annual, rolling three year-expenditure planning and also sets out the medium-term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints against which sector plans can be developed and refined. Nambooze also wondered why the 9th Parliament was overstepping its mandate by deliberating on issues for the next Parliament and government.

“I think the motion is to hoodwink those agitating for the districts,” Nambooze told The Observer yesterday.

“I think it is a campaign promise which might be fulfilled or not because government has made it a fashion to make promises at campaign time which will never be fulfilled. This is what happened in 2005 during the amendment of the constitution when they promised regional tier governments.”

sadabkk@observer.ug
http://observer.ug/news-headlines/39411-new-districts-too-costly-finance 

Why Ugandans are passive - Timothy Kalyegira

A friend asked me two days ago why Ugandans are so passive. Millions of this country’s citizens drift through life in a semi-daze, the body language showing the lethargy.

Barbara Musoke, daughter of the former prime minister Kintu Musoke, noted several months ago on her Facebook wall that every time she returns home from overseas, she notices the sluggishness about Ugandans, the lack of drive and energy in the way they walk and act.

A worker at Entebbe airport noted last week that even Congolese seems to walk with more purpose than Ugandans, despite their country’s many endemic problems.

The reasons are many and complex. We would have to trace this attitude to the structure of Ugandan society, the economy and current politics.

First, how many of us can say honestly that we hold fulfilling jobs, jobs that utilise our educational qualifications and skills?

Exercises through motions
Most of what passes for Ugandan careers and jobs are really exercises in going through the motions, the main incentive being that at the end of the month these meaningless jobs pay the bills; some of the bills anyway.

A handful of jobs require some measure of technical, specific skill, such as accounting, Internet and computer technology, air traffic control, parts of the military, police and intelligence and certain aspects of banking, medicine and logistics.

Most of the rest are general duties we call careers. It is difficult to put one’s heart into that kind of job that demands little of one mentally or physically, which is part of the reason a good number of Ugandan workers spend much of the working hours on social media sites.

Two, what is the structure of Ugandan industry and commerce? How many companies among the top 200-largest Uganda-based businesses can we name, that were founded and ran by Ugandans? Very few, is the answer.

The average Ugandan employee and manager is a faceless bureaucrat in a regional or international company, whose board-level decisions are made in South Africa, the Middle East, China or Europe, with the Ugandan left mainly to implement what does down from the top.

Third, how many Ugandans can say they have ever witnessed a free and fair election in their lifetime and by that, feel their vote and view counted? Once again, there are very few.

All general elections, starting with the 1980 election, have been bitterly disputed and not just because Ugandans are sour losers but because there have usually been enough inconsistencies and incidents to raise legitimate questions about the conduct and outcome of the elections.

Weariness with the political process and outcome, resignation at their inability to make their vote count, have also contributed to the passivity among Ugandans.

The last 20 or so years of a media reporting constantly on massive corruption, embezzlement and nepotism scandals have added to this feeling of despondency and resignation.

Someday, somebody should write a full-length paper on this, on how the air of corruption has poisoned the spirit of the younger generation of Ugandans growing up knowing nothing but official corruption as a way of life.

The strange thing is that this same passivity is discernible even among those Ugandans considered successful or financially comfortable. Once again, it comes down to what we do to attain “success”.

For the most part, there is little merit that goes into our success stories. Either it is a case of outright criminal activity or a more subtle white collar crime or omission of the truth.

One evades taxes, underpays employees, or inflates invoices and tender bids. Where one does not engage in the criminal or unlawful, one has to lie very low in order not to come face to face with the government.

One’s political views are kept secret and a dishonest political face is presented to the public.

Since the 1979 war when a war-ravaged Uganda started becoming dependent on donor aid and has remained so ever since, the passive attitude has become more noticeable.

Budgets are drawn up in Uganda and approved by financiers and benefactors in Europe and North America.

Workshops are held in various towns in Uganda more to account for the money received in donations than that there is much conviction in the themes of the workshops and seminars.

Very little initiative arises from within the society to pursue idealistic issues like human rights, women’s equality and the protection of vulnerable children.

These seem more pet interests to the Western world than Africa, where people are more or less resigned to their fate.

Many fortunate enough to win government tenders, contracts, jobs and other favours do not get them on the strength of their merit.

Orders from powerful political players in the government often direct who is to be awarded what contract or scholarship.

Affected
When one secures favours or jobs this way, he is affected with the same lethargy as the unemployed.

There was no personal effort put into getting the job. There was no fiercely competitive job interview or tendering process through which one came out successfully.

“Uganda twagivaako”, it the way the political analyst Charles Rwomushana summarised the apathy on Radio Simba on August 22, meaning Ugandans gave up on their country as a concept and a collective entity and now concentrate on trying to eke out a personal existence.

