UK
envoy salutes Uganda
Publish Date: Jul 19, 2012
By Henry Mukasa
Outing going British High Commissioner, Martin Shearman has said that Uganda is progressing well on the democratic path despite several challenges.
Outing going British High Commissioner, Martin Shearman has said that Uganda is progressing well on the democratic path despite several challenges.
Shearman who visited the Vision Group head office in Industrial Area also saluted the open debate in Uganda society on politics saying "its intangible but debate is healthy." The High Commissioner toured the New Vision print factory, radio and TV stations.
"There has been a huge progress. In 1986 things were really low… huge progress and that is politically important," Shearman said during a meeting with New Vision senior editors led by the CEO, Robert Kabushenga.
The envoy who began his four-year tour of duty in 2008 will be replaced in early August by Auson Black Burne. Shearman observed that six years after the transition from the Movement system, multiparty politics in Uganda "is still settling down."
"The ruling part is still integrated with the state. The opposition political parties seem no to have organized strongly on policy," he commented. "Uganda has still not had a peaceful political transition. That's an important phase to pass," he added.
On challenges the country faces, Shearman listed; the need to create more jobs and exports as critically essential. He named the need to improve infrastructure and the business environment as another.
"You need to continue building institutions of the Government to provide stability or withstand changes," he advised. "Ugandans need to get access to better healthcare and education," he added.
The envoy said although Europe is facing a financial squeeze UK is increasing its development cooperation assistance to Africa, Uganda inclusive. He said he would put the "right" messages to the people of UK that there is potential in Uganda and Africa to invest.
Commenting on the media environment in the country, Shearman noted, that the roles of the fourth estate in fostering debate is important. He said there is a lot of "reporting of what happened and discussing it but less investigative journalism."
"In the UK ministers spend more time talking to the media to put their views across. I hope the politicians here, government and the opposition, will continue to see the role of the media," he stated.
Shearman said he was impressed by the expansion and circulation of Vision products, especially upcountry.
CEO Kabushenga disclosed that Vision Group had entered a partnership with BBC to exclusively relay the TV-version of the Focus on Africa programme in its television channels.
Oh! no, not Kiboko Squad again!
Sunday, 15 July 2012 20:54
There were ugly scenes where supporters of different candidates fought each other. But more seriously, the unlawful paramilitary outfit, commonly known as Kiboko Squad emerged at some polling stations and beat up some people who had lined up to vote. These unidentified men who carried assault rifles (AK 47s) and clubs were being ferried in vans (kamunyes) whose number plates had been removed.
Like it happened in the past, again the Police officers ? some of them not even armed ? looked on helplessly as these armed men threatened and beat up people. So far, Police has not made any arrest of these men or their cars nor has it made any formal statement about their presence in Bukoto South.
Since 2007, this nameless rag-tag squad has become government’s tool of choice for subduing any form of expression of dissent on the streets. They first emerged during the demonstration opposed to the giveaway of Mabira forest. They have since appeared in any subsequent missions to quell demonstrations and riots. And every time they have offered their services, Police has disowned them and appeared helpless.
The Police boss, Gen Kale Kayihura, was in Lwengo district supervising his officers, but there was no order given to disarm this outfit. Instead, the opposition MPs who were working as electoral supervisors for Mathias Nsubuga were arrested and accused of disrupting the elections!
Police needs to explain to Uganda why it decides to protect the ‘strange men’ wielding sticks who beat unarmed citizens. If Kayihura cannot order for the arrest of these men, and only turns a blind eye, then whom should Ugandans entrust their security to?
There was once a Police inquiry into the existence of these paramilitary organisations, but the investigations left more questions than answers. They named people who owned and led them but there was no official effort to disband or arrest and prosecute the culprits. Why is the Kiboko Squad above the law?
And for whom does this Kiboko Squad work?
FDC wants kiboko squad probed over Bukoto violence
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 00:11
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) wants the
government to investigate and reprimand the infamous ‘kiboko squad’, which
resurfaced and fanned the violence during last week’s Bukoto South by-election
in Lwengo district.
Kiboko squad’s stick-wielding men, dressed in
civilian clothes and some armed with assault rifles, stormed polling stations
and beat up voters on July 12, flaring up the violence that marred the
election. Kiboko is vernacular (Kiswahili and Luganda) for a stick used to
strike people, and Kiboko squad claims to be a vigilante group of the NRM. But,
despite their actions, the ruling party’s candidate, Alintuma Nsambu, lost to
Democratic Party flag bearer, Mathias Nsubuga, in a closely contested poll.
