IN CASE OF THE DEATH OF A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT IN UGANDA...

 WE ELECT LEADERS FOR A 5 YEAR TERM IN OFFICE ...

If a Member of Parliament, Chairperson LCV, LC III or Counselor dies before the expiry of his or her 5 years’ term in office, or is disqualified due to bankruptcy or poor mental health, the law should be changed.

We should appreciate that the former holder of the office belonged to some political party. In case, he or she was an independent, it is known that majority of the independents fail to sail through at a time when political parties are choosing Flag bearers. In reality, the independents are also identified with some political party.

If elected members represent their parties for a period of 5 years, in case of death or any of the above mentioned reasons which could lead to the positions they held becoming vacant, there should be revision of the law to have the party to find a replacement so that the particular party which lost their members gets a replacement to complete the term.

If for example NRM had lost the Omoro Constituency, they would have felt very bad as their numbers in Parliament would have dropped by one.

And, because a party that lost a member feels that they have to do all it takes to recover the seat, we keep seeing the ‘dirty’ as was in Omoro.

Government for example would not have lost money to undertake the by election in Omoro if the law was such that in case of death of a Member of Parliament, the party of the dead member elects a replacement.

BELOW ARE ACCOUNTS OF WHAT WENT ON IN OMORO:

Hon. Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba wrote:

From an election with a record LOW voter turn-out, somebody polled over 600 votes from certain polling stations! That was the resultant effect of the arrest of the people we had deployed in Orapwoya Sub-County. 

You also remember a polling official we filmed helping voters to tick the ballots! It was worse at other stations like at Odek P7 Sch and Fabio's Home P/S where the presiding officers were directly involved in negotiating bribes for our agents. 

Nonetheless, as NUP, we achieved most of the objectives for participation in this by-election. Key among them was reaching out to the people that the state had kept us away from since 2020.

And to the abused and humiliated people of Omoro, we shall be right back and work with you for total liberation.

Hon. Mathias Mpuuga:

More of our agents have been rounded up and bundled into a Drone UBL 123G. Hon David Lukyamuzi Kalwanga was too roughed-up and thrown into the same vehicle which loaded with non-uniformed gun trotting personnel. They have been driven away from Lalogi Police Station to an unknown destination.

Hon. Balimwezo was on ground in Omoro, and what he narrated while on CBS 88.8FM Friday 8.00pm to 9.00pm was simply a sad story. Arrests and torture of innocent people, vehicles taking people to unknown destinations, dishing of money openly to bribe voters.

In a nutshell, the replacement of an elected person under the above mentioned categories should be left to the party to sort. This is very fair to such a party that may have lost a member through death, bankruptcy or mental incapacity.

PRESIDENT MUSEVENI COULD HAVE PUT A SMILE ON THE FACE OF UGANDANS DURING THE ADDRESS ON THE ECONOMY.

 PRESIDENT MUSEVENI WAS CAPABLE OF PUTTING A SMILE TO ALL THOSE WHO LISTENED TO HIS ADDRESS ON THE ECONOMY SUNDAY, MAY 22 UNFORTUNATELY HE DID’NT.

By William Kituuka Kiwanuka 

I remember those days when we were at Makerere University doing Economics with Dr. Michael Atingi the current Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda, Florence Kuteesa former Director Budget in the Ministry of Finance and others, we were taught by among others Prof. Obone who was teaching us Money, Banking and Public Finance; Dr. Gemina Ssemwogerere - Development Economics and the Late Dr. Sulaimani Kiggundu that Government has at its disposal the monetary and fiscal policies that can be used variously to fine - tune an economy at any moment in time.

President Museveni had an opportunity to show Ugandans that he really cares about their welfare and the hardships they are enduring. We are all aware that the monetary and fiscal policies operating in Uganda were manufactured by President Museveni’s Government. They were not imposed on Uganda by some other authority. It is true, there are some arrangements that bind Uganda in the East Africa Community, but then there are tax rates which the President should have reduced by some small percentage after all, a reduction in taxes more often than not has an income effect, where saved resources are bound to be spent on other goods and or services and the Government would still earn revenue.

The Value Added Tax for example is at 18%. Given the economic hardships majority of Ugandans are experiencing, the President had the option to reduce this tax to say 16%. Some Ugandans are well aware that at least given the high tax rates, some people end up paying far less tax after some negotiations. Hence, a reduced VAT has the chances of yielding far more tax revenue to Government than keeping it at a rate which many see as exploitative or unaffordable.

Ugandans needed to know the reasons why all of a sudden both locally produced as well as imported  goods registered high prices. It should have been opportunity for the President to lineup Accountants from each of the major producers of these goods. These people would one by one tell us what changed that is responsible for the increased prices as well as their wholesale and retail prices.

