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Why Invest in Uganda?
Since 1991, over 2000 enterprises of various sizes have committed in excess of US$2.5 billi...]]>
Why Invest in Uganda?
Since 1991, over 2000 enterprises of various sizes have committed in excess of US$2.5 billion in actual investment into the country for projects that range from agriculture, manufacturing to transportation. For many investors, Uganda is an attractive investment location in Africa for the following reasons: -

ˇ Strategic location at the heart of Africa that guarantees ready access to regional markets
ˇ A predictable and stable economic environment
ˇ A fully liberalized economy
ˇ An abundant natural resource base
ˇ Demonstrated Government commitment to the private sector
ˇ Existence of a well-trained, English speaking workforce
ˇ Well-developed basic infrastructure, compared to other countries in the region
Uganda currently ranks as the fastest growing economy in Sub-Saharan Africa and in many ways, has come to reflect the new face of emerging Africa.

The Incentive Regime:
Along with an excellent macro-economic record, Uganda provides a competitive incentive regime for private sectors: -

ˇ Uniform corporation tax of 30%, which is the lowest in the region
ˇ Import duty exemptions for plant and machinery
ˇ Duty draw-back facility for exporters
ˇ A fully liberalized foreign exchange regime with no restrictions on the movement of capital in and out of the country.
ˇ A freely convertible and stable currency
ˇ Special initial allowance (accelerated depreciation) of 50 - 75 per cent on plant and machinery
ˇ 100% initial allowance for training, scientific research and mineral exploration expenditures
ˇ Value Added Tax (VAT) deferral facilities for plant and machinery
ˇ First Arrival Privileges in the form of duty exemptions for motor vehicle and personal effects to all investors and expatriates coming to Uganda

Investment Opportunities:
The following is an outline of investment opportunities in some of the priority areas

Floriculture:
Floriculture gives the most attractive return on investment in agriculture in Uganda (30-40%) but requires high investment. The industry requires expansion and new enterprises, and the market can absorb an increase in production. Opportunities include production and supply of propagation materials to farmers, manufacture of greenhouse construction and packaging materials,

Fish and Fish Farming Industry:
The industry has emerged in recent years to become one of Uganda's leading foreign exchange earners. Opportunities include the processing of value added products such as canned fish, aquaculture, and fish leather processing.

Cotton and Textile Industry:
A number of investment opportunities exist in the textile sector. These include growing of cotton for export, establishment of ginneries, and supply of inputs to farmers and production of edible oil from cotton.

Building and Construction Industry:
Opportunities include the provision of low cost housing in the urban and semi-urban areas, provision of housing and mortgage finance, and provision of construction equipment and building materials.

Foods and Beverages Sector:
Investment opportunities do exist mainly utilization of local agricultural raw materials to manufacture agro-processed products with higher export potential. Additional opportunities exist for support industries to the sector for example in packaging; value added processing and cold storage at export points.

Education Sector:
There are more opportunities in the education sector most especially at post primary level. These include secondary education, technical and vocational education, development of computer skills, managerial skills training.

Financial Services:
Given the favourable climate, stable macro-economic environment and political stability, There is enormous potential in the following areas: Merchant Banking, Development Banking, Commercial Banking, Discount Houses, Insurance Services, Leasing, Mortgage Financing, Building Societies, Micro-Financing Services, Specialized Training Institutions

Fruits and Vegetables:
Opportunities include commercial farming of fruits and vegetables, processing, production and export of de-hydrated fruits, cold storage facilities at collection points, organic farming, and irrigation schemes for commercial farms to ensure harvest throughout the year

Electronics Sector:
Opportunities include the establishment of service centres for the available brand radio, television and power conditioning equipment and the manufacture and assembly of computer equipment targeting the local and regional markets.

Dairy Sector:
Major investments opportunities exist in the production of powder milk and long life milk such as condensed milk or ultra heat-treated (UHT) milk, processing of dairy products such as butter, cheese, ice cream, yoghurt and ghee. There also exist opportunities in dairy cattle and goat breeding and dairy farm management.

