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Tag: GreatLakesNews

  • Dar inks climate protocol

    {Tanzania is among the 175 United Nations member states that have signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which was reached under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2015.}

    Addressing the United Nations meeting on Friday, Tanzania’s UN Permanent Representative, Ambassador Tuvako Manongi, pointed out that his country was among the first to submit their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) on both adaptation and mitigation.

    “It was a demonstration of our strong commitment to fulfil our obligations under the Convention and the Paris Agreement,” said Ambassador Manongi. As a country, Tanzania is conscious that the fate and prosperity are inextricably linked to the effects of climate change.

    This is the essence of the country’s INDCs on the adaptation and mitigation strategies. “We will take a climate resilient development pathway intended to address climate related disasters and significantly reduce the impacts of climate change to our productive sectors and ecosystems,” he noted.

    Tanzania recognises the need to ensure economic growth that is sustainable and less emitting in keeping with the National Vision to become a middleincome country by 2025.

  • Uganda picks on Tanzania route for crude oil exports

    {Landlocked Uganda yesterday announced plans to export its future crude oil production via a new pipeline to be built through Tanzania rather than Kenya.}

    The announcement, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional and International Cooperation yesterday, was made by President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala after meeting presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

    Tanzania was represented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Augustine Mahiga and the Minister for Energy and Minerals, Professor Sospeter Muhongo. “We have agreed that the oil pipeline route be developed from Uganda in Hoima to the Tanzanian port of Tanga,” Uganda foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa had earlier told AFP.

    “We considered Tanga oil pipeline route based on a number of aspects – among them it is the least cost,” the Ugandan minister said as Ugandan President Museveni, Kenyan counterpart Kenyatta and Rwanda’s Kagame held a regional mini-summit outside Kampala.

    The first large discoveries of oil in Uganda date back to 2006 on the shores of Lake Albert. Reserves in the area are conservatively estimated at some 1.7 billion But informed sources say production will not come on stream before 2025.

    Three oil companies – Total of France, Chinese giant CNOOC and Anglo-Irish firm Tullow – each won a one-third rights share in 2009, but the issue immediately arose of how to export the crude from a country with no coastline.

    After years of talks discussing the relative merits of different routes out to the Indian Ocean, Uganda has chosen to run a 1,400 kilometre (800 mile) pipeline through Tanzania via the port of Tanga near the Kenyan border.

    According to a Ugandan experts’ report dated April 11 and obtained by AFP, the Tanzanian project won the argument because the “Tanga port in Tanzania is fully operational while Lamu port in Kenya is still to be built.”

    Kenya had proposed a pipeline from Uganda through impoverished northern Kenya to Lamu as part of an ambitious national development programme dubbed Vision 2030. But the oil companies involved in Uganda preferred an alternative southern route through Kenya terminating at the existing major port of Mombasa.

    Although cheaper, Nairobi was concerned it would not deliver regional development in the neglected north.

    There were also concerns for Uganda that parts of the Kenyan northern route would run near areas close to Somalia that might expose the pipeline to attacks by Al Qaeda-aligned Shabaab militants.

  • Congo Signs Historic Rainforest Preservation Pact

    {The Republic of Congo has signed an historic $200 million agreement that aims to reverse the rapid deforestation of its vast rainforest, the world’s second largest behind the Amazon. }

    Congo is the first nation to sign a pact with the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), a seven-month-old program designed to renew forest protection efforts in the Congo Basin.

    The initiative was launched last year by five other African nations and European donor countries. It requires participating nations to create investment plans to identify and attack activities that are contributing to deforestation.

    Forests in the Congo Basin cover about two million square kilometers, about the size of the Central American country of Mexico. But the forests in the Congo Basin are shrinking by about 5,600 kilometers a year due, in part, to the expansion of palm oil plantations.

    The environmental group Global Witness says Congo’s largest logging companies are routinely violating national laws that are designed to protect the country’s forests.

    President Joseph Kabila has promised to reform the agricultural industry in his country, which is rich in minerals and fertile land.

    Timing of the agreement coincided with Earth Day, during which more than one billion people around the world participated in activities to promote environmental protection.

    The Dzanga-Ndoki National Park and Dzanga-Sangha dense forest special reserve are located in the rainforest in the southwestern part of the Central African Republic, Congo Basin.

