William Kituuka
The issue of the 9,000 square miles of land remains contentious with Buganda Government demanding that it be returned.
The Uganda Government took over the land in 1967 after President Milton Obote disbanded Kingdoms.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
When are we getting the Ministry of Education Office Building?
William Kituuka
KCCA, WHO IS CONSTRUCTING?
It is unusual to have such a big construction going on in the city
without any board showing the Name of the building, the constructors,
etc. Why does not the attached building have the particulars
displayed? The building is opposite Main Post Office.
William Kituuka
William Kituuka
MUSEVENI IS NOT GOD TO ASSURE UGANDANS OF SUSTAINABLE PEACE
We are at war’ with dev’t saboteurs – Museveni
Publish Date: Jun 10, 2013
Publish Date: Jun 10, 2013
Seventy-five-year-old Christine Nakamya Lule from Kawumu village, who received a Nalubale medal, meets Museveni. PHOTO/PPU
PPU
NAKASEKE - President Yoweri Museveni has assured Ugandans of sustainable peace and security, saying the war of guns is over and that nobody can destabilize Uganda again.
NAKASEKE - President Yoweri Museveni has assured Ugandans of sustainable peace and security, saying the war of guns is over and that nobody can destabilize Uganda again.
“Whoever tries to cause problems, we finish them.
Besigye tried to disorganize Kampala and we gave him a little tear gas
and he calmed down. He didn’t need a bullet, just a little gas,” he
said, calling on Ugandans to jealously guard the peace and exploit it to
promote development.
“A dog can look at gold and it won’t know its value
but when you give it a bone, even if there is no meat on the bone, it
can be very happy.
“We are at war to bring what is important to the
people now. After the bush war, there were no factories. The only income
for government was the tax from a few civil servants and consumer tax
on goods,” he went on.
“There was no money at first but because of the
good way we handled the economy, most factories came back through a lot
of difficulty and hard work. But some leaders don’t care that we need
these industries. They fight development.
The president underlined that the factories are a
source of livelihood for many people, add value to products and pay
corporation tax to government.
“It is amazing to see some leaders fight them,” he said.
He was speaking as chief guest at the 24th Heroes
Day anniversary celebrations at Nakaseke district headquarters at
Butalangu on Sunday.
There was a heroes and mourners parade at the
monument in Wakyato, the burial site (mass grave) of over 760 people
killed during the bush war.
A three-gun salute in memory of the fallen Ugandans
was also a highlight of the event which was attended by high profile
figures like the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, the Chief Justice
Benjamin Odoki, Minister for the Presidency Frank Tumwebaze and the
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Katumba Wamala.
Also notable at the ceremony was the Inspector
General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura and the Commissioner General of
Prisons Johnson Byabasaija
Various Ugandans were awarded medals
(Kagera, Nalubale, Luwero, Jubilee), some of them posthumously, for
their contribution to the struggle for peace and development.
The Jubilee medals were given to members of the UPDF – the Ugandan army.
Museveni delved deep in the history of the struggle
for peace and urged radio stations in the country to sensitize Ugandans
about the road to recovery.
His viewpoint around this was that people need to
know why government priorities sectors like education and infrastructure
before anything else.
“The way Uganda was moving, if we did not come out
and make sacrifices, there would be no peace. The leaders who were there
didn’t know anything except killing people. When we came in [power], we
had to rehabilitate and restore our country. The coffers were empty.
“In 1986, we collected sh5 billion only for the whole country. Now the country collects over sh8000billion,” he said.
President Museveni greeted veterans at the Heroes Day celebrations. PHOTO/PPU
With an improved economy, Musevini reported that his government has tarmacked five roads in Luwero Triangle alone.
He cited Nakasekea district as one of the districts
the president provided money to – and that now the district gets sh13
billion annually.
“We have moved but there is still malicious
miscommunication. The people who know these things deliberately keep the
information away from the people and keep them in the dark,” he said.
The President reiterated his call to restructure
NAADS and limit on coordinators who take more money in terms of salaries
and facilitation. He said emphasis will now be put on veterinary and
agriculture coordinators and on procuring improved materials by the
farmers.
He urged families to focus more on improving
household incomes by engaging in modern agro production and exploiting
small acreages of land through enterprise selection and mix of
enterprises such as fruits, poultry, piggery, coffee, bananas, tomatoes
and onions.
