Wednesday 24 January 2018

SOME OF MY BLOG POSTINGS BELOW HAVE RECEIVED OVER 1,000 VISITORS!!!





























Tuesday 16 January 2018

J & M BWEBAJJA HOTEL TAKEN BY UGANDA GOVERNMENT TO ACCOMMODATE MINISTRIES

The users of Entebbe Highway cannot believe the new development that will see Government Ministries accommodated in what has previously been J & M Bwebajja Hotel when the Highway for the stretch between Zana and Entebbe has not been upgraded to a dual carriage way or good effort made to improve alternative routes that can be used by motorists instead of Entebbe Highway.


The Government of Uganda in September 2016 around EID Adha Celebrations announced its wish to buy J & M Bwebajja Hotel to accommodate Government ministries.
Ugandans were taken by surprise Monday, January 15, 2018 to learn that Government Ministries were to be accommodated at the Hotel.

One feature of the Hotel is that part of it is in the Entebbe Highway road reserve. The development is at the time before the whole of Entebbe Highway is made a dual carriage way.
The Hotel first made news when some workers were buried during the construction. This was followed by the death of its alleged owner after a Parliament Committee (PAC) quizzed him on CHOGM monies.
J & M Bwebajja Hotel had been up for Auction and the date for Auction had been set. Barclays Bank had instructed Quickway Auctioneers and Court Bailiffs to auction J & M Hotel to recover a loan amounting to more than Shs 4.7bn.
A notice published on July 4, 2016 indicated that the property, sitting on approximately 30.5 acres would be auctioned to the highest bidder on August 5, 2016.
The facility belonged to the Late Joseph Behakanira who secured the loan in 2005.
 Late Joseph Behakanira
The property which could have been sold more than 5 years back, was temporary saved from auction when a Chinese businessman slapped a caveat on it claiming that the owners owed him $9.5m (more than Shs 31bn) in materials supplied to erect the facility.
Rahul Modi, the proprietor of Hong Kong based Five Line Trading Company, said at the time that he supplied building materials including glass blocks, Polly carbonate sheets, furniture, tiles, laundry machines, swimming pool items and locks, decoration, lighting as well as rail fittings worth $12 million (Shs 40bn) but only a quarter of it was paid.
Rahul claimed that Behakanira approached him in 2006 to ship the assorted items to enable him complete his hotel in time for the planned November 2007 Commonwealth Head of Government meeting in Kampala.
Behakanira, the principle signatory to the contract died suddenly in 2010 shortly after the Parliament Public Accounts Committee (PAC) grilled him on the $1.3m (Shs 4.36bn) cash he got from the Government to prepare 200 rooms to accommodate CHOGM guests at the hotel, only three days to the Summit!
Behakanira who died shortly after meeting PAC.
Part of President Museveni's letter to Hon. Tumwebaze dated November 5, 2012 said, "The widow of the Late Behakanira has appealed to me to buy their hotel at Bwebajja so that Government can use the properties they have built there and turn them into Government offices, a University, a hospital or whatever else we may want to utilize them for."
Late Behakanira and wife.
Uganda Government spends Shs 100bn per annum on rent.
The Late Joseph Behakanira was also proprietor of Avemar Shopping Arcade in Kampala.
Avemar Shopping Arcade
Joseph Behakanira died a day after being interrogated by PAC investigating CHOGM fraud allegations.
He was accused of illegally misusing CHOGM money in 2007 at a tune of $1.3m.
President Museveni and ministers on the cabinet Sub - committee on CHOGM were accused of releasing $1.3m of tax payers' money to J & M Hotel three days to CHOGM.
President Museveni and his ministers on Cabinet Sub - Committee on CHOGM directed that the money be given to J & M Hotel well knowing that this facility was not even part of the CHOGM Hotels.
President Museveni receives the Queen for CHOGM in 2007
Surprisingly, I had opportunity to get someone who works at J & M Hotel who told us that following the death of Joseph Behakanira, the wife was completely ignorant of what was stocked as assortment of items believed to have been imported prior to CHOGM and are believed to have had a tax waver. It is possible that these items were eventually offloaded on to the open market in Uganda.
This article has benefited from a number of sources in an attempt to give an insight into a hotel turned accommodation for Government Ministry offices.
Traffic Jam on Entebbe Highway pictorial




Sunday 7 January 2018

RETIRED ARCHBISHOP DR. LIVINGSTONE MPALANYI NKOYOYO LEAVES UGANDANS DESTITUTES




Given the big heart of concern about the people of Uganda, it is correct to say that he has left us destitutes.



Nkoyoyo in Office


Nkoyoyo doing pastoral work


When Nkoyoyo returned from treatment in UK


Ruth Nkoyoyo after the death of the retired Archbishop

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Retired Church of Uganda Archbishop Dr. Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo who has been battling cancer, has passed on after a pneumonia attack. Reports just in indicate he died aged 80 on Friday morning at a Kampala hospital where he had been admitted in a critical condition.
Archbishop Nkoyoyo has since December 2016 been undergoing cancer treatment and returned from the UK in June 2017 after a prolonged and costly stay abroad. He then required over sh200 million for his hospital bills, with contribution coming from many including sh82 million from President Yoweri Museveni.
Nkoyoyo, who led the Anglican Church from 1995-2004 has been battling cancer of the throat. Initial reports indicate that Nkoyoyo will be buried at Namugongo Anglican shrine on Tuesday, after service on Sunday evening.