  • Museveni blames land killings on Britain

    {President Museveni has castigated the British colonial masters for messing up the local land ownership system in Buganda which has become a cause of persistent murders and suffering in the region.}

    “Our former colonial masters, Britain are the source of this land problem in Buganda region, including some few in areas like Ankole and other parts of the country. We fought hard to defeat a selfish group to have the new land laws in place but still our people are having problems because of this land system,” Mr Museveni told mourners at Kitebele village on Wednesday.

    He was speaking to residents of Mawala-Kitebere village, Kanyanda Parish in Makulubita Sub-county in Luweero District on Thursday after laying a wreath on the grave of the late Samuel Babumba Majyambere who was recently killed over a land dispute.

    Majyambere provided shelter to National Resistance Army rebels during the Bush War.

    The President praised the fallen veteran for both material support and hard work when he offered more than 50 bicycles to the NRA guerillas at the first camp at his home in Kitebele in 1981.

    Mr Museveni appealed to all stakeholders to find a solution to the land disputes.

    “People continue to disregard the land laws yet we have RDCs and other government officials supposed to monitor these events. This must come to an end,” Mr Museveni added.

    He urged Ugandans to use the law to solve land wrangles and avoid taking the law into their hands.

    “We don’t want this kind of indiscipline. MPs should be hard on these people while revising the laws on murder and rape so that they are dealt with and stopped. Killing somebody because of land issues is not accepted. You people are supposed to solve it using the law. I have come here as a sign of respect to the late Majyambere who did something for the country,” Mr Museveni said.

    While responding to an earlier call by the Rev Abel Kigozi of Kalasa Church of Uganda who said more than three people have been murdered in Makulubita within three months over similar disputes without arrest of the killers, the President was disturbed that police and courts take long to act.

    “My prayer is that these Members of Parliament you recently elected help me in amending and streamlining the current laws to have a better Uganda. The army has ways of responding to issues regarding murder. We clear these issues quickly. You cannot kill and ask for bail in the army..,” Museveni said.

    The suspect told police after arrest that he killed Majyambere because he had provoked him and claimed that he was known to the President and Gen Salim Saleh.

  • Kenya:Delegates pass 18 resolutions to boost devolution

    {Delegates at the third annual devolution conference that ended in Meru on Friday passed 18 resolutions seeking to entrench devolution and hand over all devolved functions to county governments.}

    Some of the contested functions lie under water, health, and irrigation sectors.

    The resolutions that emanated from the three-day third annual devolution conference were read by Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya, who is also the Council of Governors’ vice-chairman.

    The CoG chairman Peter Munya had raised concern over what he said is sustained resistance by the national government to release devolved functions or fund some of them.

    He cited the channelling of funds through ministries and national agencies as part of the scheme to derail devolution.

    The conference also resolved that an intergovernmental relations committee should be established to audit all parastatals and the laws that handle their functions.

    They also want all State corporations restructured to be aligned with the devolved system of government.

    Governors wanted the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) to be transformed to an inter-county entity since it purchases drugs for counties.

    “We resolve that long-term devolution sustainability framework and mechanisms should be established.” the resolution document read.

    {{PROGRESSIVE INCREASE}}

    They further resolved that equitable shareable revenue to county governments should be increased progressively.

    “The conference has resolved that devolution gains should be safeguarded through fiduciary, functional, policy and legislative interventions and ethical practices,” it read.

    Governors further want the National Treasury to put in place mechanisms for expeditious disbursement of funds to county governments to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.

    The National Treasury came under fire during the conference on accusations of delaying allocation of funds to counties.

    To address the resource sharing dispute, delegates also agreed that the criteria for revenue allocation under Article 203 of the Constitution should be clarified with regard to national interest and obligations.

    Mr Munya had cited the allocation of billions to the National Youth Service in disregard of national interest functions being handled by county governments.

    Citing immunisation, the delegates called for a review of agreements on transfer of functions between national and county governments.

    The conference also wants the Inter-governmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) strengthened to perform its functions and complete the remaining functions of the Transitional Authority.

    Other resolutions made are for national and county governments to increase funding for ICT and align civic education and public participation in counties with that of the national government.

    Social inequalities in counties are also to be addressed through targeted allocations of funds to relevant sectors and all stakeholders to engage proactively in the fight against corruption.

    Mr Munya described the conference as a success, announcing that next year’s conference would either be held in Kericho or Narok.