Nsubuga polled 11,854 votes against Nsambu’s
10,427 to claim the seat that had fallen vacant after court cancelled Muyanja
Mbabaali’s victory for lack of requisite academic qualifications. FDC, whose
flag bearer, Julius Ssentamu, got a paltry 59 votes, has demanded that the
government acts on the militia outfit’s violent actions. FDC deputy spokesman,
Toterebuka Bamwenda, argues that their candidate’s dismal performance can
partly be blamed on the actions of kiboko squad.
“So, we want an explanation from the government
as to why this same group, which is illegal, continues to unleash terror on
innocent people,” Bamwenda said on Monday after addressing the weekly press
conference at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi.
“In whose interest and on whose behalf do these men act? We want a fresh, independent and thorough investigation to clearly answer those questions, because the police have failed in their mandate to contain this group,” Bamwenda said
“In whose interest and on whose behalf do these men act? We want a fresh, independent and thorough investigation to clearly answer those questions, because the police have failed in their mandate to contain this group,” Bamwenda said
The probe should also look into the recent spate
of murders in which two city Muslim clerics have been killed, he added.
Although the police deployed heavily in Bukoto South and was boosted by the
presence of the Inspector General of Police, Lt Gen Kale Kayihura, no suspected
member of the squad was arrested.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has also raised
concern about kiboko squad’s actions. EC chairman, Badru Kiggundu, who was on
the ground in Bukoto South and witnessed the kiboko-wielding men unleash terror
at two polling stations, wants stringent laws to deal with the gang in future.
“I’m going to petition Parliament to strengthen
the existing election laws,” Kiggundu said.
In similar fashion, during the bitterly contested
March 2011 Kampala
mayoral elections, the ruthless gang fought battles with opposition youth at
Super FM in Rubaga, beating up voters and journalists. Prior to that, in the
run-up to the 2011 general elections, kiboko squad men actively worked
alongside the police in breaking up demonstrations, whipping civilians and
opposition politicians alike.
However, when Gen Kayihura instituted an
investigation, he insisted in the findings of his report that kiboko squad is
not an extension of the police force.
“We have nothing to do with it. If some officers
were involved, that is their business [and] it is a disciplinary issue, and we
will handle it at that level,” Kayihura stated.
mugalu@observer.ug
25 new districts to cost taxpayer extra Shs50b
Shs50 billion can pay salaries for 15,000 primary school teachers annually. Each primary school teach earns Shs270,000 per month.
The proposal, if approved by Parliament, would bring the total number of districts in the country to 137 from the current 112 districts.
The minister, in a motion tabled before Parliament, reasoned that the creation of more districts was paramount for effective administration of those areas and that the move was aimed at bringing services closer to the people.
“The creation of the said new districts is supported by a majority of all the members of Parliament,” stated the minister.
He stated that Shs100 million is released annually as start-up capital for the newly approved districts which he said was way below.
“The money helps in constructing new district headquarters or renovating old buildings and catering for initial meetings for councillors.”
If approved, at least Shs1.2 billion will be needed annually to run activities of each of the new districts according to a report by the Ministry of Local Government Finance Committee to parliament early this year.
This means for 25 new districts, more Shs30 billion would be needed for administration alone.
The bigger part of the additional cost would arise from paying salaries of district leaders.
Government has been giving new districts Shs100 million as startup capital mainly for building the district headquarters and paying wages.
Parliament has threatened to block the proposal unless government tables the financial implication of the new district.
Block threats
The committee chairperson, Mr Raphael Magyezi, told Daily Monitor yesterday that they may block the motion until government produces a report on whether the new districts are viable and the financial implications.
“The ministry assured us that they were carrying out a study on the new districts to ascertain whether they are viable or not and we agreed that they should never bring any requests to Parliament until such a report is brought which they have not done to date,” said Mr Magyezi.
“Only one week to report back to Parliament, we shall not rush into approving districts without taking into account the financial implications,” he said
Kiboko squad investigation reveals too little
Sunday, 06 March 2011 22:25
A nine-month long police investigation into the infamous Kiboko squad succeeded only in revealing little about the group that has gained notoriety for whipping innocent citizens as if they were cows or horses.
