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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.
Critics have called it a stunt to invite sympathy. Yet Amuriat says campaigning without shoes is a protest and that those who do not get its symbolism are missing a point.
Uganda is due to hold a general election on January 14. Amuriat and another opposition candidate, Bobi Wine have had their rallies violently dispersed by security forces or been arrested.
In mid-November, scores of people were killed as security forces attempted to quell protests against the arrest and detention of Bobi Wine.
Police has accused the candidates of addressing huge gatherings in contravention of regulations on COVID-19 prevention.
Swollen feet
In an interview with one of the dailies in Uganda, Amuriat said his feet hurt a lot and has to pour cold water on them in between campaign stops for some relief.
Doctors have cautioned him on the potential danger of contracting tetanus from cuts to his feet.
Yet Amuriat remains adamant. He says by refusing to wear shoes, he’s standing in solidarity with people whose wealth and opportunities have been stolen by the country’s longtime ruler Yoweri Museveni.
JUST IN: FDC presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat has been arrested at the border of Rubirizi and Bushenyi districts. The reason for his arrest is yet to be known📹 @MukhayeD#MonitorUpdates#UGDecides2021 pic.twitter.com/xopK4FMoD0
— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) December 4, 2020
Museveni, in power since 1986 is seeking a new term. In 2017, he changed the constitution to remove age limits that would have stopped him from seeking re-election.
FDC is Uganda’s largest opposition party. In 3 previous elections, the party fronted veteran activist and retired army colonel Kizza Besigye for president.
Uganda’s Electoral Commission announced on Tuesday that it will push ahead with organising the scheduled February 2021 General Election.
Amidst uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic, the Commission banned mass gatherings and directed parties and candidates to use various media platforms to reach out to voters.
He said the new roadmap was problematic because of a history of partiality by the Electoral Commission in favour of the incumbent, and the failure to appreciate internal processes the party has to undertake to arrive at flag bearers.
While Uganda has a number of privately-owned FM radio and TV stations, the majority are owned by politicians who are members of the ruling National Resistance Movement party or people friendly to the party, who will not grant opposition members access to campaign on their platforms.
The Electoral Commission was faulted in a Supreme Court ruling on the 2016 elections for its failure to ensure state media gave candidates equal access.
[Monitor] As Ugandans struggle to adapt to the different healthcare guidelines set by the Ministry of Health in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Monica Musenero, a senior epidemiologist and presidential adviser on Epidemics, has urged the general public to embrace preventive healthcare to reduce costs incurred in treatment.
If you are registered and have a photo-id, you can walk into the Circuit Clerk’s office in the William M. Branch County Courthouse, or any other Circuit Clerk’s office in the state, and vote absentee now, early, without putting your ballot in the mail, for the November 3, 2020 General Election.Since September 9 and until […]
[Nation] Hundreds of people appointed as chairpersons and members of boards of State corporations between March and July 2016 were in office illegally, the High Court said on Friday.
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has authorised six companies to produce non-medical facemasks for over 30 million Ugandans aged six and above as government moves to ease the virus induced lockdown.
He further noted that he would lift restrictions on public transport starting June 4 but the driver and all passengers would be required to wear government supplied facemasks.
Public transport to open in June when all Ugandans have face-masks, says Museveni
She said this was part of their mandate to protect Ugandans from buying substandard non-medical facemasks which could be harmful to their health, in the wake of COVID-19.
\"UNBS is also giving out free non-medical facemask standards to aid certification of facemask manufacturers and mass production of non-medical facemasks that meet the national quality standards,\" she said.
So far, 55 companies have applied for certification, but Ms Kirabo says the number of companies certified to manufacture non-medical facemasks is expected to increase.
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.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed that only presidential candidates will be given free and equal airtime on the state owned media outlets as provided for in the Presidential Elections Act 2005.
Mr Byabakama said the electoral body will meet the Uganda Commissions Commission (UCC) to discuss the enforcement of the law which requires all presidential candidates to have the same access to the state-owned media outlets.
Section 23 (1 and 2) of Presidential Elections Act 2005 stipulates that all presidential candidates shall get equal treatment, freedom of expression and access to information of candidates.
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According to the electoral body, a presidential candidate is free to buy airtime from privately owned media houses to supplement their free access to the state owned media.
In February, Parliament passed the Presidential Elections Amendment Bill which stipulates punitive measures to state owned media managers such as a year in jail or a fine of up to Shs10m for denying presidential candidates coverage.
[Monitor] On June 13, President Museveni appointed Ms Dorothy Kisaka as the new executive director (ED) of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to replace Ms Jennifer Musisi who resigned in October 2018.
Kampala — President Museveni has said that he and his government have played their part in containing the spread of Coronavirus, and can no longer take the blame if Ugandans start dying of Covid-19.
Mr Museveni said people have not died in Uganda because initially, his directives were followed to the latter which led to a few people being hospitalized.
His caution comes amid an increased number of Covid-19 community cases reported by the Ministry of Health coupled with the laxity amongst the population, the majority of whom have ignored advice to keep a social distance, wear face masks or even stay at home.
The mask is not very comfortable but medicine apart from that of children, is bitter,\" Museveni said as he presided over the National Heroes Day celebrations at State House, Entebbe today.
Mr Museveni said although Ministry of Health officials were planning for health facilities with 9000 bed capacity, he advised them to plan for 40,000 bed capacity and that places like Namboole Stadium are being prepared to treat a big number of people if cases continue to rise.
A law expert has said the resignation of Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah just weeks into a crucial presidential election has plunged the country into yet another electoral crisis.
