Category: Politics

Uganda:NRM vets Oulanyah, Kadaga for Speaker

The race for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament yesterday entered critical stage as eight aspirants appeared before the ruling party’s Central Executive Committee chaired by President Museveni to defend their candidature in a tense vetting process.

The decision by CEC to scrutinise the credentials of the contenders in the race for Speaker ties with Section 9 of the 2014 NRM Parliamentary Caucus Rules of Procure, requiring the top organ to vet and approve parliamentary leadership hashed out behind the scenes, with an anointing of sorts when a new Parliament begins, rather than a contested vote.

Sources close to CEC told Daily Monitor last evening that individual messages were sent to each of the eight candidates in the race, inviting them for vetting at State House at 10am. However, the meeting did not commence until past 3pm since the NRM electoral commission boss Tanga Odoi had to present the list of successful candidates to CEC.

NRM EC presents candidates

Dr Odoi presented Mr Oulanyah and Ms Kadaga as the only NRM MPs nominated for Speakership. He also told CEC that six candidates were nominated for the position of the Deputy Speaker.

The six candidates are Finance state minister David Bahati, Mr Hamson Obua of Ajuri County and Mitooma Woman MP Jovah Kamateeka. Others are Kumi District MP-elect Monica Amoding, Kitagwenda MP-elect Abbas Agaba and Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo.

Two-horse race

Ms Kadaga and Mr Oulanyah appeared before a 29-member committee and were reportedly asked to account for their decisions in the 9th Parliament and shed light on how each of them intends to wriggle the challenges in the 10th Parliament.

Sources told Daily Monitor that while Mr Oulanyah marketed himself as “steadfast” and “experienced” in law and rules of procedure, .

In Ms Kadaga and Ms Oulanyah, CEC members who talked to Daily Monitor but requested not be quoted talked of “a hard choice,” that has divided the committee.

Some members were pushing for the status-quo and others were backing Mr Oulanyah. There was a third group who had demanded that Ms Kadaga and Mr Oulanyah be forwarded to the Parliamentary Caucus sitting this Thursday to take a decision. By Press time, the president had not given his views on the two candidates.

Mr Ssekikubo apparently told CEC that he was not “an extremist” and that President Museveni needs him to deliver the promises in the NRM manifesto (2016-2021). He also told CEC that even when he was “unfairly” expelled from the party, he worked so hard to return and encouraged colleagues to do the same.

As CEC remained holed up in the meeting, the jostling for the race of Speaker intensified at Parliament, with MPs backing Ms Kadaga unveiling their next course of action-just in case their candidate does not sail through the NRM internal processes.
After failing to convince Mr Oulanyah to step down for Ms Kadaga, Lango MPs echoed concerns first raised by the Busoga Parliamentary Caucus, insisting that they will front Ms Kadaga as an independent candidate if she is either thrown out by CEC or does not clinch the NRM flag in the primaries.

The regional questions

“Incase our candidate does not go through NRM CEC, what will we do? CEC does not have the power to direct us. We will back the candidate to come as an Independent,” Erute North MP Charles Angiro Gutumoi told a press briefing at Parliament.

“We want the status quo [of Kadaga as Speaker and Oulanyah as deputy] retained because it takes care of the regional balance. Having an easterner as Speaker and a northerner as Deputy,” Ms Betty Amongi (Oyam County South) said.
To balance the equation of regional politics, the Lango MPs decided to back Mr Hamson Obua (Ajuri County) for the Deputy Speaker slot.

Kadaga’s strategy

Ms Kadaga is running a more open campaign, unveiling MPs from different Caucuses to pledge allegiance to her while Mr Oulanyah has been campaigning rather covertly focusing on 83 per cent of the new MPs.

May 3, 2016
May Day observed from Turkey to Taiwan

Trade unions and other groups stage rallies and events around the world to mark International Workers Day.

Trade unions and other groups are staging rallies around the world to mark International Workers Day. A look at some May Day events:

TURKEY

Turkish police on Sunday used tear gas and water cannon to disperse dozens of May Day demonstrators in Istanbul.

Security forces arrested several people to prevent them from gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim Square which has symbolic meaning as the centre of protests in which 34 people were killed in 1977.

A police vehicle ran over and killed one protester who was trying to reach the public square, named by local media as 57-year-old Nail Mavus, in Tarlabasi district of Istanbul.

In the nearby district of Sisli, police fired tear gas and water cannon to scatter other protesters.