The President may not know that now some retailers are at liberty to tell buyers higher prices simply because it is the norm. These retailers end cheating the buyers. There is need for some mechanism to check prices at which goods are sold as some retailers are simply cheating unsuspecting customers. The President needed to talk about some means of checking retailers who simply cheat customers.

The President is aware that there are Ugandans who take free money every month with no tangible work done. It was opportunity to terminate their services. These are Presidential advisers. The saved resources could be put to areas that can help boost productivity in sectors like Agriculture where we still rely on rain. The President could equally slice about shs 2m from each member of Cabinet since he cannot easily reduce their number. He would go further and recover about shs 1.5m from each Member of Parliament. It is known that the Chairpersons LCV don’t pocket shs 2m, yet for most of them, their workload and duties call for a higher pay.

The President could promise Ugandans that a part from confirmed travel abroad as on Sunday, May 22, he had put a ban on Government spending money for meetings outside Uganda. The country was able to move on through COVID when people were not traveling outside Uganda. Uganda needs to boost the Tele Conferencing Facilities and Zoom facilities as substitutes to money wasted on foreign travel.

The President would also promise to greatly reduce the amount of money spent on Medical Tourism and instead ensure that the country acquires equipment that is missing, plus having some professionals employed on contract to skill Ugandans in handling more delicate cases some of which call for travel outside the country.

The President would remove some items from the 2022 / 2023 Budget like repairs and or works on State House. The need to buy over 300 vehicles for UPDF - at least we are not in a war situation.

While I cannot be exhaustive, I am convinced that the President could have put some smile on the faces of Ugandans if he had come up with some measures to show that he was concerned that many Ugandans are now at the mercy of God given the economic challenges.

PLEASE HELP NALWOGA ALICE TO GET A PROSTHETIC (ARTIFICIAL) LEG

 PLEASE HELP NALWOGA ALICE TO GET A PROSTHETIC (ARTIFICIAL) LEG.

For sometime, I have seen Nalwoga Alice around Kajjansi Town.

Nalwoga got a motor accident when she was about 3 years old. The accident led to her leg being amputated.

Nalwoga is now 19 years. She completed her S. 4. She currently helps manage her sisters stall found in Kajjansi A Cell in Kajjansi Town just behind Kajjansi Police Station and near Church of Uganda in what is called “Line” by the residents of Kajjansi.

Nalwoga’s life may be changed when you get to help her acquire an Artificial (Prosthetic) leg and any other possible support.

She can be reached on number:

+256708524849

Note: Nalwoga does not have a National Identity Card, so the SIM Card is not in her name.

IN UGANDA WE SURELY NEED A LIFESTYLE AUDIT FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS

 WE SURELY NEED A LIFESTYLE AUDIT IN UGANDA FOR THOSE IN PUBLIC SERVICE SO THAT THE WEALTH THEY HAVE IS ACCOUNTED FOR.

The proceeds to my fundraising(s) have all been stolen! And those who stole and or continue stealing pose big in society for what they did not sweat for! 

http://williamkituuka.blogspot.com/2010/09/kind-appeal-for-moral-support-and_01.html?m=1

http://billkiwanuka.blogspot.com/2014/10/kiwanuka-kituuka-for-2016-uganda.html?m=1

http://kiwanukaofunityinafederateduganda.blogspot.com/2015/05/kiwanuka-kituukas-appeal-for-financial_7.html?m=1

UGANDA OLEMWA

PRESIDENT MUSEVENI SHOULD GET OUT OF SALARY ISSUES

 PRESIDENT MUSEVENI AND THE NRM GOVERNMENT CAN STOP THE PARADOX OF THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF DEMANDS FOR SALARY INCREASE BY VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF PUBLIC SERVANTS.

By William Kituuka Kiwanuka 

Those of us who are over 50 years never used to witness what we are seeing today where disgruntled Civil Servants or employees of Government had to go to have their issues handled by the Head of State. Today, it is the norm and it is unfortunate. Ugandans seem to see President Museveni in the lens of someone really concerned about them and other Senior Government officers who would solve their problems as unconcerned. This is where the problem in Uganda starts and when some category realize that some group got the President’s attention and eventual action, they get into a similar cycle and it turns to a vicious circle of demand for better pay with the President having the key. This is wrong.

Before the NRM Government got into office, salaries were well thought out and determined according to what the country’s resources stood as. It really surprises the discrepancies in salaries in Uganda. When Authorities came into being, many wanted to be staff in the Authorities because of the salary and benefits’ differences. Talk of someone in Uganda National Road Authority (UNRA) compared to that in the Ministry of Works when they have similar qualifications and working experience!

