Tag: GreatLakesNews

Ugandans mourn former EC boss

{A sombre mood engulfed Kibuli Mosque as hundreds of mourners braved an early morning drizzle to pay their last respects to former Electoral Commission (EC) chairperson Aziz Kasujja.}

Kasujja, 75, died on Sunday afternoon at Platinum Hospital in Wandegeya, Kampala where he had been rushed after collapsing during a school meeting in Kawempe.

Supreme Mufti Sheikh Siliman Kasule Ndirangwa said Kasujja had died on an “exemplary mission of education yet many die doing useless things”.
Prince Kassim Nakibinge Kakungulu, the titular head of the Muslim community in Uganda, described Kasujja as open-minded, honest and hardworking.

Their political rivalry aside, government and Opposition leaders also united to pay tribute to Kasujja, who also served as Uganda’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Dr Kizza Besigye, who challenged the election the deceased presided over in 2001, described him as a “decent man”
“Farewell Aziz Kasujja. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un [from God we came and it is to Him we shall return]. Aziz was a decent man and did his best in 2001,” Dr Besigye said in a tweet.
Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago described the deceased as a father figure who had raised and guided him.

NRM’s vice chairman Moses Kigongo, who represented President Museveni, said the deceased never failed in assigned duties.
“As a chairperson of the EC, he did a good job and he has been serving in other capacities. Whatever he has been doing, he has been doing it so well,” he said.

Buganda Lukiko speaker Nelson Kawalya, who represented the kingdom prime minister, said: “We cannot forget the good job he and his colleagues did when they opened up Greenland Bank.” The bank was closed in 1999.

In 1997, President Museveni appointed Kasujja who had been a commissioner at the Stephen Akabwayi-led Interim Electoral Commission as chairperson, a post he held until 2002 and was later appointed Uganda’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

In 2012, Kasujja was admitted to Mulago National Referral Hospital following a heart attack and was also later hospitalised in London, UK.

He was buried yesterday at his ancestral home in Mbulire, Masaka District.

April 19, 2016
UN proposes options for sending police to Burundi, government OKs 20

{United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has proposed sending between 20 and 3,000 police to Burundi, where political violence has been simmering for a year, but warned that the government signalled it would only accept 20 unarmed experts.}

In a report, seen by Reuters on Monday, Ban outlined three possible options for a police deployment to the small landlocked African state as requested by the 15-member U.N. Security Council in a resolution unanimously adopted earlier this month.

Tit-for-tat attacks between President Pierre Nkurunziza’s security forces and his opponents have escalated since April 2015 when he announced a disputed bid for a third term as president and then won re-election in July. The United Nations says more than 400 people have been killed and over 250,000 have fled.

“The security situation in Burundi remains alarmingly precarious,” Ban told the council.

More than two decades after the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Hutu majority in neighbouring Rwanda, the United Nations is under growing pressure to show it can halt the bloodshed in Burundi. Rwanda and Burundi have a similar ethnic makeup.

The Security Council had asked Ban to provide options for a “police contribution to increase the U.N. capacity to monitor the security situation, promote the respect of human rights and advance rule of law.”

Ban gave the council three options: a light footprint of 20 to 50 police personnel to assess the Burundi police, a monitoring presence of 228 police, or a protection and monitoring deployment of some 3,000 police.

He said a U.N. police deployment would “help create an environment conducive to political dialogue by averting a further deterioration of the security situation and decreasing the occurrence of human rights violations.”

The Security Council would need to adopt another resolution to authorize a police deployment to Burundi. Ban said full cooperation of the Burundi government would also be needed to ensure the success of any deployment.

Ban told the council that the Burundi government said in an April 13 letter it was ready to receive “around 20 unarmed police experts to provide support to the Burundian national police and welcomed United Nations support in the form of logistics and, above all, capacity building.”

In January, the Security Council made its second visit to Burundi in less than a year, where fears of an ethnic war have led to an economic crisis. Ban also visited in February.

April 19, 2016
ICC spells out consequences of cutting ties after Uhuru threat

{“The ICC is aware of the news reporting an alleged statement by the President of Kenya declaring that Kenya will not cooperate,” Court Spokesman Fadi el Abdallah.}

The ICC on Monday warned that Kenya risks punishment by the Assembly of States Parties if it fails to hand over three suspects wanted in The Hague on charges of tampering with witnesses.