Up to 15,000 police and 120 water cannons were deployed across Istanbul, according to Anadolu Agency.

According to Birgun newspaper, 52 people were arrested as they tried to reach Taksim Square.

“The police are routinely heavy-handed in such demonstrations, not only on May Day. The scuffles occurred after police did not let people enter Taksim Square,” Yavuz Baydar, a Turkish columnist and analyst, told Al Jazeera.

Authorities had previously agreed with some unions to mark the day in a designated area in Istanbul’s Bakirkoy district near the airport.

Elsewhere in Turkey, May Day marches were held without incident but were cancelled in the southern city of Gaziantep after of a car-bomb attack on a police station.

A May 1 rally in the city of Adana was also cancelled earlier on Sunday as a result of a suicide-bombing threat.

Turkish police detained four suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) members who were allegedly planning an attack on May Day celebrations in the capital Ankara, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

Initial investigations showed that the four were Syrian citizens who had been in Ankara for some time, Anadolu said, without giving details on the nature of the attack.

“It is a tense Turkey nowadays. A low-intensity civil war is going on in the mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces of the country,” Baydar, the Turkish columnist, said.

“As for the oppositional liberal parts of society in the urban areas, they believe their demands are not being met, and not even being listened to, by the government. This tension has been spreading across the country.”

Tens of thousands of people marched across Moscow’s Red Square on Sunday morning in a pro-Kremlin workers’ rally. The protesters were carrying the Russian tricolour and balloons.

As is typical for rallies organised by the ruling United Russia party, the May Day rally steered clear of criticising President Vladimir Putin or his government for falling living standards.

The slogans focused on wages and jobs for young professionals.

Left-wing Russian groups held their own rallies.

This year the May Day coincided with the Orthodox Easter in Russia.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov told Russian news agencies before the rally that he celebrates Easter despite the Communist Party’s history of oppressing the Russian Church.

When a supporter greeted him with “Christ has risen!”, Zyuganov echoed “He is risen indeed!” in a traditional Orthodox greeting.

TAIWAN

In Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, labour unions took to the streets with a march to call on the government to reduce working hours and increase wages.

Many among the Taiwanese public have been concerned that outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou’s push for closer economic ties with China has benefited just a few.

Young Taiwanese have seen wages stagnate and good full-time jobs harder to find as the export-led economy has slowed.

Chen Li-jen, a protester with the Taiwan Petroleum Workers Union, said that while companies were seeing their earnings per share grow every year, workers’ salaries were not rising in tandem.

“Hardworking labourers are being exploited by consortiums,” Chen said.

“For the past decade, our basic salary has not made any progress.

“Labourers’ rights have always been neglected. This is why I hope to take advantage of the May 1 Labour Day protest and tell the government that we are determined to fight for our rights.”

Thousands of people in the German cities of Berlin and Hamburg are participating in demonstrations marking the Labour Day, according to the DW news agency.

The protests have been peaceful, with police only reporting some minor incidents of violence.

Protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany Party are expected to take place in several German cities, including Stuttgart, where the party is holding a congress.

Leftwing protests were held against the demonstration of right-wing, anti-immigration activists in the town of Plauen.

SOUTH KOREA

Tens of thousands of South Koreans took part in Sunday’s May Day protests to criticise labour reforms pushed by the government and to call for a higher minimum wage.

Labour activists say the labour reform bill, pushed by President Park Geun-Hye and her conservative Saenuri Party, will make it easier for companies to lay off workers.

“Let’s fight together against the evil bill!” labour activists and unionised workers chanted in unison during a protest held in Seoul Plaza in front of the city hall.

About 30,000 unionised workers at local companies took part, according to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions.

FRANCE

Sunday’s May Day rallies pulled together all the different French trade unions and groups opposed to the proposed reform of the Labour laws.

The traditional marches, which will continue throughout the day, are likely to be tense affairs after violence marred demonstrations earlier this month.

Police are expected to be out in force following protests on April 28 during which dozens of police officers were wounded and 214 arrest were made.

Bernard Cazeneuve, interior minister, in a telegram to senior police officers on Saturday, outlined a number of measures to be taken to avoid a repeat of the violence at previous demonstrations.

William Martinet, president of the UNEF students union, accepted that more needed to be done to protect and police the marches.

The CGT and the Force Ouvriere trade unions will lead the main May Day march in Paris, which will leave Place de la Bastille and head for Nation in the southeast of the city.