On fighting HIV/AIDS, he called on Ugandans not to relax since the feared disease has not got a cure yet.
“Let’s work hard and raise our children but we should not let them die of AIDS.”
The ceremony was punctuated by light entertainment and was attended by thousands of Ugandans from around the country.
IMPROVING ACCESS OF CONDOMS CAN HELP REDUCE HIV INFECTION RATES
William Kituuka
The government is blaming complacency for rising HIV prevalence rates, but medical interventions are just as important.
People in Uganda line up to get tested for HIV. Photograph by Victoria Holdsworth/Commonwealth Secretariat.
Kampala, Uganda:
HIV is on the rise in Uganda and officials are pointing the finger at people like Margaret Kintu, who tested positive two years ago. Like most young Ugandans, the 26-year-old had been drilled in the ABCs of HIV prevention – abstain, be faithful or use a condom. The slogan spearheaded the behaviour-change campaign launched in the 1990s, contributing to a double-digit drop in the country’s HIV rate.Kintu says she encouraged her boyfriend to wear condoms, but that he “wanted to produce” so eventually they went without. She says she assumes that is how she became infected, though her boyfriend has never been tested, so she cannot be sure.
The rising number of new infections – now estimated at 130,000 per year – has pushed Uganda’s HIV prevalence rate up from 6.4% in 2005 to 7.3% last year. A country that was once a star of the international AIDS community is moving backwards.
Relaxing on HIV?
After the new numbers were released in June, Dr Vinand Nantulya, chairman of the Uganda AIDS Commission, put out an exclamation-point laden statement saying, “The key driver of infections in adults is complacency!” Indeed, this idea of complacency forms the chief line taken by officials in explaining the rising numbers.But activists and HIV patients say that spinning a complacency narrative around the rising rate oversimplifies the situation. While people still have a responsibility to reduce their own risk, there are biomedical interventions – unknown at the advent of the ABC campaign – that can dramatically reduce the risk of transmission. Scaling up these interventions could help safeguard people like Kintu who forgo traditional prevention strategies, but, some groups say, the country has not moved fast enough in deploying them.
Though incomplete, however, the complacency narrative is not entirely inaccurate. The AIDS Indicator Survey (AIS) that announced the rise in HIV prevalence also reported that more than three-quarters of Ugandans between 15 and 59 know how to protect themselves from contracting HIV – either by using a condom or sticking to one uninfected partner. But despite this knowledge, many are not. Among the number of men who reported having more than one sexual partner over a year, for example, less than 14 % said they used a condom when they last had sex.
“To some extent, people have relaxed,” Frank Matsiko, a counsellor with Ugandan NGO Integrated Community Based Initiatives (ICOBI), tells Think Africa Press. The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) went a long way towards slowing the drumbeat of deaths in the country, he says. But “some people – especially those who are not well sensitised – have relaxed and taken it for granted that one can have HIV and go on treatment and stay as long as he wants.”
According to the AIS, the Ministry of Health identified “declines in protective sexual behaviour and increased risk-taking behaviour” as early as five years ago, as the first generation which grew up when ART treatment was available came of age.
According to Reverend Canon Henry Ntulume, archdeacon of the Nateete parish in Kampala, this knowledge did not lead the government to call religious or cultural leaders to encourage their followers to take greater vigilance, as happened during the 1990s. It is not just the general public that has “relaxed”, he says.
Becoming AIDS-free
The difference between now and the 1990s is that a successful HIV prevention strategy is more than just a behaviour-change campaign led by invigorated leaders. Research advances have offered a slew of new interventions – such as prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), safe male circumcision (SMC) and access to universal treatment – that have the potential to slash a country’s HIV transmission rate.These programmes are the lynchpins of US president Barack Obama’s goal of an “AIDS-free generation” which he announced on World AIDS Day 2011 – a vision that Uganda’s Ministry of Health has signed on to. However, these services are still not broadly available in Uganda. While complacency and the leadership gap are important challenges to overcome, activists say it is equally important to focus on scaling up the biomedical interventions.
Uganda still has at least 20,000 HIV-positive babies born every year. This is “something we could cross out overnight,” Richard Ochai, outgoing executive director of the AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), tells Think Africa Press. “If only we had the commitment to put the resources into PMTCT, we could stop it.”
