A 20-Year-old fisherman has died in the lake Albert waters after he allegedly jumped in the lake fearing to be arrested by Fisheries protection Unit-FPU personnel.

The deceased has been identified as Milton Gubaza, a fisherman attached to Runga landing site in Kibiro parish Kiganja sub county in Hoima district. The incident happened on Thursday evening.

It is alleged that the deceased while on a fishing expedition on the lake Albert waters, met the fisheries protection unit-FPU operatives who were patrolling the lake.

He immediately jumped into the lake and died instantly, fearing to be arrested since he had illegal fishing gear including undersized fishing nets, hooks and a boat that are not recommended to be used on the lake.

Godfrey Abigaba, a resident says it is unfortunate that they have lost their colleague who died while trying to escape from the FPU operatives. Oromo Luzira, also a resident says the FPU operatives should regulate the way they carry out their operation saying they are too harsh to the fishermen.

He adds that there is need to have peaceful engagement between the operatives and the fishermen for sanity to be restored since most fishermen fear them due to too much torture and brutal arrests.

“The operatives are too harsh to the fishermen to the extent that when you are arrested, you are severally beaten, tortured and that is why some fishermen would rather die than be handled by FPU operatives,” said Luzira. “Let them use peaceful means of executing their operations while on the lake if not many fishermen are going to lose their lives in the lake.”

In a telephone interview with URN, Major Richard Mafabi, the sector commander who is overseeing the FPU operations on Lake Albert says they have launched investigations into the matter. He has however cautioned fishermen not to fear the FPU operatives while on the lake but rather cooperate with them.

On November 2, 2021, a fisherman drowned in Lake Albert when he panicked after seeing personnel from the Fisheries Protection Unit -FPU.

The deceased was only identified as Owonda, who was attached to Kijangi landing site in Tonya parish in Buseruka sub-county.

He was fishing together with threes when the FPU team went after them for using illegal fishing gear. Owonda reportedly jumped into the lake on citing the officers and drowned.

In July 2021, two fishermen died in Lake Albert in the Kikuube district when their boat capsized.

The deceased was only identified as Ajaruva (35) and Richard (24), both attached to the Bugoma landing site in Buhuka parish in Kyangwali sub-county.

The two fishermen met their death after strong winds hit their boat forcing it to capsize.

Was there value for money in the used locomotives purchased by Uganda Railways Corporation-URC from South Africa? Why didn’t the parastatal go for new and cheaper ones from China? Did the management flout any procedure?

These are some of the questions arising from the decision by President Yoweri Museveni to direct the sacking of the entire URC Board and the MD, Stanley Sendegeya.

The president’s action was in response to the findings of the probe into the corporation’s affairs, particularly the sale of assets like land, and the purchase of equipment.

The agency acquired four used locomotives and spent 48 billion shillings, much more than what a technical committee had recommended for the same number of new engines. URC had the opportunity to purchase four brand-new locomotives at 36 billion shillings from a Chinese company but opted for eight-year-old ones from South Africa.

According to management, the China-made locomotives have 2000 horsepower engines, while those from South Africa’s Grindrod Locomotives run on 3,000 horsepower engines made by US-based General Electric (GE).

This, according to them would reduce the cost per unit of moving cargo since one engine would carry more cargo volumes. “If you have 2000 HP engines, you will need two locomotives to actually move the cargo that only one of these will move,” said John Lennon Sengendo, the head of corporate affairs at URC, adding that the Chinese machines even consume more fuel. The type that they had proposed to buy from China, is the same as the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway operates.

According to URC, it takes 3,000 litres of diesel for the new engines to move from Kampala to Malaba and back, while the Chinese ones would cost almost twice as much.

“Even if the Chinese engines were brand-new, they are fuel guzzlers! Why use that to move the same cargo that we can move at a cheaper cost? It doesn’t make business sense,” Sengendo reasoned.

The decision was also informed by the fact that the supplier offered to supply spare parts for two years after the purchase is concluded, incentives that were not offered by the Chinese suppliers.

The management also says they were convinced that the South African-supplied equipment has a simple supply chain for spare parts which can be found in different parts of the world, while for the Chinese ones, parts can only be for from China. This limited supply chain would make it expensive to maintain the machines.

