M7: “I never said we are a middle income country as yet. What I said is that we are on our way entering the midle income status. So there is no contradiction between what I’m saying and what the World Bank is saying. We are at the GDP per capita of $1,039 and if we consistently keep achieving that or more for three consecutive years, then we can be confirmed to have reached the middle income status. That’s what I said and there is no contradiction with what the World Bank are saying.” The Ugandan veteran leader made these remarks as part of his long weekend interview with a Kenyan journalist/blogger who interviewed him for the World is One (WION) channel.

Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo have wonthe Gold and Bronze Medals respectively in the 10,000 Metres in the Ongoing World Athletics Championship in Oregon USA.

Just In :
Makerere University finally has banned physical guild elections.

Makerere University suspends 88th Guild elections indefinitely following the Death of a University Student
A scuffle that ensued between Forum for Democratic Change and National Unity Platform supporters led to the death of University Student
Bentungura Bewatte, a 2nd year law student at UCU Kampala Campus, was stubbed to cold blood.

and says future elections will be virtually managed. The University maintained that the 88th guild elections is still suspended indefinitely.

Among other things, the council has also resolved to terminate the electoral process of the 88th Students’ guild leadership.

50 LEFT JOBLESS AS GAAGAA BUS COMPANY CLOSES OPERATIONS
Gaagaa bus services has closed its operations allegedly due to financial troubles, leaving more than 50 employees jobless.

Several unsuspecting passengers caught unawares by the closure of bus operations have been turning up at the Arua booking office only to find the place closed.

Last month, the company closed its booking offices located along Rhino camp road in Arua City, sending all the workers home. The remaining buses have since been grounded in Kampala.

Gaagaa Enterprises Limited, which is owned by James Nyakuni, a local businessman in Arua City, owned a fleet of over 15 buses. It was then one of the best bus service providers ever witnessed in the West Nile region due to the high quality of its services. The buses were some of the most sought-after between 2005 and 2020However, over the years due to the rampant complaints of the buses breaking down on journeys and involvement in nasty accidents, some customers started shunning Gaagaa.

Burani Ajaga, a former loader in the Bus Company, says that he is struggling to provide for his family following the closure. He says paying school fees for his children has defeated him since his livelihood greatly deepened on the buses.

Meanwhile, Francis Cadri, another former employee explains that many of his former workmates have now resorted to digging, following the closure of operations.

Gerald Angurini, a former ticketing officer in Gaagaa Bus Company, says that he now does any type of work to survive due to the high cost of leaving.Gaagaa Bus had offices in Kampala, Burundian capital Bujumbura, Kigali in Rwanda and Arua. The company buses plied the Kampala-Rwanda-Burundi, Kampala-Arua, Kampala-Koboko, Kampala-Paidah, Kampala-Lira, Kampala-Gulu and Nebbi-Kampala vie Pakwach routes among others.

Police officers have recovered the bodies of Ronald Aharuhundira and his lover Paulina Nalubega in Mugoye Sub County, Kalangala district. The lovers were residents of Bungo village.

Police is yet to release a statement about the deaths that residents say happened on Friday.

However, Gerald Bwegaba, the area chairperson, suspects 28-year- old Aharuhundira strangled Nalubega because there were bruises on her neck and lips and also blood on her nose. Bwegaba thinks that Aharuhundira thereafter hanged himself probably due to guilt because he was wearing one of Nalule’s t-shirts and a wristband with the words “I can’t live without you”.

He is however not sure whether or not the lovers had a misunderstanding because they were peaceful residents.

9 PASSENGERS KILLED IN BOMBO ACCIDENT
The territorial Police at Sinalya Village, Kalule along Kla- Glu Highway in Luweero District yesterday 9th July 2022, at around, 1410hrs registered a fatal accident that claimed lives of nine people and Injured other five.The accident involved motor vehicle registration number UBD 850J, a Toyota Hiace and UAH 316P, an Isuzu Elf.

It is alleged that a speeding motor vehicle reg number UBD 850J Toyota Hiace that was moving from Kampala to Gulu side and while slopping to Sinalya valley burst its rear tyre, lost control and overturned several times before colliding with an oncoming motor vehicle reg no UAH 316P Isuzu which also overturned after the collision killing eight (8) unidentified passengers (7 female adults and 1 male) in the Toyota Hiace. Another unidentified female passenger died on the way to Mulago Hospital.

Traffic and Road Safety Spokesperson Faridah Nampiima confirmed the incident.

Nampiima said further inquiries are at hand.

CAO SHOT DEAD, CAR BURNT TO ASHES.
Reports coming in indicate that Bukwo District Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Robert Charles Ogwang was killed by unknown gunmen on July 08 night.

