Home Blog Page 198

Powerful Earthquake Hits East Africa and Causes Panic in Kampala

0

Being in Kampala’s tall skyscraper buildings is always a top point for those who work there, but it turned out to be a big disadvantage this afternoon.

At around three o’clock, many people in such buildings ran crazy as they panicked out the buildings to seek refuge from an earthquake that shook the city.

Seated from my office desk the earthquake which struck for over five minutes forced me to move to the main corridor of the building where I met people from other offices on Kizito Towers and the nearby Kirumira Towers taking turns on the steep steps as they all rushed down the many stairs.

People in the lower corridors and shops were amused to see people running down stairs for their lives.

Upon reaching down, a mammoth crowd had begun to converge outside the building watching over as it took swerves from east to west.

“The building was shaking and we feared that it may collapse and kill people but God is great that the earth quake lasted only a few minutes,” an unidentified woman said.

However later on business resumed and people went back to their offices to resume work but some anticipated more damaging tremors to follow.

It has not yet been possible to ascertain whether the earthquake caused any damage or loss of lives in Uganda.

The earthquake is reported to have measured 6.8 on the rector scale and hit East Africa at about 3 p.m. (East Africa is 3 hours ahead of G.M.T) The effects of the earthquake, whose epicenter appears to have been along the south-western arm of the Great Rift Valley, is not too clear in Uganda, but there are reports of injuries from collapsing dwellings and some damage in Congo. The earthquake caused panic as far as Nairobi, Kenya and in Kigoma, Tanzania and tremors were also felt in Rwanda and Burundi.

It is reported that an earthquake of such magnitude would have caused much more damage if the area had been more developed.

Ugandan Women Want Tougher Laws on Violence Against Women

0

Uganda has joined the rest of the world to commemorate 16 days of activism against violence on women that started on November 25th when the UN marked the day for the elimination of all forms of violence against women.

Many Ugandans led by women and human rights groups have been holding different meetings and demonstrations calling for a tougher law on violence against women, especially the rampant violence that many women face in their homes.

Anti-domestic violence activists accuse government and the parliament of Uganda for deliberately cheating women by not putting in place specific laws against domestic violence, which is pervasive in many families. And if hopes for such law were there, parliament stumbled over it by shelving the Domestic Relations Bill sighting insensitivity from some section of the public.

The Domestic Relations Bill once passed into law is supposed to cater for among others the Sexual Offences between spouses, which is one of the common causes of domestic violence. Currently Uganda has no law punishing spouses who force their partners into sex or marital rape, which are very rampant according to the available research.

The existing law in penal code Chapter 219 says that any person who unlawfully does grievous harm to another commits a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years, but this law is general such that it does not consider the circumstances of home set up.

Anti-domestic violence activists in Uganda had hoped that with the DRB, violence against women will be scaled down since it will be defined from other forms of violent acts committed. But this has not been so because the bill has since faced resistance and subsequently put on hold.

Luwero woman Member of Parliament, Prof. Victoria Mwaka says that women feel cheated and unimportant because the bill has been sidelined.

“Women will continue to suffer violence and be deprived of equal opportunities as men due to lack of specific law,” says Professor Mwaka, whose constituents recently demonstrated against the delay to pass the bill into a law.

The Executive Director of the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, LaShawn R. Jefferson says that the failure by Ugandan government to address domestic violence is costing women their lives. “Any success Uganda has experienced in its fight against HIV/AIDS will be short-lived if the government does not address this urgent problem,” she says.

In its 2003 report, the Human Rights Watch said that the Ugandan government’s failure to protect women from domestic violence and discrimination increases women’s risk of contracting HIV.

In a 77-page report entitled, “Just Die Quietly: Domestic Violence and Women’s Vulnerability to HIV in Uganda,” many widespread rape and brutal attacks on women by their husbands in Uganda were reported and blamed on lack of a specific law against domestic violence. The Human Rights Watch report says that domestic violence inhibits women’s control over sexual matters in marriage, exposing them to danger of contracting HIV.

The inadequacy of the current law in protecting women against violence is a shared concern between women and men. The Bukooli South Member of Parliament, Peter Patrick Ochieng says that the current law is so stiff and does not reach down to protect the vulnerable women who suffer violence silently.

“The current law does not favor women at all because they are exposed to all sorts of abuse and violence in families which, are often swept under the carpet as domestic affairs,” charges Ochieng. However, Ochieng says that there is a need for thorough consultation on the matters affecting some sections of the public before passing the bill into law.

