UGANDA’S PUBLIC DEBT HAS RISEN TO SHS 73.8 TRILLION
Uganda’s public debt has risen to Shs 73.8 trillion (about $20.8 billion), according to provisional figures from the Bank of Uganda up to the month of October 2021.
By the end of June 2021, ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development reported that the debt had gone up by more than a quarter to Shs 69 trillion ($19.5 billion) over the previous year. Now, the increase from the end of June to October last year was mainly attributed to the 5.9 trillion-shilling debt that the government acquired from the domestic market.
This means that currently, for every one Ugandan, the government debt amounts to Shs 1.53 million, based on today’s population estimates by global demographic centres. Macrotrends.net and Worldometers.info put Uganda’s population at 48 million as of Thursday.
The ministry attributes this sharp rise in the national debt stock to the Covid-19 crisis, which it says, has exacerbated Uganda’s fiscal position and development needs.
The total external debt exposure (outstanding stock of disbursed debt and committed but not yet disbursed debt) accounted for 62 per cent of the total public debt in October 2021. The outstanding stock of disbursed external debt amounted to $12.8 billion, while that not yet disbursed was $4.3 billion.
The increase in disbursed external debt was largely due to increased budget support inflows from multilateral creditors. These were particularly the World Bank’s International Development Association, whose total outstanding debt to Uganda is now $4.5 billion, and the African Development Fund (ADF), as well as project support inflows mainly from the African Export-Import Bank.
China remains the biggest bilateral (country) lender to Uganda with her debt now amounting to $2.55 billion followed by Japan and the United Kingdom. Afreximbank, Stanbic, and Standard Chartered bank are the country’s top private creditors to the government.
While the official figures show the total debt to GDP ratio slightly below the 50 per cent threshold, analysts say it does not give the entire picture. The Uganda Debt Network (UDN) says the statistics only show debt acquired mainly through loan requests, leaving out other government financial obligations, like legal fines and penalties, compensations, and other commitments, which, they say takes the ratio beyond the 50 per cent mark.
UDN also warns that the burden is not only increasing through more loans but the rising cost of finance too.
“The average interest rate on external debt increased to 1.4 per cent in 2020 from 0.8 per cent previously mainly as low-cost term loans reduce alongside a reduction in the grant element in the new loans. The average repayment period is also reducing,” says UDN in a statement.
The lobby group stresses the need to focus on domestic revenue mobilization through widening the tax base, using digital technology to raise collection levels and closing leakages, and redirecting public spending to better priorities. The ministry of Finance maintains that Uganda’s debt is quite sustainable and is among the safest in the region.
“Some people have portrayed a picture that Uganda has over-borrowed. That’s not true. Our Debt-to-GDP ratio is among one of in the region, but we want to keep it within our chatter of physical responsibility which we have already gotten through parliament,” says Ramathan Ggoobi, permanent secretary at the ministry of Finance.
Ggoobi says that they will go for more concessional loans. “We are going to borrow largely concessional or longer-dated commercial in order to reduce the refinancing risk,” he says.
In his statement on the commencement of the 2022/23 budget process, Finance minister Matiya Kasaija partly blamed the rise in debt on the frequent supplementary budgets, some of which, he said, could be avoided.
“How do you bring a supplementary budget request for an international conference which you have expected to host for two years?” he wondered.