Many are surprised to see what the Members of Parliament earn or take home at the end of the month compared to the Chairpersons of Districts, who have wider area coverage and more demanding roles / duties.

Against the above background, various categories of Government employees have found using the strike as the way to get to the bargaining table for better pay. In the process we are having a cycle of Government employees striking at different times, and nearly every two months now, there is some salary issue that gets the President involved!

The President is micro managing what the Ministry of Public Service as well as that of Finance should be able to resolve under the normal working of Government.  In the process of micro managing, the President meets a category of employees say those in the Health sector. Much as he is the de facto Minister of Finance, he ends up making pledges for higher pay to those who present their case to him. In effect, the Ministry of Public Service together with that of Finance find themselves in a fix. The public service know categories of workers that should be in similar salary category, and the Ministry of Finance finds itself in a tricky situation of having to look for funds to bridge the gap given the Presidential directives on higher pay!

The solution to the problem 

The President should get out of sorting the salary issues for Government workers. The Ministry of Public Service should take the responsibility of streamlining all salaries for Government workers. Once this is done, Government should embrace the salaries and the President should leave the Ministry to handle that matter.

The President is concerned about about less than 1 million people who the Government employs and are on its payroll, but then what about the over 17 million Ugandans who should be in employment and have to find their level in self employment or being employed in the private sector? 

Currently, Government wants to pay about shs 4 million to Science teachers in Government Schools or those schools that are Aided by Government, however, statistics are such that the private sector schools have more teachers and students. If a teacher in a private school gets shs 500,000 a month or less, and one with similar qualifications but in Government earns Shs 4,000,000 how can Government be proud of that achievement when the education private sector is simply helping Government which should have the monopoly of educating Ugandans at primary and secondary school levels?

The NRM Government is actually failing the private sector that should substantially contribute to the employment of many Ugandans some of whom opt for odd jobs in the Arab world though they are properly academically qualified.

I will use my case in this illustration. We have a banking sector in Uganda that has been infiltrated by the mafia! We are all aware that Uganda is a poor country categorized among the least developed countries in the world. Given that situation, Ugandans including myself have taken time to think out means of attracting the scarce resources to the highly impoverished Uganda. It is unbelievable but true that we have a well developed syndicate through which rightful owners of funds remitted through the Uganda banking sector end up with a raw deal when they are unable to access such funds!

I write from experience. It is 12 years in 2022 since I started fundraising from outside Uganda. The billions I raised are nowhere to be seen! The monies I have raised have been taken fraudulently, where the banks I used: Cairo International Bank and the then Barclays Bank all in Uganda were at liberty to tell me how I had not raised money at all. Instead the monies were shared by the connected!

For a number of years now, I have made appeals to Government Ministries more so Finance and Bank of Uganda so that I am helped to recover the stolen monies, but nobody in Government has ever responded to my appeals at least showing commitment to me that they are working on my issue. Meanwhile, the NRM Government is day and night looking for investors when the people with the heart and commitment to develop the country look on as resources they mobilize are simply stolen locally! What a sad story: “CRY MY BELOVED UGANDA”.

In the 1970’s I used to get a taxi anytime I got to Mityana traveling to Namutamba mostly from secondary school. Now days, one gets to Mityana and has to get a boda boda (commercial motor cyclist) ride for 13 miles at shs 10,000! Meanwhile, I have got to Uganda money that can completely change the lives of people in Namutamba parish, but the good NRM Government is not showing me any commitment that I recover funds raised using my brain! This is a sad story, but real.

It does not make sense to imagine that we raise money to fight Government. I for one, I don’t even slaughter chicken. This approach is simply by people who want to use that as excuse to steal our money. Why is the NRM Government not committed to seeing that Commercial Banks do justice to us? How can the banking sector be so untrustworthy? The people in Namutamba are suffering simply because some connected people in the NRM Government are part of a syndicate through which the money we raise is stolen. Every other day (the Namutamba residents) look to a savior, but what can we do when the funds raised are stolen by those who believe that they are entitled?

The NRM Government cannot keep talking big about the salary increases it makes to Government employees who do not even make a million people, meanwhile, those of us ready to help Ugandans get better returns from their work are simply having the resources we raise stolen. 

12 years since I started raising money to help Namutamba Parish, the money has since been stolen and while my fundraising efforts are continuing, there is no money I am able to access!

Mr. President, however much you pay the less than 1 million Government employees, those billions will not impact the lives of Ugandans and make them less poor. It is monies like what I have raised since 2010 which were better planned for to boost the private sector that can help majority of Ugandans to get out of poverty when scaled out. Unfortunately, only God knows where the monies are!

