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[Monitor] Finance minister Matia Kasaija was last night on the defensive following accusations that he irregularly dangled a top government job to secure the exit of his opponent in a parliamentary contest.
Critics have called it a stunt to invite sympathy. Yet Amuriat says campaigning without shoes is a protest and that those who do not get its symbolism are missing a point.
Uganda is due to hold a general election on January 14. Amuriat and another opposition candidate, Bobi Wine have had their rallies violently dispersed by security forces or been arrested.
In mid-November, scores of people were killed as security forces attempted to quell protests against the arrest and detention of Bobi Wine.
Police has accused the candidates of addressing huge gatherings in contravention of regulations on COVID-19 prevention.
Swollen feet
In an interview with one of the dailies in Uganda, Amuriat said his feet hurt a lot and has to pour cold water on them in between campaign stops for some relief.
Doctors have cautioned him on the potential danger of contracting tetanus from cuts to his feet.
Yet Amuriat remains adamant. He says by refusing to wear shoes, he’s standing in solidarity with people whose wealth and opportunities have been stolen by the country’s longtime ruler Yoweri Museveni.
JUST IN: FDC presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat has been arrested at the border of Rubirizi and Bushenyi districts. The reason for his arrest is yet to be known📹 @MukhayeD#MonitorUpdates#UGDecides2021 pic.twitter.com/xopK4FMoD0
— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) December 4, 2020
Museveni, in power since 1986 is seeking a new term. In 2017, he changed the constitution to remove age limits that would have stopped him from seeking re-election.
FDC is Uganda’s largest opposition party. In 3 previous elections, the party fronted veteran activist and retired army colonel Kizza Besigye for president.
\"Money consuming government agencies and departments/arms (like Parliament and others) have continued to receive lots of money than production facilitating MDAs - which are critical in creating jobs and related opportunities,\" says Ramathan Ggoobi, the senior economics lecturer at Makerere University Business School.
\"The coronavirus pandemic has helped us to once again demonstrate the economic capacity and the vast opportunities that our country has,\" Kasaija said, \"The budget for Financial Year 2020/21 will support the economy to fully recover, harness the potential that we have, and get back to our progressive journey of double digit GDP growth rate.\"
It is now estimated that the economy will grow by just 3.1% in the financial year ending June 30, about 40% slower than the average growth rate of 5.4% in the previous four years.
Even the new measures in the budget which Kasaija said would stimulate the economy to safeguard livelihoods, create jobs, support businesses, and ensure industrial recovery, are not universally convincing; not least his claim that \"the budget would focus on production and not consumption\".
That is an 8% increase from last year in taxes on business laying off workers, cutting salaries, and crying out for waivers over the COVID-19 crisis.
President Museveni has said Uganda's agriculture and ICT sector will not be affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic ravaging both people's lives and the real economy.
In his State of the Nation address this afternoon at State House Entebbe, Mr Museveni said: \" Apart from feeding us, these agricultural products end up by earning for us $2.005 billion (49 per cent of total merchandise exports) if we take the year 2019.\"
In this regard, Mr Museveni said: \"Our correct policy on the private sector, the corruption and obstruction of many of our public servants notwithstanding, has also attracted a total of 5,200 factories.
Turning to the ICT sector, Mr Museveni said the ICT sector is a growing one, employing 1,282,818 persons with 380,896 companies engaged in information technology, telecommunications, broadcasting, postal and courier and audio-visual.
Mr Museveni further stressed that in spite of the obstructions by the neo-colonial actors and foreign backers, Uganda is able to stand up today and weather this storm because of the correct actions we took.
Malawi’s electoral commission appealed for “peace and calm” on Wednesday as it counted ballots following a historic poll to re-elect a president after Peter Mutharika’s victory was overturned.
It took the top court six months to sift through the evidence before concluding that Mutharika was not duly elected and ordered fresh elections.
The chairman of the Malawi Electoral Commission, Chifundo Kachale, said tallying of the votes from 5,002 polling stations was underway.
Mutharika has accused the opposition of inciting violence following isolated incidents which the police and electoral commission said had not affected the election.