Tourism Sector:
Opportunities in the sector include tour operations, water sports and related activities, accommodation, conferences and incentives travel, national park concessions, privatisation, and joint ventures with existing players.

More details on investment opportunities are available in the Sector Profiles and copies are available with the Uganda Investment Authority.

Investment Guarantees:
MIGA Coverage - Uganda became a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) in 1992. Under this agency, foreign investors can insure their investment in Uganda against a wide range of non-commercial risks including expropriation, currency transfers, breach of contract and civil strife. Foreign investors can apply for MIGA coverage through UIA.

Overseas Investment Insurance Scheme - The scheme provides insurance cover for UK companies against the perceived political risks of investing in foreign markets.
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) - An agreement signed in 1998 with the above US agency seeks to guarantee American investment in Uganda.
Uganda has also signed bilateral investment protection agreements with a number of other countries.

Uganda Investment Authority:
UIA is the agency set up by Government to promote investment in Uganda, to market Uganda's investment opportunities to targeted investors all over the world; to coordinate the national investment-marketing program and to serve as a point of contact for investors interested in Uganda. As a business oriented agency, UIA is manned by prof3essional staff that help investors by facilitating them in implementing their planned investments with minimal problem. UIA also advises Government on appropriate investment friendly policies and is generally equipped to swiftly handle investors' requirements for information or action.

Financial Support/Assistance:
Foreign investors can apply for loans from the local banking sector. Investors can also list their projects on the local stock exchange. A number of projects exist to support investors in given sectors. UIA can advise potential investors on the how and where to access existing financing options for their planned investors.



Getting Started - A Brief Guide

Foreign investors require a minimum investment of US$100,000 in order to secure an investment license from the Uganda Investment Authority. For local investors, the minimum investment requirement is US$50,000. Local investors, however, may proceed with their investors without licensing with the Uganda Investment Authority.

As a new investor, you will need to go through the following steps to start up your investment in Uganda: -

Step 1 - Register your company in Uganda

Register your company in Uganda at the Registrar General's office and obtain the following documents: -

Memorandum and Articles of Association
Certificate of Incorporation

Step 2 - Get your Investment License

Apply for an investment license using UIA Form 1 and attach the following:-

Memorandum and Articles of Association
Certificate of Incorporation for (limited liability companies)
Business Plan

Normal processing time for an investment license is 2 - 5 days.



Step 3 - Secure necessary secondary clearances

As you proceed to implement your project, you may require certain secondary permits or clearances depending on the nature of your investment e.g. for mining activity, air transport, banking, forestry. UIA can assist you to obtain such secondary licenses as well as get access to other services. UIA can also assist you in obtaining suitable industrial land, work permits for your expatriate staff, and utilities like telephone, electricity and water.



Import and Export in Uganda:

In terms of exports and imports, few countries in Africa provide the sort of strategic location that Uganda offers to the investors. The country is located at the heart of East and Central Africa, a region that includes some of Africa's most economically important countries.

Uganda is a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States (COMESA), a reign with a market of over 300 million people and bringing together 20 countries. As a trading bloc, COMESA imports more than US$17 billion and exports over US$13 billion worth of goods each year.

Investors in COMESA countries like Uganda enjoy preferential treatment for their intra-COMESA exports by way of reduced tariffs. The target is to reduce tariffs for intra-regional exports to zero by the year 2,000.

Uganda is also a member of the East African Cooperation bringing together Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

In terms of international market access, Uganda offers the prospective investor preferential access to the European Union and United States of America for a number of exports.

Uganda has also signed bilateral trade and investment promotion agreements to promote export and import with the United Kingdom, Italy, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Egypt, India, China, Germany, the Netherlands and many other countries.

Visa/Entry (Work) Permit:
A visitor is given single journey visa to Uganda and on arrival he/she is issued with a visitor's pass for purposes of either spending a holiday, travelling, or investigating the possibilities of caring on any business, trade or profession in Uganda (see fact sheet on visas for fees and countries exempted).

Please bring spare passport photographs.

Multiple entry visas can be granted to business executives, who expect to make numerous visits either for business meetings or organization.