The public spirit has died, there is not much hope in the government as a force for good or concern in its citizens’ lives and so few bother to look up to the government.

All these factors have played their part in creating the palpable lethargy and passivity we see all around us in Uganda.

www.twitter.com/timkalyegira
Facebook: Kampala Express

You need a TIN to ease business transactions

In a bid to widen the tax base, the Minister of Finance, announced a number of policy and revenue enhancement measures. Among these measures, is a requirement for certain taxpayers to have Tax Identification Number.
The Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is a 10-digit number that works as your identity for taxes and unlocks your account with URA. Everyone who is employed or involved in any type of income producing or economic activity where customs duties, Income tax, VAT, excise duty, stamp duty, withholding tax or any other tax are due requires a TIN for instance, any person running a business in Uganda, seeking trading licences, importation of goods, employees with a monthly salary exceeding Shs235,000, acquisition, disposal and transfer of land whose value exceeds Shs50 million, motor vehicle or boda boda related services like change of ownership, changing from old logbook to a new logbook, alteration of vehicle particulars, acquiring a duplicate logbook and number plates etc., persons making supplies of goods and services to anyone of above Shs5m and supplying goods and/or services to government.
All persons seeking licenses, or any form of authorisation necessary for purposes of conducting any business in Uganda are also required to have a TIN. .
I will now take you through a brief guide on how to apply for and acquire a TIN. Applications are made online via our web portal www.ura.go.ug.
After loading the webpage, follow the link under “e Services” to ‘Registration’ or ‘Register For Taxes’ and click the link that leads to download the form for either “TIN individual registration” or “TIN Non – Individual registration”. Individual relates to natural persons and non-individual relates to legal persons such as companies, Local Governments and trusts. For those doing business as sole proprietors, it is important to note that the TIN is for the business owner, not the business. So, if an individual has more than one business, they are only entitled to one TIN.
After downloading the form, you will see a yellow menu with a security warning. Please enable macros by clicking ‘Enable Content’. Enabling the macros helps in completing the form in that there are a number of self-populated fields which you will not need to individually fill in.
Please have the following information ready before you start to fill in the form;
1. Individual registration: - Birth & Citizenship identification documents, sources of income, type of business activity and alternative contact.
2. Non- Individual registration:- Name & address, subsidiary details if any, type of applicant, tax type, sources of income, type of business activity, primary authorized contact person and persons associated with entity.
1. Identification documents
Provide at least two copies of valid identification documents. Where possible, these should include one Government issued ID.
2.Contact Details. These include email addresses and telephone numbers. Whoever has access to your contact details, can get access and transact through your account. Email addresses are important because after approval of your TIN application, your TIN, along with a default password are sent to your email address.
Physical Home/ Business address in Uganda. This should be stated to help the tax body locate the taxpayer.
Income sources. The applicant should indicate all sources of income. An applicant may be employed, but also with some rentable properties/ houses and a shop. One TIN will apply for all these. In case of business income, the applicant is expected to give a clear description of the. Descriptions like businessman, business woman, and investor are not accepted.
A print out of the completed form together with identification documents should be taken to the nearest URA office. I would like to re-emphasise that TIN numbers are issued free of charge. Please report any URA staff that demands payment as a condition to or in exchange for a TIN, to the confidential URA whistleblower line on 0417-442222.
Ms Akol is the Commissioner General URA.

National

Juvenile murdered in prison

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By BETTY NDAGIRE

Posted  Monday, August 24  2015 at  14:30

In Summary

An old adage goes “spare the rod and spoil the child.” Patrick Wandera took this saying seriously when he took his juvenile delinquent to a remand home, expecting to get back a reformed child, but the rod in the correctional facility was so hard that it returned his son dead.

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Patrick Wandera, a resident of Masindi District was troubled. His 14-year-old son, Innocent Kirungi, had turned into a juvenile delinquent and was sleeping on streets and eating from dustbins. He was worried his son would get killed because he had started snatching people’s belongings. When he found his son, he asked police to help refer Karungi to Ihungu Remand Home in Masindi, where he could be rehabilitated. He did not know taking his son to Ihungu for safety, was actually sending him to quick death. Three days later, Wandera received a telephone call informing him that his son had been beaten to death.
The details of his son’s death were revealed in June during the hearing of the appeal by Henry Tumusiime, who was convicted for the murder of Karungi. His appeal was before a three-man panel of Court of Appeal justices Augustine Nshimye, Remmy Kasule, and Kenneth Kakuru. Tumusiime had appealed against the 12-month probationary jail sentence he would serve at Ihungu Remand Home. Tumusiime was jointly convicted with Rose Mpairwe, a cook at Ihungu Remand Home.
Mpairwe, also a matron at the remand home, was the lead suspect in the murder, while Tumusiime, aged 17 then, was a leader of about 30 other juvenile inmates.
The Court of Appeal also found out from the proceedings of the High Court in Masindi that inmates at the remand home were routinely taken out to work in people’s gardens for pay or to get food. But the money earned from their labour would not be given to them; it would be taken by the remand home administrators.
On the fateful date of December 3, 2009, Mpairwe took the inmates, including the convict Tumusiime and the deceased Karungi to work in a person’s garden in Bwita-Katesenywa village, 6km away from the remand home. He and others had been engaged to cultivate the field of David Abitekaniza, a police officer attached to Police Training School, Kabalye.

