UN VACCINATED BODA BODA RIDERS TO BE BLOCKED FROM ENTERING THE CITY
Government has warned bodaboda cyclists who do not want to get vaccinated that their days in the city are numbered.
The State Minister for Kampala Kyofatogabye Kabuye says no unvaccinated boda-boda cyclist will not be allowed to operate in the city starting January next year.
President Museveni recently announced that the government will fully reopen the economy in January, 2022.
The minister made the remarks while officiating at the opening of the 4th COVID 19 vaccination mass campaign organized by the safe boda academy at Kyebando, a Kampala suburb.
The safe boda vaccination campaign is aimed at attracting boda boda riders to get vaccinated.
According to the safe boda co-founder, Ricky Rapa Thompson, over 6000 Boda boda riders have been vaccinated since the launch of the campaign.

PRESIDENT MUSEVENI TO ADDRESS NATION ON NEW ANTI CORRUPTION MEASURES
President Yoweri Museveni is expected to address the nation and bless the recently introduced anti-corruption tactics by the Inspector General of Government (IGG).
State Minister for Ethics and Integrity, Rose Lilly Akello told Parliament on Tuesday confirming the Presidential address on Thursday, December 9th when Uganda shall be commemorating the International Anti-corruption day.
The event shall be held at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.
“I have been informed by the ministry in charge of ethics that the Head of State will address the country about corruption on Thursday -Dec 9th, 2021. You should listen to him on that day,” Deputy speaker Parliaments, Anita Among said on Tuesday.
Last week, the IGG Betty Olive Namusango Kamya announced that it would start conducting lifestyle audits on public officials to ascertain how they acquired their wealth in a move to fight corruption in the civil service.

“I’m now bringing the office to the public. I want the public to be co-fighters in this war against corruption, I have heard that people have started to sell their property because we will do a lifestyle audit,” IGG Kamya said.
She said in this new strategy every civil servant will be required to explain how they amassed their wealth.
She assured the whistle-blowers that according to the Whistle blowers’ Act, they are protected.
“And if your information helps us recover funds, you will get a percentage of what is recovered, you just need to get a few heads rolling and people will fear stealing government funds. We need adequate funding to do that,” she said.
This is the latest attempt by the government through anti-corruption agencies including State House Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Col Edith Nakalema to curb down the vice.
Deputy Speaker Among said combating corruptions shall enhance opportunities in creating more jobs and securing wider essential services such as roads, schools and hospitals.
“Parliament is committed to support every Anti-corruption agency to do their work.. It is also corruption when we sit and watch district officials hire out the equipment which is supposed to be for public works,’ she told MPs.