It is said that the yet to be identified assailants shot CAO Ogwang around Bombo as he headed to Lira City.

Ogwang reportedly left Kampala in the evening after attending a meeting. That he had asked his driver to stay in the capital as he drove to Lira for the weekend.

But somewhere around Matugga, Ogwang, who was driving in the official Bukwo Local Government vehicle, was attacked by robbers who shot shot at him.Available reports also indicate that he was rushed to Bombo Hospital while bleeding profusely, and that he was pronounced dead hours later.

The merciless killers also reportedly burnt Ogwang’s vehicle into ashes. The motivation behind the murder was yet to be established.

There has been chaos in Bukwo, where Ogwang was acting CAO, after four district officials were interdicted over alleged embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds to the tune of Shs1bn in ghost projects.

The four officials who were indicted months ago following monitoring visits by Local Government Minister Raphael Magyezi and junior economic monitoring minister Peter Ogwang, were: Bukwo District Senior Procurement Officer Joseph Araptai, District Service Commission Secretary Richard Mudima, District Natural Resource Officer Steven Sikor and NUSAF III Desk Officer Jona Chewere.

TAXI DRIVER ARRESTED FOR TRAFFIKING ETHIOPIAN GIRLS TO UGANDA
The Directorate of immigration at Malaba border, Eastern Uganda is investigating a Kenyan taxi driver who was arrested on charges of trafficking six Ethiopian nationals into Uganda.

The arrest follows an alert by the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration control following reports of a criminal syndicate which has led to an influx of Ethiopians crossing into Uganda.
Addressing the press, Agnes Igoye, the deputy chair of the National Prevention of Trafficking in Persons in the ministry of Internal Affairs said that on Sunday immigration officers at Malaba border flagged down a suspected trafficker.
“ A Kenyan matatu driver called Linus Omyeno showed up with eight passports of Ethiopians including four men and four women requesting for clearance,” she said

“He was arrested and the passports were confiscated. He was handed over to immigration for questioning,” Igoye added
Meanwhile, security has also intercepted six more Ethiopians at Malaba border post. The group claims to be traveling to Beirut through Entebbe International Airport.

Igoye said that the National Prevention of trafficking in Persons department is determined to defeat the new criminal syndicate which is attempting to use Uganda as a transit route for trafficking Ethiopians.

“We have been doing a lot of cross border training of customs officers from both Uganda and Kenya and now we are going to engage with our counterparts from Ethiopia to ensure referral and investigations are done in a proper manner,” she said.

Relatedly, police of Busia also rescued a total of eleven Ugandan girls who were reportedly being trafficked into Kenya.

The girls were rescued from a house in Busiwondo village in Dabani county where they had sheltered for months by traffickers.

The Uganda National Teacher Union (UNATU) has called off tge nation wide strike of arts teaches that has been going on for over two weeks.

The call off was after a meeting with President Museveni which was held at Kololo. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Education, the First Lady Janet Kataha Museveni.

UNATU has reported that all their members are expected to be back to work by Wednesday.

However they maintain that discussions on their salary raise continue with government. According to Philbert Baguma, the spokesman of UNATU, “after spending over 3 hours discussing the way forward for the teachers, the teachers have accepted to continue with negotiations with the government. In the interest of the learners, teachers have accepted to go back to class as negotiations for salary increment goes on”

POLICE CONSTABLE SHOOTS MAN DEAD OVER LOVER
Police in the northern district of Adjumani are holding one of their own for shooting dead a civilian in a bar fight.
Police constable Albert Orobati 21, attached to Zoka Police Barracks attacked and killed Lawrence Kaweesi after accusing him of stealing his lover. The incident happened on Wednesday night at Zoka village, Itirikwa Sub County, Adjumani District.

The deceased, a native of Nakaseke district, was operating a local timber business in Zoka.
Also Read: Police Officer arrested for murder of his mother
On the night of his death, Kaweesi had gone to a local bar where Orobati was drinking, and the two got into a heated argument over one Vicky Okumu, a resident of the same area. It is alleged by locals that Okumu was having sexual relations with both men in the dark.

Ignatius Dragudu, the Acting Police Spokesperson for the North West Nile region says that Orobati told Kaweesi that “he is the rightful owner of Okumu” before pulling out his weapon and firing at the deceased.
Dragudu states that police have since recovered the gun with 25 rounds of ammunition.
Also Read: Police to subject officer to mental health checkup for burning his mother to death
The suspect is currently in detention at Adjumani Central Police Station on charges of murder, awaiting his appearance in court.