Tag: GreatLakesNews

{The Immigration Services Department has netted 594 illegal immigrants, including two employees who were working in the public service.
}
Speaking at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Dar es Salaam zone immigration chief, John Msumule said the arrests of illegal immigrants were made after an intense investigation that was done in the past eight months.

Mr Msumule named the two aliens who were employed by the government prior to the arrests as Mr Bahilanya Milingita alias Roy Bilingita who is a Congolese national and Dr Esther Mwenitumba who is from Malawi.

According to Mr Msumule, Mr Bilingita entered in the country in 1986 illegally and managed to acquire a Tanzanian passport by submitting false documents. “He is residing in Gongolamboto with two wives and he is an electric technician who owns a company that has a joint venture with Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO),’’ he said, adding that he was employed by TANESCO contrary to the country’s laws.

The other illegal immigrants, according to the immigration regional chief is Dr Esther Mwenitumba, who prior to the arrest was working as the chief medical officer at the Mburahati health centre. He added that the suspects would be arraigned immediately after completion of investigations.

According to the Non-Citizens (Regulations) Act, upon conviction, any person who contravenes the law commits an offence and he/she is liable to a fine of not less than 10m/- to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years or both.

Yesterday, Mr Msumule warned landlords who were not getting details of their tenants, insisting that it was proper if the records of all the tenants were proper, where on any suspicion, information should be taken to the nearest immigration office.

{A U.S. security contractor is accusing two top-ranking officials in Congo’s government of being directly involved in his detention and torture.}

An American security contractor is accusing two top-ranking Congolese officials of ordering his detention and torture, declaring in a lawsuit that they demanded he confess falsely to being part of a plot to overthrow the country’s government.

Darryl Lewis, an Air Force veteran, said in an Associated Press interview this week that he was illegally held in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, for nearly six weeks and interrogated for as much as 16 hours a day by members of Congo’s national intelligence agency.

Congo’s intelligence chief, Kalev Mutond, and Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, “acted in concert” to have him detained, tortured and “threatened with indefinite imprisonment on false charges,” according to the lawsuit, filed July 29 in federal court in Washington.

“I feared for my life from the day they captured me,” Lewis, 48, said. He said he never confessed.

Congo’s ambassador, Francois Balumuene, said in a statement Thursday that Lewis was detained because he did not have the proper work permit. He denied Lewis had been mistreated and called his lawsuit “unsubstantiated allegations.”

Law enforcement authorities in Congo released Lewis on June 8 after “extensive diplomatic efforts and negotiations,” the lawsuit said. Lewis is seeking at least $4.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

The lawsuit comes amid mounting tensions ahead of November presidential elections in Congo. Opposition leaders claim that President Joseph Kabila wants to delay the vote so he can stay in power past his mandate that expires at the end of the year. The country’s constitution bars Kabila from running for a third term.

Congo’s relations with Washington have frayed over the last year due to repeated reports that Kabila’s government has cracked down on political foes and activists. The U.S. Treasury Department in June sanctioned a top Congolese police official who activists say is linked to dozens of deaths. The department’s statement announcing the sanctions against Celestin Kanyama noted a “pattern of repression” by Kabila’s government.

Lewis had been working as an unarmed security adviser for Moise Katumbi, Congo’s leading opposition candidate for president. Katumbi, one of Kabila’s harshest critics, has been charged separately by authorities in Congo with hiring mercenaries. Katumbi and his supporters have denied the allegation and say the move is aimed at derailing his bid for the presidency.

In the lawsuit, Mwamba is described as being convinced that Lewis and hundreds of other U.S. citizens had infiltrated Congo since last October to help Katumbi overthrow the government and assassinate Kabila. Lewis’ military background made him especially suspect. At a May 4 press conference, Mwamba displayed as evidence a photo of Lewis holding a large machine gun.

Lewis said the photo was taken in 2009 when he was working as a contractor in Kosovo. Congolese authorities must have pulled it from his LinkedIn account, he said. The photo has since been replaced with another of Lewis.

Mwamba declined to comment on the specifics of Lewis’ lawsuit. “A Congolese who would be found to have acted in the U.S. as Lewis did in the (Congo) surely would have to explain himself before the FBI and other authorities,” he said.

The lawsuit said Lewis and three colleagues were “stopped and surrounded” by Congolese riot police on April 24 as they were driving near a political rally that Katumbi had attended in the city of Lubumbashi. They were unarmed and breaking no laws, according to Lewis. He was the only American in the group.

Soon, several members of Congo’s intelligence agency, who were not named in the suit, arrived. They handcuffed and physically assaulted Lewis and his colleagues. At one point, a car door was slammed into his elbow, the lawsuit said.