Prof. Mwaka says that the lack of specific law against domestic violence and holding back the DRB has been the most disappointing inadequacies of the 7th parliament. “Many women feel let down by their very government and parliament,” says Prof. Mwaka.

But many MPs have argued that the bill in its current form is controversial and that many religious and other groups have come up in arms against the bill.

At the eve of debating the DRB in Parliament, a section of the Moslem community both women and men demonstrated claiming the law was impinging on their Koranic laws. This forced government to engage them in discussion, which eventually broke down forcing government to hold the debate of the bill for review of some controversial clauses.

Mwaka contends that even if some parts of the bill were viewed controversial, the larger part of it should have been tabled and debated scrapping out the contentious ones. “Domestic Relations Bill is not bad but some people have made it a habit to politicize it making it hard to be passed,” laments Mwaka.

“Being married should not be a death sentence for Ugandan women and they should not have to give up their rights to physical security and sexual autonomy just because they get married.” said Jefferson in the Human Rights Watch report.

For more than a decade, Ugandan women’s rights advocates have urged government to enact legislation addressing domestic relations and the rape and battery of women by their intimate partners. Yet for years, the bills have languished before they reach or in parliament. The DRB has been proposed for the last 41 years, to provide a fair law to regulate the family institution free from abuse of either parties-wife, husband and children.

THE Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Uganda) has equally been calling on government and Parliament to enact a new law saying the current one is weak.

The Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET) in February 2004, recorded cases of women who lost their lives to domestic violence. The study shows that many of the acid pouring cases are committed against women by their spouses or lovers.

A recent study by a U.S. institute of Domestic violence prevention shows that about one in three women living in rural Uganda experiences verbal or physical threats from their partners. Fifty percent of them receive injuries as a result. Another study conducted by John Hopkins University, highlights the links between domestic violence and the consumption of alcohol, as well as a partner’s perceived risk of HIV infection.

All these have been brought to the public’s and governments attention giving a good ground on which to base a law on violence against women.

It should be remembered that in 2003 the matter of domestic violence was swept out of the bedroom when the then Vice-President Specioza Wandera Kazibwe publicly revealed that she was a survivor of domestic violence. She has since walked out of the relationship, seeking divorce. But many studies point at many cases of rural women who do not even come out openly to report the abuse for fear of more vicious attacks from their partners. Even if they did, there is no strong law under which they can seek redress and justice.

As it stands now a battered woman can only file a case based on assault, and often, the police ignore the depth of the crime, referring to it just as a ‘domestic issue that needs to be sorted out at home’. Sadly, the wait for a fairer law seems to be a long one.

Kampala in Mayhem as Dr. Besigye is Arrested

0

The arrest of Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Forum for Democratic Change president, at Busega on the outskirts of Kampala city, created havoc on Monday afternoon November 14, 2005, stretching into the night and Tuesday. Kampala streets witnessed scenes of riots and running battles with the police forces. The rioters destroyed people’s property, looting, burning cars that the fracas was unbelievable! Police reacted in kind splashing tear gas and water in huge measures to repulse the rioters. By evening time the situation was so bad that there was no public means of transport in and out of the city center.

Dr. Besigye was arrested as he returned to Kampala from his northern Uganda tour. This angered a lot of people and they took to the streets to protest and show their disgust on how retired Col. Besigye and the opposition at large is being treated. By the time the police entourage accompanying Dr Besigye arrived at Central Police Station [CPS], there was a mammoth crowd chanting opposition slogans, brandishing Dr Besigye’s 2001 election posters and demanding that he be set free, that police had to disperse the crowds. The lumpens and rogues received the opportunity as God sent and started looting and destroying the property. Innocent citizens lost their valuables and others abandoned their cars on the roads for fear of their lives. On Kampala I witnessed people closing their shops and offices, hurriedly anticipating the attackers. One hooligan remarked that Simba Telecom were lucky to have closed early otherwise they would have looted some new phones.

LEADERS
Our leaders must act with caution and stop inciting people into violence. They should practice political maturity. I was dismayed by several politicians’ utterances on radio stations calling on people to come in large numbers and riot. That is absolutely wrong! The government, media houses and the opposition must act rationally and calmly because every Ugandan has a stake in this country. Many people were on the radios telling others not to go to work on Tuesday and generally trying to incite others into wrongful acts. Several thousand innocent Ugandans inhaled a fair share of tear gas and I must say the road to 2006 is grim.