Justine Dzonzi: Fresh elections are court sanctioned polls therefore do not disrupt the electoral process
Justin Dzonzi of Justice Link says it will not be possible for a new commission to hold an election in two weeks' time.
The term of office for Ansah--a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal--was set to expire in October this year while that for her eight commissioners is ending on June 5 this year
\"This means in two weeks' time, we will have no commission at all.
\"Take into account that we will have an election on 23 June, this is an electoral crisis,\" he said.
The judgment was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal, the country's top judicial authority, after an appeal by Mutharika and the electoral body.
[Monitor] Kampala -The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Ms Betty Aol Ocan, has accused President Museveni of neglecting the priorities and issues that affect the average Ugandan during his State of the Nation Address delivered on June 4.
Joseph P. Bradley , (born March 14, 1813, Berne, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 22, 1892, Washington, D.C.), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1870. Bradley was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Electoral Commission of 1877, and his vote elected Rutherford B. Hayes president of the United States. As a justice he emphasized the power of the federal government to regulate commerce. His decisions reflecting this view, rendered during the period of rapid industrialization that followed the American Civil War, were significant in assuring a national market for manufactured goods. His refusal to allow constitutional protection for the civil rights of blacks assisted in the defeat of Reconstruction in the South.
A farm boy with a thirst for learning, Bradley managed to find a way to attend Rutgers College. He thereafter passed the New Jersey bar. He grew to be both a reflective master of the law and an active participant in large undertakings; the Camden & Amboy Railroad was his most important client. In 1870 Bradley was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ulysses S. Grant and was assigned, as a traveling circuit justice, to the Fifth (Southern) Circuit. His first major civil-rights case was United States v. Cruikshank, which he heard initially in federal circuit court in 1874. It concerned an armed attack by whites who killed 60 blacks at a political rally in Louisiana. Bradley ruled that such rights as the citizen’s right to vote, to assemble peaceably, and to bear arms and the rights to due process and equal protection were not protected by the federal government but by the states. When the case reached the Supreme Court, the majority held the same view.
In 1883 Bradley and the court majority declared unconstitutional two sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which had forbidden discrimination on the ground of colour in inns, public conveyances, and places of amusement. Bradley held that the act was beyond the power of Congress because the Fourteenth Amendment barred discriminatory actions only
Ugandans are engaged in heated debates over the merits, possibilities and effectiveness of participating in what is being popularly referred to as a ‘scientific election’.
The East African country is scheduled to hold presidential, parliamentary and local government elections next year.
The electoral commission last week told the nation to prepare for an unusual election where campaigning will be done digitally, as the destabilizing effects of the coronavirus continue.
Justifying scientific elections
Uganda which currently has over 700 confirmed cases of the coronavirus has been slowly easing restrictions and emphasizing measures of social distancing for all activities in the country.
The commission says it is bound by Article 61 (2) of Uganda’s constitution which tasks it to organize elections within 120 days before the expiry of the term of president, parliament or local government.
In conducting a scientific election, the commission hopes to exercise its duty to facilitate Ugandans’ right to choose their leaders in a healthy and safe environment.
How it will be conducted
Aspirants at all levels will only be able to conduct campaigns electronically via television, radio and social media, since open-air public rallies have been banned.
“This is because electoral activities involve public gatherings and hence pose high COVID-19 risk of person-to-person and object-to-person transmissions,” the commission explained in a statement.
The three months of a lockdown imposed since March across the country also means that some activities will have to be accomplished in a much shorter time.
With hardly six months to the elections scheduled to be held between January and February next year, political parties are yet to nominate flag-bearers for the different offices that will be contested.
Voting itself is to be conducted normally, with president Yoweri Museveni telling the nation on Monday that government can effectively ensure social distancing and other precautionary measures at polling stations.
“… the gathering for the elections themselves, can be safely managed with hand-washing, social-distancing or leaving gaps of the necessary metres between voters in line,” Museveni said.
“This would remove the uncertainty that would be created by the postponement of the elections but also ensure that elections are held safely. I call upon Ugandans to support this option.”
Ugandans react
Key stakeholders in the electoral process including leaders of political parties and the voters themselves have shared mixed reactions to the electoral commission’s proposal.
While the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has welcomed the proposal and says it will adjust its programme accordingly, many in the opposition say the commission is playing into the hands of incumbent Museveni and other powerful NRM politicians.
The opposition politicians accuse the electoral commission of not consulting them as it drafted the revised election roadmap. According to the popular legislator and presidential hopef
The national Budget for the Financial Year 2020/2021 is the first in the third phase of the National Development Plan (NDP) III which runs until 2025.
The budgetary allocations placed said priorities at the bottom with Agriculture sector getting 2.91 per cent, Tourism with 0.44 per cent while Energy and Mineral development which superintends over oil and gas is placed among the 10 in the Budget with 5.72 per cent.
While unveiling the Budget, Mr Matia Kasaija, the Finace minister, revealed: \"The Agriculture sector plays a central role in Uganda's economy.
But NDPIII maintains that for successful implementation of its programmes, key development strategies such as; agro-industrialisation, fast-track oil, gas and mineral-based industrialisation, import replacement/promotion of local manufacturing, export promotion, harness the tourism potential, and provide a suitable fiscal, monetary and regulatory environment for the private sector to invest must be at the fore front.
Mr Kasaija cast the outlined priorities of the Third National Development Plan (NDPIII) FY2020/2021 to FY 2024/2025 at far bottom yet the plan is meant to guide the allocations.
