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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.
Many people have been killed since clashes began on Monday. Scores too had been killed in the run up to the vote as protestors marched against Conde's bid for a third term.
[Ghanaian Times] The Electoral Commission (EC), yesterday inaugurated a 16-member Adjudication Committee to clean the new voters register to ensure a credible 2020 polls come December 7.
There are also unconfirmed reports that the MPs in the deal will sooner or later receive another Shs60m each as a token for last week's resolution in which Parliament appreciated Mr Museveni for fighting Covid-19.
Many of the MPs had not followed Mr Museveni's directive, which the High Court reinforced, to refund the Shs20m each got in that appropriation until the Clerk to Parliament, Ms Jane Kibirige, gave them a deadline of May 27 to file accountability for the cash.
Addressing a press conference at Parliament on Friday, Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Kumi Municipality MP Monica Amoding, said they had been informed by their friends that money was being dished out but that they had failed to access the venues where the distribution was taking place.
Some of the NRM party MPs from Busoga Sub-region about two weeks ago accused the President of fighting Ms Kadaga when he castigated Parliament over the Shs20m.
During the press conference, Mr Ssewungu said the President aims to destroy the institution of Parliament by fighting the Speaker and the MPs.
Candidates seeking electoral positions in Uganda's general election due early next year will have to conduct their campaigns without physical contact as dictated by Covid-19 social and physical distancing, the Electoral Commission has announced.
The commission, which released a new roadmap of electoral activities, has set November 2 and 3, 2020 as nomination dates for Presidential candidates.
NO POSTPONING ELECTION
Article 61(2) of the Constitution provides that the \"Electoral Commission shall hold general presidential, parliamentary and local government council elections within the first thirty days of the last ninety days before the expiration of the term of the President.\"
Responding to questions about calls for postponing the election to give all candidates a fair chance in light of the Covid-19 disruption, Mr Byabakama said, \"The option of postponing the election has not even occurred to us as a commission because it is not in our mandate.
Mr Byabakama added that the commission's mandate is limited only to state (public) media which is required to give equal space to all presidential candidates.
Violence rocked Guinea's capital Conakry on Friday as supporters of opposition leader Cellou Diallo clashed with security forces who tried to disperse them.
They threw stones and blocked roads. Police responded with teargas and bullets. The clashes erupted as soon as provisional results released by the electoral commission showed president Alpha Conde winning with a big margin.
Conde, 82, won twice as many votes as his nearest rival, opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, with 37 of 38 districts counted, according to preliminary results from the commission.
Opposition supporters accuse the electoral authorities of rigging the vote for incumbent president Alpha Conde.
Sekou Koundouno, head of mobilisation for the opposition coalition FNDC said Conde had committed 'high treason'.
\"He is an illegal and illegitimate candidate who is stubbornly pursuing his obsession to turn Guin ea into a monarchy in which, by the way, he will dictate orders to his subjects,\" said Kounduno.
Diallo maintains that he won with a landslide despite irregularities, according to his own tally. He remains barricaded in his home which security forces have besieged since Monday.
ICC warning
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor warned on Friday that warring factions in Guinea could be prosecuted after fighting erupted.
“I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages and contributes in any other way to crimes … is liable to prosecution either by the Guinean courts or the ICC,” she said.
#ICC Prosecutor #FatouBensouda: "I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages or contributes, in any other way, to the commission of #RomeStatute crimes, is liable to prosecution either by #Guinean courts or by the #ICC."
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) October 23, 2020
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Jane Frances Abodo has said her office was reluctant to sanction charges of being a nuisance against former Makerere University Research Fellow, Dr Stella Nyanzi last recently.
Counsel Walubiri had argued that it was high time the office of the DPP withdrew cases that have over stayed in the justice system like the treason case against Dr Kizza Besigye.
\"Perhaps, this is the time for the office of the DPP to weed out some files that have been pending in the criminal justice system for long as the same are clogging the system for no good reason,\" Mr Walubiri said.