Mutharika, 79, did not take the decision of the constitutional court lightly when it overturned last year’s poll.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI DANIEL Molokela, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology, has urged citizens to lobby legislators to ensure passage of laws instead of wasting time on constitutional amendments. He made the remarks in Mutare on Tuesday during a public hearing on the Manpower Planning and Development Bill. He said citizens should push for the re-alignment of the laws for effective governance. “In 2013, we adopted a new constitutional order. All laws in Parliament are supposed to be aligned with the new Constitution of the country. In this regard, we are talking about the Manpower Planning and Development Act,” he said “It is not enough to push for the amendment of Bills which are passed and not aligned,” he said. “The Act decides in terms of the skills resources and database of the country, we want to make sure that our education is relevant to our economy and that it is relevant to the development of our country. We have a lot of youths who are unemployed, so these are the things which we seek to address,” he said. “Colleges were different from universities, so now, they are going to be aligned, they are now going to be shifted from Public Service Commission, there is going to be a tertiary education services body which is going to administer institutions for higher learning, this will address the issue of brain drain,” he said “We are losing most of our students to colleges that are outside the country because of the poor conditions in our colleges, however, the Manpower Planning and Development Bill will address the matter,” he said.
Benin was the seat of one of the great medieval African kingdoms called Dahomey. Europeans began arriving in the area in the 18th century, as the kingdom of Dahomey was expanding its territory. The Portuguese, the French, and the Dutch established trading posts along the coast (Porto-Novo, Ouidah, Cotonou), and traded weapons for slaves. Slave trade ended in 1848. Then, the French signed treaties with Kings of Abomey (Guézo, Toffa, Glèlè) to establish French protectorates in the main cities and ports.
However, King Behanzin fought the French influence, which cost him deportation to Martinique.
From a Colony of France to Independence:
In 1892 Dahomey became a French protectorate and part of French West Africa in 1904. Expansion continued to the North (kingdoms of Parakou, Nikki, Kandi), up to the border with former Upper Volta. On 4 December 1958, it became the République du Dahomey, self-governing within the French community, and on 1 August 1960, the Republic of Dahomey gained full independence from France. T he country was renamed Benin in 1975
Between 1960 and 1972, a succession of military coups brought about many changes of government. The last of these brought to power Major Mathieu Kérékou as the head of a regime professing strict Marxist-Leninist principles. The Parti de la Révolution Populaire Béninoise (Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin, PRPB) remained in complete power until the beginning of the 1990s.
Kérékou, encouraged by France and other democratic powers, convened a national conference that introduced a new democratic constitution and held presidential and legislative elections. Kérékous principal opponent at the presidential poll, and the ultimate victor, was Prime Minister Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo.
Supporters of Soglo also secured a majority in the National Assembly.
Benin was thus the first African country to effect successfully the transition from dictatorship to a pluralistic political system. In the second round of National Assembly elections held in March 1995, Soglos
[Monitor] Police Chiefs led by Maj Gen Muzeyi Sabiiti, the deputy inspector general of police, have rolled out a security master plan for 2021 General Election.
[Independent (Kampala)] Kampala, Uganda -- Human rights lawyers and activists want the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to take interest in the recent acts of violence by agents of security forces, especially the police.
The Electoral Court has granted the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) permission to postpone by-elections in the country due to the continuous effects of the coronavirus.
This after the commission approached the court seeking a postponement.
\"As required in law, the municipal elections will be proclaimed by Cogta Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma after her consultations with the Electoral Commission.
\"In this regard, the Electoral Commission has begun consultations with the minister.
These matters are not a prerogative of the Electoral Commission, but require a collaborative effort and national consensus,\" she said.
There were also tax measures such as increased import duty on agricultural imports to 60 per cent, up from 25 per cent.
In Kenya, the tax bracket for people earning rental income was moved up to Kshs15m (Shs525.9m) from Kshs10m.
Kenya, Mr Muhammed Ssempijja, partner tax, E&Y says, also reduced the corporation tax rates and PAYE to 25 per cent from 30 per cent.
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, while appearing on NTV recently said the measures taken by government are expected to address concerns on purchasing power.
Uganda currently might not afford to amend tax rates since the finance ministry in the Shs45.5 trillion budget set a higher target for the taxman.
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has returned to court Tuesday to press President Peter Mutharika to sack Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson, Jane Ansah and her fellow commissioners after Parliament, the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Appeal found them incompetent and their positions untenable.