There will be representations from all the major student unions.

There will also be marches in other major towns and cities all over France.

However, neither the CFDT nor the CFTC unions, both of whom support the proposed Labour reform, will be marching today.

For its part, France’s far-right National Front party moved its annual May 1 gathering from its traditional location near the famous Louvre, to another location at Saint Augustin, a church in north central Paris.

The National Front said it had made the decision after ISIL announced earlier this year that the group was on the list of targets.

However, the founder Jean-Marie Le Pen still held a rally at the traditional location, in defiance of current party leader Marine Le Pen, his daughter.

May 2, 2016
May Day observed from Turkey to Taiwan

Trade unions and other groups stage rallies and events around the world to mark International Workers Day.

Trade unions and other groups are staging rallies around the world to mark International Workers Day. A look at some May Day events:

TURKEY

Turkish police on Sunday used tear gas and water cannon to disperse dozens of May Day demonstrators in Istanbul.

Security forces arrested several people to prevent them from gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim Square which has symbolic meaning as the centre of protests in which 34 people were killed in 1977.

A police vehicle ran over and killed one protester who was trying to reach the public square, named by local media as 57-year-old Nail Mavus, in Tarlabasi district of Istanbul.

In the nearby district of Sisli, police fired tear gas and water cannon to scatter other protesters.

Up to 15,000 police and 120 water cannons were deployed across Istanbul, according to Anadolu Agency.

According to Birgun newspaper, 52 people were arrested as they tried to reach Taksim Square.

“The police are routinely heavy-handed in such demonstrations, not only on May Day. The scuffles occurred after police did not let people enter Taksim Square,” Yavuz Baydar, a Turkish columnist and analyst, told Al Jazeera.

Authorities had previously agreed with some unions to mark the day in a designated area in Istanbul’s Bakirkoy district near the airport.

Elsewhere in Turkey, May Day marches were held without incident but were cancelled in the southern city of Gaziantep after of a car-bomb attack on a police station.

A May 1 rally in the city of Adana was also cancelled earlier on Sunday as a result of a suicide-bombing threat.

Turkish police detained four suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) members who were allegedly planning an attack on May Day celebrations in the capital Ankara, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

Initial investigations showed that the four were Syrian citizens who had been in Ankara for some time, Anadolu said, without giving details on the nature of the attack.

“It is a tense Turkey nowadays. A low-intensity civil war is going on in the mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces of the country,” Baydar, the Turkish columnist, said.

“As for the oppositional liberal parts of society in the urban areas, they believe their demands are not being met, and not even being listened to, by the government. This tension has been spreading across the country.”

Tens of thousands of people marched across Moscow’s Red Square on Sunday morning in a pro-Kremlin workers’ rally. The protesters were carrying the Russian tricolour and balloons.

As is typical for rallies organised by the ruling United Russia party, the May Day rally steered clear of criticising President Vladimir Putin or his government for falling living standards.

The slogans focused on wages and jobs for young professionals.

Left-wing Russian groups held their own rallies.

This year the May Day coincided with the Orthodox Easter in Russia.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov told Russian news agencies before the rally that he celebrates Easter despite the Communist Party’s history of oppressing the Russian Church.

When a supporter greeted him with “Christ has risen!”, Zyuganov echoed “He is risen indeed!” in a traditional Orthodox greeting.

TAIWAN

In Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, labour unions took to the streets with a march to call on the government to reduce working hours and increase wages.

Many among the Taiwanese public have been concerned that outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou’s push for closer economic ties with China has benefited just a few.

Young Taiwanese have seen wages stagnate and good full-time jobs harder to find as the export-led economy has slowed.

Chen Li-jen, a protester with the Taiwan Petroleum Workers Union, said that while companies were seeing their earnings per share grow every year, workers’ salaries were not rising in tandem.

“Hardworking labourers are being exploited by consortiums,” Chen said.

“For the past decade, our basic salary has not made any progress.

“Labourers’ rights have always been neglected. This is why I hope to take advantage of the May 1 Labour Day protest and tell the government that we are determined to fight for our rights.”

Thousands of people in the German cities of Berlin and Hamburg are participating in demonstrations marking the Labour Day, according to the DW news agency.

The protests have been peaceful, with police only reporting some minor incidents of violence.

Protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany Party are expected to take place in several German cities, including Stuttgart, where the party is holding a congress.