In addition, three randomised control trials in sub-Saharan Africa, including one in Uganda, found circumcision could reduce HIV transmission by as much as 60%. Critics say the results were skewed by biased researchers, but the findings were accepted by the World Health Organisation which recommended SMC as an intervention for HIV prevention in 2007. In Uganda, where three-quarters of men are uncircumcised, AIS found that 50% of those men actually wanted the procedure. Demand has outstripped resources though, and the programme has made little headway in reducing the uncircumcised population.
Then there is treatment. Uganda has not yet introduced universal access to ART; it is only available for patients whose immune systems have deteriorated beyond a certain point. However, nearly 250,000 of the patients who qualify for drugs under the country guidelines are not receiving them, according to UNAIDS. As the number of new annual HIV infections (130,000 in 2011) continues to outnumber the number of new patients being enrolled in ART (40,000 in fiscal year 2010-11), the gap will only grow wider.
Winning the battle
The complacency narrative is a convenient headline to redirect attention from the more systemic problems that have slowed down these programmes. ICOBI’s Matsiko points to a short-staffed and underpaid cadre of government health workers. Only about half of Uganda’s public-sector health positions are filled, which means that there are not enough people to do the necessary outreach, counselling and follow up, he says.But even as key health officials publicly chide people for complacency, donors and the government are beginning to direct more energy toward finding the resources to make programmes like PMTCT and SMC work. TASO’s Ochai highlighted the idea of an AIDS trust fund being floated by officials, which would tax things like cigarettes and alcohol sales and plough the money into HIV interventions. Advocates say that this is a tacit acknowledgement that despite the finger pointing, there is general recognition that Uganda’s HIV problem is much broader than mere complacency.
“Government is getting the point that we need to do something,” says Ochai. “We have to be relevant to the changing environment, the changing policies, the changing science. We have to modify how we fight, so we can win the battle.”
Think Africa Press welcomes inquiries regarding the republication of its articles. If you would like to republish this or any other article for re-print, syndication or educational purposes, please contact:editor@thinkafricapress.com
Sunday, 9 June 2013
UGANDA GOVERNMENT SHOULD RETURN THE BALANCE OF THE 9,000 SQ. MILES OF LAND TO HELP LANDLESS YOUTH
The NRM Government should get the balance of the 9,000 square miles of land to Buganda. Since Buganda Land Board is entrusted with the management of the 350 square miles, some other arrangement could be agreed to regarding the distribution of this land to the landless Baganda. It is a fact that this land was meant for the landless Baganda who are languishing in poverty simply because they don't have land, yet this land is being availed to some people who have land wherever they are born. NRM Government must stop being unfair and using excuses as this land slowly but steadily is getting less in quantity. If one moves upcountry, it is a fact that many families have communal land much of which is yet to be developed, however here in Buganda, the landless Baganda are increasing in number and having land would help them meet the basics for survival. This land should be availed at least as acre to the landless Baganda. These may be charged for surveying the land and then be given a title.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
The 9,000sq. miles were demarcated as "waste
and uncultivated land to be vested in her majesty's government" from the
estimated 19,600 square miles of Buganda. It was the remainder after
specifying land given to chiefs, royals and administrative units.
But
where exactly are the 9000sq. miles? Does it include the land you live on?
"All land in Buganda was surveyed. Every piece of land for which a title (land
title) was not issued was part of crown land and therefore is part of the
9000sq.miles we want. If you are on land that doesn't have a title, then you
are on this land," Mayiga says.
In 1967 constitution, this land
reverted to the Uganda Land Commission, and a small part to KCC and later
district land boards (under the Land Act, 1998).
But already the Buganda Government is questioning the motive of Cabinet wondering why they would go ahead to discuss the interpretations to the 9,000 square miles of land without involving Kingdom officials.
Medard Lubega, the Buganda Government Deputy Spokesperson says they are willing to volunteer information to the Sub-Committee on the controversial land.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source at the Ministry of Lands said the Sub-Committee would study interpretations made by the Ministry's lawyers on the 9,000 square miles of land and come up with a harmonized position.
Officials at the Lands Ministry including Junior Ministers are tight lipped about the details of the interpretations, but the source says the Ministry's lawyers gave divergent views.
When contacted, the Lands Minister Omara Atubo said he was not aware that a sub-committee had been established to address the contention.
Last week, the Lands Minister issued an internal memo restricting all members of staff from discussing the issue of the 9,000 square miles and other land matters until Cabinet comes up with a harmonized position. In his communication, the Minister said the issue was becoming very sensitive.