Even though the court has not formally received a notification of non-cooperation from the government, its spokesman, Mr Fadi el Abdallah, Monday said the court would report Kenya to the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) if the government goes ahead to implement President Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration.

The President had on Saturday said that Kenya would be cutting its ties with ICC and that he would not allow any other Kenyan to walk the same road that he and the others who faced charges had walked.

“We would not wish any Kenyan to go through the experience we have had,” said the President.

Monday, Mr Abdallah said: “In cases of non-cooperation, the legal procedure before the ICC is for the judges to make a finding of non-compliance and to refer it to the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute for the Assembly to take any measure it deems appropriate.”

He, however, was not specific about the consequences that Kenya could face for failing to cooperate with the ICC.

Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute, which established the ICC states: “Where a State Party fails to comply with a request to cooperate by the Court … the Court may make a finding to that effect and refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties or, where the Security Council referred the matter to the Court, to the Security Council.”

During Saturday’s thanksgiving rally in Nakuru following the termination of the case against Deputy President William Ruto and Mr Joshua arap Sang, President Kenyatta said that no other Kenyan would be tried in The Hague.

{{LOCAL COURTS}}

As he called for reconciliation among Kenyans who were affected by the 2007/8 post-election violence, Mr Kenyatta said Kenyans would instead use local courts to deal with people who will be involved in election and political related violence.

“That chapter we have closed. We have our own courts, we will sort out our own issues. I don’t want to see any Kenyan going out there again, we are not going back there,” he said.

He appeared to be referring to the warrants of arrest issued by the ICC against former journalist Walter Barasa and lawyers Paul Gicheru and Philip Bett for alleged witness interference.

The ICC cited witness tampering as one of the reasons for declaring a mistrial in the DP’s case.

Monday, Mr Abdallah said the court was aware of the declaration by President Kenyatta.

“The ICC is aware of the news reporting an alleged statement by the President of Kenya declaring that Kenya will not cooperate with the ICC in future in relation to the implementation of the three pending arrest warrants for Mr Barasa, Mr Gicheru and Mr Bett. The court has not received any official information from the Kenyan Government indicating its intention to stop cooperation with the court,” he said.

April 19, 2016
Tanzania:Mwanza City on the spotlight for theft of public finances

{Mwanza City Council is among the local authorities with the worst record in embezzlement of public funds which derail implementation of set development projects.}

Mwanza Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr John Mongela, said this here when speaking to MCC officials and staff during his familiriasation tour. He said because of fraud and theft of public money, some government officials have migrated to other parts of the country.

“MCC is among local authorities leading in misuse of government funds,” he charged. “Let me warn you that a person is caught misusing MCC funds I will deal him or her squarely,” he added. Mongela said it is showing honesty if people are fulfilling their responsibilities in compliance with standing regulations.

“I’ll never tolerate civil servants staling government money,” he emphasised. He urged MCC workers to be diligent by adhering to professionalism in their day-to-day activities. “The president has shown us how diligent worker behaves.

Let’s emulate him of whatever he is doing,” he said. “Let me tell you, President Magufuli government will never tolerate lazy, incompetent and dishonest workers. This you should understand as no stone would be left unturned,” he said.

Mongela said since he was transferred from Kagera Region, he has discovered that land department is among sectors with many disputes. He pledged to address these disputes and take remedial measures, including the sacking of corrupt and dishonest officials.

“I promise I’ll work on the land disputes in Ilemela Municipality and Mwanza City to ensure that people get justice,” he said.

April 19, 2016
UN weighs options for sending 3,000 police officers to Burundi

{Security council under pressure to take action as the descent into violence has raised fears.}

Calling the situation in Burundi “alarmingly precarious,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon is proposing three options for a new UN police mission there, ranging from a full force of 3,000 officers to a light dispatch of 20 to 50.

The options were detailed in a report to the Security Council obtained by AFP on Saturday, two weeks after the council agreed to send a police force to the African country to help quell a year of violence there.

In the report, Mr Ban said dispatching a force of up to 3,000 was “the only option that could provide some degree of physical protection to the population” but that the mission would take months to prepare and present logistical challenges.

A second option, he said, would be to send 228 UN police officers to work with human rights officials and possibly with African Union monitors to provide early warning, but it would not offer any protection to civilians.

The secretary-general said the council could also decide to send a group of 20 to 50 officers who would assess the Burundi police force and “help bring about concrete and measurable improvements in the respect for human rights and rule of law.”