DPP Abodo said she is determined to weed out undeserving cases from the justice system starting with those arrested during the ongoing lockdown.
Ms Winfred Adukule, the executive director of Freechild Uganda, urged the office of the DPP and the Judiciary not to forget about the juvenile justice in this Covid-19 lockdown.
Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika has appointed a new electoral commission chairperson ahead of a presidential re-run.
The country’s Constitutional Court in February ordered a fresh presidential election be held within 150 days after annulling last year’s re-election of President Mutharika – a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court.
The former commission chairperson Jane Ansah resigned amid criticism by the opposition on how she managed the disputed election.
President Mutharika on Sunday appointed Justice Chifundo Kachale to head the electoral commission.
The new chairperson is expected by voters to deliver a credible presidential election devoid of irregularities as ordered by the courts.
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%.
Malawi's governing party has called for a third presidential election, citing irregularities and intimidation in this week's re-run vote as unofficial tallies show incumbent President Peter Mutharika losing to the opposition leader.
Voters in the southern African country went to the polls on Tuesday for the second time in 13 months after the Constitutional Court scrapped the initial May 2019 presidential election over mass fraud.
The governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called Friday on the electoral commission to annul the results collated so far of the second vote and declare a third poll.
DPP administrative secretary Francis Mphepo said in a statement: \"We wish to highlight several incidents that may potentially affect the integrity and credibility of the presidential election results.\"
In February, Malawi's top court found the election was marred by widespread irregularities, including the use of correction fluid to tamper with result sheets.
Ugandan opposition leader and popular singer Bobi Wine has been freed after a brief arrest by the police. WIne had been taken away just after he was confirmed as a candidate in next year’s presidential election.
The local NBS Television, reporting from the scene, said the singer was put into a police van amid violent scuffles between police and his supporters.
Wine on Monday had gone to the nomination centre in Kyambogo in the capital, Kampala as Uganda’s electoral body started the nomination process for presidential candidates in the upcoming 2021 general elections.
Police fired tear gas to disperse his supporters who turned up to support him on nomination day.
Bobi Wine presented his nomination papers to the electoral commission to be cleared to challenge President Yoweri Museveni in next year's election.
Joel Senyonyi, spokesman for Wine’s NUP party, said “they [police] used a hammer and broke the windows of his vehicle and forcefully dragged him out … they bundled him into their own vehicle and took off”.
So far, 10 aspirants are vying for the top job. Others include former army commander General Mugisha Muntu and former Security Minister General Henry Tumukunde.
President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country for 34 years, was the first to be nominated. He warned that any opponents who destabilize the country will be dealt with.
One presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat was arrested at the headquarters of his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
Soldiers and police officers have been heavily deployed at the party's offices, the Daily Monitor newspaper reports.
Mr Amuriat is reported to have vowed to defy restrictions on the number of supporters accompanying him to the electoral commission where he is scheduled to submit his nomination papers at midday. The newspaper has tweeted a video of his arrest.
These are some of the events analysts say makes the outlook of the politics tense as Uganda braces up for elections February next year.
Wine, 38, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, aims to end President Yoweri Museveni’s 34 years in power.
A cloud of corruption hangs over the head of Public Service Commission director-general Dovhani Mamphiswana.
It also focused on the non-payment of invoices by state departments, service delivery during the Covid-19 lockdown and grievances brought before the organisation which investigates, monitors and evaluates how public service is administered.
Seloane added the public works and infrastructure and water and sanitation departments continued to default with 173 and 137 invoices, respectively, which were older than 30 days.
Seloane said the commission noted the government, like others across the globe, was under severe pressure because of the Covid-19 pandemic and welcomed efforts by the government to establish the Solidarity Fund which would assist with relief efforts during the crisis.