STOP ROADBLOCKS ON VACCINATION- NABBANJA
Some people said the government’s directive might not entirely be a great idea as it was helping to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated.
The Prime Minister, Ms Robinah Nabbanja, has directed that mounting roadblocks to impose Covid-19 vaccination should be removed.
“Mounting roadblocks to enforce vaccinations against Covid-19 is totally against well-established global practices. It must stop immediately. District health teams should devise other legal mechanisms to increase vaccination uptake,” Ms Nabbanja said yesterday in a tweet.
The disregard for the practice follows previous complaints made by unvaccinated passengers and motorists who said they were being forced to take the jab at designated roadblocks.
A section of human rights activists and lawyers continue to reason that the exercise should not be forced as it oversteps one’s freedom.
“Forcing someone to take a Covid-19 jab is violating their rights. Rather, people should be persuaded and encouraged to be vaccinated at their convenience,” Mr Ivan Bwowe, a lawyer, told this publication yesterday.
Among those happy with Ms Nabbanja’s new directive is Mr Simon Mbabazi . “The practice was an inconvenience,” he said.
Mr Mbabazi yesterday said while traveling to Kasese, a town in Western Uganda, in December, he was stopped by security personnel who had placed barricades on the Mbarara-Kasese-Fort portal highway. Mr Mbabazi was then asked whether he had been vaccinated.
“I told them yes but unfortunately forgot to carry the card,” he said.
“I requested to be allowed to continue on with the journey but they refused,” Mr Mbabazi added.
Rather than argue with the security personnel, the businessman opted to abort the journey and return to Kampala City.
Some people said the government’s directive might not entirely be a great idea as it was helping to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated.
However, with the practice discarded now, there is looming worry that Covid-19 cases might increase, especially after the Ministry of Health confirmed on Saturday that the country was currently experiencing the third-wave of the pandemic.

OVER 60 YOUTHS ARRESTED OVER NORTHERN BYPASS ATTACKS
Police have arrested 60 youths believed to be behind the attacks on motor vehicles and pedestrians on the Northern Bypass.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said they arrested more than 78 suspects, but after screening, they ended up with 60 who will be taken to court.
“We have managed to arrest gang members. We have processed 60 suspects. Some of the suspects were involved in car vandalism, property grab and narcotics. Many of the suspects are youth between 14 and 25 years of age,” Mr Enanga said yesterday.
The Northern Bypass has become a haven for criminals, who waylay motorists with pavers that they throw on windscreens to be able to gain access to the property in the motor vehicles.
Attacks have continued on the Bypass since it was opened to traffic in October 2009.
The criminal incidents are expected to increase unless the police intensify patrol and surveillance as the government lifts curfew against the spread of Covid-19.
Mr Enanga said they have had challenges to secure safety at the 14-mile road, which started from Namboole at Kira Municipality to Busega in Rubaga Division, because of unfriendly terrain and slums.
“We need to look at the other drivers of crime on the Bypass. Firstly, the environment alone gives opportunity for criminality. There is a poor lighting system on the section from Kyebando up to Ntinda. There is an extensive drainage system with poorly planned settlements along the area,” he said.
He said there are a number of youth gangs who are homeless and look for quick cash rather than work.
This publication also found out that most of the youth engaged in criminality sleep at the flyovers. The victims of gang attacks, according to police, identified the same places as danger zones.
“We really need to find a way of helping the youth out of this economic desperation which drives them into criminality,” Mr Enanga said.
He said they have spread out police officers on the road and deployed their covert teams from Busega Township to Namboole Township that will monitor the road.
The spokesman of Uganda National Roads Authority, Mr Allan Ssempebwa, said they will erect lights at all junctions and interchanges soon to support police efforts to secure the Bypass.
Two suspects, who were caught attacking vehicles with pavers, told police officers that they work in gangs.
One of the suspects said after robbing items in the cars or from pedestrians, they sell electronics to shop attendants in Kampala City.