Lewis said they were taken to a “filthy, unsanitary” jail in Lubumbashi and put in separate cells. He was assaulted and abused, according to the lawsuit. His bound hands were pulled up behind his back, creating painful pressure on his shoulder joints. During the night, Lewis could hear his captors “brutally beat” and interrogate one of his colleagues. “You’re next,” Lewis said he was warned.

The next day Lewis was transported to the intelligence agency’s headquarters in Kinshasa. Over the next six weeks, he was questioned for long periods and deprived of sleep, according to the lawsuit. His captors gave him just one small meal a day. Lewis said his captors also began a series of “mind games,” such as using information about his ailing mother, to wear him down and secure a confession.

Lewis was not charged with a crime before he was released.

{Opposition MPs on the Defence and Internal Affairs committee have rejected Ms Judith Nabakooba as its chairperson, accusing her of conflict of interest, having been a senior officer of police under the command of the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura.}

Opposition MPs on the Defence and Internal Affairs committee have rejected Ms Judith Nabakooba as its chairperson, accusing her of conflict of interest, having been a senior officer of police under the command of the Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura.

Five Opposition MPs yesterday stormed out of a committee meeting after Gen Kayihura snubbed summons to appear and instead opted to delegate his deputy, Mr Martin Okoth Ochola.

The MPs had prepared to take on Gen Kayihura over the brutality meted out to Opposition supporters by police goons, masked men and commanding officers.

Mr Ochola read a letter from Gen Kayihura explaining that he had travelled to Nairobi for a security meeting, triggering the ire of Butambala County MP Muwanga Kivumbi, who said Ms Nabakooba has been heard on Radio Simba saying the IGP would not attend because the issue of police brutality was being handled by court.

With Gen Kayihura absent, the MPs demanded that the meeting be postponed to a time when he will be personally present to explain police the actions, a demand that was rejected by Ms Nabakooba.
In a closed-door meeting to decide a way forward, Buhweju County MP Francis Mwijukye told Ms Nabakooba to disqualify herself from committee proceedings, saying she can’t objectively rule on matters concerning her former boss.

“By refusing to step down from the proceedings, both the committee and Kayihura lost. It is clear that she cannot objectively handle issues involving her former bosses. I told her to call Kayihura and tell him to come,”Mr Mwijukye said.

Ms Nabakooba served as acting police spokesperson in 2010 before she was confirmed into the senior officers’ job that she left in 2014. She later became deputy political commissar of the police.

Mr Kivumbi said Gen Kayihura was required because there were incidences where police acts directly under his command to execute illegalities, questions that cannot be answered by his juniors.
“Nabakooba wants to be used to keep cover for Kayihura. She is being used by the IGP to undermine Parliament and we will not accept that. The police, where she comes from, has been brutalising people. We cannot attend a public relations meeting. There are a lot questions that only Kayihura can answer,”Mr Kivumbi said.

However, Ms Nabakooba insisted her relationship with police cannot cloud her objectivity, saying other MPs with a security background have led the committee before.

“We did not call them as witnesses. We called them for interaction. Probably, when we call them for meetings next time, that is when you can ask me these questions[about my impartiality],” she said.

“I am not the first person to chair this committee with a security background. Several MPs have chaired this Committee with that background. We are seeing even other committees where the chairs are also responsible for people who were their bosses.”

Despite the absence of Opposition MPs, the meeting proceeded with a presentation from police tackling wide-ranging issues such as recruitment and security for 2016 polls.

{The four escaped at dawn Friday, Kisumu County police boss Joseph Keitany said.}

Four capital offenders have escaped from Kibos Main Prison in Kisumu County.

The four escaped at dawn Friday, Kisumu County police boss Joseph Keitany said.

Police are pursuing the escapees.

{ {{The pilot in question, whose name has not been disclosed, is said to lack required qualifications to be considered for training and flying the two aircrafts expected here soon.}} }
{The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), Captain Johnson Mfinanga, and the national carrier’s Director of Operations, Captain Sadick Muze, have been suspended for picking an unqualified pilot for training in Canada.}

A team of five pilots from Tanzania is scheduled to travel to Canada to undergo training on flying of two aircrafts, which have been purchased by the government from Canada’s airplane manufacturer, Bombardier.

The planes are expected to arrive in the country by midnext month.

However, speaking to journalists in Kyela District, Mbeya Region yesterday, the Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Professor Makame Mbarawa, said he had suspended the airline’s top executives for choosing unqualified pilot to take part in the training.

The pilot in question, whose name has not been disclosed, is said to lack required qualifications to be considered for the training and eventually flying of the two aircrafts. “Soon after the government made down payments for the two planes, I directed the Acting CEO to choose five qualified pilots for training in Canada.

