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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.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
The Law Society of Kenya has filed a case challenging the legality of an Executive order issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta that allegedly sought to place the Judiciary, commissions as well as independent offices under ministries and government departments.
Through lawyers Manwa Hosea and Arnold Ochieng, the LSK terms the move as unconstitutional since the executive arm of government cannot restructure or assign functions to other arms and independent commissions.
The LSK claims the disputed Executive order No. 1 of 2020 offends the principles of the constitution, doctrine of separation of powers, democracy and independence of constitutional offices.
According to the LSK, the May 11 Executive Order titled 'The Organisation of Government' can impair the independence of the Judiciary, commissions and independent offices.
The order, the LSK argues, places the various tribunals, constitutional commissions and independent agencies under the control and direction of the respective departments.
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.
Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) has designated Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital and South B Level 3 Hospital as Covid-19 isolation centres with numbers of positive cases soaring in Nairobi.
The two health facilities join Mbagathi Isolation Unit which is under Kenyatta National Hospital as three isolation centres in the capital with Covid-19 cases now above 1, 000 with informal settlements including Kibera, Mathare, Kawangware, Lang'ata and Eastleigh worst affected.
NMS Director for Health Services Dr Josephine Kibaru Mbae said NMS, through the Public Service Commission, is also set to recruit 225 health workers as part of the 5, 000 additional health workers announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in his May address, to add to the 2, 750 health professionals under the county.
The new office has also deployed health workers at all border points to identify and isolate any suspected Covid-19 case as part of management and containment programme in addition to dedicating Ngara Health Centre and South B Clinic for testing.
NMS working together with the Ministry of Health two weeks ago launched an 11-day free Covid-19 mass testing, which ended on Sunday, targeting informal settlements in the capital.
It was supposed to be an iconic flawless structure and symbol of pride for Kayunga District, but the administration block is falling apart.
These visible defects in the structure have raised concerns from the staff and residents who visit the district headquarters.
Mr Robert Drate, the district water engineer, who was the acting district engineer then and oversaw the construction work, acknowledges that the structure is in a \"sorry state\".
Some of the district staff, who declined to be named, complain that in some cases, their documents are destroyed by water from the leaking roof.
Mr Tom Sserwanga, the Kayunga District chairperson, blames the problem on the original design of the building which he says does not favour proper water drainage.
[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.
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.
As polls suggest the opposition alliance will win on 23 June, President Mutharika has been trying to forcibly remove the country's chief justice.
When Peter Mutharika was declared the official winner of Malawi's hard-fought presidential elections in May 2019, he would not have expected - or wanted - to be doing it all again just one year later.
Moreover, in his 5 June State of National Address, Mutharika asked parliament to reverse the court ruling that demanded Malawi switch from its first-past-the-post system to one that requires the victor to garner a 50+1 majority.
In the annulled 2019 elections, President Mutharika of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was declared the winner with 38.6% of the vote.
Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) garnered 35.4%; Saulos Chilima of UTM came third with 20.2%; and Atupele Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) received 4.7%.
[Daily News] Zanzibar -- ZANZIBAR Electoral Commission (ZEC) has announced September 11, the official day for commencing election campaigns, which are scheduled to last after 46 days.
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.
Preparations for next year's general elections got off to a bumpy start yesterday after authorities at the Electoral Commission (EC), rejected Opposition demand for a new 2021 roadmap, born out of a meticulous consultative process.
But the Commission maintained that the elections would go on as planned and asked Opposition parties to either accept the new roadmap announced on Tuesday or push for last-minute constitutional amendments to the current electoral laws.
Under the revised EC roadmap, political parties were given one month to organise their internal elections (primaries).
\"As an electoral management body that is interested in holding free and fair general elections, you ought to have sufficient consultation with all key stakeholder before you roll out this \"scientific\" revised roadmap...\" the letter to EC reads in part.
\"In the most ridiculous fashion, the Commission has released a revised roadmap for the 2021 General Election; which roadmap violates every aspect of a free and fair election, envisaged under Article 1(4) of the Constitution of Uganda,\" Mr Kyagulanyi said in a Facebook post yesterday.
IMF indicates that the immediate fiscal policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic should account for the particular nature of the health crisis that the global economy faces, one that affects supply, demand, and confidence while being timely, temporary, and targeted across all levels of governments.