As schools prepare to reopen today after two years of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bishop James Ssebagala of Mukono Diocese has directed teachers in Church of Uganda-founded schools to block pregnant or breastfeeding girls who will turn up for studies.
The bishop’s directive contradicts the Ministry of Education guidelines to accept girls who got pregnant or gave birth during the lockdown .
Bishop Ssebagala made the directive on Saturday at St Paul Church Kanjuki in Kayunga District while bidding farewell to Christians ahead of his retirement this year.
He said although it is good for parents to support girls who are pregnant, it was not morally-upright to allow the victims to sit in class with other children.
“All headteachers, I want to tell you that we shall not allow pregnant or breastfeeding girls in class. When all girls turn up, carry out the usual medical examination so that those found pregnant can go back and give birth they will come back after giving birth,” the bishop said.
He added: “Imagine someone saying even breastfeeding ones should be allowed to attend class. No, this we shall not accept because our schools were started purposely not only to impart knowledge but also discipline in children. How can a teacher be teaching when a girl is giving breasts to her child?”
Commenting on the bishop’s remarks, the State minister for higher education, Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo, said it is a government directive that all children should go back to school whether pregnant or breastfeeding.
“It seems my friend the bishop doesn’t know the position of government. I will go to his office and talk to him, I know he will understand my explanation and change his position,” Mr Muyingo said.
Ms Alice Dhoya , the Kayunga District Education Officer, said she would educate school foundation bodies about the government position on pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
“We are, however, not aware if there are such girls who are pregnant or breastfeeding that would like to go back to school,” Ms Dhoya said.
Bishop Ssebagala also confirmed 180 children in Christianity and urgued them to make God their best friend if they want to be successful in life.
The bishop started his ministerial work as a parish priest in 1991 in Kanjuki.
“There might be some Christians here whom I have annoyed while executing my duties as a bishop and I ask them to forgive me because what I have been doing was for the good of the Church not for my own benefit,” he said.
The deacon of Ndeeba Archdeaconry, Rev Noah Tebenkana, raised concern over the issue of land grabbing in Kanjuki Parish and asked the diocese to intervene.

SCHOOLS WONT CLOSE AGAIN
Learners return to school today with assurance from the ministry of health that schools will not be closed again despite the increase in Covid-19 new infections, hospitalization and deaths in the country.
Health minister Dr. Jane Aceng, instead urges Ugandans to learn to live with Covid-19 because it will not go away for at least the next two years.
Aceng says the country has lost a lot during the two years when the schools were closed so focus should now be on working hard to recover from the effects of Covid-19 pandemic.
She also urges Ugandans to continue wearing face masks and observe all SOPs for at least two years when they will be living together with Covid- 19.
The minister also said that despite the surge in new infections, hospitalization and death from Covid -19, statistics show that those who are dying are the unvaccinated ones, thus encouraging all eligible Ugandans to get the jab as the first line of protection.