The killing
The deceased was apparently weak and sickly. Besides, since he was not accustomed to hard labour, he found himself lagging behind his fellow inmates during the digging. His slowness angered Mpairwe and Tumusiime, who was leader of the inmates. The duo descended on Karungi and started assaulting him. They later laid him in a ditch and buried him alive.
Karungi was rescued after a woman saw the duo covering him with soil. She raised an alarm that attracted local leaders and residents who came and extricated him from the ground. Later in the night, after the inmates had returned to the remand home, Tumusiime and Mpairwe ganged up again against Karungi and battered him afresh.
The following morning, Karungi was again forced to go with other inmates to work in the same garden. That day, he tried to escape but was arrested. He was assaulted again by the same culprits. Karungi died of injuries the following day, the third day after his admission to the remand home.
Masindi High Court resident judge Ralph Ochan, who heard the case and delivered the verdict on April 23, 2010, sentenced the lead offender Mpairwe to 10 years in jail, and referred juvenile Tumusiime to Masindi Children’s Court for sentencing. The children’s court handed Tumusiime to a 12-month probation sentence, which he served at Ihungu Remand Home. While sentencing Mpairwe, Justice Ochan held that Kirungi’s life was cut shot in the cruellest manner by people entrusted to protect him and also ordered that urgent improvements be made at the remand home.
The judge wondered how Mpairwe, who was a mother and grandmother, failed to protect the juvenile’s life before condemning the administrators for failing to employ qualified people to run the children’s remand home.
The judge ordered for appointment of qualified staff to manage Ihungu Remand Home and barred juvenile suspects from being subjected to hard labour. He ordered that all buildings in the remand home be renovated to the nationally required standards for children suspects to live in better conditions as they undergo psycho-social rehabilitation.
Tumusiime appealed against the conviction and sentence on account that the judge convicted him on insufficient evidence, which led to a miscarriage of justice for him.
When the first hearing of the appeal in the Court of Appeal started on March 12, 2013, Tumusiime was represented by Jim Allan Gash, an American lawyer, and Kato Ssekabanja, a Ugandan lawyer.
However, after the first hearing, the panel had to be reconstituted following changes in the judiciary. Initially, the panel hearing the appeal comprised Justices Steven Kavuma, Arach Amoko and Remmy Kasule. When Justice Amoko was promoted to the Supreme Court as judge, the panel was reconstituted to comprise Justices Nshimye, Kasule and Kakuru. The new panel started hearing the appeal on June 4, 2014, with Ssekabanja as the appellant’s lawyer and Betty Khisa, assistant director of public prosecutions for the state.
Ssekabanaja argued that Tumusiime had been prejudiced and denied the right to a fair trial. Ssekabanja argued that Mpairwe’s defence was inconsistent with Tumusiime’s though they were represented by the same lawyer in the case.
“For her part, Mpairwe’s interest was in transferring responsibility for the offence from herself to the appellant. Thus at the witness stand at the trial, she testified against the appellant (Tumusiime) declaring that it was the appellant who administered the punishment upon the deceased and that Mpairwe had tried to stop him,” Ssekabanja submitted at the hearing of the appeal and he argued the case of miscarriage of justice for Tumusiime.
“…the appellant’s case was that he did not participate in the punishment of the deceased on that date, but instead it was Mpairwe, who ordered the punishment, which was administered upon the deceased by four other inmates. The appellant was not permitted by his advocate to testify to rebut the evidence his very own advocate elicited from his co-accused implicating him. This created an inherent and inescapable conflict of interest between the appellant and his co-accused, since each one’s defence implicated the other having committed the offence charged. This conflict of interest rendered the advocated incapable of providing effective defence to both accused persons, what the defence counsel did at the trial was to represent Mpairwe’s interests over those of the appellant because as an adult, Mpairwe faced the potential of a much harsher sentence than did the appellant, then a minor,” he added.
Ssekabanja contended that the advocate intentionally undermined the appellant’s interest which, in turn, led to a manifest miscarriage of justice.
He said the appellant was entitled to be represented by an advocate, who would ensure that his interests were fully protected.
In reply, the state attorney Khisa submitted that no evidence had been adduced to show that there was a conflict of interest in respect of the advocate who represented both the appellant and the co-accused Mpairwe at the trial.
Khisa also stated that in any case, the trial judge did not rely on the evidence of the appellant’s co-accused to convict him for the offence charged, but rather the judge considered evidence of other independent prosecution witnesses.