However, even when they decided to change, they had to seek the consent of the Solicitor General who endorsed the changes. URC also says that the four locomotives alone were worth 42 billion shillings, while 6 billion shillings was spent on two reach stackers, the vehicles used to move, and load offload cargo to or from a train wagon.

The rest of the money was used to train staff operating the locomotives. “We explained all these things to the committee, but nothing of the sort came out in the committee report,” said Sengendo, who however expresses hope that the president would look at their argument.

Asked whether they feel they did not flout the laws of public procurement, he said the major decisions including the switch from new locomotives to used ones, were done with the consent of the Solicitor General.

“If he had noticed any fault in the process, he would have advised otherwise, but he didn’t,” said Sengendo. He adds that no one at the URC handled any money before or during the transaction because the Ministry of Works and Transport and of finance dealt directly with the suppliers through the bank.

The URC initiated the process indicating that they needed the equipment and after approvals, they gave Letters of Credit to Stanbic Bank, which in turn paid the supplier. “Because for us, we expressed our needs to them, but the process was done from the other side. Any process in government must get the support of the Solicitor General. Otherwise, it won’t go through,” Sengendo said.

The parliamentary report also alleged that the locomotives were lying idle in the yards because they are not compatible with the kind of rails in Uganda and that the Triangle which is used for the trains to turn at the station was also faulty.

Sengendo dismissed this, saying the Triangle became unusable because a big part of it was taken by the Uganda National Roads Authority due to the construction of the flyovers. He said, however, that the locomotives instead make a U-turn which does not need to use the triangle.

During the COSASE probe, URC Chief Finance Officer, David Musoke said that there was a ‘small problem’, but not that the locomotives could not work.

“The locomotives are okay, except for what we call the triangle, that is where the train turns from and these lines are old, so we cannot risk these ‘new’ machines turning on them, so they are working on them, and we cannot drive a locomotive in a reverse way.”

Two of the locomotives have been deployed on the Malaba-Tororo- Jinja area, while one plies the Kampala-Malaba route, while the fourth is operating the Kampala -Namanve passenger service, according to records at URC.

Sengendo also clarified that the corporation spent 285 million shillings in legal fees and not 1.8 billion as stated in the reports.

It has been variously said, including by President Yoweri Museveni that Uganda was at the same economic standing as most of today’s Asian Tigers, particularly Singapore, in 1962. This is used to show how much Uganda has slowed down or reversed in Economic advancement since it got independence, compared to her former peers.

Indeed, according to Macro Trends, at independence, the value of Uganda’s economy (GDP), was 450 million US dollars while Singapore’s was 830 million US dollars, quite small, though double that of Uganda. However, in terms of per Capita income, Uganda had 63 dollars, while Singapore, which became an independent state in 1965 had an average income per person of 472 dollars.

By 1971 just before Uganda underwent drastic economic and political changes, GDP had grown to 1.4 billion US dollars and per Capita income to 147, more than double in nine years. By now, Singapore’s per Capita Income had grown to 1,071 dollars which is a middle-income status even by today’s standards, as the resource-poor country positioned itself as an investment and tourism destination as well as a trade hub.

Today, an average earner in Singapore earns 72,000 dollars annually, 70 times more than a Ugandan. Uganda’s economy grew at an average of 6 percent between 1962 and 1971, as Milton Obote’s government maintained the pace inherited from the colonial government, led by agriculture, mainly cotton and tea.

By the mid-1960s, coffee was also becoming an important cash crop in addition to copper which had been discovered in 1950. The government formalized the cooperative movement which supported farmers with the supply of planting materials, marketing, and storage of harvest, as well as subsidized machinery like tractors.

The cooperative unions owned ginneries and coffee hulling factories which ensured stable and high returns for farmers, while the secondary markets, like export, were accessed through the national marketing boards. The formation of the East African Community in 1967 further strengthened the economy, through easier access to the coast and stronger service industries like banking and transport.

