𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐏

:𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐔𝐄 210
🇹 🇭 🇺 🇷 🇸 🇩 🇦 🇾
𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 16, 2023
🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬

🇺🇬 President Museveni applauds Church of Uganda for rebuking Canterbury over same sex marriages
📌President Museveni has applauded the Church of Uganda for its reprimand to Canterbury, the seat of the Anglican Church worldwide, after it blessed same sex marriages. The President was on Thursday speaking during the celebrations to mark Janan Luwum Day in  Kitgum District.
“I want to congratulate Ugandan believers for rejecting homosexuality. Those Europeans don’t listen but it is good you said not. We have been telling them that the thing of homosexuality is not something you should normalize and celebrate,” the President said.

🇺🇬 President Museveni attributes Amin’s killings to his ‘ideological confusion’
📌President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday presided over the national celebrations of Janani Luwum Day in Mucwini Subcounty in Kitgum District where Archbishop Janani Luwum was born. The President reminisced that he worked with Janani Luwum himself and memorizes his effort. He attributed Amin’s killings in which the slain Luwum was a victim, to Iddi Amin’s idealogical confusion, for he thought  that ‘If you Kill people, you will succeed’.
“It was unnecessary killings, unfortunate and a lesson to Uganda, Africa. The mistakes aren’t necessary,” he said.

🇺🇬 Education Minister says Govt investigating root cause of social media reports on homosexuality in schools  
📌The Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni has said that the Ministry is investigating the root cause and source of social media reports that indicate that some schools have learners engaging in homosexuality. The Minister said that after gathering actual evidence, the Government will hold those responsible accountable so as to bring an end to such vices and to deliver justice to the affected learners and their families. She was commissioning of a dormitory block at Kings College Buddo.

🇺🇬 Minister Amongi advocates for end to child marriages
📌 Hon. Amongi Betty Ongom, the Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, has called for stronger engagement of cultural and religious leaders in the campaign to end child marriages and teenage pregnancies. In a meeting with the Ambassador of Denmark to Uganda, Her Excellency Signe Winding Albjerg,  Amongi said that these vices are being exacerbated under the guise of promoting cultural practices and norms in the different regions of the country.
“We should look at prioritizing sensitization through engaging cultural and religious leaders riding on the back of their influence to support the campaign to end early marriages,” Amongi said.

🇺🇬 IGP Ochola promotes 13 Police officers
📌The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martin Okoth Ochola has promoted 13 police officers to higher ranks. According to the deputy police spokesperson, Claire Nabaka, the IGP has promoted 13 subordinate officers, from the sports department to the ranks of Inspector of Police (IP), Assistant Inspector of Police, (AIP) Sergeant (SGT) and Corporal (CPL). He promoted Peter Malavu to Inspector of Police, SGT Nawooya Magembe Akimu to AIP, among other promotions.

🇺🇬 Inter Religious Council urges united effort against promotion of LGBTQ agenda
📌The Inter-religious council of Uganda (IRCU) has called for a concerted effort from all Ugandans to fight the increasing promotion of homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda in the country. At a press conference held at the IRCU headquarters in Mengo, Kampala led by Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu, the Chairperson IRCU Council of President, it was noted that while other people’s cultures are respected, it is important that Ugandans uphold the sanctity of the family within the cherished value system

🇺🇬 UCI introduces new blood, cellular therapy for Cancer patients
📌Uganda Cancer Institute has added a new technology of blood and cellular therapy to provide more treatment options for patients, including those without cancer, but referred for advanced management. Rita Bafumba, the Head Nurse of Hematology Ward at the Uganda Cancer Institute revealed the patients qualified for such type of treatment are the ones suffering from sickle cells with a lot of complication.

🇺🇬 Liberia’s Vice President Jewel Taylor appreciates energy sector initiatives
📌Liberia’s Vice President Jewel Taylor who is on official visit to Uganda has appreciated the work done in the energy sector, especially on mini-grids. Taylor says that if this can be replicated in the West African nation, it will solve their energy challenges. He spoke at Kololo Independence Grounds solar plant that produces over 500 kilowatts of power.

🇺🇬 Court clears Mufti  Mubajje to carry out UMSC activities
📌The High Court in Kampala has reversed an interim order that had been issued by the Mengo Chief magistrates Court against Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramadan Mubajje stopping him from carrying out the activities of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC). Justice Esta Nambayo faulted themMengo Court Chief Magistrate Patrick Talisuna for acting illegally and irregularly when he entertained and issued an ex-parte interim order before giving a chance to Mufti Mubajje and Uganda Muslim Supreme Council to defend themselves. She has now set aside the said ex-parte order, struck-out the invalid applications from court records, and ordered Basajjabalaba to pay costs to Mufti Mubajje and UMSC.

