𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐏

ISSUE 188

AFTERNOON 𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 25, 2023

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🇺🇬 President Museveni pledges careful use of oil resources

📌President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has reiterated the Government’s commitment to use oil and petroleum resources carefully now that Uganda has capacity and expertise in the Oil and Gas sector. The President made the remarks on Tuesday while officially launching the first oil drilling rig at  the Kingfisher Developmemt Project in Kikuube District. 

“We shall look for all these oils and use them carefully for a long time,” President Museveni said.

🇺🇬 48 districts heavily hit by Malaria- Ministry of Health

📌The Ministry of Health on Tuesday listed 48 districts that have been heavily hit by the Malaria epidemic. The districts are  in the sub-regions of Bugisu, West Nile, Busoga, Acholi and Lango and Karamoja. Dr Patrick Tusiime, the Commissioner of Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control at the Ministry made the remarks on Tuesday while receiving anti-malaria donations and logistics from donors in Kampala.  

Dr Tusiime said ‘Malaria is a top killer of our people and it kills about 14 people per day which amounts to 400 people per month’. Some of the most hit districts are Bududa, Bulambuli, Manafwa, Pader, Amuru and Iganga. Others are Bugiri, Mayuge, Jinja, Luuka, Adjumani, Arua,  Moyo, Nebbi, Moroto and Nakapiripirit Dokolo, Lira and Kwania. He said most people die from home, and as a result, the Ministry has embarked on mass sensitisation.

“Government has made efforts to support the people by providing nets, but they are not being used. We also call upon people to clean their home environments by slashing grass and emptying containers so that mosquitoes do not breed there. Put mosquito nets in the windows and ventilators of the house. However, if you do all these and mosquitoes still bite you and you catch malaria, visit the hospital for treatment within the first 24 hours. If malaria is treated early, the outcome is better. You will develop complications and even die if you delay getting treatment,” Dr Tusiime said.

🇺🇬 Surge in Malaria cases worry Ntungamo authorities

📌The acting Ntungamo District Health Officer (DHO), Ms Beatrice Chemisto on Tuesday said that malaria cases in Ntungamo District have since been rising since 2020, although the district has not been one of the most prone malaria districts in the country. Chemisto said the district has a populan of about 500,000 people but in 2020, they recorded 40,500 cases of malaria, in 2021 there were 44,163 and in 2022, they confirmed 72,801 cases.

“We have registered a change in the disease trend as a district. Ntungamo has not been one of the prone malaria districts in Uganda. We reviewed a report, which indicated that malaria is now more among the adults compared to the children. It is also increasing among pregnant women,” Chemusto said.

She said most of the cases have been recorded in Rushenyi and Ruhama ‘although the general impression and the findings are across the district.’ 

The in-charge of Rubare Health Centre IV in Rushenyi County, Dr Osbert Taratwebirwe, says they receive at least four malaria cases on a daily basis.

“Most of our patients at the facility have Malaria but we do not have drugs because we expected NMS [National Medical Stores] to Supply the drugs for the third cycle on December 19, 2022, but we are yet to receive the medicines,” he said.

🇺🇬 Youths Minister urges Ugandans to fight against teen pregnancies

📌The State Minister for Youths Affairs, Hon. Sarah Mateke has urged Ugandans to fight against teen pregnancies which are now rampant. Mateke was speaking during the dissemination of the second national strategy to end child marriage and teenage pregnancy at the Admas Hotel in Entebbe. 

. “Because child marriage and teenage pregnancy is a human rights violation, it’s a child-rights violation; it deprives girls, families and communities of their lives and futures”, she said.

🇺🇬 Dr. Ezra Muhumuza appointed Uganda Manufacturers Association Executive Director

📌The Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) has appointed economist, Dr. Ezra Muhumuza as its new Executive Director.UMA is an industry-association that aims to bring together Ugandan industrialists and manufacturers in an attempt to guide the industrial actors in the country towards global competitiveness, on a sustainable basis. Muhumuza will be in charge of affairs of the association as well as overseeing the secretariat’s activities. Muhumuza has succeeded Daniel Birungi, who, after the expiry of his five-year tenure, decided to embark on furthering his studies abroad, reads part of the statement from UMA.

🇺🇬 Drivers of commercial vehicles to be issued new permits after fresh training

📌The Ministry of Works and Transport has said all drivers of commercial vehicles will undergo fresh training in July this year and then after be issued with new permits.

“All drivers of commercial vehicles will undergo fresh training conducted by the Government  in an attempt to enforce discipline and create sanity on our roads” , said Winston Katushabe, a Commissioner of Transport in the Works and Transport Ministry, Winston Katushabe.

🇺🇬 MOROTO: Two brothers shot dead

📌Police is hunting for unknown gunmen who shot and  killed two brothers  in Moroto Town. The incident took place at Kakoliye Close (4) at around 10PM on Monday. Julius Watikha aged 28 and his brother Boniface Wanyama were allegedly fetching water when the gunmen, suspected to be warriors, opened fire. The two brothers who were hit multiple times died shortly after. Watikha’s wife Barbara Barbara Nandudu arrived on the scene shortly after and described what she witnessed.  

“After the gunshots, the killers ran away. I came out and held my husband begging him to wake up. He never responded,”  she said.