The council is under pressure to take action in Burundi where the descent into violence has raised fears of mass atrocities, similar to those that convulsed neighboring Rwanda in 1994.

Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans in April last year to run for a third term, which he went on to win.

Violence has left more than 400 dead and driven more than 250,000 people across the border.

Diplomats said the proposed force of 228 police officers appeared to be the best option, but it remained unclear if Bujumbura would accept that many officers.

The government has told the United Nations that it was ready to receive some 20 unarmed police experts, but would oppose any “large” UN police presence.

Mr Ban’s proposals followed the adoption earlier this month of a French-drafted resolution that called for the deployment to monitor the security situation and help promote human rights.

“The security situation in Burundi remains alarmingly precarious,” Ban wrote in the 11-page report to the council sent late Friday.

April 18, 2016
Why Did Congo Offer Clinton $650,000 For Two Pics And A Speech?

{Congo, one of the poorest nations on Earth, offered former President Bill Clinton a speaking fee of $650,000–a sum equal to annual per-capita income of 2,813 Congolese. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund ranks the Democratic Republic of the Congo dead last in its global income rankings. What did it expect in return for its investment?}

In the proposed 2012 contract, the organizers expected a speech and at least one photograph each with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Congo, which appeared to be splitting the princely honorarium. (Since there are two nations known as Congo, in this article, unless otherwise specified, I am referring to the Democratic Republic of the Congo whenever I write “Congo” alone.) That doesn’t seem like much of a return, two snaps and a chat. So the question is: What else did Congo want for its money?

Congo’s extraordinary offer to Clinton first surfaced in a batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails released this past August, where it won little attention at the time. Newly leaked documents, known as the “Panama papers,” shed new light on the mystery as well as the misdoings of Congo’s corrupt rulers.

While Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, America’s top official dealing with foreign leaders, former President Bill Clinton travelled the world giving speeches to world leaders and overseas interests–earning at least $48 million while his wife was America’s top diplomat. Why weren’t the payments to one Clinton not considered a bribe to the other Clinton?

Former US President Bill Clinton (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Congo, one of the poorest nations on Earth, offered former President Bill Clinton a speaking fee of $650,000–a sum equal to annual per-capita income of 2,813 Congolese. Indeed, the International Monetary Fund ranks the Democratic Republic of the Congo dead last in its global income rankings. What did it expect in return for its investment?

In the proposed 2012 contract, the organizers expected a speech and at least one photograph each with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Congo, which appeared to be splitting the princely honorarium. (Since there are two nations known as Congo, in this article, unless otherwise specified, I am referring to the Democratic Republic of the Congo whenever I write “Congo” alone.) That doesn’t seem like much of a return, two snaps and a chat. So the question is: What else did Congo want for its money?

Gallery
Hillary Clinton’s (Very) Public Life
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25 images

Congo’s extraordinary offer to Clinton first surfaced in a batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails released this past August, where it won little attention at the time. Newly leaked documents, known as the “Panama papers,” shed new light on the mystery as well as the misdoings of Congo’s corrupt rulers.

While Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, America’s top official dealing with foreign leaders, former President Bill Clinton travelled the world giving speeches to world leaders and overseas interests–earning at least $48 million while his wife was America’s top diplomat. Why weren’t the payments to one Clinton not considered a bribe to the other Clinton?

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Precisely to prevent this perception, the State department had to vet all of the international speeches of the former president. Thus, the foreign policy director at the Clinton Foundation, Amitabh Desai, emailed Clinton’s request to accept the $650,000 to a State department official, writing “WJC [William Jefferson Clinton] wants know what state thinks of it if he took it 100% for the foundation.”

This a favorite camouflage of the Clintons. The money was destined for the non-profit Clinton Foundation, which is controlled by the Clintons and their daughter, where it would be used for healthcare, schooling and other good works. Using money to help your fellow man isn’t self-enrichment, they say. True, but beside the point. Giving money to charity doesn’t address whether that money was received as a bribe. To answer that key question, one would have to know what foreign leaders wanted in exchange for their donations. After all, Congolese leaders aren’t worried about charitable deductions on their U.S. tax forms. So why did they proffer so much of their poor country’s money?

Apparently Foggy Bottom nixed Clinton’s plans to travel to Congo as well as his request to give a paid speech in North Korea. In any event, he didn’t go. But the offer itself is the issue.