It is suggested that the growing socialistic character of the government and prosperity of the masses was seen as a threat to the military, according to Michael F. Lofchie in “The Uganda Coup—Class Action by the Military”. This led to the 1971 coup by Idi Amin, but other accounts say the army commander’s action was to preempt an impending arrest for his alleged plunder of gold in Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo).

Amin embarked on his own reforms starting with the “economic liberation war” which says, holders of British passports, mainly Indians and Pakistanis, were expelled and their properties reallocated to indigenous Ugandans or nationalized. Many Asians had huge interests in agriculture and industry, especially food processing and textile which were to be confiscated. Most of the nationalized assets were put under the management of the Uganda Development Corporation, an agency created in the 1950s to promote industrialization in the country.

This somehow overwhelmed the agency which did not have the capacity to supervise the sudden expansion of the portfolio, according to the current Executive Director, Patrick Birungi. Economic growth slowed down but nevertheless continued until 1977. Amin’s policies increasingly soured relations with the other EAC members and at one time, Kenya President Jomo Kenyatta threatened to block the Mombasa-Kampala route if Amin continued to claim that parts of Kenya belonged to Uganda.

The US agreed to help Kenya strengthen its army in case Amin attacked, as well as the Israeli raid on Entebbe International Airport further isolated Amin before the collapse of the Community in 1977. The collapse meant that Uganda had to do more to access foreign markets. The high military spending had increased pressure on foreign exchange and led to high debt levels. In 1977, economic growth which had slowed down in the last few years, went into the negatives for the first time in independent Uganda, as industries collapsed over failure to get spare parts, raw materials, and expert skills.

In 1977, Amin was accused of killing Archbishop Janani Luwum and rounding up US residents in Kampala, two incidents that forced President Jimmy Carter to impose sanctions on Uganda’s coffee considered the remaining lifeline of the economy then.

This abetted the smuggling of the commodity to Kenya, further denying the government the much-needed revenues.

In 1979, the war against Amin’s regime was the last nail and the GDP contracted from 2.96 billion dollars in 1977 (when high coffee prices brought some relief) to 2.1 billion, and further to 1.24 billion in 1980. The economy only stabilised after the election that returned Obote who promised new reforms, attracting the support of the IMF and private investors.

Among the reforms was floating the shilling, leaving foreign exchange rates to be determined by world market developments. Agriculture contributed most of the growth, at 17.5 percent, and by 1984, GDP had grown to 3.6 billion dollars.

However, disagreements over the budget policy saw the IMF withdraw assistance to the country. This coupled with the intensifying war between the government and armed rebels reversed the growth trend, and GDP had dropped back to 3.5 billion when the rebels led by Yoweri Museveni overthrew the government.

All through the previous decade, agriculture survived because more people had retreated to farming as other sectors collapsed. But this time, it was contributing 56 percent of the economy, compared to 11 percent by industry, while services accounted for 32 percent of GDP. The new government led by the National Resistance Movement embarked on fresh reforms for growth, including rolling out some policies they had introduced while still rebels in the south and western parts of the country they had captured before.

Among the promises were returning the economic drive to the private sector, fighting corruption, diversifying agriculture, and industrial products based on local raw arterials, returning confiscated assets to their original owners, supporting a mixed economy, and increasing investment in social services.

These promises attracted the World Bank, the IMF, and local and foreign investor confidence, and in 1986, the economy grew by 4.5 percent and 7.2 percent in 1988, but a drastic fall in coffee prices affected this growth to 1992. In 1987 an aggressive currency reform took place and the shilling was devaluated by 76 percent.

At the same time, the government introduced barter trade, exchanging products like maize and coffee for imports like sugar, oil, and equipment. The reforms and political stability in most of the country led to higher growth rates, but the privatization and liberalization policy attracted criticism that it was benefitting a few rich and politically connected.

These policies, however, led to the total collapse of the cooperative movement as they encouraged the growth of the middleman, and surviving economic support agencies like marketing boards were abolished. Services like the national bus company, the railways, and the national airlines were all replaced by private operators, which increased the cost of services to the common person.