🇺🇬 BUIKWE: Police hunts armed robbers over fuel station attack

📌Police in Buikwe District is investigating a robbery incident at a petrol station where one person was killed and six others injured last night.The incident occurred at Magnum petrol station in  Kitega, Lugazi Municipality along Kampala-Jinja highway at about 3AM. 

 “At 3AM, we registered a robbery at Magnum petrol station where one pump attendant and two security guards were attacked by unknown assailants. They made an alarm and luckily enough the neighbours responded and came to their rescue but the heavily armed gang beat them severely,” she added.The thugs took off with an unspecified amount of money! said Sezibwa Regional Police Spokesperson, Hellen Butoto.

🇺🇬 WAKISO: Woman raped and killed in Kyengera Town Council

📌Residents of Mpiringisa cell in Maya ward, Kyengera Town Council  woke up in shock on Tuesday when a farmer found a body of an unknown woman dumped half naked in the maize garden. According to Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Patrick Onyango, a knife and mattress was found nearby the body, with wounds on it and blood stains. It is suspected that unknown thugs might have raped her before killing her.

🇺🇬 BULIISA: Government in partnership with Total Energies Uganda compensates EACOP- affected families

📌Government in partnership with Total Energies Uganda has  proceeded  with compensating Project affected persons. During the surveying of the land belonging to EACOP Project Affect Persons (PAP) at Kibolwa village, Kigoya Parish in Buliisa on Monday, the District Chairperson, Lukumu Fred commended Government and Total Energies for conducting a corruption-free compensation exercise. A Total Energies representative said that the compensation for this land was delayed from 2018 due to fights among the family members on who was the rightful owner of the land was. The survey exercise was witnessed by Police, Buliisa District land board officials among others. 

🇺🇬 SHEEMA: NWSC takes clean and safe water to Sheema Municipality

📌The MP Sheema Municipality Hon. Dickson Kateshumbwa, on Tuesday, while commissioning a clean and safe water project at Kagorogoro Cell, commended the Government for good service delivery. The RDC Sheema District said that the water project will help in reducing disease spread. The ceremony was also attended by National Water and Sewerage Corporation Engineers, Sheema Mayor and local leaders.

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🌍 Rwanda shoots DRC military plane over continued violation of its airspace

Rwandan forces on Tuesday fired at a fighter jet from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that it said had violated its airspace, prompting the Congolese Government to accuse it of an act of war. A video shared widely on Congolese social media showed a projectile shooting towards an airborne military plane, before exploding in the air near the plane, which continued to fly. 

🌍 Kenya Railways goes cashless

📌Kenya Railways has announced that it will no longer accept cash for the purchase of tickets at all Madaraka Express Passenger Service stations starting from February 2023. Customers are encouraged to use MPesa or debit/credit cards as an alternative mode of payment at all Points of Service.

 “We will no longer be accepting cash for the purchase of tickets at all Madaraka Express Passenger Service stations,” the company said in a public notice. This will improve  efficiency and convenience of the ticketing process for customers as well as enhance security and reduce the risk of fraud.

🌍 SOUTH SUDAN: State of emergency declared as armed men kill 4 in  Kordofan province

📌Armed men opened fire on a bus station in southern Sudan on Monday, officials said, killing at least four people and prompting authorities to declare a month-long state of emergency. Officials in South Kordofan province said the attack in the provincial capital of Kadugli wounded at least four others. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place as the victims were heading to areas controlled by a rebel group, known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, local media reported.

🌍 IVORY COAST: 49 soldiers formerly imprisoned in Mali, decorated

📌Ivory Coast on Tuesday handed out top awards for 49 soldiers whose detention by Mali triggered a bitter diplomatic spat between the two West African nations. The troops had been arrested at Bamako airport in July. In a ceremony on Tuesday, the 49 were named knights of the National Order of the Republic, the lowest of three ranks in the top award for services to the nation.They were among 852 service personnel honoured for their deployment in the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping operation.

🌍 SOUTH AFRICA: Heat wave kills eight

📌A stifling heat wave that has swept parts of South Africa in recent weeks has killed eight people over several days, the Government said Tuesday. The dead were mostly farm workers in the sparsely populated and largely semi-arid Northern Cape province which borders Namibia and Botswana, according to the Labour Ministry.

“We are concerned about the impact of the hot weather parts of South Africa has been experiencing and we are extremely sad to hear about the passing of eight people that have died of heat stroke in the Northern Cape after a heatwave hit the province over the week,” Government spokesman Michael Currin said in a statement.

🌍  MAURITANIA: Former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz arrested

📌Police arrested Mauritania’s former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Tuesday on the eve of his trial, for abuse of power. The Police “came to look for him at home” in the capital Nouakchott, armed with a warrant. He was arrested without incident, the lawyers said. Several other figures from his former regime who are also facing charges of corruption, money laundering and illicit enrichment were also arrested, a Security source said. The former President is suspected of amassing a fortune equivalent to more than $72 million.

🌍 AFGHANISTAN: Extreme cold kills more than 150 people

📌At least 157 people have died in Afghanistan’s harsh winter, a Taliban official said Tuesday, with the death toll doubling in less than a week as millions face bitter temperatures with minimal humanitarian aid. The country is suffering one of its coldest winters, with temperatures plummeting to as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18 Fahrenheit) in early January far below the nationwide average of between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius for this time of year. The impact has been made worse by the limited amount of humanitarian aid being distributed in the country, following the Taliban’s ban on female NGO workers.