The judgement
In their judgment on June 19, Justices Nshimye, Kasule and Kakuru stated thus: “It is not in contention that, at the trial giving rise to this appeal, the same advocate, Moses Tugume, represented both the appellant and his co-accused on the state brief. It is also not in contention that the two had conflicting interests by way of their respective defences to the charge in that when Mpairwe was called upon by the advocate representing the appellant to give her defence, she testified against the appellant.
The appellant was not accorded any opportunity to cross examine the co-accused, who upon the advice of the very same advocate, had made an unsworn statement, thus being immune from cross-examination by the appellant,” the judges ruled.
“Again, the appellant, upon the advice of his advocate, opted to remain silent thereby depriving himself of the opportunity to tell his own version of events and refute the allegations made against him by his co-accused and by the other witnesses. It is not farfetched to assume that the advocate was more concerned about the case against Mpairwe than that against the appellant. As submitted by counsel for the appellant, whereas the appellant, being a minor could only get maximum sentence of three years imprisonment, his co-accused, as an adult, could face the death penalty,” the Court of Appeal judges observed.
They said it only be natural for the defending advocate to concentrate on the case of the adult co-accused so as to save her from being convicted and sentenced to death and to pay less attention to the case of the minor appellant.
“We therefore find that it was not possible, in the circumstances of this case, for the same advocate to have ably and fairy represented both the appellant and the co-accused Mpairwe without causing prejudice to the case of one of them. We find that, in this case, the appellant was not accorded a fair hearing and we so hold. The trial and conviction of the appellant contravened Articles 28 and 44 of the Constitution and was therefore a nullity. On that account, we hereby quash the conviction and set aside the sentence imposed upon the appellant by the Children’s Court, Masindi, the fact that he has already served the same sentence, we also rule out an order of a re-trial of the appellant,” the judges ruled in a joint decision.

Final Sentence
...the appellant, upon the advice of his advocate, opted to remain silent thereby depriving himself of the opportunity to tell his own version of events and refute the allegations made against him by his co-accused and by the other witnesses... the appellant was not accorded a fair hearing and we so hold... we hereby quash the conviction and set aside the sentence imposed upon the appellant by the Children’s Court
court of appeal judges

JUVENILE CRIME RATE
Crime No. of juveniles accused
Defilement 545
Theft 424
Assault 216
Break-ins 234
Robbery 56
According to the 2013 Uganda Police Crime Report, 2,240 juveniles were involved in crime, compared to 1,851 in 2012, with the highest numbers charged as indicated in the table above.

bndagire@ug.nationmedia.com

ETHANOL-FUEL - Dr. Sengonzi

Why Gen Kyaligonza is bitter with Rwabwogo

Perennial presidential aspirant Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has for the last two weeks been sending us phone messages.

Harassing mobile phone users with unsolicited messages is immoral and several people have repeatedly complained to the regulator, Uganda Communications Commission.

Mobile phone users tend to be very angry when receiving of such messages results into loss of talking time (money). The YK Museveni messages, although unsolicited, are free.

“Owing to NRM achievements especially bringing peace, the Historical League and party structures seconded me to pick nomination forms for NRM for NRM Chairman and Presidential flag bearer 2016 …” reads one of the messages from 71-year-old Museveni.

And indeed the historicals accompanied Museveni when he went to pick NRM nomination forms at the party offices on Kadondo road. It is in trying to understand why Museveni hunted down NRM historicals to accompany him, and why it is the only league he is mentioning in his SMS, that one will get to know why Maj Gen Matayo Kyaligonza is a bitter man.

Bitter because Odrek Rwabwogo, married to Museveni’s second daughter Patience Kokundeka, has picked forms to contest against him for the post of NRM vice chairman for western Uganda. Kyaligonza has held this position, I think, since NRM was registered as a political party, around 2003.

The Rwabwogo candidature has certainly caused excitement, the reason all major newspapers and broadcasting stations have given it extensive coverage. Without saying much, Maj Gen Kyaligonza, RO 0034, angrily remarked in front of cameras that this candidature needed to be discussed. Mind you, Maj Gen Saverino Kahinda Otafiire, RO 0014, is one of the contestants.