The Ministry ban was in response to the comments attributed to the State Minister for Lands Kasirivu Atwooki in which he reportedly said that people occupying customary land would be given free freehold land titles for a fee of 22,000 shillings.
The Minister reportedly said in the press reports that the move was intended to ensure a systematic demarcation and surveying of land currently under the control of Uganda Land Board.
The Ministry is disputing the reports. Dennis Obbo the Ministry's Spokesperson says the 22,000 shillings is a mandatory fee for all applicants of land titles.
Cabinet Sub-Committee to study Buganda's 9,000 square miles
Cabinet has set up a sub-committee to study the nature of contention surrounding the 9,000 square miles of land.
But already the Buganda Government is questioning the motive of Cabinet wondering why they would go ahead to discuss the interpretations to the 9,000 square miles of land without involving Kingdom officials.
Medard Lubega, the Buganda Government Deputy Spokesperson says they are willing to volunteer information to the Sub-Committee on the controversial land.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source at the Ministry of Lands said the Sub-Committee would study interpretations made by the Ministry's lawyers on the 9,000 square miles of land and come up with a harmonized position.
Officials at the Lands Ministry including Junior Ministers are tight lipped about the details of the interpretations, but the source says the Ministry's lawyers gave divergent views.
When contacted, the Lands Minister Omara Atubo said he was not aware that a sub-committee had been established to address the contention.
Last week, the Lands Minister issued an internal memo restricting all members of staff from discussing the issue of the 9,000 square miles and other land matters until Cabinet comes up with a harmonized position. In his communication, the Minister said the issue was becoming very sensitive.
The Ministry ban was in response to the comments attributed to the State Minister for Lands Kasirivu Atwooki in which he reportedly said that people occupying customary land would be given free freehold land titles for a fee of 22,000 shillings.
The Minister reportedly said in the press reports that the move was intended to ensure a systematic demarcation and surveying of land currently under the control of Uganda Land Board.
The Ministry is disputing the reports. Dennis Obbo the Ministry's Spokesperson says the 22,000 shillings is a mandatory fee for all applicants of land titles.
UGANDA GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO INTERVENE GIVEN THE ILLEGAL CHARGES IN REGISTRATION PROCESSES
Everybody involved in the registration of an undertaking which involves charging some money to render the service in Uganda is in big trouble. You meet people who can better be called small kings. They are at liberty to charge anything from a recommendation letter to merely endorsing of forms. It is absurd and a big shame to the country. Many of these people even if you pay them nothing at the end the month, the pay is a drop in the ocean to what they illegally solicit from those who call on them for services. Can you believe that a chairman LC III can charge shs 100, 000 to give a recommendation letter? It is no surprise as these people give all sorts of excuses. They will tell you how they have to travel to the site and all other sorts of reasons for the money they charge. Incidentally, it seems many of those who are operating without proper documentation (registration) have been failed by those in Government who have to endorse the forms.
It is little wonder that this goes on. Many people get peanuts as official pay and yet they need to afford basics of life which including fees for the children decent accommodation, owning a house just to mention a few.
It is time the Government of Uganda worked on this matter.
William Kituuka Kiwanuka
HURDLES EXPECTED BEFORE BUSINESS REGISTRATION IN UGANDA
Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles
faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in
Uganda. It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching
a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up
capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income.
This information was collected as part of the Doing Business project,
which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a
small- to medium-sized domestic business in 185 economies. The most
recent round of data collection was completed in June 2012.
| No. | Procedure | Time to Complete | Associated Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Reservation of a name at the Office of the Registrar
To reserve a company name, the
founder files a company name reservation request at the Uganda
Registration Service Bureau. A clerk conducts an automated search and
forwards the application to a staff lawyer. The Registrar reviews the
application and, if the application is approved, returns it with the
assessment, which the founder takes to the bank. Upon paying the fee
(USH 10,000 for name search & USH 15,000 for name reservation), the
founder receives a receipt that is used to complete the name
reservation.
|
2 days | USH 25,000 + USH 2,000 bank fee |
| 2 |
Pay fees at the bank
All nontax payments to government agencies must be made at a bank.