Leftwing protests were held against the demonstration of right-wing, anti-immigration activists in the town of Plauen.

SOUTH KOREA

Tens of thousands of South Koreans took part in Sunday’s May Day protests to criticise labour reforms pushed by the government and to call for a higher minimum wage.

Labour activists say the labour reform bill, pushed by President Park Geun-Hye and her conservative Saenuri Party, will make it easier for companies to lay off workers.

“Let’s fight together against the evil bill!” labour activists and unionised workers chanted in unison during a protest held in Seoul Plaza in front of the city hall.

About 30,000 unionised workers at local companies took part, according to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions.

FRANCE

Sunday’s May Day rallies pulled together all the different French trade unions and groups opposed to the proposed reform of the Labour laws.

The traditional marches, which will continue throughout the day, are likely to be tense affairs after violence marred demonstrations earlier this month.

Police are expected to be out in force following protests on April 28 during which dozens of police officers were wounded and 214 arrest were made.

Bernard Cazeneuve, interior minister, in a telegram to senior police officers on Saturday, outlined a number of measures to be taken to avoid a repeat of the violence at previous demonstrations.

William Martinet, president of the UNEF students union, accepted that more needed to be done to protect and police the marches.

The CGT and the Force Ouvriere trade unions will lead the main May Day march in Paris, which will leave Place de la Bastille and head for Nation in the southeast of the city.

There will be representations from all the major student unions.

There will also be marches in other major towns and cities all over France.

However, neither the CFDT nor the CFTC unions, both of whom support the proposed Labour reform, will be marching today.

For its part, France’s far-right National Front party moved its annual May 1 gathering from its traditional location near the famous Louvre, to another location at Saint Augustin, a church in north central Paris.

The National Front said it had made the decision after ISIL announced earlier this year that the group was on the list of targets.

However, the founder Jean-Marie Le Pen still held a rally at the traditional location, in defiance of current party leader Marine Le Pen, his daughter.

May 2, 2016
Muqtada al-Sadr loyalists leave Baghdad’s Green Zone

Prime Minister Abadi issues call for arrests as 24-hour sit-in ends but protesters vow to return if demands are not met.

Protesters in Baghdad’s Green Zone have left the heavily fortified government district after a 24-hour sit-in but pledged to return by the end of the week if their demands for political reform are not met.

The dispersal came on a day two suicide car-bomb attacks in southern Iraq killed at least 32 people and injured 75 others.

Sunday’s blasts, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, occurred in the centre of the southern city of Samawa.

Iraq has endured months of discontent prompted by Haider al-Abadi’s attempt to replace party-affiliated ministers with technocrats as part of an anti-corruption drive.

A divided parliament has failed to approve the prime minister’s proposal amid scuffles and protests.

Abadi’s arrest order

Deep frustration over the deadlock culminated in a breach on Saturday of the Green Zone by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the powerful Shia leader.

Protesters stormed the parliament, clashed with police and broke the barricades.

Abadi’s statement ordered “the interior minister to track down the perpetrators who assaulted the security forces, the citizens and members of the council of representatives and were involved in vandalising public property and to present them to court so they can have a fair trial and face justice”.

Sadr and his supporters want the political system put in place following the US-led invasion in 2003 to be altered.

As it stands, entrenched political blocs representing the country’s Shias, Sunnis and Kurds rely on patronage, resulting in widespread corruption and poor public services.

The major blocs have until now blocked Abadi’s reform efforts.

“In Iraq, a change is demanded by almost most Iraqis, especially by those out of power,” Ghassan al-Atiyyah, head of Iraqi National Initiative, told Al Jazeera.

“Ultimately, the ball is in our court. We have to devise a way to improve the situation. Failure of the secular and ethnic parties in moving Iraq forward has created an atmosphere for change.”

Abadi has given warning that continued turmoil could hamper the war against ISIL, which controls large parts of northern and western Iraq and has frequently targeted the seat of power.

The Green Zone protesters issued an escalating set of demands, including a parliamentary vote on a technocrat government, the resignation of the president, prime minister and parliamentary speaker and new elections.

If none of the demands are met, a spokesperson for the protesters said in a televised speech, they would resort to “all legitimate means”, including civil disobedience.

The peaceful defusing of the crisis came after Abadi convened a meeting with Iraq’s president, parliament speaker and political bloc leaders who called the breach “a dangerous infringement of the state’s prestige and a blatant constitutional violation that must be prosecuted”.