As with the investigations, the press briefing called by the Inspector General of Police at the Media Centre last Thursday was to exclusively address this so-called vigilante group.
Yet, no sooner had Maj Gen Kale Kayihura made that clear than he was off to some 21 other militia groups on which he dwelt, as well as the planned “illegal” opposition demonstrations.
Kiboko squad is so brazen in the execution of its unlawful acts, yet the police, in whose full view the members have repeatedly unleashed their terror, have not restrained them. But Kayihura insisted that the ruthless group is not an extension of the police.
“Kiboko squad isn’t a police outfit. We have nothing to do with it. If some officers were involved, that is their business [and] it is a disciplinary issue and we will handle it at that level,” Kayihura said.
The squad was most recently in action in Lubaga division during the chaotic February 23 Kampala mayoral elections, where they appeared to have replaced the long lean canes they usually use – the kind normally used by cattle herders – with huge wooden bars bearing protruding nails.
The police watched and did nothing, as many people, including journalists, were flogged senselessly, leaving only the Uganda Red Cross to come to their rescue by rushing them to various hospitals.
The Kampala Metropolitan Commandant then, Andrew Sorowen, came and did nothing. Kayihura summarily dropped him a few days later. The army came in, ringed off Super FM radio, from where the squad was going back and forth, and they too did nothing.
Then, belatedly, Kayihura ordered for the arrest of one Juma John Ssemakula, the self-confessed leader of the Kiboko squad. This was after journalists who had been flogged demanded investigations, and Ssemakula, in several media interviews, bragged that his gang had indeed beaten up people, including on the day of the mayoral elections – and would gladly do it again.
Back to 2010
On June 9, 2010, at the Clock Tower grounds in Kampala, the Kiboko squad, working alongside the police, pounced on opposition leaders, including FDC’s Dr Kizza Besigye and JEEMA’s Asuman Basalirwa and their followers, as they tried to hold a demonstration against the Electoral Commission.Sorowen was the officer in charge. Captured on camera, the incident embarrassed the police, forcing Kayihura to order an investigation. But it was 2007 when the group first showed its ugly face during protests against the government’s proposed giveaway of part of Mabira forest reserve.
At the time, they had emerged out of the precincts of Central Police Station in Kampala, and furiously charged at the protesters and anyone else in their sight, breaking limbs and inflicting gruesome injuries on innocent people.
President Museveni would later praise the notorious gang as courageous, patriotic citizens. According to the police, Ssemakula, alias Backfire, heads the group that is formally the National Rescue Agency Ltd, a non-registered company.
It comprises 90 people, who are organised in groups of ten, stationed along Ben Kiwanuka, Nakivubo and Entebbe roads; Kisekka market and Blue Room, along the way to Mengo.
Police could not say who the group works for or who funds their activities. On whether this gang does not pose a security threat to the country, the way the Mungiki has done next door in Kenya, Kayihura said that although they have not yet become militias, they are definitely a threat in terms of crime.
“That’s why we must clamp down on them,” he said.
Mungiki, now a banned criminal organisation in Kenya, started as a politico-religious group and slowly spread throughout the country, destabilising communities.
Kenyan police, who had kept a tight lip as the group amputated its victims, skinned heads and hacked entire families to death, later pursued them after they had become so feared and wealthy from running an extortion empire.
Ssemakula may go free
Police intends to summon leaders or financiers of other unlawful groups, most of who are opposition figures, to establish exactly what their groups are about. This has fuelled speculation that Kayihura might be moving on Kiboko squad just to deny opposition groups legitimacy.Meanwhile, self-styled Kiboko squad leader, Ssemakula, who was arrested on February 28 on charges of assault, is set to be released on bond because nobody, in all the days he has been in custody, has turned up to lodge a complaint against him.
Seven journalists who were beaten up in the melee have lodged complaints, but none specifically against Ssemakula. This is the second time that police is waiting in vain on the public to testify against this insidious group.
The nine-month police investigation had a component of a public inquiry, but no witness turned up. The police, though, according to Okoth Ochola, one of Kayihura’s deputies and director of special duties, who oversaw the investigations, and Paul Kato, the CID commander Kampala, do not seem worried at all about this.
While Ssemakula says his group had a “right” to batter people they believed to be unruly, he insists that he was in Lubaga during the incident but stayed on the sidelines, waiting to be called in to reinforce his gang, which did not happen, as they had managed on their own.
gaaki@observer.ug