Entry Permit Classes:
A Persons in Government services, UN organizations, OAU, PTA and other Institutions approved by the minister.
A Contracting companies of the for said organizations
B-F Investors in various disciplines
G Employees

Investors and employees are required by law to execute a security bond equivalent to the cost of a single economy class ticket to their country of origin. The money if necessary, is used for purposes of defraying expenses incurred or may be incurred by the Government in connection with maintenance and/or repatriation of the person of whom the deposit ahs been made.

No entry permit fee is charged for class A1.
For all other classes, the payments at published rates are made in foreign currency or its equivalent in local currency. Renewals of entry permits are provided at annual rates.

Visas:
Effective March 1, 1999, Government of Uganda introduced visa requirements for all visitors entering Uganda. Therefore; -

ˇ All foreigners travelling to Uganda will be required to obtain visas from Uganda Diplomatic and Consular missions abroad prior to their travel.
ˇ Visas can be obtained at entry point in cases where foreign nationals cannot access a Uganda Diplomatic and

ECONOMY - PRIVATISATION

Potential investors in Uganda, as in all countries, investors must, before they start operations, obtain various permits or certificates.
Uganda Investment Authority was et up to act as one - stop - center for facilitating investors, who may not be familiar with the various procedures that may be required. The formalities are detailed below:

Info


Authority/Organisation.

License
An investment license is required for all foreign Investors before any of their investments become operational.


Uganda Investment Authority
Plot 28 Kampala Road
Tel: 251562-5, 234105
Fax: 342903
E-mail: info@ugandainvest.com
http://www.ugandainvest.com

Registering a Business


Registrar of Companies
Ministry of Justice
Parliamentary Buildings
P.O.Box 7183 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: 233219
E-mail: registrar@justice.go.ug
http://www.justice.go.ug

Issuance of Trading License
A trading license is required of any business operating in Uganda.
The license is issued by the local authority (town or city council).


The Relevant City/Town Council

Environmental Compliance
The National Environment Management Authority is the authorized body to issue environment impact assessment.


National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)
Communications House, Colville Street, 4th Floor
Tel: 236817/251064/5/8
Fax: 257521/232680
E-mail: nema@imul.com
http:// www.nemaug.org

Importation/Clearance of Plant and Machinery
An investor importing plant and machinery as defined in Section 84 & 85 of the Finance Bill, 1999 is not required to pay import duty, VAT, Withholding tax and Import commission


Assistant Commissioner, Technical
Uganda Revenue Authority.
MTAC - Nakawa, Jinja Road
Tel: 220090
http://www.ugrevenue.com

First Arrival Privileges
A foreign investor who holds an investment license and his expatriate staff are entitled to import a personal vehicle and personal effects, free of import duty and VAT, under First Arrival Privileges.


The Deputy Commissioner,
VAT Department,
Uganda Revenue Authority.
Plot 2A, Kampala Road
Tel: 231176/231178
Fax: 221778
http://www.ugrevenue.com

VAT Deferred Payment Arrangement
Licensed Investors can enjoy Deferred VAT Payment Facility on plant and machinery, raw materials for drugs, seedlings, greenhouse equipment, plastic sleeves, and tea clones for a period of one calendar month.
The facility is granted on consignment-by-consignment basis, as approved by Commissioner VAT.


Uganda Revenue Authority
VAT Department
http://www.ugrevenue.com

Tax Objections and Appeals
A taxpayer that is dissatisfied with a tax assessment may lodge an objection to the assessment with the Commissioner of Income Tax who will take action.

If the investor is not satisfied with the action taken, the investor may appeal to the Tax Appeals Tribunal located at NIC Building, Kampala.


The Assistant Commissioner
Technical and Inspectorate
Internal Revenue Department
Uganda Revenue Authority
Colline House 4TH Floor
Tel: 345568/345565

Export Procedures/ Duty Draw-back facility
There are NO taxes imposed on all exports or re-exports from Uganda.
However, all investors are required to follow certain procedures in order to be able to claim refund on duties paid on inputs used in the production of the exported goods.