Kyaligonza is not angry with Otafiire, but with Rwabwogo.  And Rwabwogo has made matters worse by claiming he has come to put things right. In a way, he is describing Kyaligonza as a failure. In fact, when he appeared on Capital radio’s Capital Gang talk show, he accused the Ssemujjus of dominating the airwaves and declared that in him, we will find our match.

To understand why this will be a bitter contest, one has to revisit the history and the building of the Museveni dynasty. When Museveni seized power in 1986, like any other person, he needed to consolidate it. The first move was to purge the military since it is the one that he shared power with.

Many of the most fearless commanders of the battalions that brought him to power were all dropped, arrested and humiliated. They included Col Julius Chihandae, Col Ahmed Kashilingi and Col Samson Mande. Kashilingi and Chihandae were particularly dehumanized and humiliated.

The officer who helped Museveni do this was Gen David Tinyefuza, whose operation boy was late Maj Gen James Kazini Bunanukye. Brig Tadeo Kanyankore, one of the eight members of the Historical High Command, followed and died a bitter death, and was buried in Buhweju.

Kanyankore, Kyaligonza, Kategaya and Tinyefuza are the only members of the Historical High Command that were awarded the rank of brigadier when formal ranks were introduced around 1987. Museveni, his brother Saleh, Elly Tumwine and Fred Rwigyema Gisa were all given the rank of Major Generals. 

Both Tinyefuza and Kyaligonza were furious with not only the ranks but military numbers. For example, Otafiire, who commanded no unit and is not a member of the Historical High Command, was given RO 0014. Kyaligonza is reported to have suggested in one of those early-days meetings “that blood is thicker than water.”

This was a reference to the treatment of Saleh by his brother when he was in the wrong. While harsh punishments would be handed out to others, Saleh would escape with or even without a caution.

Subsequently, Kyaligonza landed into trouble and Museveni sent his brother to arrest him. Mind you, it is Kyaligonza who helped Saleh escape an assassination plot by some NRA senior commanders during the bush war. When Kyaligonza reminded Saleh of this story, Saleh broke down and pleaded with his brother to pardon the man.

I think the Rwabwogo candidature evokes this memory and that is what is driving Kyaligonza crazy. Nobody, including a person of average understanding, will not interpret that Rwabwogo is a proxy. I honestly believe Museveni detests sitting with Kyaligonza in the NRM Central Executive Committee. Probably it is because of that that his son-in-law’s project will not displease him.

But most importantly, being a father of one son, Museveni must look beyond his first line of defence for a possible successor. He has progressively sorted out the military by promoting and making his son, Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the de facto army boss.

His wife Janet Kataha will grow old at almost the same time as he, which makes her an unsuitable successor. Muhoozi may not be in a position to hold the military and politics at the same time. He, therefore, needs a deputy and the aggressive campaign of Rwabwogo points to that.

This is no conspiracy theory; it is real stuff

Losing a job got me into financial literacy - James Abola

Losing a job got me into financial literacy

It is now 10 years since I got into providing financial literacy. Since 2005, I have consistently contributed to a business and finance column in Daily Monitor as well making occasional contributions to other newspapers, radios and TVs.

I have developed financial literacy courses for teenagers, youth and adults. I have co-authored two books: Make Sense of Your Money and Money and Marriage both of which are exceptional products.

After my first ever financial literacy talk in September 2005 a gentleman walked to me and pointedly told me, “James how can you tell us to be rich when you are very poor?”

I am happy to say that 10 years later I continue to speak to people from diverse social, economic and national backgrounds.
All achievements have two parts: there is the dramatic part, such as when Stephen Kiprotich won the Olympic gold medal and then the drudgery part.

The drudgery part of my financial literacy involvement begun when I was employed by a commercial bank right after university.

The five and half years I spent in banking taught me a lot about financial systems and services as well businesses and entrepreneurship.

My departure from banking had an important financial literacy twist. The bank was closed by the central bank a few days to pay day when I had only Shs20,000 in my pocket. Later I asked myself why and how I had only Shs20,000 after more than five years of employment.

I realised that there was something very wrong with the way I handled money although I could not pinpoint the problem.
After my banking stint, I thought it would be a good idea to get a formal qualification to back up the knowledge and skills I had already picked up and that is when I enrolled for a Master of Science in Finance.

Truth be told that with the financial knowledge, experience and qualification I had then I still had no clue of how to apply what I knew to individuals and households.

Next week I will narrate the dramatic part of my entry into financial literacy, when the different pieces of the puzzle all came together. (The second part of this article will continue next week)

 http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/Losing-a-job-got-me--into-financial-literacy/-/688616/2844436/-/ioch2z/-/index.html

Kyaligonza to Rwabwogo: first tell Museveni about retirement

Written by DERRICK KIYONGA & ALEX NSUBUGA

President Museveni may have ignored the row between his son-in-law Odrek Rwabwogo and his war general Matayo Kyaligonza, but his name continues to be dragged into it.