    Water CS Eugene Wamalwa (left) and his Devolution counterpart Mwangi Kiunjuri follow proceedings during the third devolution conference in Meru on April 22, 2016.

  • Tanzania:State set for firearm marking

    {Tanzania may soon start marking all sorts of firearms with special engraving to distinguish weapons registered in the country, against those owned in other states, it was revealed in Arusha.}

    Vice President, Ms Samia Suluhu Hassan, said that with nearly 900,000 light weapons and small arms circulating around the globe, it is vital for Tanzania, as well as other African countries to start engraving special national labels to indicate where each firearm was registered or being used.

    Ms Hassan was officiating at the eighth Council of Ministers Meeting of the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA) in Arusha, where it was revealed that proliferation of small arms and light weapons have been claiming more than 500,000 lives annually around the world.

    The meeting was convened to discuss, among other things, the issues touching the welfare and affairs of the people in RECSA region, with emphasis on preventing and combating small arms and light weapons (SALW) to ensure that member states enjoy perpetual peace and prosperity to allow economic growth and development.

    “I am informed that 1,000 innocent people die daily from the misuse of light weapons and small arms and that more than 500,000 are killed every year around the world due to the same,” said Ms Hassan, adding that weapon factories manufacture up to 8 million firearms every year, but few get destroyed. The meeting observed that the rate of civilian ownership of arms keep increasing in conformity with the rising number of illegal arms entering into circulation.

    The Chairman of the RECSA Council of Ministers, Mr Charles Mathias Kitwanga, said that access to these weapons fuels cases of drug trafficking, maritime piracy, armed robbery, human trafficking, organised crime and terrorism.

    In Tanzania, such weapons have been behind tribal conflicts, cattle thefts, highway robberies and chaos that have afflicted the Loliondo Game Controlled area in Arusha Region as well as livestock keepers versus farmers conflicts in Simanjiro, the Lake Zone and Morogoro Region.

    The Regional Centre on Small Arms in the Great Lakes Region, the Horn of Africa and Bordering States (RECSA) is an intergovernmental organisation established in June 2005 to address the issue of proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

    The secretariat is mandated to build the capacity of the member states, coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Nairobi Protocol within the RECSA Region.

    RECSA therefore remains the only internationally recognised inter-governmental organisation within Africa whose sole mandate is to address the proliferation of illicit SALW to provide a conducive environment for sustainable development.

    “With more than 500,000 people being killed each year from cases related to small arms, the problem apparently seems to claim more life than any existing killer disease on the continent,” pointed out Mr Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, the RESCA executive.

  • Four killed in Burundi violence

    {A Burundian official says a military officer was among four people killed in violence associated with the extended tenure of President Pierre Nkurunziza.}

    Deputy police spokesperson Moise Nkurunziza, who is not related to the president, said on Thursday that unknown gunmen ambushed Colonel Emmanuel Buzubona as he arrived home on a motorcycle in Bujumbura Wednesday evening

    Nkurunziza said the men shot at and threw a grenade at Buzubona, also killing the motorcycle’s driver. He said Buzubona was based in Tanzania and had come home for his annual vacation.

    Two armed men were shot and killed by the military in the Mugamba commune in the country’s south, he added.

    President Nkurunziza’s controversial third term has set off rounds of political violence in which more than 400 people have died.

  • Uganda:EU slams EC in final elections report

    {The head of the European Union Election Observation Mission to Uganda, Mr Eduard Kukan, yesterday expressed disappointment with the Electoral Commission for snubbing a meeting to discuss the conduct of just concluded polls. }

    Speaking yesterday at the presentation of the Mission’s final report on the disputed February 18 polls, Mr Kukan said they still consider “Uganda as a serious partner.”

    “We have been very disappointed by the Electoral Commission. We asked for audience with them, and they told us they were not available,” Mr Kukan told Daily Monitor on the sidelines of the function, also attended by envoys from the EU Delegation and US Ambassador Deborah Malac.

    “But we insisted to meet even [junior] deputy commissioners to share with them our findings in good faith. Instead, they gave us an appointment next week well aware our flight back is tonight,” he said.

    Electoral Commission spokesperson Jotham Taremwa, however, denied the claim, saying the EU team requested for a meeting and EC agreed to the request.

    “We had scheduled to meet with them on April 26 and we were told they will have travelled then,” Mr Taremwa noted.
    The 42-page report is a detailed account of the preliminary findings of the Mission issued on the eve of the elections results announcement on February 20.