What could Congo President Joseph Kabila want? While the possibilities are endless, two seem most likely: he sought U.S. permission to ignore Congo’s constitution and stay in power beyond his two-term limit, which expires in 2016, and he wanted to shield his overseas assets from international investigators.

Bill and Hillary, especially when she was secretary of state, could be helpful on each count, if they wanted to be. Staying in power and keeping billions in shadowy gains would certainly be worth $650,000, if that was the deal that Kabila had in mind.

It is time for the Clintons and their foundation to disclose all of their communications with Kabila and his regime. How was the $650,000 sum arrived at? What did Congo want in return? Did the Clintons offer to provide any help with U.S., UN, EU or other international officials?

April 18, 2016
I will serve all Ugandans, Museveni reassures

{President Museveni on Saturday castigated residents of Kasangati village, Kyadondo East Constituency in Wakiso District for voting the Opposition.}

Kasangati village is under Kyadondo East Constituency that was won by Mr Apollo Kantinti, an FDC parliamentary candidate. Kasangati is also home to President Museveni’s political rival Dr Kizza Besigye.

“I know some of you did not vote for us, but others voted for us. Those who did not vote for us and those who voted for us we shall work for you all,” Mr Museveni said.

The President was speaking at centenary celebrations for Wampewo Primary School that is located not so far away from Dr Besigye’s home. Mr Museveni told the residents that his government had constructed Gayaza Road and others in the nearby Kira Municipality.

According to the final results that were released by the Electoral Commission chairman, Mr Museveni received 5,617,503 votes (60.75 per cent) and Dr Besigye emerged second with 3,270,290 votes (35.37 per cent).

The school which opened in April 16, 1916 is currently in a very sorry state with insufficient and dilapidated structures. It has 1,200 pupils. The school also lacks staff quarters according to Ms Marjorie Kilemerwa, the headmistress.

Ms Kilemerwa said the school needs to raise the Shs2.8b to erect a three-storeyed structure which can accommodate the pupils and teachers.

“We started a fundraising campaign three years ago but we have only collected Shs31million. Many people are hesitant to contributing funds because we are seen as an Opposition school,” she said while speaking to Daily Monitor on the sidelines of the fundraising.

Not even Mr Museveni’s presence at the celebrations that also acted as a fundraising campaign could change the situation as less than Shs50m was collected. The President contributed Shs30m in cash and pledged another Shs20.

“I have seen the school has very old structures. I am going to take special interest in it. I am going to task the Education ministry to consider it in its plans,” the President added.

Bishop Wilberforce Kityo Luwalira of Namirembe Diocese applauded Mr Museveni for steering education in the country.

April 18, 2016
Court acquits MP George Oner of land forgery charges

{The MP faced three counts of making a false document, fraud and forgery.}

Rangwe MP George Oner has been cleared of forgery and fraud charges that have haunted him for the past two years.

The ODM MP was embroiled in a vicious court battle with Nairobi businessman Benson Ritho Mureithi, who accused him of making alterations to part of a 50-acre parcel of land in Embakasi, Nairobi County, valued at approximately Sh1 billion, which was then subdivided and allegedly sold without the owner’s consent.

Resident Magistrate Edda Agade threw out the case for lack of evidence.

“It is my holding that the prosecution case fell short of the requirements of an arguable case as there is no evidence to support the claim that Mr Ogalo forged or made a false document, ” said Ms Agade.

The MP faced three counts of making a false document, fraud and forgery.

It was alleged that Mr Ogalo made a false document on or before March 6, 2008 with the intent to defraud Mr Ritho.

The alleged document was a cancellation charge for a parcel of land situated at Embakasi purported to have been a genuine document issued by the Kenya Revenue Authority’s Department of Domestic Taxes and signed by one John Orioro for the commissioner of Domestic Taxes.

The MP also faced the count of forging Mr Orioro’s signature, with the intent to defraud.

Mr Ritho, a businessman and an administrator of his father’s estate, claimed he had contracted Mr Ogalo as a consultant but he sold the plots without his consent.

April 18, 2016
Tanzania:Businessman ordered to pay Unilever (Tanzania) Limited 122 million/-

{The Court of Appeal has ordered a businessman, Benedict Mkasa, who trades as Bema Enterprises, to pay over 122m/- to Univeler Tanzania Limited, following a dispute involving variation of commission after supply of goods.}

Justices Nathalia Kimaro, Katherine Oriyo and Ibrahim Juma ruled in favour of the company after allowing its appeal it had lodged to challenge the judgment given by then Judge of the High Court’s Commercial Division, Frederick Werema, on January 30, 2009.