|
1 day | included in previous procedure |
| 3 |
Obtain five necessary forms from the Uganda Bookshop
The fees for the required incorporation forms are as follows:
• Statement of nominal capital: UGX 500
• Declaration of compliance with the requirements of the Companies Act: UGX 500
• Particulars of directors and secretaries: UGX 700
• Consent to act as director of company: UGX 500
• Notice of situation of the registered office and the registered post address: UGX 500
|
1 day | USH 5,600 (USH 500-700 for each form, 5 forms for incorporation, and 3 for tax registration) |
| 4 |
Sign the declaration of compliance before a Commissioner for Oaths
Form A2, Declaration of compliance
with the requirements of the Companies Act, must be commissioned (signed
and sealed) before a commissioner for oaths, who is an advocate. The
other documents can be witnessed by any other reputable person because
they are not an oath. The fees range from UGX 2,000 to UGX 10,000.
|
1 day | USH 2,000 -10,000 |
| 5 |
Obtain requisition for bank pay-in slip and bank payment advice forms from the Uganda Registration Services Bureau
Computerized processes reduced the
time frame for paying government levies, such as fees for licenses and
certificates. The process requires only 30 minutes, down from 4 working
days.
|
1 day | no charge |
| 6 |
Make payment of registration fees at a given bank
Registration receipts are obtained
from the bank where the fees were paid (within 30–40 minutes).
Previously, the founder would pay the fee at the bank and then wait for 3
days to pick up the receipts from the Ministry of Justice.
|
1 day | no charge |
| 7 |
File with the Registrar General
Registration is administrative
process through the creation of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau,
which is autonomous from the Ministry of Justice and handles all
business registration–related issues.
Fee schedule for company registration:
• Registration fees: UGX 100,000
• Stamp duty: 0.5 % of shared capital.
• Stamp duty on Articles of Association: UGX 35,000 ( flat fee)
Registration
fees depend on the amount of share capital. They increase as the share
capital increases. For instance, the fee for share capital UGX 5 million
is UGX 160,000, and for share capital 10 million, UGX 186,000.
Registration fees for a company whose share capital does not exceed UGX
40,000 has been increased to UGX 100,000.
|
1 day | see comments |
| 8 |
File with the local office of the Uganda
Revenue Authority a personal inquiry form for each director, and a
corporate preliminary inquiry form; receive a uniform tax identification
number (TIN) and apply for VAT
Apply online from the website for TIN and VAT. TIN approval takes a period of 2-28 days. The Corporate Tax file number is internally assigned.
|
5 days | no charge |
| 9 |
An inspector from URA inspects the business premises
|
1 day | no charge |
| 10 |
Obtain application forms for trading license
For ease of distribution of trading
licenses, a decentralized system has been set up in which the 5
companies were appointed to collect dues on behalf of Kampala City
Council (KCC) for each of the city’s five administrative divisions.
Currently, the services of these companies have been suspended as the
city council is conducting assessment to decide on the adequate license
fees before contracting the companies again.
|
1 day | no charge |
| 11 |
The licensing officer arranges an inspection of the premises and fills out an assessment form.
The trading license is a general
business license required for all companies, including service
companies. The issuing authority is the municipal authority in the
jurisdiction where the business premises are situated. A trading license
can be obtained almost instantly, if the necessary documents on the
nature of the intended business activities are available and the amount
is assessed by the municipality or city council. Standard forms must be
completed and submitted with the memorandum and articles of association
and the certificate of incorporation.
|
1 day | no charge |
| 12 |
Pay the license fee at the bank.
The founder must pay the relevant license fee at the bank, as follows:
• Opening office: UGX 156,500
• Carrying out retail business: UGX 206,500
• Carrying out wholesale business: UGX 366,500
|
1 day | see the following procedure |
| 13 |
Obtain the trading license
If it is deemed necessary, the
municipal inspectors (health and building) reserve the right to revoke
and cancel the trading license.
|
10 days | USH 400,000 |
| 14 |
File a form with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
The National Social Security Fund
(NSSF) is governed by the revised laws of Uganda, the National Social
Security Fund Act Cap 222. The NSSF is a compulsory saving scheme that
covers all employees in the private sector, including nongovernmental
organizations and parastatal bodies that are not covered by the
government pension scheme. Under the Act, every employer must register
the company with the NSSF when it has 5 or more employees and all
employees ages 16–35 as NSSF members. This procedure takes 1–7 days.
Registration forms for NSSF can now be downloaded from the NSSF website.
|
4 days | no charge |
| 15 |
Make a company seal
A company seal is mandatory.
|
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