The Green Zone, a 10sq km district on the banks of the Tigris River which also houses many foreign embassies, has been off-limits to most Iraqis since the US-led invasion in 2003.

In an unprecedented breach on Sunday, hundreds of people pulled down and stormed over concrete blast walls, celebrating inside parliament and attacking several deputies.

Many protesters, including some women and children, had spent Sunday in the square, taking refuge inside event halls from 37C heat, while others lay on the grass or cooled off in a large fountain topped with a military statue.

Videos on social media showed a group of young men surrounding and slapping two Iraqi legislators as they attempted to flee the crowd, while other protesters mobbed motorcades.

Protesters were also seen jumping and dancing on the parliament’s meeting hall tables and chairs and waving Iraqi flags.

The protesters eventually left the parliament on Saturday night before camping out in the Green Zone.

May 2, 2016
Zuma told to resign after court ordered graft cases restored

President has faced three votes to sack him in the last six months.

Opposition parties in South Africa want the country’s leader President Jacob Zuma to resign following the High Court judgment which reinstated 783 corruption and fraud charges against him.

The charges had been set aside in 2009 by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), but for seven years the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has been fighting to have the charges restored.

On Friday, the High Court in Pretoria said NPA’s decision to drop the charges had been irrational.

The new judgment follows a recent Constitutional Court ruling against President Zuma for failing to implement the findings of the Public Protector for non-security features in his Nkandla private home.

The opposition parties believe the reinstatement of the charges is another convincing reason for the beleaguered leader to step down.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said they were calling for Mr Zuma to step down.

“He must resign and allow the prosecution and investigation to go on uninterrupted,” he said.

But the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has, once again, jumped to its leader’s defence cautioning that the court had not found the President guilty of any charges.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said they note the fact that the application before the court was the application for review and has nothing to do with the guilt or not.

“But what is important is that there are no charges against the President at the moment, what the court has ordered is for the court to review its decision,” Mr Kodwa said.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane said if Mr Zuma appeals the decision, he would ensure Mr Zuma has his day in court.

“Those charges must be reinstated. What we are simply saying is that the charges must be put to Jacob Zuma, he must have his day in court because ultimately what that means is that, we are not pronouncing guilt on Jacob Zuma. We are simply asking for him to face prosecution,” Mr Maimane said.

Minority political parties such as the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Congress of the People (COPE), United Democratic Movement (UDM), Inkatha Freedom Parties (IFP) and Freedom Front Plus also joined in the calls for Mr Zuma’s head.

They warned the South African leader and the ruling ANC not to try to evade this protracted legal battle by appealing it.

In the last six months, Mr Zuma has survived three impeachment attempts.

Meanwhile, the Economic Freedom Fighters party won a massive show of support as it targeted white privilege and the ruling African National Congress as it launched its local election manifesto on Saturday.

Around 40,000 people turned Orlando stadium in Soweto into a sea of red as supporters roared their approval of fiery EFF leader Julius Malema’s promises to seize white-owned land without compensation and nationalise the banks.

The huge turnout was a shot across the bows of the ANC, which failed to fill a similar stadium during the launch of its own manifesto in the coastal city of East London two weeks ago.

May 2, 2016
Burundi economy on the ropes amid political crisis

Effects of recession are plain to see in the capital Bujumbura, many hotels closed.

A year into a political crisis which has claimed about 500 lives, driven a quarter of a million into exile and prompted Western donors to suspend government aid, Burundi’s economy is on the ropes.

The central African country had only just begun to recover from a 1993-2006 ethnic-based civil war when it became sucked back into violence after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced a year ago that he would seek a third term in office.

“The economy had been starting to stabilise, inflation was under control, and with average growth of around 4.5 per cent over several years, Burundi seemed to be on the right path,” said an economics professor at Burundi University, who did not wish to be named.

“But the current crisis has had catastrophic consequences, particularly on public finances” and on the business sector, he told AFP.

Nkurunziza’s quest for a third term sparked outrage among the opposition and human rights groups, who said the move violated a two-term limit on presidential mandates and flouted a peace deal that ended the civil war.

Despite mass protests and an attempted coup, Nkurunziza refused calls from the international community to step aside, winning another term in July elections that were boycotted by the opposition.

RECESSION

With his re-election came recession and a further slide in global development ranks.