    The report indicates that the February 2016 polls took place in a challenging political environment and offers several recommendations to better subsequent polls.

    “EC lacked independence and transparency whereupon the elections fell short of international standards … state actors were instrumental in creating an intimidating atmosphere for both voters and candidates, and police used excessive force against the Opposition, media and the general public, justifying it as a “preventive measure”.

    (Left-Right) EU media analyst Inta Lase, EU chief observer Eduard Kukan, and the EU deputy chief observer Marian Gabriel during the release of EU Election Observer final report in Kampala yesterday.

  • Kenya opts to build its own oil pipeline

    {Government convinced its efforts to persuade Uganda would not succeed.}

    Kenya will construct its own pipeline to transport crude oil from the Lake Turkana Basin to Lamu for export, it has emerged.

    Top government sources on Thursday revealed Kenya was convinced its efforts to persuade Uganda that the Hoima-Lokichar-Lamu route was the most cost effective option for the regional pipeline would not succeed.

    President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is scheduled to fly to Kampala on Friday for talks on the pipeline route on the eve of the Northern Corridor Investments Project summit, is expected to deliver Kenya’s position to Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Tanzania’s Joseph Magufuli of Tanzania in Kampala.

    “Kenya will tell the meeting (on the regional crude pipeline that it is willing to go the Lokichar-Lamu route which it sees as the cheapest of the three options. It will act in self interest,” said a government source.

    MAKE OR BREAK TALKS

    On Thursday, Kenya and Uganda delegations were locked up in make or break talks in Kampala over the route even as reports last week indicated that Uganda had opted to go for the Tanzania route.

    This week, The Observer newspaper quoted Ugandan technocrats saying that Kampala had opted for the Hoima-Tanga route fearing that the Lamu Port could only start operations in 2022.

    “The Kabaale-Tanga route is the only option to secure first oil export by mid 2020, with pipeline availability of 99 per cent. Uganda firmly concludes that Kabaale-Tanga route is the least costly route,” the paper said.

    Uganda has discovered 6.5 billion barrels of oil in the Lake Albert Basin, while Kenya has 600 million in the Turkana basin.

    New oil deposits have also been found in Chepktuket, Kerio Valley basin.

    Talks between Kenya and Uganda on the pipeline route have taken over a month with President Kenyatta and President Museveni meeting in Nairobi last month, where they sanctioned a team to prepare a report for adoption on Saturday.

    Kenya added the Mombasa route option to the talks.

    President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) meets Uganda President Yoweri Museveni at Entebbe State House, Uganda, on August 9, 2015. Talks between Kenya and Uganda on the pipeline route have taken over a month with President Kenyatta and President Museveni meeting in Nairobi last month.

  • Mkapa, Museveni, Moi for honour over EAC

    {President Yoweri Museveni alongside former presidents Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya shall next month (May 29) be honoured for having championed the revival of the East African Community (EAC) in 1999.}

    The recognition themed; ‘Tracing and Trekking the Footsteps of our Founding Fathers-Walking the Talk’, is the first of its kind initiative by Afrika Mashariki Fest, a regional integration non-partisan voluntary youth platform that believes the youth must be vanguard of the EAC integration.

    Speaking at a press briefing ahead of the platform’s second annual marathon slated for April 29, Ronex Kisembo, the event organiser, said the awards will have a motivational impact on the stakeholders in the integration process, hence making it faster.

    “We felt the need to recognise and reward those outstanding individuals and organisations that have exhibited excellence and in a patriotic way supported or impacted on our dream (the EA integration),” Kisembo said.

    Following the Tripartite Agreement of 1993, a re-birth of the EAC integration was witnessed in 1999 under the championship of the three presidents. The community has since grown from just three member states to six countries including Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan being the latest entrant.

    Other individuals set to receive awards include; the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) and Dr Apollo Milton Obote (Uganda) under the Life achievement category for having championed the formation of the EAC in 1967.

    Meanwhile, this year’s marathon theme is “Addressing Youth Unemployment through Embracing Sports.” According to Gyagenda Semakula, the Afrika Mashariki spokesperson, all proceeds from the marathon shall support initiatives for sustainable utilisation of Lake Victoria and the River Nile Basin.

    Registration for the races is ongoing at Nakumatt branches of Oasis Mall, Bugolobi, Bukoto, Acacia and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) headquarters at City Hall.

    Former President Benjamin Mkapa.