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[Monitor] Finance minister Matia Kasaija was last night on the defensive following accusations that he irregularly dangled a top government job to secure the exit of his opponent in a parliamentary contest.
Critics have called it a stunt to invite sympathy. Yet Amuriat says campaigning without shoes is a protest and that those who do not get its symbolism are missing a point.
Uganda is due to hold a general election on January 14. Amuriat and another opposition candidate, Bobi Wine have had their rallies violently dispersed by security forces or been arrested.
In mid-November, scores of people were killed as security forces attempted to quell protests against the arrest and detention of Bobi Wine.
Police has accused the candidates of addressing huge gatherings in contravention of regulations on COVID-19 prevention.
Swollen feet
In an interview with one of the dailies in Uganda, Amuriat said his feet hurt a lot and has to pour cold water on them in between campaign stops for some relief.
Doctors have cautioned him on the potential danger of contracting tetanus from cuts to his feet.
Yet Amuriat remains adamant. He says by refusing to wear shoes, he’s standing in solidarity with people whose wealth and opportunities have been stolen by the country’s longtime ruler Yoweri Museveni.
JUST IN: FDC presidential candidate Patrick Amuriat has been arrested at the border of Rubirizi and Bushenyi districts. The reason for his arrest is yet to be known📹 @MukhayeD#MonitorUpdates#UGDecides2021 pic.twitter.com/xopK4FMoD0
— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) December 4, 2020
Museveni, in power since 1986 is seeking a new term. In 2017, he changed the constitution to remove age limits that would have stopped him from seeking re-election.
FDC is Uganda’s largest opposition party. In 3 previous elections, the party fronted veteran activist and retired army colonel Kizza Besigye for president.
Some governments have stared this bleak figure in the eye with all round economic stimulus packages which have included cuts to Pay As You Earn and corporation taxes like the Kenyan government.
Later that evening, she watched a news clip in which the Minister of Finance, Mr Matia Kasaija, said a prospective economic stimulus package was on its way.
To feed the national budget which Parliament had passed and also keep the economic stimulus package hopes alive, the ministry was banking on six quick loans from the World Bank, IMF, French Development Fund and the African Development to raise close to two billion dollars.
As heads of schools donated to the National Task Force on Covid-19, several teachers, especially in private schools, cried out for relief food saying they had not been paid since the president closed all education institutions in March to combat the pandemic.
The Uganda Hotel Owners' Association revealed that their members have been forced to send at least 400,000 employees on unpaid leave due to the Covid-19 lockdown that has plunged tourism, the country's biggest foreign exchange earner and other sectors of the economy, into disarray.
Malawi's electoral commission has appealed for peace and calm as it tallied ballots following a historic poll to re-elect a president after Peter Mutharika's victory was overturned.
Malawi's parliament has endorsed June 23 as the date for the presidential election re-run after a court annulled last year's vote over irregularities, a lawmaker said.
The election had handed President Peter Mutharika a second term, but with just 38.5% of the vote.
Legally parliament had to validate the new polling date.
He said the court ruling \"clearly states that parliament must set a date for the elections\".
Meantime, a new electoral commission was sworn-in on Tuesday to organise the new vote, after the top court also ordered an investigation into the conduct of the previous one.
[Monitor] As Ugandans struggle to adapt to the different healthcare guidelines set by the Ministry of Health in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Monica Musenero, a senior epidemiologist and presidential adviser on Epidemics, has urged the general public to embrace preventive healthcare to reduce costs incurred in treatment.
Judy Rugasira, the managing director of estate agency Knight Frank, says closing retail businesses that depend on the day-to-day cash flows for 60-days was damaging.
But as the country started to close down, sales in the retail sector slumped by 68 per cent, Rugasira said.
For the real estate sector, coronavirus came at a time when it was already struggling to attract demand and more properties were flooding the market.
A lot of space was being given up by government ministries as they built their own buildings, there was reduced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the sector and more expatriates were leaving the country.
Rugasira says coronavirus will have a long term impact on the real estate sector, indicating that the non-performing loans that might come out of this might see interest rates up and reduce the ability of developers to borrow.
President Museveni on Monday warned of \"serious trouble\" if all the two million Ugandan citizens trapped outside the country because of the virus induced lockdown returned home.
According to Mr Museveni, only 2,500 Ugandans have expressed interest to return home.
According to the president, easing lockdown will be tied to the use of facemasks in public.
We believe that with the masks you do not infect others and you also do not get infected,\" Mr Museveni added.
This will need two weeks for Ministry of Education to plan how the learners can go to school,\" he added.