🇺🇬 MDAs move to fix service delivery gaps
📌Government through MDAs has renewed its commitment to fixing service delivery gaps in the country following an oversight monitoring inspection exercise on service delivery in selected sub-regions of Greater Masaka and Acholi. During a consultative meeting involving different MDAs to discuss service delivery gaps in the country at the Office of the President in Kampala, the Minister of State for Economic Monitoring in Office of the President, Hon. Akello Beatrice Akori vowed to work with MDAs in holding local government officers accountable for inefficient deliverances that cause financial loss to the government.

🇺🇬 Rev. Prof. Olivia Nassaka Banja replaces Prof. Lugujjo as Ndejje University Vice-Chancellor
📌Rev. Prof. Olivia Nassaka Banja has been installed as the 7th Vice Chancellor of Ndejje University. She is also the first female Vice Chancellor of Ndejje University. Nassaka, a clergywoman in the Church of Uganda where she has served for 29 years, is also an associate Professor of African Christianity. She has replaced Prof. Eriabu Lugujjo, who has served in the position for 10 years.

🇺🇬 Karamoja MPs call for forensic audit into distribution of relief items 
📌Members of the Karamoja Parliamentary Group led by the chairperson of the caucus, Remigio Achia, are demanding a forensic audit into the procurement and distribution of relief items for the sub region. They have called on all those involved in the alleged financial impropriety to step aside to pave way for investigations.

🇺🇬 ADB earmarks $9m to curb floods, drought in Elgon Sub Region
📌The African Development Bank (ADB) has pledged continued support towards agricultural development for economic diversification and resilience in Uganda. According to Ngafuan, the $ 9 million Global Environment Facility grant-funded project earmarked by ADB seeks to increase household farm income through the mitigation of drought and floods in the four districts of Bukedea, Bulambuli, Sironko, and Kapchorwa in the Awoja catchment region.

🇺🇬 Airtel connects 60 schools to internet to enhance access to digital learning 
📌Airtel Uganda has connected 60 schools to internet with an aim of increasing access to digital learning among underserved schools, as well as improving the quality of education in the country. Faith Bugonzi, the Brand Strategy Manager explained that this is part of Airtel Uganda’s celebration of 60 years of Uganda’s independence. The event was held at Bulamu Seed Secondary School in Mpigi District.

🇺🇬 RUBIRIZI: 28 year-old commits suicide after wife fails to return home
📌Police in Rubirizi District are investigating circumstances under which a 28-year old man committed suicide after his wife refused to return home. Martial Tumusiime, the greater Bushenyi region police spokesperson confirmed the incident and identified the deceased as Fred Ayebazibwe, a resident of Kisita A cell, Mugyera parish, Katanda sub-county, Rubirizi District.

🇺🇬 NAMUTUMBA: School stuck with 2 head teachers after one ‘rejects’ transfer
📌Kibaale High School, a Government-aided school in Namutumba District has  started the new term in uncertainty with two head teachers. The Resident District Commissioner, Mr. Thomas Matende explained that Mr. Fred Kagoye Samanya, the old head teacher, rejected a transfer to Nakalama Secondary School in Iganga District yet also Mr. Stephen Mutono, the new head teacher had reported on duty. Parents and a section of staff members have threatened to lay down tools if Mr. Samanya doesn’t leave the school.

🇺🇬 JINJA: Tourism school strengthens ties with Dutch Noorderpoort College
📌The Uganda Hotel and Tourism Training Institute (UHTTI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Netherlands-based Noorderport College of Tourism and Hospitality (NCTH). Speaking at the signing ceremony at UHTTI premises in Jinja, the acting Principal Miriam Namutosi said the aim of the memorandum is to provide a framework within which the parties will seek to develop a long-term partnership in the areas of tourism and hospitality training.

🇺🇬 ABIM:  Catholic Relief Services rehabilitates 7.3km access road
📌The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has rehabilitated Awach- Gangming community access road in Awach Sub County in Abim after 25 years since it was last graded by the district. The 7.3km road connects the three sub counties of Awach, Kiru and Orwamuge. It is the nearest road to Orwamuge health center, Awach market and Awach primary school. The road links the sub county to other districts of Otuke, Amuria, Soroti, Lira, Pader and Agago in Acholi sub region.

🇺🇬 KASESE: Father attempts to hack daughter over school fees demands
📌Police in Kasese  is holding Emmanuel Muhindo, a resident of Nyabibwa village in Rukoki sub-county accused of attempting to kill his own daughter for stressing him over school fees. The suspect allegedly attacked his daughter with a machete in her sleep at night because of her persistent demands for school fees but she was rescued by nearby relatives. Nelson Tumushiime, the Rwenzori East Region police spokesperson, says that Police have preferred a charge of causing grievous harm against the errant father.