Ugandan Christian University Mukono broke the news on twitter early today. “Our first Chancellor and former Archbishop of the @ChurchofUganda Bishop Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo has gone to be with the Lord. Rest in Peace,” UCU said.
Nkoyoyo was the third Uganda archbishop after Silvanus Wani 1980–1984, Yona Okoth 1984–1995. He handed over in 2004–2012  to Henry Luke Orombi. The archbishop today is Stanley Ntagali.
“I thank God for the life of Archbishop Nkoyoyo. He was a passionate evangelist and a visionary leader. He was a man full of hope for the Lord’s work and he never gave up. He has now been promoted to glory. Well done, good and faithful servant,” said Archbishop Ntagali.
President Yoweri Museveni said, “He was a principled shepherd of the flock. A religious leader whose actions matched his words. He was also passionate on improving the welfare of his flock and led by example. He will be missed. May he rest in peace.”
THE LIFE OF Nkoyoyo

Retired Archbishop Nkoyoyo served as Archbishop of the Church of Uganda from 1995 to 2004. During his leadership, he pioneered many visionary initiatives, including upgrading the Bishop Tucker Theological College in Mukono into Uganda Christian University, the first university in Uganda to be privately chartered.
The university has grown from the original 120 students to more than 12,000 students on the main campus, at two constituent colleges, and a number of study centres around the country.

A statement from the Church of Uganda (COU) described Archbishop Nkoyoyo as “a tireless advocate of the least, the last, and the lost.”

COU said that when the government of Uganda gazetted the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest as a National Park, the Batwa were displaced with no place to go. In 1995, Archbishop Nkoyoyo took up their cause and helped secure land in the Diocese of Kinkiizi for permanent resettlement of the Batwa, including educational and health facilities and life-skills training in agriculture.

Early on in his ministry, he and his wife, Ruth, began taking care of orphaned and abandoned children. He leaves a legacy of several orphanages and primary school, including ones that care for the blind and other physical disabilities. The CHAIN Foundation orphanage and Martin Nkoyoyo Primary School in Mukono are both “inclusive” because they cater for abled and disabled students, especially the blind. The school is named after his son who pre-deceased him.
In retirement, Nkoyoyo was able to combine his entrepreneurial gifts and ministry passions into such projects as building the Rest Gardens Retreat Centre in Bweyogerere, establishing the Words of Hope Radio Ministry, and leading the fundraising and construction efforts for the Uganda Martyrs Museum in Namugongo.
 In addition to all the projects and ministries he initiated, Archbishop Nkoyoyo was, at heart, an evangelist. He was a tireless preacher, taking every opportunity to give his testimony and calling people to repentance and into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Born in 1938
Archbishop Nkoyoyo was born in 1938 as one of 25 children to Erisa Wamala Nkoyoyo, a sub-county Chief in Busimbi, Mityana. He attended Mpenja Primary School, in Gomba, then later moved to Aggrey Memorial School and Mityana Junior Secondary. His father’s work caused the family to move often, so Nkoyoyo dropped out of school after completing Junior Secondary School and became an auto mechanic, something that has been a lifelong interest.
In 1959 Nkoyoyo got saved at a youth camp at Ndoddo Church in Gomba. Not long after that he gave up auto mechanics for full-time ministry, beginning as a Church Teacher. He did an ordination training course and on 3rd June 1969 (Martyrs Day), he was ordained a deacon at Namugongo.
On 1st May 1965 Nkoyoyo married Ruth Nalweyiso at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe. Originally reluctant to have his daughter wed a Church Teacher, Ruth’s father eventually gave his permission.  Together, they have five children – Isaac, Naomi, Martin (deceased), Margret and Julius – and, over the years, have supported hundreds of other orphans and disadvantaged children.
In 2015, Nkoyoyo and Mama Ruth celebrated 50 years of marriage. During the Thanksgiving service, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali said, “You have been an example to man. You have shown that you have built up a family and the results are the children that you have brought up and grandchildren. We praise God for that.”
Mama Ruth credited the success of their marriage to love and trust. She said, “He loved me unconditionally, and, because of this, I found it very easy to love back.” She also praised her husband because of his willingness to trust her with their home affairs, including the family finances.
After serving as a Suffragan (Assistant) Bishop in Namirembe Diocese, Nkoyoyo was elected and enthroned as the first Bishop of Mukono Diocese in 1983. Then, in 1995 he was elected by the House of Bishops to be the 6th Archbishop of the Church of Uganda.

In 2015 he received the Bible Leadership Excellence Award from the Bible Society of Uganda for outstanding and faithful leadership and for retiring “scandal-free.”

Nkoyoyo takes around President Museveni



Inside the museum

Nkoyoyo Hall

Named after UCU’s first chancellor, retired Archbishop Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyoyo, this hall is a gathering place for the community during Sunday services, weekly community worship, and student events.


IMAGES OF NAMUGONGO MARTYRS MUSEUM - NAKIYANJA

Pope Francis at Nakiyanja