The Commissioner Customs and Excise
Tel: 222506

The Assistant Commissioner Central
Tel: 221866 - Kampala
Tel: 221858
http://www.ugrevenue.com

Application for Fixed Line
(Uganda Telecom Limited)
Note: - Average time for installation is 1 - 3 weeks. In case DPs are full the time can be 3 - 6 months.


Uganda Telecom
Rwenzori Courts
P.O.Box 2518 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: 256-41-346055/246354
Fax: 256-41-342762
http://www.utl.co.ug

Application for Water Supply


The Managing Director
National Water and Sewerage Corporation

Application for Electricity Supply
Note:
For routine installations, the UEB generally has the required equipment ex-stock and installation typically occurs within 2-4 months after payment depending on the size of the job. In Jinja and Entebbe the time lag between payment and installation may be shorter.


Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy
Amber House,
Plot 29/31 Kampala Road
Tel: 346199/235119

Work and Entry Permits
The UIA assists investors in obtaining work permits from the Immigration Control Board.
Licensed investors are required to submit their work permit applications through the UIA for faster and easier processing.
Classes of Work Permits


The Commissioner Department of Immigration
Ministry of Internal Affairs
P.O. Box 7165 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: 231641/231031
http://www.immigration.go.ug

Approval of Building Plans by Kampala City Council
(KCC)


The Information Desk
Kampala City Council
City Hall, Room B8
Tel: 244000

Civil Aviation Authority
Entebbe International Airport


Tel: 320516/320517
Fax: 321401
Email: caa@starcom.co.ug

Taxation in Uganda

Principal Taxes:

Uganda's principal taxes are income tax both on individuals and companies, Value Added Tax, customs, and excise duty levied by the Central Government through the Uganda Revenue Authority and Graduated Tax and land rates, which are levied by local authorities.

Filing:

All registered business organizations are under obligation to send a provisional return of income for any year of income as follows: -

Individuals:

not later than three months from the commencement of the 12 months ending in such year of income for which such individual makes up his or her accounts and in any other case of an individual, not later than March 31 of such year of income;

Corporate bodies:

Not later than six months from the commencement of the period of 12 months ending in such year of income for which the body prepares the accounts and in any case not later than June 30 in such year of income.]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/92/brief-guide-on-how-to-invest-in-uganda/ Tue, 16 Oct 2012 03:41:23 +0000 Site Admin http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/58/vihangam-yoga-a-divine-light/ Brahma Vidya (Divine knowledge) Vihangam Yoga is the original pure and ultimate knowledge to be learned by every human being to realize the Self and t... The word “Vihangam” means a bird, and just as a bird leaves its base on the earth to fly high in the sky, So does Vihangam Yoga enable the human soul to cut off its moorings in the phenomenal world and realize its true and free nature. “Yog “ means UNION .Union of Soul and Supreme Soul (God ) is Yog.One of the basic principle of Vihangam yoga says that , one cannot achieve the Supreme Soul without knowing oneself. First realize the Soul and then the Supreme Soul. Mind, Soul and Akshar Brahma (Cosmic Executor) are the basis of Yog.The true definition of Yoga establish when the consciousness soul unites with the conscious Supreme Soul . Yog or Union is always only with entities of same properties. Soul and Supreme Soul Its the spiritual science, which reveals the secret of Universe and God. Principles of Vihangam Yoga : The knowledge of Vihagam Yoga is not bookish it is the practical knowledge.Vihangam Yog does not remain struck with physical asans ( Physical Exercise ) and pranayam , but it is an spiritual level it is on the level of soul. Sadguru Says : When our body perishes ,our soul leaves his body ,then the Prakriti (physical ) based yoga also perish with the body itself, the yoga come to an end. But Soul is Eternal, that never end. Therefore, to build a spiritual life ,to attain principle objective of yoga Vihangam Yoga originator,Sadfal Deo ji Maharaj has always directed the yoga on conscious plane.Primay principle says ,Control the mind first and then move it inwards towards the soul. Vihangam Yoga Meditation has been proved authentic and giving positive results by many researchers.Vihangam Yoga is beyond all the physical based exercise which are not of conscious plane. It starts when all the physical terms ends. It is beyond this Physical world. It is the way to Spirituality. Thus, Vihangam Yoga is the Gate to the Eternal Meta-Physical world that is the spiritual world,way to Ultimate God only under the under the guidance of True Teacher (Sadguru) and keeping true faith and devotion towards Sadguru.Even god does not liberate the soul without Sadguru.Sadguru guides us the true path.Sadguru Swami Sadafal Deo ji says : “ I will free you from the wheel of birth and death and let you to the Enternal Land “. But the only thing is that to follow him with our full faith. Meditation, Service to Sadguru and Satsang are also very important. Yoga starts with the purification of practitioner. The very initial stages of yoga strengthen the inner self and the soul's mourning in the material world. The practitioner remain calm and composed even during times of adversity. One's Concentration, will power, and determination improve dramatically. Upon successful competition of this initial stage, the practitioner gains control over his habits, lifestyle and health, Improve productivity and time management result. The moral values improve. All these add up to to make a stronger, better and most importantly happier person. Vihangam yoga helps us to go into Spirituals world while enjoying and fulfilling the responsibly of the physical world.]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/58/vihangam-yoga-a-divine-light/ Tue, 08 May 2012 06:07:51 +0000 Rajesh Sahay http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/45/gals-and-guys-is-kony-2012-a-scam/
The more money they collect, the more these Invisible Children executives pay themselves hefty bonuses. Base salary for Invisible Children exec is about $85, 0000. When allowances and bonuses are added, these guys make over $160,000 a year. Just think what this money they lavish themselves with, could do for the people in Africa for whom they claim to be collecting donations for.