I will never trust Uganda’s leaders that they commit our country to God when we look for funds the hard way to help the impoverished and some connected people in Government are at liberty to share the money with no Government department committed to save the situation!

IT WILL BE WRONG FOR THE SPEAKER OF UGANDA PARLIAMENT TO PUBLICIZE NAMES OF THOSE WHO WILL CLAIM THEIR SHS 1M TO OULANYAH EDUCATION FUND

 IT WILL NOT BE CORRECT FOR Rt. HON. ANITAH AMONG TO PUBLICIZE THE NAMES OF THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT WHO WANT A REFUND FOR SHS 1,000,000 THAT WAS CUT FROM THEIR ENTITLEMENTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO OULANYAH EDUCATION FUND.

From the word go, Speaker Anitah Among made a mistake. Much as there seemed consensus to make a contribution to the Oulanyah Education Fund, she needed a consent of each Member of Parliament in form of either signing against one’s name on a list of those who were ready to contribute or at least would have entertained written communication from the members of Parliament who wanted to make a contribution.

The Rt. Hon. Speaker ought to know that Members of Parliament spend a lot on their constituents. They practically come in to bridge the short comings as regards funds required to see infrastructural projects done in their areas. People with such responsibility, it is wrong to assume that they as a group all agreed to have shs 1m from their pay.

Secondly, if Oulanyah could look for shs 2bn to pay for the students who he was supporting, that was within his means, and it is wrong to download it to Members of Parliament. A strategy should simply be identified as to how those students can fit in existing Government schools with Universal Secondary Education as well as identifying donors who can help them in cheaper schools.

For the Speaker to want to display the names of those who end up claiming their money, she will be wrong. She left the correct procedure of getting individual convent before deducting the entitlements of the MPs. I think the threat of exposing the names of those who happen to recover is simply their right. A person at the level of Speaker should better plan for life after his or her exist instead of burdening others following his or her death.

“If a Member has a problem with this deductions, they approach me, and I will be happy to refund the amount deducted rather than have them tarnish the image of Parliament”, Anitah Among.

IT MAY BE TRUE: ABOUT 14 MILLION UGANDANS BEING MENTALLY ILL.

 THE REPORT. POST COVID-19 TRAUMA: NEARLY 14 MILLION UGANDANS MENTALLY ILL MAY BE TRUE.

The Ministry of Health report reveals that about 14 million Ugandans are suffering from severe mental illness. Uganda has a population of 48,406,028.

According to Dr. Charles Olalo, Director of Curative Services, the number of people with mental disorders has grown exponentially in the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olalo said before the COVID-19 pandemic, 35% of the population suffered from mental health disorders, but this number has since increased with a rise in patients seeking treatment in health facilities.

The ministry revealed that Uganda ranks sixth in Africa among countries with depressive disorders.

According to the report, post-COVID-19 trauma, depression, high levels of stress, excessive drinking of alcohol, poverty, and loneliness are affecting Ugandans’ mental health, which sometimes leads to suicidal incidents.

Despite the rise in the number of mental cases, Uganda only has 42 psychiatrists, which means every psychiatrist has to attend to about one million patients.

Rt.HON. NABBANJA AT TABAMIRUKA FOR WOMEN IN LUBIRI

 I HAVE LIKED Rt. HON. ROBINAH NABBANJA’S EXPLANATION ABOUT THE ADDITION OF VALUE TO UGANDA’S COFFEE BUT ...

Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja addressed the Tabamiruka in Kabaka’s Palace for Women on Friday, May 13. Nabbanja praised Nabagereka Sylivia Naginda for the development initiatives for women in Uganda and the girl child as well as the Kisakate. She thanked her for the role played in guiding Ugandans to keep safe from contracting COVID and encouraging people to get vaccinated by example.

Rt. Hon. Nabbanja told women that Uganda for 70 years has been getting peanuts from sale of Coffee given that we don’t add value to it, but companies outside Uganda make a big kill.

Nabbanja said that Uganda needs to get much more from the Coffee grown. 

Ugandans are not against adding value to Coffee. The problem is that they don’t see the process undertaken transparently. The Government of Uganda needs to make its intentions clear to Ugandans. If possible, there should be a clearly stipulated bidding process.

If the Government of Uganda can be transparent in such deals, Ugandans will surely embrace the innovation.

DEMOLITION OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY BURNT MAIN BUILDING IS GOING ON

 DEMOLISHING OF MAKERERE UNIVERSITY MAIN BUILDING IS ON - GOING.

Our prayer is that Excel Construction Ltd puts in place a new Main Building which will show value for money, and capable of being in use for at least 50 years.