The IMF advised that the immediate fiscal policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic should account for the particular nature of the health crisis that the global economy faces, one that affects supply, demand, and confidence while being timely, temporary, and targeted across all levels of governments.
Mr Ssali said there are varied packages that the government can deploy as it tries to boost the economy ranging from fiscal to monetary policies, adding that fiscal policy measures largely allude to creation favourable tax policies that can encourage production and increase aggregate demand, hence stimulating economic growth.
Ms Ssali said from the reading of this theme, one is drawn to the fact that the government will perhaps come up with additional fiscal measures that will gear up business sustainability and continuity just like other countries have implemented.
For example, similar to Kenya's intervention measures- adjustments in tax rates (example, adjustments to the VAT standard rate from 18 per cent to [say] 16 per cent and lowering corporate income tax rate to [say] 25 per cent)
The others are the introduction of additional tax incentives to boost local production by attracting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) into manufacturing/ industrialisation and /or reinstating some of earlier repealed incentives at least for one year such as-initial allowance on eligible plant and machinery with respect to entities situated within a radius of less than 50 Kilometres from Kampala.
Malawians return to the polls on Tuesday for the second time in just over a year to vote for a new president after Peter Mutharika's re-election was annulled over rigging.
The election is much anticipated after the Constitutional Court early this year ruled that the May 2019 vote, won narrowly by Mutharika, was fraught with \"grave and widespread irregularities\" including the use of correction fluid on results sheets.
Tuesday's election is practically a two-horse race between the president and his main rival Lazarus Chakwera, who lost the May 2019 election by 159,000 votes.
Last week Kachale vowed \"the highest commitment of myself and the entire commission to deliver a credible election whose results will be acceptable by all stakeholders\".
Gift Trapence of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which led months-long countrywide street protests against last year's election results, has high hopes this time around.
He also said whereas government will distribute free masks to all Ugandans aged six years and above, others are free to buy their own facemasks.
Dr Aceng recommended that facemasks should preferably be made of cotton fabrics and have filters that they can wash or replace after use.
Dr Julius Lutwama, a virologist at the Uganda Virus Research Institute, said one has to change their facemasks at least three times a day, especially those working from public places such as markets, since the mask lets in tiny particles due to moist from saliva.
Dr Aceng said there is a shortage of fabric masks, especially N95, and urged Ugandans to reserve them for health workers.
A person wearing a mask needs to stay two metres away from other people while in public because coronavirus can still go through the eyes and touching other surfaces.
[Monitor] Members of Parliament (MPs) sitting on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee yesterday rejected the Electoral Commission's (EC) decision banning open public rallies ahead of the 2021 General Elections.
[Monitor] By Job Bwire
As Covid-19 hit South Africa and schools closed as a result of the lockdown, approximately 13 million pupils were affected.
Uganda’s two key opposition figures, Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and People Power leader MP Robert Sentamu Kyagulanyi (aka Bobi Wine) on June 15 announced a strategy for joint political activities under the United Forces of Change.
Bobi Wine and Dr Besigye have branded their partnership a political pressure group meant to push back against President Yoweri Museveni’s government.
Before he joined mainstream politics in 2017 as a member of parliament for Kyadondo East, Bobi Wine was a Dr Besigye supporter.
At some point, the seeming popularity of Bobi Wine’s People Power created suspicion and hostility with the FDC, the largest opposition party in Uganda.
Our strategies may differ at some point but our objective is the same,” said Bobi Wine at the launch.
The National Resistance Army (NRA), an anti-Obote group led by Yoweri Museveni, kept fighting after it had been excluded from the new regime. It seized Kampala on Jan. 29, 1986, and Museveni was declared president. Museveni has transformed the ruins of Idi Amin and Milton Obotes Uganda into an economic miracle, preaching a philosophy of self-sufficiency and anti-corruption. Western countries have flocked to assist him in the countrys transformation. Nevertheless, it remains one of Africas poorest countries. A ban on political parties was lifted in 1996, and the incumbent Museveni won 72% of the vote, reflecting his popularity due to the countrys economic recovery.
Uganda has waged an enormously successful campaign against AIDS, dramatically reducing the rate of new infections through an intensive public health and education campaign. Museveni won reelection in March 2001 with 70% of the vote, following a nasty and spirited campaign.