COPIED FROM HTTP://WWW.KONY2012-IS-A-SCAM.ORG THIS IS SITE SAYS IT IS. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Invisible Children Inc does NOT have an Independent and external Auditor. Their Financial Statements as submitted to the Charity Navigator web site cannot be independently verified. It should be assumed to be a cooked financial statement since it was submitted by their in house Auditor and can not be substantiated by a third party.

Invisible Children Inc Executives have retained expensive Lawyers and in the past have been threatening libel suits to any one who dares to question their financial operations or their ethical legitimacy. They have also used your donation money to hire expensive Washington lobbyists to influence policies to suit their objectives. There close social relationships with African Oppressive regimes have also ensured that they have been protected and shrouded in biased and lopsided misinformation for years.

For the last 2 years less than 10% of funds collected by Invisible Children are sent to the Ground to help the Ugandan Children. Previous to that, less than 30% of the money they collected was sent to Uganda to help the Ugandan People. A preliminary survey of all projects and activity on the Ground in Uganda to help the Uganda Children does not even total up to $1.5 Million of the $13 Million they have collected in donations so far.

The Executives of Invisible Children have used the 'Invisible Children Inc' Charity to farther their own Careers in Media, Film and Music. Before Invisible Children Inc started, the Executive directors where Media arts students who went to Africa to look for project to farther their careers. They first went to Southern Sudan on a hit and miss venture and by just by chance they went farther south and stumbled upon the conflict in Northern Uganda. Since then they have capitalized on the Uganda -Joseph Kony War to spear head their media, film and music careers. They have also become stinky rich and drive in fancy cars and live in fancy houses with your donation money.

Now in2012, Invisible Children has created this STOP Kony 2012 viral video campaign to mislead people that they are collecting money to help catch Joseph Kony? The LRA Joseph kony war, that they talk about in their video has ended over 3 years ago. Joseph Kony has Not been seen or heard from, for the last two years and is actually believed to be dead. The United Nations however has reported that villages in Central Africa have recently been raided and people killed by thugs believed to be the LRA soldiers of Joseph Kony.