POLICE
The Uganda police took long to react to the riots otherwise they could have curtailed the spate of lootings early enough and they are partly to blame. Police should have been able to anticipate what Besigye’s arrest was going to cause fracas. This is a testing time for the police because the opposition are accusing them of partisan politics and favoring the government. The questions as we head to ’06: Is the police capable of handling sustained massive riots? Can they act above partisan politics for the good of every Ugandan?

TRANSITION
The road map towards the March ’06 general elections is tricky and so is the multiparty co-existence. The government had a lot of options and could have summoned Col. Besigye without hijacking him on the way into town. If there is mistrust and political witch-hunts, how can the opposition practice politics? This government would not be better than past governments. It is a political fact that Uganda has never had a peaceful transition and all our governments have been ushered in by the military. The government should level the political playing field for genuine multiparty politics to take place otherwise this is a farce.

CHARGES
Dr Besigye on Tuesday appeared before Justice Tibulya for mention and will go to the high court since the case is before the courts of law. We cannot discuss it but… RAPE? Where was the victim all this long? Why didn’t she press charges then? Something doesn’t augur well.

TRANSPORT
Monday evening was hell as there were no means of public transport in and out of the city till late. The taxis feared the running battles between the police and rioters prompting the brisk business of the boda-boda. Even on Tuesday, coming to town was tricky for those who worked but as I write early on Wednesday, calm has been restored. By Tuesday the police was working hand in hand with the military police and army. They were patrolling the streets repulsing a few rioters that had started again. Police spokesperson Asuman Mugenyi however allayed fears that there is no curfew set.

Uganda National Parks are Safe for Tourists

0

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) is appalled by the American Embassy’s insistence on issuing negative travel advisories against our national parks despite the vigilant steps that have been taken and achievements made in ensuring the security of tourists.

The Daily Monitor of 28th October 2005 reported that the American Embassy instructed American citizens in Uganda “to seek permission from the Chief of Mission to visit all national parks in the country “. This insinuates that all Uganda’s national parks are unsafe, which we at UWA consider unfounded and unfair since it is not true and not supported by any facts.

Uganda has 10 national parks scattered across the country, and of these only one, Murchison Falls National Park is close to the north where rebel activities are being reported. But even then, Murchison Falls National Park is not affected because of the security mechanisms that have been put in place to keep security rodents out of the park.

The other nine parks, which are located in the west, southwest and east of the country, are several hundreds of miles away from the disturbed north. So why the travel advisories? Moreover, the American Embassy never bothers to verify any information with us before issuing the dreaded travel advisories; little knowing the drastic impact this has on our young tourism industry.

We appeal to all nature and wildlife lovers as well as the general public not to believe or be shaken by these travel advisories. As we write this, our national parks including Murchison Falls National Park are teeming with tourists from all over the world. And they are having a wonderful time. Members of the public are therefore encouraged not to cancel their trips, because if there were a problem beyond UWA’s means to solve, we would immediately inform you.

The American Embassy owes this country an apology for putting our best performing sector in jeopardy through their negative travel advisories, which are issued without consulting the concerned government agencies.

Northern Uganda’s Impact on Tourism

0

As many of us prepare to walk on Gulu Walk Day on 22nd October to remind people of Northern Uganda…

Janet Museveni said that all stakeholders in the tourism sector need to identify, portray and market the uniqueness of the country’s tourism potential and avoid being ‘copy cats’ of what already exists in other countries.

Uganda may possess a lot of tourism potentials but the number of tourists visiting the country still remains small. The country’s spectacular tourist sites are still not exploited and some largely unknown, with only 20 percent of the projected tourists visiting the sites. This is in spite of the government’s efforts to improve the sector as a way of increasing foreign exchange base for the country while also benefiting many Ugandans, whose products or services could be consumed by the tourists.

President Yoweri Museveni early last year guided a crew of an American cable channel, the Discovery Channel, as part of marketing the tourism sector of the country. In October, the President continued his campaign by telling about 300 delegates, including 75 delegates from America’s biggest tourism agencies that attended the 8th African Travel Association (ATA) symposium, that Uganda is one of the countries safe from international terrorist networks making it a haven for tourists.