Close ties with Rwanda (many Rwandan Tutsi exiles helped Museveni come to power) led to the cooperation of Uganda and Rwanda in the ousting of Zaires Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, and a year later, in efforts to unseat his successor, Laurent Kabila, whom both countries originally supported but from whom they grew estranged. But in 1999, Uganda and Rwanda quarreled over strategy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and began fighting each other. The two countries mended their differences in 2002. Uganda also signed a peace accord with the Congo in Sept. 2002 and finally withdrew its remaining troops from the country in May 2003.
In July 2005, parliament amended the constitution to eliminate term limits, thus allowing President Museveni another term in office. In August, a multi-party political system was reinstituted after a 19-year absence. In Feb. 2006, Museveni was reelected with 59% of the vote.
Among the new cases, 19 are truck drivers from Elegu, Malaba, Busia and Mutukula border points.
The other 13 are contacts from previously confirmed truck drivers and 'alerts', according to a statement released by the health ministry on Tuesday.
Despite knowing the risk, President Museveni has continously insisted on having truck drivers coming into the country, arguing that stopping cargo from coming in would be a very grave mistake.
In this case, foreign truck drivers who test positive for the virus are then handed over to their respective country authorities while the Ugandans are immediately taken for treatment.
While addressing the nation on Monday to guide on the way forward, President Museveni reiterated on the need for calm in regard to the truck drivers who are seemingly the new epicentre of the soaring Covid-19 cases in Uganda.
The Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday conducted a pilot voters' registration exercise at the Accra Ridge Church to test its Biometric Verification Systems for the upcoming December polls.
The pilot was to ascertain the durability of the equipment towards a successful registration exercise scheduled for June 30.
The prospective voters spent about five minutes to go through the electoral processes at either of the two registration centres mounted at the premises, with a maximum of 20 voters observing COVID-19 precautionary measures and hygienic protocols.
Speaking to the Ghanaian Times, the Public Relations Officer of the Commission, Sylvia Annoh said the exercise was smooth and was to ensure the commission identified any challenges that might occur during the actual registration and find ways of addressing them before and during the exercise.
She explained that the registration officers did not encounter any challenges during the processes or the equipment breaking down, saying, \"We are adhering to the protocols to ensure no one got infected with the virus.\"
The national Budget for the Financial Year 2020/2021 is the first in the third phase of the National Development Plan (NDP) III which runs until 2025.
The budgetary allocations placed said priorities at the bottom with Agriculture sector getting 2.91 per cent, Tourism with 0.44 per cent while Energy and Mineral development which superintends over oil and gas is placed among the 10 in the Budget with 5.72 per cent.
While unveiling the Budget, Mr Matia Kasaija, the Finace minister, revealed: \"The Agriculture sector plays a central role in Uganda's economy.
But NDPIII maintains that for successful implementation of its programmes, key development strategies such as; agro-industrialisation, fast-track oil, gas and mineral-based industrialisation, import replacement/promotion of local manufacturing, export promotion, harness the tourism potential, and provide a suitable fiscal, monetary and regulatory environment for the private sector to invest must be at the fore front.
Mr Kasaija cast the outlined priorities of the Third National Development Plan (NDPIII) FY2020/2021 to FY 2024/2025 at far bottom yet the plan is meant to guide the allocations.
And now just emerging from no contact with voters, there are concerns about whether the election calendar and roadmap as set by the National Electoral Commission in December 2018 is still viable considering the time \"lost.\"
\"The Commission has to fulfil Section 8 of the Presidential Elections Act and Section 9 of the Parliamentary Elections Act that provide appointment of nomination days and time,\" reads the commission document, \"for campaigns for presidential elections to commence latest by first week of September 2020 nomination of presidential candidates must have been completed latest third week of August.\"
The first round of nominations must have been completed latest third week of July 2020, while nominations and campaigns for parliamentary elections \"should commence latest by second week August 2020.\"
Sam Rwakoojo, the Secretary to the Electoral Commission told The EastAfrican that the roadmap has been disrupted and some special interest group elections that should have been held around this time (end of May to beginning of June) can't take place, yet they contribute to the national elections and the consequences of those delays are not clear at the moment.
Mr Rwankoojo said no concrete proposals can be generated on specific dates for certain activities because, \"we don't know yet how this disease and lockdown will go,\" he said, adding that while the Constitution is clear on when to hold certain processes, the only available leg room is to determine which activities or elections can be held together to remain within the confines of the law.
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.