🇺🇬 MANAFWA: Angry mob lyches 19-year old burglar 
📌An angry mob in Bumafumba village, Bukhofu Sub County on Februaty 15 lynched to death, a 19 year old suspected burglar.  According to Rogers Taitika, the Elgon Region Police Spokesperson, Dick Wanambwa, 19, entered Ekisoferi Ngituku shop after cutting an iron sheet with intention of stealing property but the owner made an alarm that attracted locals, that turned up with stones, bricks, and sticks and started beating  the suspect until he died on spot due to over bleeding.

🇺🇬 SOROTI: Court sets date to rule on Emolot’s case 
📌Soroti High Court has fixed February 20, 2023 to decide on Emorimor Paul Sunday Emolot’s fate following a suit filed by the disgruntled elders who challenged his election and installation. A team of elders led by William Alloch went to Court and filed a case after the demise of his highness Emorimor Augustine Osuban Lemukol to stop the election of any person to the seat. Alloch and team challenge Emolot’s rise to the office of Emorimor without allegedly following the rightful procedures of getting elected into office of Emorimor according to the Iteso Cultural Union (ICU) constitution.

🇺🇬 KYEGEGWA: Member of Parliament donates books to both private and public schools 
📌The Member of Parliament for Kyaka Central, Hon. Bright Tom Amooti on Thursday donated books to both public and private schools in his constituency. While handing over the books to different school head teachers, Amooti tasked them to use the donated books to equip knowledge to the pupils.
“In a bid to promote education performance in schools, I have donated books to my constituency of Kyaka Central,  Kyegegwa District”.

🇺🇬 BULIISA: Total Energies offers 10 bursaries to top PLE  female performers
📌Total Energies Uganda Limited has offered ten bursaries to the best female performers of last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations in Buliisa District. The beneficiaries are from both Private and Government Aided Primary Schools in the District. Caroline Namyalo, the Total Energies Uganda Corporate Social Responsibility Manager revealed that the beneficiaries will join St. Andrea Kaahwa’s College in Hoima City where they will study until they complete Ordinary Level.

🇺🇬 RUKUNGIRI: Nyakishenyi subcounty gets 3 cable bridges 
📌Thrpe Ministry of Works and Transport will construct three cable bridges in Nyakishenyi sub county in Rukungiri District to improve transport services in the sub county. According to the subcounty chairperson, Wednesday Twinomujuni, they will start with Kafunjo Bridge that will connect three villages of Rushebeya, Ndarangi and Kahama in Murama parish followed by Kigarama Bridge in Ngoma parish and another bridge that will be connecting Nyakyishenyi and Buyanja subcounty through Rwayundo parish.

🇺🇬 KAGADI: Police arrests seven suspects over Nagalama Police Constable murder
📌Police has arrested seven suspects in connection to the murder of Jimmy Mugisa, a police constable formally with Nagalama Police Station. Suspects whose particulars have been concealed for fear of jeopardizing investigations together with others still at large, while in Kagadi on February 9, 2023, murdered the deceased suspecting him to be a thief.

🇺🇬 BUNYANGABU: Six suspects escape from Police custody
📌Police in Bunyangabu District are hunting for six male suspects who escaped from detention cells. Vincent Twesigye, the Rwenzori Regional Police Spokesperson says the suspects escaped from the female detention cells at Bunyangabu Central Police Station where they had been moved to temporarily decongest the male cells. Twesigye attributed the incident to laxity of the cell guard on duty at the time. The suspects simply pulled the wooden cell door to access their escape route.

𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒
🌍🌍🌍🌍

🌍 KENYA: Azimio to hold prayers for IEBC – Raila 
📌Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga said that they will next week hold prayers for the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Addressing the press on Wednesday, Odinga reiterated the outfit’s commitment to continue with nationwide rallies in a bid to compel the Government to own up to what it terms as electoral injustices at the 2022 polls.

🌍 Kenya expected to earn up to $876m from privatisation of State firms
📌Kenya is likely to garner between $ 477.8 million and $876.1 million (60 billion and 110 billion shillings) by selling stakes in public firms. The amount can be realised in the medium term if the Government sells about 19 percent or 48 of the 248 State-owned enterprises. The names of the firms to be privatized were not disclosed though the Government had previously announced 26 companies for privatisation, including the Kenya Ports Authority and Kenya Pipeline Company.