RAPISTS IN GULU CITY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MENTALLY ILL GIRLS
Clad in a red floral T-shirt and pink skirt, a weary Nancy (not real name) sits on a bench at Palm Gardens in Gulu City while absent mindedly nibbling the lid of a pen she has been using to inscribe unfamiliar words on her palms.
Nancy suffers from selective mutism, a severe anxiety disorder where a person is unable to speak in certain social situations, and autism (conditions characterised by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal communication).
Nancy, who is originally from Kitgum District, currently resides in Olailong Village, Library Ward, Gulu West Division in Gulu City.
The 35-year-old vendor at Olailong market is a mother of a 12-year-old daughter, who is yet to be told Nancy is her mother.
She says unscrupulous men took advantage of her mental illness and repeatedly sexually abused her between 2006 and 2009.
“It happened many times because when I get an attack, I escape from home, whether in the day or night. One day, at about 10pm, I was waylaid and assaulted. At the time, I couldn’t breathe and my throat was hurting while my body was numb just like my mind,” Nancy says.
“He (her abuser) dressed up, moved away and left me in the dark chilly night on a street in town that day while I went mute,” she recalls.
For a long time, Nancy says she was aware that she was being abused but because of her condition, she could not tell anyone that she had been raped.
Nancy says she suffered from trauma, nightmares and intrusive thoughts without getting any help because her condition prevented her from communicating with those who could come to her aid, until she became pregnant in 2009.
Although there might be some relief after she received psychosocial care from Gulu Regional Referral Hospital in 2018, her ordeal still haunts her.
“Ever since I acknowledged the fact that I had been abused, I have been going through panic and anxiety every single day,” she says.
Many mentally ill women in northern region have been subjected to the ordeal that Nancy went through.
Vicky (not her real name), another victim, is a mother of two children conceived as a result of her sexual abuse.
Her guardian, Philip Oringa, says: “She is mentally ill and her life is in danger every minute looking at her lack of security, whether in the day or at night. As a family, most times we only realise later that she has opened the door in the night and left the house to wander and sometimes she is trapped by men who sexually abuse her.”
Oringa, a resident of Laliya Village, Gulu East Division in Gulu City, took responsibility of Vicky in 2015 after the death of his aunt, Maliam Aliga, who ran an orphanage.
Oringa, a primary school teacher, breaks into tears as he narrates Vicky’s ordeal.
“On October 10, 2016, she had her first baby and because we were unable to provide for her, we took the baby to a baby’s home where she is now getting care, but because of lack of proper facilities to protect her, she conceived again and on November 25, 2017, she had her second born.”
Mr Oringa says he has struggled in vain to trace the father(s) of Vicky’s children.
“Whereas my biggest fear and dilemma is how to introduce Vicky to her two children for fear that it could traumatise them, I just gave up on tracing their biological father(s) considering the circumstances of all her pregnancies,” Oringa adds.
On March 21, 2020, the Women’s Probono Initiative, a local NGO advocating for the rights of women and girls suffering from mental illness, sued the Gulu District Local Government and the Attorney General over sexual abuse of mentally ill women and girls.
They accused the district local government and the central government of violating the rights of the victims by failing to provide basic health services, social support services, including counselling and rehabilitation, as well as failure to prosecute the perpetrators of the vice.
Ms Elizabeth Ochola, a Women’s Probono Initiative programme officer, says the organisation had filed other cases in Kampala High Court against the government.
“All these cases are still ongoing in court, government should not fail to provide psychological support and community mental health support services in primary health care facilities in Uganda for women with mental disabilities who have suffered sexual abuse,” Ms Ochola says.
“Failure to provide such services makes it impossible for women with mental disabilities to live independently and recover from such abuses, especially in an era where such abuses grow in number every day,” she adds.
Research done by the organisation shows that Acholi region has a high number of mentally ill people because of the Lord’s Resistance Army 20-year insurgency that left many people traumatised.
Health experts say because of the trauma caused by the war, among other reasons, many people resorted to heavy consumption of alcohol and abuse of narcotic drugs, leading to an increase in mental illness in the region.
Mr Alfred Lulua Droti, the head of the mental health unit at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, says alcohol accounts for the highest number of people with mental health problems, followed by marijuana.
“When we classify these mental illnesses, alcohol use disorder takes a bigger percentage. On average, we receive 100 outpatients for drug-abuse-related mental illness per week,” Mr Lulua says.
Statistics from the mental health unit show that the facility treats at least 500 patients every month, the majority of whom suffer drug- induced mental illness.
Ms Ochola accuses police of not doing enough to curb sexual abuse of mentally ill women and girls.
“While families and relatives are overwhelmed and do not know how to cope with the tremendous physical and emotional demands, the police, instead of recording and handling these cases, are biased and turn the victims away,” she says.
However, the Aswa River Region police spokesperson, Mr David Ongom Mudong, says most cases of sexual abuse against women and girls with mental illnesses are not reported to police.
“It is a common scenario that these women and girls are sexually abused by men who are mentally okay or men who are equally ill mentally but these cases go unreported,” Mr Ongom says.
“In Gulu City, for example, mentally ill women and girls are so many who roam everywhere, whether during the day or night and it is in the night that people take advantage of them to assault them sexually. Such cases die silently because no one reports them,” he adds.