Chilima has been accusing the head of the electoral body of misconduct and is backed by electoral stakeholders that Ansah should not preside over the fresh presidential elections.
But Ansah, a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, has defiantly refused to step down.
This month Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the High Court sitting as the Constitutional Court which found Ansah and MEC incompetent.
On April 1 2020 MEC chief elections officer Sam Alfandika told Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee that the commission wrote President Peter Mutharika to consider hiring new commissioners as the current ones' tenure is expiring on June 5.
[Monitor] On Monday, at a function organised for him to hand over office and say his goodbyes, retired Chief Justice Bart Katureebe was overcome by emotion. He revealed how on the evening of June 19, his last day in office, President Museveni called him, informing him of how he had signed the long-awaited Administration of the Judiciary Bill into law.
Officials and experts are sounding the alarm as Malawi shifts to top campaign gear with giant rallies for an unprecedented presidential re-run despite the coronavirus pandemic.
He said Malawians “will only fully understand the impact once we start to see burial teams and mass graves” because the disease is “deceptively undramatic until it is too late”.
Malawians will only fully understand the impact once we start to see burial teams and mass graves\" because the disease is \"deceptively undramatic until it is too late
\tPolitical scientist Michael Jana said the bitter power struggle has seen the country throw caution to the wind.
The southern African country will hold polls in just under two months after the Constitutional Court overturned the results of last year’s controversial election, which handed President Peter Mutharika a second term.
Mutharika garnered just 38.5 percent of the May 21 vote but the Constitutional Court annulled the result, citing “grave” and “widespread” irregularities, including the use of correction fluid on ballot papers.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed that only presidential candidates will be given free and equal airtime on the state owned media outlets as provided for in the Presidential Elections Act 2005.
Mr Byabakama said the electoral body will meet the Uganda Commissions Commission (UCC) to discuss the enforcement of the law which requires all presidential candidates to have the same access to the state-owned media outlets.
Section 23 (1 and 2) of Presidential Elections Act 2005 stipulates that all presidential candidates shall get equal treatment, freedom of expression and access to information of candidates.
\"
According to the electoral body, a presidential candidate is free to buy airtime from privately owned media houses to supplement their free access to the state owned media.
In February, Parliament passed the Presidential Elections Amendment Bill which stipulates punitive measures to state owned media managers such as a year in jail or a fine of up to Shs10m for denying presidential candidates coverage.
A section of formal workers on Sunday took to social media to air their disgust after the National Response Covid-19 Fund made an appeal asking them to donate Shs10, 000 each, to compliment government's efforts in the fight against coronavirus.
The Shs15 billion could come directly from the 1.5 million employees and if the companies were so gracious enough to match, that would get us another Shs15 billion to get to Shs30 billion,\" said Mr Patrick Mweheire, the chairman Fundraising Subcommittee National Response Fund to Covid-19 which was established by President Museveni to mobilise resources from the private sector to supplement an already strained Ministry of Health in its combat against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Below is a sample of the concerns from social media:
\"The government has refused to relieve us of PAYE, Corporate taxes, our salaries have been cut, companies have closed, they are swindling money in the treasury by way of allocating MPs free millions of shillings, we are grappling to feed our families having lost our jobs or part of our salaries and they have the audacity to ask us again to contribute?
Hours after the appeal, Senior Presidential press secretary, Mr Don Wanyama said President Museveni on Monday (May 18) address Ugandans on government's efforts in the fight against Covid-19.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the country have risen to 227 after 24 people tested positive to the virus on Saturday.
Members of Parliament have questioned how textile firm Nytil was awarded a contract to produce and supply facial masks across the country.
\"Now that government is to provide masks to Ugandans, I seek to know how ordinary companies and young people making masks can benefit.
In his address on Monday, President Museveni said it will take Nytil two weeks to manufacture masks for all Ugandans above six years of age.
It was, however, sold in 1996 to Southern Range Nyanza Limited, a private company owned by Mr Kishor Jobanputra, who is also a member of the National Response Fund to Covid-19 formed by President Museveni on May 3.
Government had threatened to cancel the VAT concession in the 2014/15 budget before Nytil ran to Parliament and threatened to lay off more than 3,000 employees directed employed by the company.