🌍 Kenya National Treasury cuts Kenya Airways funding 
📌The Kenya National Treasury plans to reduce Kenya Airways’ (KQ) State funding by $79.8 million, taking it from $239.5 million to $159 million, according to its 2022-23 supplementary budget. The National Treasury Principal, Chris Kiptoo has released its debut Kenya Kwanza supplementary budget for the financial year 2022/23 with a proposed increase in spending from $26.7 billion to $29.6 billion. The Government plans to cut domestic borrowing and increase external borrowing, resulting in a net borrowing reduction of about $541 million.

🌍 DRC: Voter registration starts in rebel-hit Eastern Region 
📌The Electoral body in the Democratic Republic of Congo says it has started voter registration in seven provinces in the eastern part of the country where millions of civilians have been displaced by fighting between the army and rebels. This is the last round of voter registration ahead of general elections scheduled for December this year. The Independent National Electoral Commission said voters will be registered in the volatile provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, as well as in the US and Canada.
Voter registration across the country started in December and has so far seen at least 12 million people register as voters, according to the commission.

🌍 DRC: Fear for disruption of census as rebel attack kills five in Ituri
📌The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels on Wednesday killed five civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern province of Ituri. The latest unrest stoked fears of disruption of a regional census due to be held Thursday across the country’s east, plagued by years of violence from a plethora of rebel groups.

🌍 Tanzania allows import of 90,000 tonnes of rice to moderate rising prices of staple food crop
📌Tanzanian authorities said Wednesday that they have allowed local traders to import 90,000 tonnes of rice duty-free to cushion rising prices of the staple food crop. The Minister for Investment, Industry and Trade Ashatu Kijaji said the rice to be imported this month will be sold at indicative prices to be given by the Government to ensure that the staple food crop is sold at affordable prices.

🌍 Egypt takes over presidency of NEPAD until 2025
📌Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy has stated that Egypt assumed presidency of the steering committee of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development Agency (NEPAD) during a virtual meeting attended by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday. NEPAD, which is the development arm of the African Union (AU), organises and finances projects and programs to achieve sustainable development goals in the continent. African heads of state and government as well as members of the committee witnessed Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame handing over the two-year presidency of the steering committee to Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi via video conference.

🌍 ETHIOPIA: Atleast 50 killed in Oromia region – EHRC 
📌 The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on Wednesday that at least 50 people died in the ethnic violence in Ethiopia’s Oromia region this month. The state-affiliated but independent human rights watchdog said that on February 2, gunmen descended on Ano city, which was housing more than 10,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), and killed house to house.

🌍 NIGERIA: President Buhari partially extends validity of old banknotes
📌Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the country’s Central Bank to release the old 200 naira banknotes back into circulation and run concurrently with the new ones till 10 April. Nigerians have faced long queues at cash machines with some sleeping outside banks to try and be the first in line to get some money.

🌍 TUNISIA: Opposition condemns ‘baseless’ arrests
📌Tunisia’s main opposition coalition has described the string of arrests targeting critics of President Kais Saied as “repressive, violent and legally baseless”.  In recent days, Police has detained several prominent politicians, two judges, a leading journalist and a senior union official. The UN has voiced alarm over the arrests, but the President has insisted those detained are traitors, responsible for soaring price increases and severe food shortages.

🌍 Sahara dust storm threatens half of Cameroon
📌 The Transport Minister Ernest Bibehe said on Wednesday that an enormous plume of dust from the Sahara desert threatens to sweep through half of Cameroon. During the press conference, Bibehe warned that if the forecast wind conditions are maintained, the dust could cause road accidents due to reduced visibility. The plume of dust is currently crossing Cameroon’s Far North region and could reach four other regions in the coming days.

🌍 Cameroon dismisses suspected marburg infections after Equatorial Guinea’s first outbreak
📌Cameroon’s Health Ministry has dismissed a report of two suspected cases of Marburg Virus in the country after a first deadly outbreak in neighboring Equatorial Guinea. Health officials along the border said there were two suspected cases of the severe hemorrhagic fever in Cameroon after Malabo confirmed nine deaths and sixteen possible infections. Despite dismissing the reported cases, Cameroon’s Health Ministry says it is increasing surveillance and travel restrictions along the border. Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says Cameroon does not yet have any suspected cases of the Marburg virus, despite reports of two possible infections.

🌍 Former US ambassador to run for presidency 2024 
📌Former US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley has announced that she is running for President in 2024. She is the first Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination.

🌍 NORTH KOREA: Citizens to change name because it is first daughter’s 
📌North Korean authorities are compelling girls and women to change their names if they’re called “Ju Ae” the name of Kim Jong un’s daughter. Ju-ae, who is assumed to be about 10 years old, is expected to be the country’s next leader. Authorities have given them one week to change their identities to something else.