Seloane said the pandemic also challenged the behaviour of public servants, raising concerns over incidents of ill-treatment meted to citizens by law enforcement officials along with reports of maladministration, ill-treatment or lack of care of particular patients at some medical facilities and poor service delivery.
READ HERE | Alexandra residents say they are losing faith in law enforcement after Collins Khosa death
\"The value of human dignity as well as the principle of high standards of professional ethics should at all times guide the behaviour of government officials when delivering government services.\"
ARTICLE 19: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 4 November 2020: ARTICLE 19 strongly condemns excessive use of force by security forces and the riots by supporters of political parties in the aftermath of the presidential election in Guinea. At least 21 people were killed, including three children, hundreds of people wounded and [Read More]
[Monitor] Kampala -- Uganda has missed its target to become a Middle Income country, according to rankings released by the World Bank.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI DANIEL Molokela, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology, has urged citizens to lobby legislators to ensure passage of laws instead of wasting time on constitutional amendments. He made the remarks in Mutare on Tuesday during a public hearing on the Manpower Planning and Development Bill. He said citizens should push for the re-alignment of the laws for effective governance. “In 2013, we adopted a new constitutional order. All laws in Parliament are supposed to be aligned with the new Constitution of the country. In this regard, we are talking about the Manpower Planning and Development Act,” he said “It is not enough to push for the amendment of Bills which are passed and not aligned,” he said. “The Act decides in terms of the skills resources and database of the country, we want to make sure that our education is relevant to our economy and that it is relevant to the development of our country. We have a lot of youths who are unemployed, so these are the things which we seek to address,” he said. “Colleges were different from universities, so now, they are going to be aligned, they are now going to be shifted from Public Service Commission, there is going to be a tertiary education services body which is going to administer institutions for higher learning, this will address the issue of brain drain,” he said “We are losing most of our students to colleges that are outside the country because of the poor conditions in our colleges, however, the Manpower Planning and Development Bill will address the matter,” he said.
Polling station closed across Burundi on Wednesday in a largely incident free process in keenly watched general elections.
Burundians stood in long lines outside polling stations, which opened shortly after six am, most centers had hand washing points for people arriving to vote and election officials had some protective equipments in some instances.
Meanwhile, main opposition candidate, Agathon Rwasa, has protested what he says is fraud in Wednesday’s general election.
He said his party’s election observers were chased away from some polling stations.
In the presidential vote, 5.1 million registered voters are to choose between Nkurunziza’s handpicked heir and frontrunner, 52-year-old general Evariste Ndayishimiye, main opposition competitor Agathon Rwasa, and five other candidates.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has outlined measures to curb spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as it laces its boots for the compilation of a new voters register.
Though it is yet to give an exact date for the exercise, the EC has given indication of compiling a new register once it gets the green light from health experts.
The EC had scheduled April 18 for compilation of the new voters register ahead of the December general elections but had to put it on hold due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
The move to discard the old voter register, the EC contends, is in favour of the new Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS) which would among other things have a facial recognition ability.
The NDC has however vehemently resisted attempts by the EC to register citizens for a new register amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The virtual meeting of the ad hoc commission for the normalisation of relations between Uganda and Rwanda ended on Thursday evening without a position, especially on the opening of the Gatuna border point.
The meeting was the first of the commission since the fourth Quadripartite Heads of State Summit of President Museveni, Rwanda's Paul Kagame, Angola's Joao Laurenco, and DRC's Felix Tshisekedi on February 21 at the Katuna/ Gatuna border.
Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa chaired the video conference meeting, also attended by Rwanda's delegation led by Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Vincente Biruta, and DR Congo's Deputy Prime Minister Gilbert Kankonde Malamba, and Angola's minister for External Relations, Mr Tete Antonio.