Malawi's parliament has endorsed June 23 as the date for the presidential election re-run after a court annulled last year's vote over irregularities, a lawmaker said.
The election had handed President Peter Mutharika a second term, but with just 38.5% of the vote.
Legally parliament had to validate the new polling date.
He said the court ruling \"clearly states that parliament must set a date for the elections\".
Meantime, a new electoral commission was sworn-in on Tuesday to organise the new vote, after the top court also ordered an investigation into the conduct of the previous one.
Malawi's governing party has called for a third presidential election, citing irregularities and intimidation in this week's re-run vote as unofficial tallies show incumbent President Peter Mutharika losing to the opposition leader.
Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has issued routes and numbers for commuter taxis to ensure there is no congestion in the city centre as public transport resumes today.
Taxis, with route numbers from 31 to 58, operating in the New Taxi Park will use Mackay Road, Berkley (Bakuli) Road to exit and enter the city.
Public transport operators from Kisenyi Park (route number 59 to 73) will use Kisenyi, Ssemugooma, Rubaga Road and Berkley (Bakuli) Road for exit and entrance.
The Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman, Mr Patrick Onyango, said yesterday an inter-security agency committee was still holding a meeting with KCCA officials on how they will manage traffic in the city since one of the largest transport terminal point, the Old Taxi Park, is under renovation.
Transport operators with buses and omnibuses plying long routes such as Kampala-Gulu, Kampala-Mbale and Kampala-Soroti, may not be able to make return journeys as they will have to beat the curfew time.
[Monitor] President Museveni has directed the Covid-19 National Taskforce to discuss reopening of schools across the country in a phased manner starting with candidate classes.
A new political entity — Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP) — has applied to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) to be registered as Jamaica's fourth political party.
The party, said the ECJ, is now provisionally registered, having fulfilled the requirements of the Seventh Schedule of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act 2014.
“The Electoral Commission is in the process of conducting investigations pertained the party's submissions and invites members of the public having probable cause, so to do, to register objections to the registration of the applicant party.
Registered political parties are eligible to contest future elections and will have their finances monitored by the ECJ.
Presently, the nation's three registered political parties are the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), the People's National Party (PNP), and the United Independents' Congress, which was registered in 2019.
Speaking on behalf of the forum for academic staff in public universities, the chairperson of Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA), Mr Deus Kamunyu, told journalists in Kampala yesterday that they have resolved to call for a nationwide strike protesting the unfair distribution of Shs50b put in the 2020/2021 budget.
\"The forum for academic staff in public universities has written four letters objecting the unfair distribution of the Shs50b that negates the pro rata (equity) principle that the Ministry of Public Service is going ahead to undermine.
\"Effective June 4, all academic staff in public universities shall withdraw their labour until Shs50b for 2020/2021 is distributed pro rata based on the salary structure for academic staff developed by the Ministry of Public Service,\" Mr Kamunyu said, adding: \"We advise all students and stakeholders to remain calm until this matter is resolved.\"
According to the new salary structure for financial year 2020/2021 that was recently released by the Ministry of Public Service for public servants, lecturers in public universities inclusive, a professors will earn Shs15.6m from Shs8m, while an associate professor will earn Shs14.8m from Shs7.5m.
Mr Kamunyu also explained that with the new approved salary structure, a gap between the professors and a senior staff of Shs6.6m will be created as opposed to the pro rata agreed structure envisaging a gap between the professor and a senior lecturer at Shs1m.
The ministry of Health on Saturday said eight more people had tested positive for Covid-19, pushing Uganda's virus cases to 694.
The minister will update Ugandans on the Covid-19 response and also clarify on reports of fake virus results allegedly issued by Makerere University laboratory.
President Museveni on Thursday while speaking during the budget reading event, accused Makerere University laboratory that is doing coronavirus testing of faking test results.
Before the President complained about Covid-19 results from Makerere laboratory, Daily Monitor got complaints from some of the \"patients\" who were affected by the suspected wrong results.
Government in April gave the Makerere University laboratory a nod to start testing for coronavirus following assessment by technocrats from the health ministry.
A cloud of corruption hangs over the head of Public Service Commission director-general Dovhani Mamphiswana.