By 2001, for example, both the Uganda Commercial Bank and the Cooperative Bank were no more leaving small and medium entrepreneurs to fend for themselves, and rely on government recovery projects and programs. The average growth of 6.7 percent per year was registered between 1990 and 2015, with the highest recorded in 1995 at 11.5 percent, and in 2006 at 10.8 percent when there were heavy investments in the energy sector.

Over this period, the structure of the economy evolved from agriculture-led to services and industry. The contribution of agriculture now averages 25 percent from a high of 56, while industry contributes 22 percent, more than double the 1986 figure. Services have now overtaken the two sectors as the main contributor to the economy at 55 percent.

Since 2011 growth has averaged about 4 percent, only being above 6 percent in 2018 and 2019. GDP has grown from 0.45 billion at independence to 45.7 billion dollars, 2022 as Uganda marks the 60th independence anniversary, and per capita income from 63 to 1,071 dollars, according to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

In the next several years, according to the ministry, the economy is likely to be led by the oil and gas industry, as well as technology, according to government authorities.

This will however depend on how successfully the government and the oil and gas companies manage to overcome the pressure from civil society fighting against the development of oil developments. They have until now assured the nation that the process will go on as planned, to realize the first oil by 2025.

To date, there is no functional railway service across the border, with the government raising money from lenders to rehabilitate the railway network. Generally, Edward Katumba Wamala says this is not a privatization policy reversal, but that there is a need for such infrastructure as demand grows.

“The country plans to export 22 million bags in a few years. How will you export it without a train?”, Wamala reasons. On the revival of Uganda Airlines, President Museveni said there was a need for the national carrier because Uganda had been mistreated by other countries with their airlines.

Other signs of policy reversal include the attempt at reviving the cooperative movement. Sheila Kawamara, the Executive Director, of the East African Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women, EASSI, says the current move “is a sham” because the Sacco’s being formed are not demand-driven but political. She said they cannot achieve what the 1960s and 70s Cooperatives achieved.

The Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga has submitted to the government a list containing details of people allegedly abducted by state security and detained without trial. According to information obtained by Uganda Radio Network –URN, Mpuuga submitted the list on Friday, October 6th, 2022 to the Office of the Prime Minister and Speaker of parliament.

“This is to submit details of persons who were abducted by security personnel and whose whereabouts remain unknown. Also submitted are details of political prisoners in Kitalya and Luzira prisons who have been in detention without trial for more than 18 months,” reads Mpuuga’s letter to Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja.

He lists 24 people including their names, the date they were allegedly abducted, and the place where they were picked up from. Those on the list are Kibalama John Bosco, Semuddu Micheal, Damulira John, Mbabazi Moses, Nalumoso Vincent, Lukwago Martin, Kanatta Muhammad, Sempijja Yuda, Musisi Mbowa, Kirya Peter, Wangolo Shafik, Zimula Dennis, Luwemba Mustafa, Mubiru Hassan, Muwonge Paul, Sesaazi Isma, Mulungataba Daudi, Sengendo Peter Mugabi, Kawesa Ivan Damulira, and Sembatya Vincent.

Others are Kuteesa Saul, George Kasumba, Semakula Abbey, Kato Hussein, Katushabe Phiona. Also listed alongside these are 29 people classified as political prisoners in Kitalya Prison and another 3 at Luzira Prison.

Some of these are Olivia Lutaaya, Katabi Swaibu, Muhydin Kakooza, Segulla Rashid, Sekitoleko Yasin, Robert Rugumayo, Ronald Mayiga, Patrick Mwase, Simon Kijjambu, Abdu Matovu, Richard Nyombi, Sharif Kalanzi, Joseph Muwonge, and others.

On Tuesday, Nabbanja wrote to Mpuuga requesting him to furnish her office with the list of the said abducted persons. Nabbanja’s October 4th, 2022 letter followed a meeting convened by the Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa on September 30th, 2022, which resolved that the Leader of Opposition furnishes the government with more information about the abducted persons so that security can make thorough investigations and come up with a report.

Some of those who attended the meeting included the Shadow Minister of Internal Affairs, Abdallah Kiwanuka, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Security, the Government Chief Whip, the Deputy Attorney General, and the Deputy Commander of Special Forces Command (SFC) among others.