It is true that wildlife poaching and insecurity within the national parks and reserves have tainted Uganda’s image and tourism industry. The massacre of American tourists in Bwindi National Park some time back comes to mind. And the terrorism that struck Kenya and Tanzania did not help the industry. However, most of these horrible pages are being turned, giving hope to Uganda’s hotel owners, tours and travel operators, hand craft makers and the farmers-whose food is consumed by the visitors.

Although the President of Africa Tour Association (ATA) and Zambia’s Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Patrick Kalifungwa says that Uganda is already a top tourism center in Africa, some people are saying that Ugandans can benefit more from the tourism sector than it currently doing. Dr. Gaynelle Henderson, the first vice President of the Africa Tour Association says that Uganda holds great tourist opportunities in the African continent, despite not having the sand beaches, which most tourists worldwide prefer. Henderson says that Uganda could even think about importing the sand, if it can improve the country’s tourism potential.

Janet Museveni, the wife to President Yoweri Museveni said at the symposium that all stakeholders in the Uganda tourism sector need to identify, portray and market the uniqueness of the country’s tourism potential and avoid being ‘copy cats’ of what already exists in other countries. Janet Museveni said that Uganda’s challenge today is developing its tourist attractions and making the country a destination for tourists. The first lady also says that there is need to preserve and ensure that Uganda’s cultural, traditional and physical features remain natural for the benefit of the present and future generations. She says that apart from a lot of unique physical, social and recreational features that are not necessarily in other parts of the world, the country is also blessed with human features.

Kolker agrees. United States Ambassador to Uganda, Jimmy Kolker, said that Uganda would in addition to the wildlife and physical features benefit from the social and cultural aspects of the country’s people, which he says many tourists visiting Uganda are also interested in. Kolker says that Uganda offers genuinely unique wild life experiences which the country should take advantage of. He says that with the majority of the world’s surviving mountain gorillas being in Uganda, the country has unique tourist attractions that many people world over would want to see for themselves.

According to the 2000/2001-gorilla census, 50 percent of the 690 mountain gorillas in the world were found in Uganda. Also more than a half (1060) of all the bird species in Africa and chimpanzees (16 of the 22 species of primates in the world) live in Uganda.

The country also boasts of Mount Elgon (the world’s oldest dormant volcano, which first erupted 24 million years ago) and River Nile (the world’s longest river that gives life to over 300 million people and provides power to 15 countries), which begins from Uganda.

Kolker says that many visitors to Uganda have been overlooking the religious and cultural sites, including the Uganda Martyrs shrines and the Kasubi monuments (tombs) to the Buganda Kings. He also says that the Abayudaya near Mbale are one of the most isolated, but also most fascinating Jewish communities in the world which tourists have had interest in visiting.

The Ambassador said that terrorism is not the greatest threat to American tourists to Uganda, and adds that the turmoil in northern Uganda could in fact be exploited to act as a source of tourism for the country.

“No visitor would ever forget the opportunity to hear first hand experiences in captivity of an abducted child, now returned and being rehabilitated in a center in Lira or Gulu,” Kolker says.

He reveals that unlike the usual talk that tourists fear terrorism, traffic accidents in the country has become one of the biggest hindrances to tourists (especially American tourists) visiting Uganda.

“We have been warning Americans that although it is always prudent to be alert to terrorism, the greatest threat to their security in is not terrorism but traffic accidents” he says, adding that traffic laws in Uganda are not adequately enforced and that many roads are in poor conditions.

Kolker also says that Uganda’s low level of technology advancement especially in the banking sector is limiting the number of American tourists visiting Uganda. He says that if financial institutions and organizations such as the Uganda Wildlife Authority were accepting credit cards, American tourists would spend a lot of time in the country and also spend a lot of money in Uganda.

He says that Americans tourists use credit cards and that they prefer traveling to places where the credit card facilities are widely used and that that is why Ugandan tourism operators and other stakeholders in the sector need to figure out a way to accept electronic payments.

Nabagereka of Buganda tracks the rare mountain gorillas

0

The Nabagereka of Buganda, Lady Sylvia Nagginda on 15th October 2005 became the first queen in the whole world to track the rare mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and what a great time she had!

Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), a local non-governmental organisation for which the Nabagereka is patron, arranged the visit. CTPH were launching their tele-centre, and the Nabagereka was the chief guest. The tele-centre gives tourists an opportunity to communicate with home while in Bwindi.

