Don Wanyama
5 July 2009
column
Swine flu is in our backyard. A 40-year-old man from the UK was on Wednesday confirmed as Uganda's first case of the H1N1 swine flu virus. The man arrived in Uganda on June 26 from London via Nairobi on a Kenya Airways flight. He passed through the health checkpoint at Entebbe with no symptoms and went to Kampala. But thereafter he contracted flu symptoms and when he was examined in Entebbe Hospital, he had Influenza A. The case came days after Kenya had also confirmed its first case, a British student who had travelled from Nairobi to Kisumu.
Reports of a new rebel group in the north continue to stir strong emotions. After Gulu District Chairman Norbert Mao wrote in a newspaper column that he had lost a flash disk that contained information on the Uganda Patriotic Forces, a proposed rebel group, the army quickly chipped in saying the confession vindicated its claims that some people were up to some mischief. Acholi politicians, however, insist the rebel group is a creation of the government to try and incarcerate them ahead of the 2011 elections.
Talking about rebels, officials of the UPDF seemed to have been reading from different scripts on the UPF issue. Whereas the defence spokesman, Maj. Felix Kulayigye insisted that Mr Mao had a case to answer in relation to concealing treason, the coordinator if intelligence agencies, Gen. David Tinyefuza dismissed the claims, saying talk of a rebel group was "utter rubbish". He went on to question the source of Maj. Kulayigye's information since "the army spokesman does not run security in this country". All this occurs on the backdrop of the arrest and charging of 11 people, including a freelance journalist, with treason. They were reportedly got with an assortment of arms, satellite phones and other military paraphernalia. The insurrection, according to military sources, was being planned in the thickets of Murchison Falls National Park.
The government tabled a Kampala Capital City Bill, which if passed in its current form, will see the management of the city moved from Kampala City Council to a new Kampala Capital City Authority. According to the government, after seeing KCC run down the city for many years, it is about time, management became more professional. But the opposition, that politically controls Kampala, views the Bill as an attempt by the NRM regime to wrestle control of the city from the opposition through a pen, after failing through the ballot.
It was a tough week for Umeme, the country's power distributor. First, the Police raided its offices and that of sister energy companies, confiscating documents and computers. Then, Umeme's outgoing chief Paul Mare became the subject of investigation and was barred from leaving the country after Energy Minister Hillary Onek asked the Police to find out why despite heavy subsidies from the government, Ugandans still pay some of the highest electricity tariffs in the region. Early reports indicate that of the Shs100 billion that the government has been giving Umeme annually since 2005, Shs30b (almost one-third) has been "lost" yearly.
The adage that when problems visit, they come with their own stool, could not be better applied when a senior official of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards accused Umeme of blocking UNBS staff from inspecting their power meters in the past five years. Mr Deus Mubangizi, the senior quality assurance manager, said Umeme had claimed to have its own internal mechanisms of certifying meters. This came on the backdrop of complaints from the public and political leaders that Umeme could be tampering with meters to defraud clients.
In the tiny state of Honduras, it was a turn of fortune for its President, Manuel Zelaya. Seeing his term of office coming to an end, he made it public that he wanted to continue at the helm. He then sought support from his party to amend the constitution and live on, but his party was having none of it. He then went to the courts, which also boldly told him his manoeuvres were unconstitutional. Insistent, he decided a referendum would do, but before he could go through with it, the country's military bundled him out of the country and instead named Roberto Micheletti, an official from Zelaya's party, as leader of an interim government until November when the country holds elections. Zelaya is now asking to be let back and he completes his term.
From the regions
CENTRAL:
UPDF soldiers evicted over 20 families in Kitala village, Entebbe, saying the two-and-a-half acres the families occupied belonged to the army. However, the residents insist they own the land and have documentation (titles and leases) to prove it from the Uganda Land Commission.
NORTH:
Land is quickly turning into a time bomb in the north if comments by politicians are anything to go by. Acholi MPs this week issued a statement threatening to take up arms if "Acholi land is grabbed". MPs Michael Ocula and Simon Oyet said grabbing land was like abrogating the Constitution and should be fought.
WEST:
A parent whose son was shot and killed by an SPC at Makobore High School in Rukungiri says he will sue the government over negligence. Mark Mugyenyi's father, Mr Velds Katunguka, said he was not satisfied with explanation from the school and Police, and also wondered why he was never helped during the burial exercise.
EAST:
Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Vincent Mugabo cancelled Jinja mayor Muhammed Kezaala's bail and ordered that he attends hearing of the graft case against him from Luzira Prison. Mr Kezaala is accused by the Inspector General of Government of misusing Shs16 million from the Mayor's Charity Fund.
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