The economy shrank by 7.4 per cent in 2015, taking Burundi from the world’s third-poorest country to the poorest, with a GDP of $315.20 dollars per inhabitant, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The effects of the recession are plain to see in the capital Bujumbura, where most hotels have gone to the wall or laid off most of their staff.

“The hotel sector is a disaster zone,” said the owner of a big hotel in the capital, which had only two guests during the first four months of the crisis.

“I only kept a tenth of my staff because it’s impossible to just shut up shop given the investments I’ve made and the bank loans I took out,” the hotelier told AFP.

Like many people in Bujumbura, he refused to give his name for fear of repercussions.

The collapse of the fledgling tourism sector has also hit the banks that provided loans for hotel construction in the mountainous country in recent years.

“No-one is paying them back,” the university professor explained.

In March, the European Union, Burundi’s biggest donor, cut funding to the government in a move aimed at pressuring Nkurunziza into talks with the opposition on a way out of the political deadlock.

“It was a very hard blow to the government, even though it has tried to downplay its impact,” a European diplomat in Bujumbura told AFP.

While the economy had not collapsed per se, the country’s budget deficit has grown and the effects of the recession were “plain to see,” the diplomat said.

In Bujumbura, at least one bridge on a major road that was washed away by floods has yet to be rebuilt, for lack of funds. Several main roads are also in a dire state of repair.

May 2, 2016
Uganda:Museveni warns on protests

President Museveni yesterday vowed to deal with whoever intends to demonstrate against his February 18 victory, saying he will not allow any opposition forces to “destabilise the country”.

“I advise Ugandans to concentrate on wealth creation instead of taking issues on radios which will not develop them,” the President said.

President Museveni won the February 18 polls, whose legitimacy the Opposition and some international observers have contested.

The Forum for Democratic Change party has since announced a series of defiance campaign activities – the latest being the party’s announcement to hold countrywide protests in disapproval of President Museveni’s swearing in ceremony due to take place on May 12 at Mandela National Stadium.

While presiding over the International Labour Day celebrations held at Duhaga Playgrounds in Hoima yesterday under the Theme: “Strengthening Uganda’s competitiveness for sustainable job creation and inclusive growth,” the President warned that during his five-year tenure, “nobody will have the capacity to destabilise the country.”

FDC party members have vowed to defy any unlawful orders against the party even as the deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma issued an order banning the party’s public protest activities. The judge’s orders, issued Last Friday, banned further holding of the Tuesday weekly prayers and media houses from carrying defiance campaign messages.

The former FDC presidential, candidate Dr Kizza Besigye, however, vowed to disregard the court directive which he described as irregular.

The President said government has created a good atmosphere for investors and tourists who he said are the main job creators in the country.

Commenting on industrialisation, the president observed that industries in Uganda have increased from 2,800 in 2015 to 3,100 in 2016 employing about 500,000 people.
He, however, said there is a need for investors to invest in power generation and infrastructure development.

“We have to work on the roads to supplement the existing ones. Workers who are demanding increased salaries should also put this into consideration,” he said.

He pledged to reduce the price of power which has increased the cost of production in the country.

The President also awarded medals to 419 civilians, soldiers, civil servants, religious leaders and activists for their commendable service to society.

He also commissioned the newly constructed structures at Hoima regional referral hospital and a sugar factory in Kiziramfumbi Sub-county.

Contested

Mr Amama Mbabazi, a former Presidential aspirant who stood as an independent candidate, contested the poll outcome and petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the President’s victory on grounds that the poll was characterised by massive irregularities. The Supreme Court however, held Mr Museveni’s victory.

May 2, 2016
Elephant summit: Kenya sets fire to huge ivory stockpile

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has set fire to a huge stockpile of ivory in an effort to show his country’s commitment to saving Africa’s elephants.

More than 100 tonnes of ivory was stacked up in pyres in Nairobi National Park where it is expected to burn for several days.

The ivory represents nearly the entire stock confiscated by Kenya, amounting to the tusks of about 6,700 elephants.

Some disagree with Kenya’s approach, saying it can encourage poaching.
Before igniting the first pyre, Mr Kenyatta said: “The height of the pile of ivory before us marks the strength of our resolve.

“No-one, and I repeat no-one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage.”

Does burning actually destroy ivory?

The burning comes after African leaders meeting in Kenya urged an end to illegal trade in ivory.