Guinea's main oppositon party published Friday a list of 46 people, aged between 3 and 70 years, killed during the repression of demonstrations after the October 18 election, officially won by the incumbent Alpha Condé.
Condé was declared re-elected on October 24 by the Electoral Commission for a controversial third term with 59.5% of the vote, but three of his opponents, including opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo, are contesting the results before the Constitutional Court, whose decision is expected on Saturday.
Diallo's party, the Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), denounced in a statement a \"wave of terror\" orchestrated by the government between October 19 and November 3.
\"The provisional toll of this repression is 46 dead, nearly 200 wounded by gunfire, about a hundred arrests and extensive material damage,\" according to the UFDG.
The opposition has so far reported a death toll of at least 27, while for the government, the post-election violence resulted in 21 deaths, including members of the security forces.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Africa Officer Ida Sawyer on Twitter on October 24 accused Guinean security forces of killing \"at least 8 people, including 3 children.
Amnesty International for its part accused the same security forces of firing live ammunition at demonstrators, without giving a detailed account.
The Ministries of Security and Territorial Administration did not immediately respond to the multiple requests for a reaction from the AFP to the UFDG document.
This document includes a list of names, usually with age, profession, circumstances of death, contacts of a relative, and photos showing these people, dead or alive. In about fifteen cases, these are photos of bodies showing traces of violence.
Most of the presumed victims are young men and women between 15 and 30 years old: motorcycle cab drivers, mechanics, students...
The youngest are a boy and a girl of 3 years old, Mamadou Midiaou Diallo and Mariatou Bah, and the oldest Mamouna Camara, a housewife of 70 years old.
The UFDG also states that \"the overwhelming majority of the victims (...) belong to the same ethnic group as the opposition leader,\" in a country where community affiliations play an important role in elections.
[Monitor] On June 13, President Museveni appointed Ms Dorothy Kisaka as the new executive director (ED) of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to replace Ms Jennifer Musisi who resigned in October 2018.
Malawi's opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera won last week's presidential election re-run with 58.57 per cent of the vote, the electoral commission said Saturday.
And on Saturday, electoral commission chairman Chifundo Kachale told journalists: \"The commission declares that Lazarus Chakwera, having attained 58.57 percent of the vote, has been duly elected as the president of Malawi.\"
In February, Malawi's top court found the first election had been marred by widespread irregularities, including the use of correction fluid to tamper with result sheets.
The landmark ruling made Malawi just the second African country south of the Sahara to have presidential poll results set aside, after Kenya in 2017.
The outgoing president's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had on Friday called on Malawi's Electoral Commission (MEC) to annul the results of the second vote and declare a third election.
June 28: Chakwera, Chilima sworn in
\tMalawi held an investiture for president Lazarus Chakwera and vice-president Saulos Chilima, hours after the elections body declared Chakwera winner of last Tuesday’s polls.
Key statistics
\t
\t\tLazarus Chakwera, leader of the Tonse Allaince = 2,604,043 votes (58.5%)
\t\tArthur Peter Mutharika of the DPP/UDF alliance = 1,751,877 votes
\t\tPeter Kuwani of Mbakuwaku Movement for Development = 33,456 votes
\t\tOut of the 6,859,570 registered voters, 4,445,699 cast their votes
\t\tThe Commission recorded 57,323 spoilt ballots, representing 1.29%
\t\tThe commission received and resolved 10 complaints from all three participating sides
June 27: Chakwera’s victory confirmed by election body
\tMalawi Electoral Commission (MEC) late Saturday declared opposition alliance leader Lazarus Chakwera as the winner of Tuesday’s presidential re-run election.
June 25: Opposition celebrates unofficial Chakwera victory
\tOpposition chief Lazarus Chakwera has ‘taken the lead’ in Malawi’s poll count, according to unofficial results being projected by multiple local media outlets.
Read more – Malawi election commission appeals for calm as it tallies votes
June 23: Voting ends, ballot counting begins
\tPolls have closed in most parts of Malawi privately-run newspaper The Nation reports.
June 23: Malawians vote in crucial presidential poll rerun despite virus
\tVoters in Malawi have already started casting their ballots today in crucial presidential election rerun pitting incumbent Peter Mutharika and opposition coalition leader Lazarus Chakwera.
Uganda’s inter-religious council called off the eagerly awaited presidential candidates’ debate.
The council said the debate, that was due on Thursday 03 was cancelled due to limited resources.
Local media reported that a total of ten presidential candidates were expected to grace the occasion.
This comes amid numerous complaints majorly from the opposition who have constantly blamed the security apparatus for rights violations.