TWO INTERNS DOCTORS DROWN IN LAKE VICTORIA
Two intern doctors Dr. Ahmed Abdullah and Dr. Emma Kidambire attached to Kitovu Hospital on Wednesday evening drowned while swimming at the Nabugabo Sand Beach
Dr. Kidambire was the head of interns at Kitovu hospital in Masaka and a student of Mbarara University pursuing his bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery.
Dr. Kidambire’s brother Vincent Kidambire confirmed his death. “I’m at loss of words. The only Doctor in the family has left us just a few months after our grannie died,” he said.
By Thursday morning, only Dr. Kidambire’s body had been recovered.
A close friend Patrick Wetaka described Wednesday as one of the saddest days of his life. I lost a friend and a brother.
He also described Dr. Abdallah and Dr. Kidambire’s last days.
“At 8:00 pm, I saw a notification from my old boys’ WhatsApp group implying that we had lost someone. Maybe a family member. I had heard so much sad news close to me, so I decided to open the group chat later. I wanted to be ready. Before I could open the group chat, at 11 pm, I saw Ahmed’s picture on the status of one of the guys in the group. Ahmed looked very much like another Somali boy in Form 1 back in school, I actually thought of that kid first. But it’s not possible he had graduated (he was in his gown). My heart skipped a beat!,” he said.
Wetaka said he went straight to the group chat and it was true. Dr. Abdallah was gone and the cause of death was drowning.
“The finding of his body hadn’t been announced yet. I went numb and speechless for a while. I didn’t even type a word, just kept scrolling until there was nothing left to read. Then I wrote sentence after sentence. Memories, feelings, thoughts.. everything!. Ahmed had posted a comment on a soccer group we belonged to at 7.20 am. I was the only one to have replied to it until the news of his death. Must explain why I thought to call him later,” Wetaka said.
He noted that they later received an audio message from an eyewitness and the news of the finding of his body.
“Dr. Abdullah had gone with a number of friends, mostly fellow doctors, to Nabugabo Sand Beach in Masaka. He had been going rafting and decided to take them. The others chickened out but Ahmed and Dr. Kidambire went into the lake on a raft. Not far in, Kidambire fell into the water. He couldn’t swim, so Abdullah jumped in to save him, shouting, keep calm. On seeing the two gentlemen struggling, the guys at the shore ran to call for help. When they returned moments later, the two life jackets were floating and the young doctors were missing,” Wetaka said.
Wataka said Dr. Abdullah had always told him his dream was to go back to Somalia and help rebuild the nation.
“This beautiful and noble dream was on course. However, fate has rudely and suddenly stopped it in its tracks. He’ll be remembered as the epitome of humility, kindness, generosity, loyalty and empathy. What a man. I didn’t know Dr. Kidambire but his friends speak of him as a very bright and focused young man from Kaliro District. One Facebook page reports that he had been the Head of Intern Doctors at the Hospital. He is survived by an expectant partner, who at this time needs all the support in the world,” Wetaka said.
He noted that the two young doctors gave everything to save lives, but we couldn’t save them when they needed us.
“I first met Dr. Abdullah in 2012 at then Turkish Light Academy, now Light Academy Boys SS. He was a skinny and funny guy; a big lover of football, Manchester United was his drug. A Ugandan of Somali origin, born in Fort Portal. He sometimes referred to himself as a Mutooro. Ahmed told me stories about his homeland, Somalia — only to later confess that he’d never been there. Such was his wit! He showed me around the school and helped me settle in and feel at home. He was one of my very first friends and my closest,” Wetaka said.
He said they belonged to the same house. “We shared a dormitory with 14 other gentlemen. We shared Chemistry classes with 15 others and Biology with 9 others. Our Mathematics class was slightly bigger, maybe over 45, the grief I feel can’t let me recall. We took ICT and General paper classes together. These numbers show the closeness and hours each day, for two years, we spent together,” he added.
He described Dr. Abdullah as a very kind and generous young man. “I think I took more of his flavored milk than he did himself. Well, I had a few good things to share myself. I cannot recall Ahmed being involved in a scuffle. He never hated anyone. He never held a grudge. Many referred to him as everyone’s friend but he was a brother to me. I felt the kindness and warmth of his heart every other day,” Wetaka further stated.
He said the Somali community in the school looked up to him. I mean, he was a science student, probably the first. He was the most senior of them and he played “big brother’ even to those that were chronologically older and morphologically much larger than he was. So many times, he had to settle disputes, uplift moods and offer academic and moral guidance to his “clan”. He was always approachable and kept an open door at all times.

DJ JACOB OMUTUUZE DETAINED IN DUBAI OVER FAKE VISA, PASSPORT BLACKLISTED
Renowned radio presenter DJ Jacob Omutuuze claims he has been held up at a Dubai airport terminal for four days now over a fake passport and visa.
The Dembe FM presenter through his Facebook page on Wednesday morning revealed how the Dubai immigration mistook him for being a Nigerian.
DJ Jacob, real name Jacob Akugizibwe Kyaligonza, claims that his passport has also been blacklisted barring him from entering Dubai ever again.
He is also facing challenges as he has not eaten or slept in the last four days.
The weather is as well an issue for him and he has cried out for help from friends and the relevant authorities to rescue him.
He also asks the Human Rights Commission to intervene in the way how people in similar situations like he is are treated in Dubai.
“It’s coming 4 days since I was detained at Dubai airport terminal 1 without anything to eat or sleep on and the weather is not good on my side. These people are saying am having a fake passport which doesn’t belong to me plus fake visa. This is not the first time (for the) Dubai immigration to call me a Nigerian. My passport is blacklisted to never enter Dubai again but still waiting (for the) Dubai immigration for the next step. Pallaso and MARY Flavia Namulindwa Kubula are trying to help me out but nothing is yet out. Uganda Embassy Abu Dhabi I need your help to overcome this stupid life am facing. The way they treat people down here, Human Rights should intervene”- DJ jacob Omutuuze
The media personality has, however, received mixed reactions from his critics who claim that it could be yet another stunt.
Jacob has appeared severally on TV stating that he is not afraid of doing stunts just to remain relevant in the showbiz industry.

ADF REBELS ARE HIDING IN ITURI PROVINCE- SECURITY SOURCES
Allied Democratic Force (ADF) rebels are believed to be currently hiding in the edges of Mambasa and Irumu territories in the province of Ituri, Eastern Democratic of Congo.
According to security sources, the rebels are suspected to have moved their headquarters from Beni near the Rwenzori Mountains to the edges of Masamba and Irumu.
The sources say that the proximity to Irumu and Masamba by the Congo Economic Development Cooperative (CODECO) militia and the desire to extend their attacks in Ituri are the main reasons for the rebels relocation.
Security believes that the rebels would have formed small groups of around forty fighters who operate in different villages of Halungupa, Lume, Bashu, Mwenda, Kainama, and Mamove intending to carry out attacks and infiltrate large towns to obtain information.
The security sources also indicate that Moussa(Musa) Seka Baluku, the current leader of the ADF does not have a fixed camp. He travels regularly in the Beni region to escape the attacks.
At least 1,700 Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) soldiers are already deployed in Eastern DR Congo for a joint operation with FARDC against the ADF, according to an insider security source. According to the source, the soldiers include special forces and infantry deployed with their artillery and armour.