Experts have warned Africa’s elephants could be extinct within decades.
But some conservationists have expressed opposition to the ivory burn in Kenya, the biggest in history.

They say destroying so much of a rare commodity could increase its value and encourage more poaching rather than less.

Botswana, which is home to about half of Africa’s elephants, is opposed to the burn and its president did not attend the event in Nairobi.

Demand for ivory comes largely from Asia, with the main trafficking route being through the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

The ivory is getting through because people are prepared to pay for it. Stopping the men with arrows and the corrupt officials is just one part of the solution – the other is destroying the hunger for ivory.

The love of ivory goes back millennia. Its pure, translucent beauty and the ease with which a tusk can be carved into intricate sculptures have given it a lasting value throughout the ages.

Tackling demand and destroying the market are both important but there are also ways of making elephants more valuable alive than dead.

In the parks and game reserves of Africa, close encounters with the most remarkable animals on the planet lie in wait – you just need time, patience and a good eye.

Some 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn will also be burned.

The street value of the ivory to be destroyed is estimated at more than $100m (£70m), and the rhino horn at $80m.

“We don’t believe there is any intrinsic value in ivory, and therefore we’re going to burn all our stockpiles and demonstrate to the world that ivory is only valuable on elephants,” said Kitili Mbathi, director general of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

May 1, 2016
Julius Malema vows to seize white-owned land

Opposition politician promises no compensation and pledges to nationalise banks if his EFF party wins local polls.

The leader of South Africa’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party has launched his party’s campaign for the upcoming local elections, promising to rescue citizens from poverty, unemployment and corrupt government.

Around 40,000 people turned up at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday displaying massive support for fiery EFF leader Julius Malema’s promises to seize white-owned land without compensation and nationalise the banks.

The huge turnout was a shot across the bows of the ANC, which failed to fill a similar stadium during the launch of its own manifesto in the coastal city of East London two weeks ago.

“We are not chasing the whites away. We are saying you have too much land. We want you here in South Africa, but 80 percent of the land belongs to us,” Malema told the crowd.

The white minority still holds the vast majority of farmland as well as a disproportionate share of the country’s wealth.

The EFF is capitalising on black discontent over the perceived lack of change under the ANC government since the end of apartheid 22 years ago.

Campaign promises

Malema, clad in the EFF’s signature red overalls and beret, made many promises from free land, water and electricity for the poor to flushing toilets in all homes as he campaigned ahead of municipal elections in August.

“We want black communities to be like white communities,” he told the enthusiastic crowd.

The ANC, which has ruled since its iconic leader Nelson Mandela took power in 1994, showed in 2014 national elections that it still had overwhelming support.

However, it has been hard hit by a series of scandals involving President Jacob Zuma and some commentators predict it could lose a couple of major municipalities in the upcoming vote.

The EFF was founded 2013 by Malema after he was thrown out as the leader of the ANC’s youth wing.

In national elections less than a year later it won more than a million votes, taking 25 seats in parliament and becoming the third largest party behind the centrist Democratic Alliance, which holds 89 seats.

This will be the first time the EFF has contested local elections, where issues such as housing, service delivery, poverty and unemployment rank high on voters’ lists of complaints.

May 1, 2016
Gambia opposition activists charged

The court adjourned the case to May 5 and did not rule on bail application.

Gambian prosecutors have charged opposition leader Ousaniou Darboe and 19 other activists with conspiracy to commit a felony.

Darboe, leader of the United Democratic Party, and his co-defendants, including a new accused Masanneh Lalo Jawla, all pleaded not guilty to the charge at the high court in Banjul.

They had previously been charged with unlawful assembly, rioting and incitement to violence.

Jawla was also charged with all the counts earlier levelled against his co-defendants.

They are among 38 people arrested over demonstrations on April 14 and 16.

Some of them were detained on April 14 after a rare opposition protest demanding political reforms while the others were arrested following a demonstration two days later against the death of UDP official Solo Sandeng in custody.

The court adjourned the case to May 5 and did not rule on bail application.

Their lawyers told the court that the opposition activists had been denied adequate food, access to medical attention and family visits.

Defence lawyer Hawa Sisay Sabally said her client Fanta Darboe had sustained severe injuries to her right hand and other parts of the body but had not yet received medical attention.

Prosecutor Hadi Saleh Barkum rejected the claims.

The court, however, ordered prison authorities to allow the defendants access to adequate food, care and visits from their relatives.

April 30, 2016