Maj Gen Kyaligonza, the NRM vice chairman for Western Uganda, is fighting to protect his position, coveted by Rwabwogo, the husband to Museveni’s daughter Patience.

In a telephone interview on CBS radio’s feature programme “Nze nga bwendaba,” loosely translated as “the way I see it,” Kyaligonza suggested he was so angry that he could not restrain himself any more.

“If you meet him [Rwabwogo] tell him that Kyaligonza is not happy with him. If I meet him somewhere and he says that I know nothing I will give him a hot slap,” he said.

Kyaligonza has been vice chairman for western Uganda since NRM was formally registered as a political party. The position gives him a seat on the Central Executive Committee, the ruling party’s second top most organ.

In an earlier interview with The Observer published on August 17, 2015, a bold-talking Rwabwogo, 45, said time has come for the younger generation to take up more  leadership roles in NRM. Kyaligonza disagrees.

“Are they [youths] the ones who brought us here? If you want to succeed your father do you kill him in order to get the inheritance?” he asked his interviewer.

Next year, President Museveni will make 30 years since his rebel movement – in which Kyaligonza fought – captured power. And although he has won four successive elections, it is almost a taboo for ruling party leaders to discuss Museveni’s successor.  But the present argument by Rwabwogo, that veteran politicians like Kyaligonza need to give way to younger blood, has brought Museveni’s long tenure into focus.

Last week, Luweero LC-V chairman Abdul Nadduli, a former NRM vice-chairman, criticised Museveni over the Kyaligonza saga, taking the party chairman’s silence for endorsement of Rwabwogo’s intentions. Captain Francis Babu, another CEC member, has subsequently suggested that Museveni had long wanted to rid CEC of strong characters such as Kyaligonza.

During Friday’s CBS interview, Kyaligonza suggested that if Rwabwogo wants the historicals to go, he should have that conversation with Museveni.

“Who is that one? Odrek? I don’t know him, I have never even seen him,” he said. “Is he the one who gave me work? He should tell such things [about retiring] to his father in–law [Museveni]. We are the ones that brought his father-in-law in power. Don’t make me talk too much.”

In the earlier Observer interview, Rwabwogo heaped some praise on Kyaligonza. He said he respects the general so much since he was one of the best NRA fighters during the Luweero bush war.

“As a matter of fact, he was the commander who took down Makindye barracks, attacking Ndeeba from Masaka road. I know that very well,” Rwabwogo said. “I give him the due respect and the honour that you give an elder. However, I stand on the shoulders of the elders in order to do something better because there is always an evening of something and a dawn of another.”

On Friday, Kyaligonza was in no mood for niceties.

“Youths shouldn’t think that they will start with wanting to be president.  Let them start at the LC-I then we see how they behave. But when you say that the old guard are “bazeeyi” [old] and they don’t know what they are saying then we shall have problems. I think he [Rwabwogo] should start at least with LC-II and then LC-III then we shall see his potential,” he said.

He warned that even if Rwabwogo is supported by the first family as the “rumour mill” suggests, he will defeat him resoundingly.

“I hear he is being supported by the first family, I will shame the first family by defeating him. He is saying that he is coming from the first family? Is mine the second family? Even mine is a first family. We shall shame him and abuse him,” Kyaligonza said. 

According to Kyaligonza, what annoys him most is that all historicals are bitter with the way things are going on in the country. He said those who are not showing any anger are “opportunists.”

“When I get annoyed, I really get annoyed and I say the truth. I never sugar-coat in order to make people happy. We [historicals] don’t want familiarity because when we came [into power] we didn’t disrespect people,” he said.

“Look at all those people who are attending [Col Kizza] Besigye’s rallies. They want to support a cause because they are tired.”

Asked by his host whether he had lost faith in the NRM regime, Kyaligonza said: “Many other people will come out and say the truth because things are not going on well. It’s just a matter of time.”

It was not immediately clear how the NRM is dealing with the growing discontent among historical members over the Rwabwogo saga. Party spokesman Mary Karooro Okurut and her deputy Ofwono Opondo had not returned our phone calls by press time.

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/39452-kyaligonza-to-rwabwogo-first-tell-museveni-about-retirement

Mannerism: when the school you went to stalks you

Mannerism: when the school you went to stalks you
Publish Date: Feb 16, 2013

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newvision

By George Wabweyo

 

If you went to a private school or maybe attended a school you are hesitant to mention in your history pages, then anyone from a more traditional school (they call them schools with names) will tell you that you did not go to high school. They will also inform you that the schools they went to have a legacy older than that of the nation. 