Uganda opposition have in most cases face wrath of the police especially the renowned musician-turned politician, Bobi Wine.
Two weeks ago, 54 people died in protests after Wines supporters called for his release following a brief arrest at campaign rally.
They have defended themselves by claiming that they were only implementing Covid-19 guidelines to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
Bobi Wine was later charged with violating pandemic restrictions on gathering of crowds and granted bail.
The embattled singer later met the electoral commission and asked them to ensure that there should be equitable campaigns and police should be stopped from intimidating the opposition leaders and their members.
Parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution tasking government to waive water and electricity bills for a period of six months to help relieve the many Ugandans in the post-lockdown recovery process.
While debating a motion moved by Masaka Municipality MP Mathias Mpuuga, the legislators said since the lockdown was imposed in March, many Ugandans spend a lot of time at home and consume a lot of electricity and water more than they would use while at work.
Mr Mpuuga argued that Uganda should borrow a leaf from other countries, including Ghana, which have already paid off the water and electricity bills for the citizens for a specific period of time.
Ms Jesca Ababiku (Adjumani Woman, NRM) said much as the people in rural areas are not connected to water provided by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), there is a need for government to also repair boreholes and other dilapidated water sources.
The MPs said with President Museveni not including waiver on water and electricity bills as part of a stimulus package during the State of the Nation Address on June 4, payment of the cumulative bills will suffocate many Ugandans.
The Law Society of Kenya has filed a case challenging the legality of an Executive order issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta that allegedly sought to place the Judiciary, commissions as well as independent offices under ministries and government departments.
Through lawyers Manwa Hosea and Arnold Ochieng, the LSK terms the move as unconstitutional since the executive arm of government cannot restructure or assign functions to other arms and independent commissions.
The LSK claims the disputed Executive order No. 1 of 2020 offends the principles of the constitution, doctrine of separation of powers, democracy and independence of constitutional offices.
According to the LSK, the May 11 Executive Order titled 'The Organisation of Government' can impair the independence of the Judiciary, commissions and independent offices.
The order, the LSK argues, places the various tribunals, constitutional commissions and independent agencies under the control and direction of the respective departments.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) says it has submitted a second formal request to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry to urgently investigate what it calls the ongoing role played by the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment in 'capturing, corrupting and collapsing the South African state'.
Uganda's 2021 election candidates will have to campaign online and through the media to reach voters as part of new rules to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Uganda's electoral commission banned mass gatherings during campaigning, which critics say will disadvantage opposition parties and voters, and may be unconstitutional.
Simon Byamukama, chairman of the electoral commission, says his team will meet with the minister of information, the Media Council and the Uganda Communications Commission about the guidelines.
The RDCs, along with the police, have been known to deny members of the opposition access to the media – which has Uganda election observers worried.
Sarah Birete, associate director of the Center for Constitutional Governance, a Ugandan NGO, says the new campaign rules put older and rural voters – who are less likely to be online or have access to electronic media – at a disadvantage during an election campaign.
Land complaints review office in the pipeline
Thursday, June 4, 2020 0:01
By EDWIN MUTAI |
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale.
The Land Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2020, sponsored by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale establishes the office of a Complaints Reviewer at the Land Registry and the Survey of Kenya.
The office shall be responsible for providing “free, effective and impartial complaints review mechanism” by reviewing and determining complaints regarding land registration and survey services.
“This is geared towards ensuring the effective delivery of land registration and survey services by giving the public an avenue for lodging complaints and having their complaints resolved effectively,” Mr Duale says in the Bill’s memorandum of objects and reasons.
The reviewer shall only consider complaints that have been fully considered within the internal complaints procedures at the Land Registry and Survey of Kenya,” the bill states.
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe will preside over two more appeals to the Supreme Court even though his retirement date is just a week from now, Saturday Monitor has learnt.
In a cause-list released this week at the Supreme Court, Justice Katureebe will lead four other judges to determine two civil appeals.
Justice Kisaakye Kitimbo, the current office-in-charge of the Supreme Court, when asked why she decided to include the retiring Chief Justice on the panel to start hearings next week, said: \"He is still the Chief Justice and a Justice of the Courts of Judicature until June 20.
At that point, it was Justice Katureebe whose rise to the office of Chief Justice was being delayed because he had been recommended to the President as the most qualified candidate by the Judicial Service Commission.
The Judicial Service Commission has already conducted interviews and shared names of their preferred candidates to the President, with the race thought to be between Deputy Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo and Supreme Court Judge Richard Buteera.