“We hereby order the respondent (Bema Enterprises) to comply with the terms of the product distribution agreement and pay the appellant (Univeler Tanzania Limited) the sum of 122,316,459/- being the amount due as on January 31, 2007,” they ruled.

The justices noted after evaluation of evidence of the agreement between the parties, the counsel for the appellant, Bathwel Peter, was entitled to complain about the way the trial judge placed reliance on the consultant’s report to upgrade the commission from the aggregates of 5.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent. “We think, any variation of the commission must be mutually agreed.

It was, therefore, a misapprehension of evidence for the trial judge to conclude that the consultant report was sufficiently independent to objectively guide the variation of the commission,” they said.

Strictly speaking, the justices noted, under the law once parties have freely agreed on their contractual clauses, it would not be open for the courts to change those clauses which parties have agreed between themselves.

“It was up to the parties concerned to renegotiate and to freely rectify clauses which parties find to be onerous. It is not the role of the courts to re-draft clauses in agreements but to enforce those clauses where parties are in dispute,” they said.

The dispute surrounding the parties could be traced back to a distribution agreement by which the appellant appointed the respondent as its key distributor. The respondent has as a result agreed to distribute goods produced by the Unilever Tanzania to several retail shops, wholesale shops and supermarkets in designated zones in Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo. Once the goods reached the designated outlets, it was the appellant who recommended the sale prices at those outlets.

In his role as the key distributor, the respondent was required to keep all the customers fully stocked with goods at all times. To ensure that the respondent received regular supplies of goods for the purposes of distribution, the appellant operated a system described as generator system which required the respondent to record input of its sales on a weekly basis.

Once the respondent records the input in the generator system, the appellant would immediately forward new supplies to the respondent to replenish the sold out goods. As consideration, the respondent was entitled to a commission of 5.5 per cent of the value of the products.

April 18, 2016
UN weighs options for Burundi police force

{Calling the situation in Burundi “alarmingly precarious,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon is proposing three options for a new UN police mission there, ranging from a full force of 3,000 officers to a light dispatch of 20 to 50.}

The options were detailed in a report to the Security Council obtained by AFP on Saturday, two weeks after the council agreed to send a police force to the African country to help quell a year of violence there.

In the report, Ban said dispatching a force of up to 3,000 was “the only option that could provide some degree of physical protection to the population” but that the mission would take months to prepare and present logistical challenges.

A second option, he said, would be to send 228 UN police officers to work with human rights officials and possibly with African Union monitors to provide early warning, but it would not offer any protection to civilians.

The secretary-general said the council could also decide to send a group of 20 to 50 officers who would assess the Burundi police force and “help bring about concrete and measurable improvements in the respect for human rights and rule of law.”

The council is under pressure to take action in Burundi where the descent into violence has raised fears of mass atrocities, similar to those that convulsed neighboring Rwanda in 1994.

Burundi has been in turmoil since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans in April last year to run for a third term, which he went on to win.

Violence has left more than 400 dead and driven more than 250,000 people across the border.

Diplomats said the proposed force of 228 police officers appeared to be the best option, but it remained unclear if Bujumbura would accept that many officers.
The government has told the United Nations that it was ready to receive some 20 unarmed police experts, but would oppose any “large” UN police presence.

{{Alarming situation}}

Ban’s proposals followed the adoption earlier this month of a French-drafted resolution that called for the deployment to monitor the security situation and help promote human rights.

“The security situation in Burundi remains alarmingly precarious,” Ban wrote in the 11-page report to the council sent late Friday.

“Even as hand grenade attacks on public venues peaked in late February, attacks targeting military and police personnel, including assassinations and abductions, have increased.”

Ban cited a “rising trend in enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, illegal detention and ill treatment and torture,” although the number of killings has decreased in the past two months.

The proposed police force would allow the United Nations “to maintain situational awareness” and could help develop a strategy to address the crisis, Ban said, but he warned that it was no substitute for a political dialogue.

The United Nations has repeatedly called on Nkurunziza to open up serious talks with the opposition on ending the crisis, but the appeals have been ignored.

The African Union in January abandoned plans to deploy a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force after the Bujumbura government rejected what it described as an “invasion force.”

April 17, 2016