Climbing steep hills, crossing wide rivers, negotiating her way through the thick jungle, the Nabagereka courageously took one step at a time with a group of 7 other trackers until, after three hours of tracking, they found the gigantic and amazing gorillas of the Habinyanja family. This is one of the biggest of the habituated gorilla families with 22 members.

The Nabagereka was thrilled by the experience, and later described it as “an experience out of this world”. She promised that the next time, she would be more prepared and fit for the exercise that began at 9.00am and ended after 5.00pm.

“It was such a challenge and it was the greatest adventure of my life, going through the forest, slipping and frantically clutching at the shrubs to avoid falling, finally seeing the gorillas, it was really amazing,” the Nabagereka said.

She said the gorilla are quite fascinating to watch, although they can be intimidating especially when they stand to their full height. Two Buganda ministers accompanied the Nabagereka including the Minister for the Royal Treasury Hon. Apollo Makubuya, and the Minister for Women Affairs, Hon. Apollonia Lugemwa.

Asked whether she would do it again, the Nabagereka answered, “I would do it again, and I would be more prepared. I would do exercises consistently for at least a month.”

There are just over 700 mountain gorillas remaining in the world, and over half of these are found in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The Nabagereka is the second known prominent Ugandan, after President Yoweri Museveni, to track the Bwindi gorillas.

Former President Milton Obote Dies

0
Milton Obote

Ugandans are greeting the news of former president Milton Obote’s death with mixed reactions. Supporters hold up his legacy as a member of Africa’s post-colonial movement that ended British rule and instituted nationalistic governmental policies. His detractors remember an autocratic and self-interested leader who led Uganda into economic and political disrepair.

Obote, who became Uganda’s first prime minister after British rule in 1962, died Monday October 10th. He was 81.

“I can confirm the death of my father who passed away today in a Johannesburg hospital,” said Obote’s son, Ben, Monday in a press statement. Obote had lived in Zambia for nearly two decades and only flew to South Africa recently to receive medical attention.

Like most African leaders of his generation, his ascent to power represented the promise of indigenous African leadership following decades of colonial government. But also like too many of his counterparts in independence-era Africa, the high hopes of Obote’s regime soon give way to the bitter realities that later became typical of African self-rule: strong-arm political tactics, corruption and other dictatorial policies.

Obote’s short-lived popularity in the 1960s started to slip when, in 1966, he designated himself president for life, disbanded the tribal monarchies and introduced a socialist system of government. Those decisions sparked outrage because it ended the rule of leaders like King Mutesa II, or “King Freddie,” who represented the Baganda, the country’s most populous tribe. Obote himself was the son of a farmer and village chief from the Langi tribal region in northern Uganda.

Soon thereafter, he survived an assassination attempt in 1969 and was ousted in 1971 by Ugandan army general Idi Amin while he was visiting Singapore during a Commonwealth conference. Because of his alignment with champions of communism and socialism in Africa, like Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, western governments welcomed, and some supporters even suspect, plotted — his overthrow.

The bloody and corrupt regime of Idi Amin followed, plunging Uganda in a state of terror and chaos during most of the 1970s. In 1979, with the aid of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles Amin was overthrown and neighboring Tanzania installed Yusuf Lule as president. Due to conflicts in Lule’s government he was soon replaced by Godfrey Binaisa on June 29, 1979. Binaisa was himself swiftly overthrown by a military coup in May 1980 by Paulo Muwanga. Muwanga replaced the Presidency with a Presidential Commission that ruled Uganda before the 1980 elections. With his party, Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), winning the elections, Obote soon returned to power. Many observers pointed out election irregularities.

Obote maintained power until a rebel incursion led by current Ugandan president, and Obote’s former aide, Yoweri Museveni, shook his power. The ensuing civil war lasted five years and about 400,000 Ugandans died. Obote was forced to step down in 1985 under pressure from his military general, Tito Okello. He left the country and remained in exile until his death.

Elitist Education: Turning Workplaces in Favor of Drivers

0

Some things take a long time to change. Take the disadvantages of higher education for example. In the 1970s, to be highly educated in Uganda was a risky business. The military government of the day was deeply suspicious of educated people, who were deemed to be dangerous. Many of the educated that didn’t flee the country were killed.

Today, higher education is required for most jobs. That is why so many people these days are going to university to earn a degree or improve on their ‘papers’ in the hope that this will open for them the doors of employment and thus better life.