“Later on, it came to my attention that one of the pilots selected for the training was not qualified; and therefore, I have decided to suspend the Acting CEO and Director of Operations for negligence,” the minister remarked.

Prof Mbarawa went on to reiterate that all public servants must fulfil their obligations by adhering to laid down regulations and legislations, failure of which they will face disciplinary action. During the current financial year, the government has allocated a total of 500m/- to purchase three new aircrafts as part of efforts to revamp the ailing airline.

{Dr Besigye was reacting to last week’s resolution by ministers in Kyankwanzi to have government to compulsorily acquire land for development.}

Kampala- Opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye yesterday put government on notice that any attempts to “takeover” private land from Ugandans without compensation would be met with stiff resistance like the planned giveaway of Mabira Forest in 2007.

The warning follows a resolution during a joint Cabinet retreat at the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi, to amend the Land Act to provide for compulsory acquisition of land for investment purposes. The law currently allows government to compulsorily acquire land for public works, but after compensation.

The former presidential candidate, who was addressing the media at his Kasangati home in Wakiso District, said the issue of land was the final move government was making on Ugandans after taking away everything that they own.

He said the takeover was being orchestrated on two fronts, including a project championed by the World Bank of accelerating land registration (titling of land) and the Kyankwanzi resolution. “These two threats, if we are not very careful, can lead to very serious breakdown of law and order in this country. Indeed, there are issues that can lead to war-these land questions. Our country should not take them lightly,” Dr Besigye said.

Lands minister Betty Amongi on Tuesday said government will soon bring to Parliament an amendment to the Land Act (1998), which will ease government takeover of private land for national development projects such as roads and other infrastructure.
The minister told our sister station NTV that the current law, which allows negotiation and compensation of the land owner before the project takes off, slows down government programmes.

Dr Besigye said the land which is most targeted is in the entire northern Uganda belt from Karamoja to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and parts of eastern Uganda.

People power
The Opposition leader said he was confident Ugandans would rise to the occasion and defend their land like they did when government attempted to give away Mabira Forest.

Citing the example of Shimoni Demonstration School land in Kampala which has never been developed since the demolition of the school that previously occupied it in 2007, Dr Besigye said his warning should not be construed as anti-government.

“That is not to say that we don’t want development, no, but I have told you the problems, the weak systems, the corrupt regime, corrupt from top to bottom, the impunity, people who act without regard to law. There is absolutely no way we can give a blank cheque to such a government,” he said.

Dr Besigye said the NRM government was resorting to land to raise resources out of desperation and need to survive.

“Part of this extreme urgency to take over land in northern Uganda is to negotiate resources. It is part of the survival of the regime. It is now an urgent matter because they have been waiting for oil but it has kept running away from them,” he said.

Mr Edmond Owor, who heads the Uganda Land Alliance, a land rights campaign group in an interview, also doubted the intentions of government which two years ago faced resistance from civil society and the Opposition.

“We see disguised land grabbing, we know very well that land is expensive in the country, we know how speculators work, we know that government many times are high handed, many are going to hide under that law and take people’s land,” he said.

Responding to Dr Besigye’s warning, Information and ICT minister Frank Tumwebaze said the Opposition leader was worried that government was moving to deliver services to the people.

“I am not surprised by [Dr]Besigye. He is now more worried and vulnerable politically than before because of seeing and hearing government’s tough stance on issues of service delivery. He is becoming a boring subject and so has to desperately fight for space in the media.

{Police raided a house of the former GSU officer in Githurai 45, Nairobi but he escaped.}

Police found three AK47 rifles, 178 rounds of ammunition and nine rifle magazines in a river near Thome Primary School in Kiambu County.

Ruiru Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss David Chebii said they are pursuing a former General Service Unit (GSU) officer in connection to the find.

Mr Chebii said they raided the house of the former officer in Githurai 45, Nairobi but he escaped.

The ex-officer has been identified as Constable Eric Ngethe Kanyigi and is alleged to have deserted duty in 2014.

The officer, who joined the service in 2012, is believed to be an Al-Shabaab sympathiser and was allegedly targeting GSU Recce unit headquarters in Ruiru.

The incident comes a fortnight after a report indicated that some officers serving in key security agencies have been radicalised or are terrorist sympathisers.

Other reports show that sensitive counter terrorism strategies have been leaked to terrorists by the officers, undermining the government’s efforts and even risking the lives of other officers.

According to the report, officers from the main security agencies—the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), the National Intelligence Service (NIS), National Police Service, and Kenya Prisons Service—were terrorist sympathisers.