Early this week, Kiwanuka who doubles as the Mukono North MP told journalists at parliament that their list to the government will only detail the place, time, and date of abduction. He said they wouldn’t disclose the particulars and contacts of close relatives as requested by the government to protect the families amidst fear of intimidation.

He also demanded that a select committee of parliament is constituted to carry out investigations on the new wave of abductions. “This is not the first time that we are providing full details of persons that were abducted before, during, and after the 2021 general elections. The first time, some of the people they had abducted and detained incommunicado were dumped in different places but in bad shape, maimed, with multiple wounds, and in immense pain owing to the torturous treatment they were subjected to by the state,” said Kiwanuka.

Kiwanuka said that while they await the outcome of the ongoing process between parliament and the Executive, a select committee should be put in place to investigate the matter. At least 54 people were killed during the November 2020 riots that followed the arrest of then-presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu of the National Unity Platform.

Other than those killed during the demonstrations, hundreds of others particularly youths were rounded up, the majority many of whom were never charged in courts of law. The second round of arrests occurred in the days leading to the swearing-in ceremony of President Museveni in May last year.

Security then said that those arrested were planning to interrupt the President’s swearing-in ceremony. Some of these have been charged in the Court Martial while others have never appeared in court.

Joseph Kabuleta, one of the eleven presidential candidates who participated in the January 2021 general elections has unveiled a party called the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue -NEED.

The party was first registered on 7th October 2005 under the name People’s United Movement Party-PUM. Kabuleta says he joined the PUM party two years ago before the presidential elections but chose to run as an independent for reasons he didn’t reveal.

While announcing the party at its headquarters in Bugolobi, Kabuleta said that the founders of the party led by now its former president Shadrack Ogemba approached him with a proposal to join the party and also spearhead it upon realization that they shared the same objectives. Kabuleta says, upon joining the party, it was also agreed that its name changes to NEED, a name under which he has been operating since declaring his intentions to contest for the presidency.

A delegate’s conference hosted at the party offices on Monday made amendments to the party constitution to adopt a new name, NEED and also elected Kabuleta as the party president. Kabuleta says the electoral commission shall soon be informed of the changes as the law provides.

Kabuleta says that the party’s main agenda is to empower people economically so that they can sustain themselves hence the party’s slogan “Money in Your Pocket”. He is of the view that Uganda is endowed with various resources such as good climate for agriculture, tourism destinations and minerals, all of which can be used to change the lives of the populace.

Kabuleeta says that what Uganda needs is good leadership capable of using the available resources to the benefit of the people. He says that economic empowerment is the only true form of empowerment something the current government has denied Ugandans, turning many Ugandans into dependents hence making them easy subjugate.

Kabuleta says the current government has exploited Uganda’s treasures to the benefit of a few individuals who are family and friends. The symbol for NEED is maize cob, chosen to depict agriculture as one of the key venues through which Uganda can improve the status of her people. The initial symbol of the party as PUM was cattle, which also symbolized agriculture.

Kabuleta urged Ugandans to join in the struggle to liberate their nation, stressing that they can create change if they raised to do so. To Kabuleta, the establishment in Uganda has already grown frail and while it portrays toughness in public, it’s secretly collapsing and hoping that when the end comes, it wiil not be as hard.

Shadrack Ogemba, who has been the PUM party president, says they consulted legal minds, members and God to guide them on their move to have Kabuleta lead the party. He says they have started a new journey with Kabuleta and committed on his behalf and colleagues their allegiance to the leadership of Kabuleta. He says they chose Kabuleta because they believe in his abilities to spearhead the party forward and achieve the main objective of the party which is economic empowerment.

Ogemba, who has now been elected as the head of the Party’s Council of Elders says, they shall always consult each other and build consensus as a party.

Kabuleta, like Robert Kyagulanyi who also joined the National Unity Reconciliation and Development Party and changed it to National Unity Platform-NUP party, has also been elected as party president for NEED. Kyagulanyi, who came to fame under the People Power pressure group would later carry the flag for the NUP party in 2021 election.

Kyagulanyi’s position has however been challenged in court with the party members led by the founder Moses Nkonge Kibalama accusing him of taking their party.