But no sooner have they finished their courses than they realize that this kind of education has its disadvantages. Many of us have leant that it tends to condemn a person to total dependency on salaried employment; making you vulnerable to sudden destitution should you lose that job.

Strangely enough, at the end of the day, when you trace the adult lives of people at most work places, it is the drivers, messengers and cleaners who do better as far as individual financial security is concerned. This is our new reality world.

After working for five years, a tea girl will have invested more than the secretary along with whom she was recruited. You look around and you will notice that the driver will be more financially solid than the mid rank graduate officer.

The tea girl, you see doesn’t only earn a salary. She also supplies refreshment to the secretaries at break time. She arrives at work much earlier than they do, to make sure her merchandise is distributed to various agents such as junior tea girls in the nearby offices and a few street side vendors.

When the secretaries arrive, the tea girl greets them politely and asks what they would like for their break. Since she extends credit, many of her ‘bosses’ are in her debt. They pay as soon as they get their salaries, because it would be beneath their dignity to default on the tea girl’s money.

Meanwhile, her younger sister, whom she brought over from the village two years ago, is manning their stall in the market, where they sell second hand clothes.

From among these clothes, the elder sister regularly selects the “first class” pieces and sells them at higher prices to the secretaries, who do not want to be seen in the down market stalls like Balikudembe (formerly Owino) bargaining for used garments.

Because of spending so much time with educated people, the tea girl has decided that the child, whose birth forced her out of school six years ago, will have the best education she can provide. She puts the child in a good school and pushes her to work for good grades. She will even make sacrifices to pay for private coaching.

As for our driver, he is doing equally well. Extremely humble and obliging before the executives, he is regarded as indispensable. After working there for 10 years, he knows the secrets of the top men in the organization. They therefore tend to let him get away with small sins like bills that seem on the high side for the mileage covered.

Unbeknown to his bosses, the driver is running two or three taxis as well as a small shop near his home. He has a line of one-room rental houses (mizigo) in a far off place like Nansana and any tenant who is late with the monthly payment is evicted ruthlessly.

His drivers and wives, who double as shop assistants, bow lower before him than he does before his bosses at work. His children, who are subjected to very strict discipline, will be sent to the best schools if they are academically promising. Otherwise, they are absorbed into the family business at an earlier age. He rules over his small empire with an iron hand-for the driver is the new master of our uncertain world.

Of course you know that the tea girl and the driver get salaries that are much lower than those of the secretary and the middle class officer. But because they live close to the ground, as it were, they spend much less and so are able to save and invest.

The young graduate, on the other hand, cannot imagine running a soda-and-cake network in the office. So, she has no income apart from her official salary. And its not much these days. Yet she will always be seen at Nandos, Garden City or the Venue, the expensive ‘happening’ places in town. And she wears trendy clothes, keen to impress.

So, come the end of the month, she has no money left, whereas the driver no longer touches his salary, relying instead on his diverse incomes to run his home.

The graduate cannot invest in places s/he frequents and the circles s/he moves in; s/he cannot build a five star hotel, which he or she would be comfortable to own. But the driver can open kiosks and bars in his slum. One day, both these people will have to leave their employment. No prizes for guessing who is better prepared for life after retirement or sacking.

The privatization and downsizing of public service gave us many sad cases of senior officers who tried to start business with their retirement packages. At their age, it was too late to learn new tricks, and most got cleaned out within a week, ending up as frustrated alcoholics. Unlike the drivers and tea girls, they hardly knew ‘the world’.

You must have seen or heard about them. The stronger ones converted their family cars into cabs, and can be seen touting for teenage passengers, or quarrelling with their growing children who cannot cope with the fall in their standard of living.

As the driver’s and tea girl’s offspring join the business sector with ease, the former officer’s sons and daughters sit around idly talking about western film stars and singers, now that Big Brother Africa has ended. Such are dangers of an elitist education.

Expecting Tourists from China

0

Uganda’s tourism sector is expected to boom after government endorsed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government to encourage Chinese tourists to visit Uganda.

State Minister for Tourism, Jovina Akaki says that government is targeting over one million Chinese tourists in the next coming five years.

Speaking to journalists in Kampala, Akaki said that the tourism in Uganda has improved tremendously due to government good relations with global players.

Meanwhile, Akaki estimates that over 500,000 tourists in general are expected this year, and with them annual returns in excess of 260 million US dollars are expected.