As the country continues to fight tirelessly to control the spread of Covid-19, a total of 5 million children are set to benefit from the three phase program of World Vision aimed at mitigating the after-effects of the pandemic in the vulnerable community.
The Government together with World Vision on Wednesday launched the second phase response program where it dispersed USD 3.3 million (Shs 15 billion), that will be used to buy reading materials for children and facilitating radio programs in 38 districts.
According to World Vision national director Mr Jason Evans, the expanded response will focus on support for children impacted by Covid-19 through education, child protection, food and livelihoods.
With this phase two response program here in Uganda, world vision aims to support 5 million Ugandan children, their families and communities to adapt and thrive during and after the Covid-19 pandemic,\" Mr Evans said.
According to the Mr Evans, the program will include supporting learning continuity for school age children, ensuring effective reporting and referral mechanisms for child protection are maintained, increasing food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable households during and post Covid-19 as well as facilitating radio station teachings programs for children.
Government will have to purchase over 137,000 television sets if they are to facilitate distance learning as proposed by President Museveni.
In his televised address on Monday, Mr Museveni postponed the partial reopening of schools for another one month but said \"children must continue studying under the distance learning programme\" on televisions and radios.
He made a number of proposals to facilitate the programme, among them; provision of two television sets to each village and a radio set to each home.
Mr Museveni says much as there are fears that the TV sets could bring about congregation, thereby undermining social distancing of the children, he is optimistic that it is easy to identify any child who has the virus since they are from one village.
\"Children from the same village, if they have sickness it would have already shown up,\" added Mr Museveni.
If you are registered and have a photo-id, you can walk into the Circuit Clerk’s office in the William M. Branch County Courthouse, or any other Circuit Clerk’s office in the state, and vote absentee now, early, without putting your ballot in the mail, for the November 3, 2020 General Election.Since September 9 and until […]
[Monitor] The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party sub-county chairpersons from Gulu and Omoro districts have appealed to President Museveni to deliver on pledges he made to them in 2016.
Afterwards, a relieved Finance Minister Thabo Sofonea said he was happy the budget had been passed and the government ministries now had to get down to fully addressing the populace's demands for efficient service delivery.
The rest of the ministries and other public offices were allocated as follows: Trade and Industry (M292 498 085); Development Planning (M1, 1 billion); Agriculture and Food Security (M666 174 038) and Foreign affairs (M453 994 761).
The Ministry of Communications Science and Technology received M219 985 523; Public Works (M937 208 200), Energy and Metrology (M862 919 535); Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation (M156 742 108); Prime Minister's Office (M129 893 609); Labour and Employment (M55 246 804) and Tourism, Environment and Culture (M118 782 117).
The Ministry of Defence and National Security got M633 578 653; Local Government and Chieftainship (M801 865 039); Gender, Sport and Recreation (M309 198 235); Public Service (M42 112 367); Social Development (M410 183 058); Mining (M40 983 221); Police and Public Safety (M746 218 735); Small Business, Cooperatives, Marketing and Development (M135 087 482); Transport (M101 705 504); Water (M487 258 488); Justice, Human Rights and Correctional Services (M242 472 787) and Law and Constitutional Affairs (M96 219 389).
The Auditor General's Office got M32 371 698; His Majesty's Office (M123 095 565); National Assembly (M84 292 115); Senate (M58 561 696); Judiciary (M136 011 995); Public Service Commission (M14 705 429); Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (M25 928 888); Ombudsman (M10 514 614); Statutory salaries and allowances (M40 351 213); pensions and gratuities (M2 326 182 218); refunds on erroneous receipts (M2 268 000); centralised items (about M1, 1 billion), Public Debt (M2, 1 billion) and subscriptions to international organisations (M84 434 160).
Other countries scheduled to hold elections are Egypt, Guinea, Seychelles and Tanzania.
For countries that do hold elections, there may be special voting arrangements that can allow polls to go ahead but reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
In South Korea's elections in mid-April, the electoral commission encouraged people to vote before election day at any of the 3,500 polling stations throughout the country.
This not only decongested polling stations on election day but contributed to the highest turnout in the country for nearly 30 years.
This means that countries planning to hold elections in 2020 or early-2021 need to start discussing these arrangements - across party lines and among multiple relevant agencies - as soon as possible.