\"Uganda's stance in the meeting was that the border opens as the issues raised by Kigali are discussed further but which Rwanda vehemently shot down,\" sources told this newspaper on condition of anonymity as only Foreign Affairs Minister Kutesa is mandated to comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, in a dramatic turn of events, diplomatic sources further intimated that Uganda's UN Permanent Representative Adonia Ayebare, whom President Museveni named as Special Envoy on normalisation of relations late last year, was locked out of yesterday's virtual meeting on directives of Mr Kutesa over yet unknown reasons.
Members of Parliament have questioned how textile firm Nytil was awarded a contract to produce and supply facial masks across the country.
\"Now that government is to provide masks to Ugandans, I seek to know how ordinary companies and young people making masks can benefit.
In his address on Monday, President Museveni said it will take Nytil two weeks to manufacture masks for all Ugandans above six years of age.
It was, however, sold in 1996 to Southern Range Nyanza Limited, a private company owned by Mr Kishor Jobanputra, who is also a member of the National Response Fund to Covid-19 formed by President Museveni on May 3.
Government had threatened to cancel the VAT concession in the 2014/15 budget before Nytil ran to Parliament and threatened to lay off more than 3,000 employees directed employed by the company.
Despite seeming to have softened his stance on the Ush10 billion ($2.6 million) that Ugandan legislators allocated themselves as part of the Covid-19 supplementary budget, President Yoweri Museveni is said to have ordered an audit of the expenditure.
In a letter dated April 28 to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, President Museveni said he instructed the Auditor-General to go over how the funds were used.
In a recent televised address on coronavirus, President Museveni described the Covid-19 cash as a trap that the MPs had laid for themselves and “morally reprehensible.”
Despite Speaker Kadaga’s efforts to explain that MPs were to use this money to sensitise their constituents about the pandemic and for maintenance of ambulances in their constituencies, President Museveni and the Cabinet insisted the allocation was illegal and inappropriate.
As at April 12, the number of MPs that had returned the money stood at 101 out of a total of 458 legislators.
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.
He was responsible for the deaths of many of our fighters in the bush.
\"Succession talk is useless and the moment he [President Museveni] comes up with his son as a successor, he has got problems with Kasirye Ggwanga.
I left Kampala because of dust and noise; I am at peace at Camp David [his tent house] with my antelopes, snakes and monkeys.
\"You are the young ones we have made and you are asking President Museveni to leave power.
As a veteran of many wars, you have to instil a bit of fear because if you don't do that, people can trample on you.
\"As we are going through the Covid-19 pandemic, my sources are all blocked and I have to take 70 students who are Finalists in Candidate classes back to school.
It require need about Shs35m for the 70 Candidate students to be back to school,\" Mr Wanyama wrote on his Facebook page last week.
In March this year, Daily Monitorpublished Mr Wanyama's story and his charity which was taking care of about 850 vulnerable students from different schools around the country which using his personal savings from his farming business and other various sources including well-wishers, as well as the MoU's he gets into with the different school heads to have Subsidies on the Fees.
Mr Wanyama said that he has not received any feedback from the ministry to which the letter was addressed and yet it is getting late for the students in candidate classes.
President Museveni on Monday said opening of schools for candidate classes had been postponed for another one month as government plans whether to provide private television sets for all the villages in the country.
In 2011 when I worked for the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), we published Kenya’s first ethnic audit of the civil service, which is the largest employer in the country.
While still at NCIC, a colleague would painstakingly go through names in newspapers of candidates shortlisted for jobs in the public service, then look up sadly, saying, “as usual, there is no one from my ethnic community.”
Massive exclusion was clear as only 20 of the then 42 ethnic communities were statistically visible, indeed seven ethnic communities had less than 100 members in the civil service.
Five ethnic communities—Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luhya, Kamba and Luo—occupied nearly 70 per cent of civil service positions.
The then Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura took administrative action, reviewing how each ministry or department addressed ethnic inequality and increasing the hiring of under-represented communities.
[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] Presidential hopeful Rtd Gen Henry Tumukunde has warned whoever is behind his continuous arrests which he says are aimed at making him lose hope about making change in the governance of Uganda.