 

They are the schools that have nurtured generations of a single family and shaped the history of the nation through the works of their alumni. 

 

It is no secret that even decades after an alumnus is done with the school, they will still make up an excuse to invoke the school they went to and of course with a worthy adjective for the school in tow. Attend one of the numerous get-togethers or old-boy-old-girl association dinners and you will be totally left out as men in their 40s have key holders and car stickers, saying “I am a Budonian”, “Ngonian”, name it. 

 

Accompany your spouse to one of these events and your Bweyogerere Standard High School history will be a spectacle to be spat on, for several years out of their old high school, the school continues following them — their outlook to life, social skills or the lack of, dress sense, name it.

 

While we might generalise these as stereotypes, you might actually amuse yourself finding out that some of them are true. Let us just take a ride through common typecasts to this effect, a number of which sourced from several of you the readers and social media enthusiasts. HERE WE GO…

 

Gayaza High: Homemakers

 

The girls are said to be ladies although at times they tend to exaggerate this. You would not expect a Gayaza Girl to jump over a ditch or a fence even during a riot. They love the natural look although are obsessive over their hair. Someone even suggested that their confidence supersedes that of Golola. They make the ideal wives or are rather way too good homemakers. They are also said to be proud and hard to seduce probably because they are really good Christians.

 

Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya 

Ladies as graceful as her rarely come from Uganda. She has been a lawyer, diplomat, politician, Hollywood actress and model. She is so Gayaza, alright!

 

Lady Justice Julia Sebutinde 

She is the no nonsense presiding judge in the International Court of Justice.

 

Maggie Kigozi 

She was once the executive director of Uganda Investment Authority and is currently a management consultant at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.

Kings college budo: snobs?

 

Eight out of every 10 people we asked about the alumni of King’s College Budo suggested that people who have attended the school tend to be pointlessly arrogant and proud. Others intimated that Budo “people” have an overriding air of self-importance and are big posers.

 

“They feel they deserve a planet of their own,” Joy, a Makerere University student, says. 

Budo old students apparently take the whole “king’s” thing too far. They are steadfast with their “I am a Budonian” stickers that impose on their cars, office doors and workstations. Although not many said good things about them, Budo girls were regarded as warm and welcoming, unlike their boys.

 

The many negative things might, on the other hand, be as a result of envy, for the respondents did not have the luxury of going to Budo.

 

Certain things though are for sure about Budo old students – they tend to make it big in life, are hard workers, have goods loads of honesty about them and are highly cultured and love classy and beautiful stuff. 

 

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) boss Jennifer Musisi aka Iron Lady falls here. And if anything from Budo rubbed off onto her, you can see it in her works as the head honcho at KCCA – successfulness taking the lead. She is known to be principled and a stalwart with her ideals. She is responsible for the current beautification of Kampala. 

 

Notables include several royals, politicians, authors, name them, the likes of Sir Edward Mutesa II, the 35th Kabaka of Buganda and first President of Uganda, the late Omukama of Toro David Kamurasi III and the late Kyabazinga of Busoga Henry Wako Muloki. Others are Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, former Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi, John Ssebaana Kizito, Aggrey Awori and author Okot P’Bitek, etc.

 

Ntare: The school?

 

The new generation of Ntare products keep introducing themselves as the school, which produced two presidents.

They are said to be good debaters, eloquent, although, honestly, nowadays that is debatable.

 

They also have a good reserve of pride although it is subtle and they will not put it in your face.

 

They are also known to be hyperactive and some of them might digress to being rowdy, of course, excluding His Excellency the President, who also happens to be an old boy of the school. 

 

Dr. Tom Rushedge: Few people can claim to live a life as colourful as that of the Old Fox, as he was popularly known.

 

Rushedge was not only a doctor, musician, cartoonist and teacher, but he was also a celebrated author. His column was notorious for revealing his outrageous escapades. 

 

Paul Kagame: The Rwandan president seems to have bagged a couple of traits from his former school.

 

He is said to be adept at speeches, is very principled and highly incorruptible. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mt. St Mary’s Namagunga: Assertive

 

They are said to be too principled and always have to play by the rules. Give them a code of conduct and they will stick to it to the letter.

 

Smart, assertive, always want to win arguments, they are said to be ardent feminist untamable with their passion.

 

You do not easily walk a Namagunga girl down the aisle; you might have to do some serious sweating first.

 

They are politically-charged and in most cases, you will not win an argument against them even if you are right.

 

Dr. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe 

The physician and former vice-president is known to be ambitious, headstrong and confident. She has been at the forefront in advocacy for women’s affairs.

 

Winnie Byanyima

The former Mbarara Municipality MP was the first female aeronautics engineer in Uganda.