What many people do not kow, is that over 5 months ago, the USA Government had already sent 100 combat marine soldiers to Uganda and Central Africa to catch Joseph Kony. These Marines are co-coordinating their efforts with the armies of Uganda, DR Congo, South Sudan, and Central African Republic in an effort to Catch Kony. How is the Money you donate going to be used help catch Joseph Kony? Does Invisible Children have an Army in Africa that they are collecting this money to equip for a mission to catch kony? On invisible children's donate website, they write that; "To bring home Joseph Kony’s child soldiers, it will take an army of individuals making a monthly commitment through TRI contributions" Is the Money you donate to Invisible Children and Kony2012 being given to the United States Government to capture Kony? Off course Not. Will the Money be sent to Africa to Help the African Poor People? Yes only only less than 10%. So what will Invisible Children do with the rest of the 90% of your money? Yes Think About it!!!

Besides the viral Video of kony2012 contains recycled materials outdated six years ago. The Ugandan kids you see in those Videos are already over 21 years and are currently struggling in Uganda to continue with their lives while, Invisible Children is still Sensationalizing them for their own personal gains. The information in the kony2012 Viral video is half untrue, t is misleading, biased and completely out dated.

The Viral Youtube ‘Invisible Children’ Video does not focus on helping Ugandan children but rather on showcasing the media skills of the video maker. If you want to Donate Money to help Children In Uganda, You are better off donating your money to any of the many Charity Organizations that deal directly with helping people. Do NOT waste your money and donate to Invisible Children.

Scam Artist Charity Organisatons like Invisible Children Inc MUST BE STOPPED. It s very sickening when they exploit peoples sympathy and empathy and use poor African Children for their own selfish gratification.

Scam Charity Organizations like Invsible Children MUST BE STOPPED!!!

You can comment or participate in discussing this topic in the FORUM SECTION]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/45/gals-and-guys-is-kony-2012-a-scam/ Sun, 11 Mar 2012 07:30:59 +0000 Site Admin http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/30/uganda-beats-canada-2-1-in-baseball-ugandan-news-com/
They did it after they played Langley, British Columbia, in an exciting game that was supposed to have been played at the Little League World Series five months ago in Williamsport, Pa. But so did the Canadian kids. Yes, even though the final score was Uganda 2, Canada 1, both teams won.

Before the game, Langley coach Dean Cantelon told his players, "Boys, we have been blessed by the baseball gods. Enjoy this moment." Indeed, the weather was as good as it gets at the equator in January, and as the morning sun crept higher, so did the anticipation. Ruth Hoffman, a Vancouver woman who organized the Pearl of Africa Series along with Right To Play, took deep breaths to relax before the ceremonial first pitch. Two buses filled with baseball fans from the Nsambya area of Kampala, 35 miles away, announced their arrival with vuvuzelas and cheers. Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who paid for the buses, was here, along with Derrek Lee and Gregg Zaun. Standing sentinel was Richard Stanley, a New Yorker who has built this unlikely baseball complex with his own money and vision.
There was also significance in some of the lesser-known spectators who looked down upon the field from the hill that ran along the left-field line and served as a natural backstop. A team of young players from Nairobi had driven 12 hours for the game. In attendance were coaches from as far away as Kuwait, as well as the JICA (Japanese Peace Corps) workers who had helped train the Ugandans. The grandmother of Ivan Luyombya, perhaps the Ugandan team's best player, had traveled here from the equipment shed at Kyambogo University where she had raised Ivan and his three younger siblings, thanks to the generosity of the parents of second baseman Jonah Kizza. Trent Ward, the president of WCT Resources in Oklahoma City, came with his wife and two young sons. Ward is the donor who gave $35,000 for a new field at the Sharing Youth Center in Nsambya. Ward said when he read to his sons about what was needed, "they told me we had to build the field. So this is as much about them as it is me."


All in all, there were more than 200 people in the crowd, which might not sound like much, but it was more than Ugandan coach George Mukhobe had ever seen at one of his games.

"This will give the kids courage," he said. When it came time for Hoffman to throw out the first ball, she took one more deep breath … and threw a perfect strike to Ugandan catcher Brian Ssegawa. Plate umpire Chuck Dufton, who had flown in from Ottawa to conduct clinics and call the game, summoned the coaches and told them, "Let's have fun out there."