The minister says government is to establish working relations with travel agents in the country, who will link the Chinese tourists to the country.

He calls on the public to invest in improving the infrastructures like hotels and recreation centers to offer tourists a variety of attractions.

The Senior Advisor for the International Trade Centre, Emmanuel Barreto has said that for every 100 tourists projected only 20 of them visit Uganda’s tourist destinations.

Barreto attributes this to lack of knowledge about what the country has to offer in terms of tourism sites and services due to lack of promotion and advertising of the tourist destinations.

Speaking in Kampala, Barreto said that although Uganda has a lot of tourist attractions like guerilla tracking and mountain climbing, which are liked by tourists from especially Europe and North America, but they do not know this tourism potential.

He says that investors in the tourism sector should exploit the country’s tourism potential by offering leaflets in hotels and do outdoor advertising along roads to make Uganda’s tourist destinations known to all those who visit the country.

Barreto also says that there is need for Tour and Travel Operators as well as hotel owners to standardize and promote tourist packages.

John Garang Buried; Museveni Angers Sudanese Authorities

0

Former rebel leader and Sudanese vice president John Garang de Mabior, who was killed along with eight Ugandans and six other Sudanese in a helicopter crash July 30, was buried Saturday in an elaborate state funeral. His death has caused riots and killings in the streets of Sudan. Now, tensions are rising between the Ugandan leadership and Sudanese authorities in Khartoum.

Garang, who was returning to Sudan after having private talks with Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, was a popular leader among his people and it showed Saturday. People lined the streets in towns across southern Sudan, waving his picture and carrying placards with statements of support and grief. His funeral was attended by the leaders of Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa and other world dignitaries including representatives from the United States. And, his coffin, draped with a Sudanese flag and preceded by a southern Sudanese flag, was flown from town to town in Sudan before being taken to his hometown of Juba for burial on a hill.

Declared a national holiday in Sudan, the day of the funeral remained calm — but the commemorations of Garang’s life did not end without controversy. Museveni, a close friend, political ally and material supporter of Garang, told mourners in another town, “Some people say accident; it may be an accident, it may be something else. Either the pilot panicked, either there was some side wind or the instruments failed or there was an external factor.” In a move that onlookers are calling a snub or an avoidance of confrontation, Museveni did not attend the funeral but sent his minister of defense to represent Uganda. He also declared a national day of mourning for Garang in Uganda on Aug. 4th.

According to the Associated Press, Sudanese authorities responded angrily to Museveni comments, calling them inciting and insinuative. “We are making efforts to investigate the saddening incident,” said Information Minister Abdel-Basit Sabdera to the official Sudan News Agency. “And we have already started our investigations by setting up a technical committee and we hope that all parties, especially Uganda, would stop issuing statements which are not based on facts.”

Some 130 people were killed in riots in Sudan last week following the announcement of Garang’s death.

Leader of the dissident Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) for 21 years, Garang stood up to the predominantly Muslim and Arab government on behalf of the black, Christian and traditional African religion adherents in the South. He demanded freedom, rights, economic equality for his people and spoke out against government abuse and state violence against blacks in the south. Called “charismatic” by most who met him, Garang led with an iron hand and enjoyed widespread loyalty. Then on July 9, as part of a groundbreaking peace and power-sharing agreement in the fractured East African country, he was inaugurated as president of the south of Sudan and vice president of the Sudan. Only three weeks later he was killed while flying in a Ugandan helicopter in southern Sudan.

Speaking at the funeral, Garang’s wife, Rebecca, said she will not mourn her husband’s death as long as the people of Sudan remain committed to his cause. “Dr. John wanted you to be united,” she said, looking at the coffin repeatedly. “If we were not united, we would not have reached here.” She also encouraged the mourners to put their differences aside.

Emphasizing the Sudanese government’s commitment to peace, Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir emphasized his intention to carry out the peace plan. On Sunday, he installed, Garang’s successor, also a member of the SPLM, Salva Kiir Mayardit to take Garang’s place. Kiir vowed to execute the ideas of Garang both in “letter and spirit.”

Meanwhile, the helicopter black box has been recovered and a team of investigators from Uganda, Kenya, Sudan and the United States are looking into the cause of the crash. The SPLM has agreed to wait until the end of the investigation to state its official position.

HOT NEWS

LATEST NEWS