 

She was part of the liberation struggle in the 1980s and is viewed as an ambitious and strong woman.

 

She spearheaded the censure of some ministers during her tenure in parliament. She is now the executive director of Oxfam International, a global humanitarian relief organisation.

 

 

Kiira College Butiki: Freestylers

 

They are said to be easy-going “freestylers” although they have a penchant for being rough and unhinged when provoked, with a sort of reckless fun-loving touch.

 

They too seem to have a testosterone overload and tend to be sporty, while leaning more on the creative industry side. 

 

You do not want to be on their wrong side for they are vocal too. Flamboyant city lawyer Julius Galisonga lies here. They are allegedly control freaks too.

 

Among prominent old boys are musician Moses Sekibogo aka Mowzey Radio. He is the other half of the notorious Gudlyfe duo who, although immensely talented, tend to shoot themselves in the foot with feuds and abrasive encounters.

 

He is definitely Butiki material. Lugaflo used-to-be-king GNL Zamba also belongs here.  

 

Maurice Mugisha, television anchor, who away from the screen, embodies the easy-going freestyle outlook and of course the testosterone overload, also represented in his suaveness with the ladies. 

 

MP Bugweri Abdu Katuntu is known to keep other legislators on their toes. He is eloquent too.

 

Kitante Hill: Relentless

 

They are said to be rebellious, confident and explorative. They are not good dressers, prefer lewd Luganda slang even though they are said to be eloquent in English.  

 

Perhaps one of their most popular alumni is the one and only Kizza Besigye.

 

The now retired Forum for Democratic Change boss has been known to be relentless, adamant, incessant and headstrong.

 

In some of his demonstrations, he has faced off with anti-riot police. Even in his retirement, he still seems to be active.

 

Ghetto president Bobi Wine was in Kitante too and definitely plays the part.

 

He has glorified street life, worn a badman persona and of course, sung Tugambire ku Jennifer, a headstrong song decrying the acts of Jennifer Musisi and Kampala Capital City Authority.

 

Namasagali: Fun lovers

Liberal and broad-minded, they are said to be fun-loving and into the arts.

 

They are eloquent although they tend to overtalk when given the chance to say something. The guys are ladies’ men.

 

The ladies know how to enjoy themselves or have fun. 

 

Gender aside, all sagali alumni are a tad too flamboyant, of course, taking after the legendary Father Grimes, who is known to have inculcated huge sums of character and culture in his charges. 

 

Some of the former students are Parliament speaker Rebecca Kadaga, Robert Kabushenga, chief executive officer of the New Vision Group of Companies, singer Juliana Kanyomozi and radio personality Alex Ndawula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Namilyango: Women’s men 

 

These gentlemen know how to treat women well

 Norbert Mao — Democratic Party 2011 presidential candidate

 

 Pastor Martin Sempa of Makerere Community Chapel and AIDS activist

 

 Ronnie “DJ Mitch” Egwang — Television, radio personality and events host

 

Lawrence Mulindwa — President, Federation of Uganda Football Associations and headmaster of St. Mary’s College Kitende

 

 

 

 

 

SMACK

The guys from St. Mary’s College Kisubi (SMACK) are said to be brilliant, but socially-inept and awkward.

 

They are said to suffer from the boy’s school syndrome and are not good with the ladies.

 

In fact, they are never decided about women and have high likelihood of having bad relationships.

 

They prefer to hang out in cliques even to their mid-adulthood. They also tend to have big egos and are too serious with life. 

 

They are reserved and too calm. They are steadfast with their Mr. Edward Ssekandi — vice-president of Uganda.

 

He was once the speaker before he ascended to the vice-presidency. He comes off as reserved and a tad too calm.

 

Fr. Anthony Musaala — He, of course, is the unreserved and quintessential priest known for his rather un-priestly dance moves.

 

Charles Mbiire — He is a well-known and successful businessman who has a substantial stake in the MTN telecom company.  With his hardwork and serious-with-life approach, he has SMACK written all over him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mwiri: Too Rough?

 

They over believe in the whole brotherhood thing and always stand by their own.

 

They are said to be really kin on the bottle, social and running on testosterone overload so they come out as masculine and at times too rough or shabby.

 

Unlike alumni of other traditional and big named schools, Mwirians as they are called, blend in easily with everyone else.

Milton Obote

 

The first president of Uganda was not only brilliant he was also known to be quite a socialite in his days.

 

Did he come out as masculine and at times rough? Well, even although you would say he was a gentleman, he also had his fair rough spates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nabisunsa Girls

They are said to be over-confident.

Syda Bumba — the Gender, Labour and Social Development minister.

 

http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/639896-mannerism-when-the-school-you-went-to-stalks-you.htm