US SLAPS SANCTIONS ON CMI BOSS MAJ GEN ABEL KANDIHO
Uganda has expressed disappointment over the United States’ decision to slap financial sanctions on UPDF military intelligence chief, Maj Gen Abel Kandiho.
Considered among Uganda’s finest intelligence officers, Kandiho is accused of human rights violations.
“As a country and UPDF in particular, a reputable government institution, we are disappointed that such a de chi soon could be made by a country we consider friendly, a partner and a great ally, without due process and in total disregard of the principle of ‘fair hearing’ coupled with failure to make necessary consultations,” said Defence spokesperson Brig Flavia Byekwaso on Tuesday evening.
She said UPDF will be seeking “clarification from the United States government/authorities to be able to determine way forward.”
Kandiho joins other Ugandan security services such as Gen Kale Kayihura who face U.S. sanctions.
Kandiho has lately been leading counter terrorism operations in Uganda and the region.
In December 2020, U.S. Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, called on authorities to take immediate action to address a human rights situation in Uganda prior to general elections.
Kandiho was among Uganda’s senior security officials targeted for the sanctions.
Appearing on the US sanctions list limits the targeted individual’s access to the US dollar-based financial system and thus has an unstated extra-territorial effect.

Bus operators in Kampala on Thursday did not hike the charges they have proposed for passengers traveling to different destinations across the country.
The operators through their umbrella body, the Uganda Bus Owners Association – UBOA announced a raise in the transport fares on Wednesday, citing high fuel prices and Covid-19 rules restricting them to carry passengers at half capacity.
Solomon Nsimire, the Association’s Acting Chairman issued a circular to passengers confirming that the operators reviewed the bus fares’ for their fleets that ply Northern, Eastern and Western routes effective 2nd December 2021.
Caroline Apalat, a booking Clerk for Gogolon Transporters Ltd that plies the Kampala-Moroto route via Mbale, Kumi and Soroti in Eastern Uganda says several passengers who booked cancelled their Thursday trip forcing them to charge the initial rates.
Apalat explains that before the hike, a passenger would pay from Kampala to Soroti 40,000 shillings; Kampala-Kumi 35,000; Kampala – Mbale 25,000 and Kampala – Moroto 60,000 Shillings considered normal fares, but the charges have increased by 15,000.
Mansur Taban, an official with El-Shadai Bus Company that plies Kampala-Gulu and Lira on the Northern route says the passengers’ responses towards the new fares have been negative with disregard to the social distancing rules and fuel prices that has affected their services.
Makome Bus Company, a Kitgum bound bus from Namayiba Bus Terminal failed to charge passengers the new rates. Brian Ocen, a passenger who had booked the bus said he naively paid 65,000 instead of 50,000 shillings which other passengers negotiated and paid.
Florence Ayenyo, 54, a businesswoman, cancelled her trip to Gulu, and only loaded her merchandise saying the charges were too high and detrimental to her business. Several other passengers were left stranded at Kisenyi, Arua Park and Namayiba bus terminals over the new charges.
While addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on Thursday, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, the Minister of Works and Transport directed the bus companies to suspend the new charges.
Katumba asked the Bus owners to first write to his office, and explain the reasons why they have decided to increase the fares for public transport. He proposed a meeting with operators on Monday next week to agree on whether to increase the transport fares or not.

Weekly markets in the previously hotspot areas of Uganda that had been ordered to remain closed due to the concentration of the coronavirus can now re-open, health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng announced on Thursday.
In September (three months ago), President Yoweri Museveni lifted a ban on weekly markets, save for those in the hotspot districts, which at the time registered high numbers of COVID-19 infections.
The districts included Kampala, Soroti, Kalungu, Kabale, Kumi, Tororo, Nwoya, Gulu and Yumbe.
In reopening various sectors of the economy, President Museveni has acted on the advice of the scientists, as Uganda continues on the trajectory of resumption of full-throttle economic activity.
In her address at the Uganda Media Centre on Thursday, Aceng announced that the said locations ‘are no longer hotspot areas’ following surveillance on vaccine uptake and established COVID-19 measures.
They can resume operations but with strict adherance to standard operating procedures and the curfew guidelines.
The health minister was speaking at a time when the world is trying to deal with a new COVID-19 variant (B.1.1.529), which the World Health Organization (WHO) named Omicron and labelled it a ‘variant of concern’.
Researchers say Omicron, first identified by scientists in South Africa, has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes.
Already, it has found its way in a number of countries, from southern Africa to the US and South Korea, among others.
For now, it has not been detected in Uganda.