Masaka city tycoon Emmanuel Lwasa has a way of always courting controversy that keeps him in the limelight which is at times undeserving. After producing one of the biggest controversies of last year, Lwasa is at it again. This time, however, it is a serious case involving the selling of fake gold.His accuser, a one Jeff said that on the 2nd of December 2021, he had a transaction with Lwasa worth 60,000 US dollars. Lwasa was meant to deliver gold to him but instead sold him fake gold.
The buyer said that he looked for Lwasa in vain till he came out clean and pledged to deliver the genuine product.
However, since then, he started avoiding Jeff’s entourage and phone calls. They however tracked him down and arrested him yesterday in Mityana.
Consequently, Jeff added that all he wants is his money and will keep him locked up till he coughs it up.
Jeff however said that Lwasa is broke these days and has lots of debts. This is why they sent him behind bars.
“We did a transaction with Lwasa on the 2nd of December 2021 worth 60,000 dollars. He was supposed to deliver gold to us but instead delivered fake products. When we realized it, we contacted him and he came out clean and promised to deliver the genuine product. However, since then, he has been hiding and dodging our calls. We were connected to him by someone who trusts him. Lwasa has also been in the business for long working with a company called TransEquator mines reason we trusted him.” Jeff said.
Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Luke Owoyesigire confirmed this arrest. Owoyesigire said that Lwasa is currently kept at CPS as they look into these allegations and hunt his accomplices who are on the run.

UGANDA AIRLINES TO RESUME FLIGHTS TO UAE
Uganda Airlines to resume Dubai Flights tomorrow Saturday January 08, 2022, after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) lifted the ban.
The Airline has confirmed this saying they have taken key procedures to have their bombadiers back in the skies to Dubai. Our impeccable sources told our reporter that so far, it’s only Uganda in Africa who’s ban has been lifted.
“We’ve resumed our flights to Dubai and taking all measures necessary to make sure you’re protected when you travel with us. Effective from 08 January 2022 flights from Entebbe in Uganda will resume,” says the airline.

POLICE DEFY COURT ORDER TO RELEASE NOVELIST KAKWENZA
Uganda Police Force has defied an order to release novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija unconditionally despite lawyers serving them with documents on Tuesday.
Mr Rukirabashaija was arrested last year on December 28 and he has since been in detention without access to his lawyers or family.
On January 4, Makindye Chief Magistrate Court, Grade One Magistrate Irene Nambatya ruled: “It is hereby ordered that the applicant be unconditionally released from police custody. Every police officer should comply with the above order”.
Mr Eron Kiiza, the lawyer of Mr Rukirabashaija, said they served the police officer with a court order, but up to date they have defied them.
“They got the orders and are yet to respond,” Mr Kiiza said.
On Monday, the spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Directorate, Mr Charles Twiine, said they were to present Mr Rukirabashaija in court on Tuesday on charges of offensive communication under the Computer Misuse Act against President Museveni and his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is also the Commander of Land Forces.
Mr Twiine yesterday could not readily give a comment on why they were still detaining Mr Rukirabashaija.
Of late, the police have been accused of ignoring court orders, but last November the Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka warned them to desist from such impunity.
On November 4, 2021, Mr Kiwanuka wrote to Inspector General of Police Martins Okoth-Ochola, ordering police to always comply with all the court directives to avoid litigation and awards.

HEALTH MINISTER CONFIRMS UGANDA IS IN THE 3RD WAVE OF THE COVID PANDEMIC Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has confirmed that Uganda is in the third wave of the Covid19 pandemic following a surge in daily new cases in recent weeks.
Addressing reporters in Kampala on the Covid19 response, vaccination coverage and implementation of various Presidential directives on January 07, Minister Aceng noted that in the last 14 days, a total of 19,413 confirmed cases have been registered with a daily average of 1,386 cases.
With the daily positivity rate shooting up, the minister confirmed that Uganda had moved to the third wave of the Covid19 pandemic.
“We have moved from the period of sustained containment where the positivity rate was below 5%. The country is now in its third wave of the Covid19 pandemic,” said Aceng.
She also explained the factors that have catapulted Uganda to the third wave of the Covid19 pandemic.
“The country has moved to this new transmission wave due to factors such as limited adherence to SOPs in most of the places, crowding especially during the festive season, misconception that once vaccinated SOPs no longer apply and abuse of the requirements to isolate when found positive,” noted the Minister.