Members of Parliament hailing from Karamoja sub-region have urged government to use an iron hand to crackdown child traffickers who they say are responsible for the many children on Kampala streets.
The legislators said trafficking of children to beg on the streets is taking a toll on the region to the extent that parents freely handover their children to traffickers.
“I have been to some sub-counties in Napak district, there are actually no children. Apparently, parents think there is good life in Kampala,” said Hon Faith Nakut (NRM, Napak).
Nakut was speaking before the Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development, which is handling a motion for government to respond to the plight of Karamojong children enslaved in street begging and forced labour. Nakut is the mover of the motion.
Nakut was accompanied by Tumwesigye Michael, the Executive Director ‘In Need Home’, an NGO working on settling street children from Karamoja. Tumwesigye told the committee that parents in Karamoja are being pushed into ‘renting’ their children into street begging due to poverty and hunger.
“We found out that most of these children are borrowed. Those people with children on the streets are not their actual mothers; they borrow children and in the evening pay some money to the parents,” said Tumwesigye.
He explained that the vice has worsened to the extent that even very young children aged less than a year have been trained to beg
Tumwesigye implored government to be concerned that most of the children are mistreated by their supposed employers, and that female children are often sexually assaulted.
Bokora County MP, John Bosco Ngoya, said besides parents, there are non-governmental organisations that are simply making money under the guise of helping street children.
“Maybe there is business in street children and it seems to have reached the apex; there are rackets; there is actually somebody making a killing out of this. There are NGOs which have been created for this cause,” said Ngoya.
MPs proposed that government should begin with putting an end to the practice of Kampala Capital City Authority rounding up street children and dumping them in Kampiringisa remand home.
“This habit of KCCA rounding up street children and taking them to Kampiringisa is inhumane and traumatizes the already traumatized children,” said Ngoya. He added that there is a sizeable number of children that have gone missing from the remand home, and that no one seems to care.
The legislators want government to investigate NGOs and all groups dealing with street children, saying many are actually trafficking children into forced labour.
The Gender Committee has conducted oversight visits on gender-based violence countrywide, and is yet to present its report to Parliament.
The Committee Chairperson, Flavia Kabahenda, said violence against children was among the ‘nasty’ stories that her committee had to listen to. She said the motion will enrich her report, which she is yet to present to Parliament.

UPDF JUSTIFY ATTACK ON ADF CAMPS
Security experts have defended Uganda’s military incursion into the DR Congo in pursuit of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) outlaws that government has accused of masterminding multiple attacks in Kampala.
News of UPDF launching airstrikes in the eastern DR Congo broke yesterday, two weeks after twin suicide bombings hit the Uganda’s capital Kampala, raising questions about the legality and probable exposure to more attacks.
Solomon Asiimwe, a professor of International Relations and Security Studies, said whereas the incursions risks counter-attacks by the terrorists, the government could not do nothing about insecurity breeding in DR Congo.
“The President has an obligation to keep Uganda safe within our country, but if he realises [that] he may not keep Uganda safe, if he does not uproot the rebels in DR Congo because the ground is open for anyone who wants to start a rebellion, Uganda has a right to pursue [the subversive elements],” he said.
He added: “We are at war with ADF…[Uganda] has a right of self-defence, called hot pursuit. We can follow where the enemy has come from even if DRC had not allowed…”
Prof Asiimwe suggested that a join operation by the region would have been more effective in dealing with the Congo insecurity problem, something he said was undermined by differing interest of the neighbours.
“The region must work together. You cannot fight terrorism single-handedly as Uganda,” he said, adding, “Uganda has found [DRC] as a threat, we cannot wait for others to go there,” said.
In a separate interview last night, Phillip Kasaija, a senior lecturer at Makerere University, who is a scholar in International Relations and Security, said: “The justification [for UPDF incursion] is present because of the presence of the negative forces on the Congolese soil.”
“The government knows where the ADF camps are, intelligence has linked ADF as responsible for the things that are going on in terms of destabilisation; so, Uganda has all the right to go across [the border into Congo],” he added.
He said Uganda cannot fold its arms as the Great Lakes Region morphs into a hub for rebels and terrorists.
“…this is a regional problem. There are protocols that have been signed and one [of them] talks about dealing with elements of insecurity … but this is a bilateral arrangement and does not preclude a regional arrangement,” Kasaija said.
The scholars asked the Ugandan military to remain professional, distinguish between civilians and combatants during combat and not entangle in local politics or plunder of DR Congo resources as it happened during the 1996 to 2003 invasion.