Mukhobe used six pitchers in the game, one for each inning, and the first, David Arago, wore his black-and-yellow shirt inside out so that the No. 4 was backwards. But there was nothing wrong with his pitching. His first pitch to leadoff hitter Nick Atkinson was a strike, and he got through the inning 1-2-3. The Ugandans like to throw the ball crisply around the horn even after the third out.

Langley's starting pitcher was Yi-An Pan, one of the lanky identical twin brothers who helped Canada beat Taiwan in the Little League World Series, in part because they are Taiwanese and know the language. They're also very talented, and Yi-An struck out the first two Ugandan batters. But then Brian walked, Ivan singled to right and Solomon Gingo hit a ball to first base that took a bad hop. The bases were loaded. Brian scored on a wild pitch to Arnold Ahebwa, whom Yi-An eventually struck out. Uganda 1, Canada 0.

That score stood until the sixth and last inning. But that didn't mean there wasn't any action. Canada threatened in the top of the second against Adrian Lutaya. In the bottom of that inning, Jonah hit what normally would be a two-out single to center. But because it took a totally unpredictable bounce past the outfielders, it could only rightly be scored as a triple. After Abooki Barugahare, the smallest player on the field, reached on a catcher's interference, Kenneth Mugaya came to the plate.

This presented an interesting situation because Kenneth, who was raised at the Mama Jane orphanage in Jinja, and Langley catcher Connor McCreath had become the best of friends. In fact, the Ugandan players were so comfortable with Connor that they would ask him, "What's my name?" every time they came to the plate. "I think he got nine out of 10 right," said Dufton, the umpire. When Kenneth stepped into the box, Connor told him, "Good luck today. By the way, we're going to strike you out."

They didn't get a chance to -- Connor threw out Abooki trying to steal second to end the threat.

In the top of the third, the other Canadian twin, Yi-Fan Pan, hit a shot to center that ended up as a triple. But George Bekunda got Cole Cantelon to ground out, stranding Yi-Fan. Kenneth did not strike out in the bottom of the third, but he did make an out on a nice 1-3 play by Yi-An, who left after that inning with six strikeouts.

Solomon walked Yi-An to start the fourth, but then struck out Connor and Riley Ens. After the second strikeout, Yi-An tried to steal second and got caught in a perfectly executed rundown -- the Ugandans call it a "circus," and their fans demonstrated their inside knowledge of the game by applauding as if they were at one.

Yi-Fan took over on the mound and struck out the first two batters. Then Ivan hit a ball along the right-field line that bounded down a hill for a ground-rule double. He stole third, but Yi-Fan struck out Solomon to end the inning.

Augustus Owinyi breezed through the top of the fifth. Yi-Fan walked Arnold Ahebwa to start the bottom of the inning, then gave up a misplayed single that lured Arnold home, where Connor tagged him out on a beautifully executed relay.

Yes, the Ugandans are good. So are the Canadians, who were undermanned -- they brought 10 players, and one of them couldn't play because of heat stroke -- but were finally getting their sea legs.

Ivan, who was saved for last because he's Uganda's best pitcher, retired the first two batters in the top of the sixth. So the Canadians were one out away from a 1-0 loss when Cole hit a ball that handcuffed Augustus at first and resulted in a two-base error. Yi-An then hit a ground-rule double down the right-field line to tie the score. He might've scored on Connor's subsequent bloop single to right, but he didn't get a good two-out jump. Ivan struck out Riley to end the inning.

There it stood, 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth. The tallest player on the field (Yi-Fan) versus the shortest (Abooki.) The team with resources versus the team without. Just like in the movies, Abooki stroked a solid single, and then stole second. Yi-Fan got the next two batters, though Abooki advanced to third on a fielder's choice. That brought Augustus to the plate.

Augustus had made the error that opened the door for the Canadians in the sixth, but his at-bat was about a little more than redemption. He had been on the 2010 team that went to the Africa/Middle East regionals in Kutno, Poland, only to be told he was too young to play. And he was one of the members of the 2011 team that beat perennial winner Saudi Arabia in the regionals, only to be told they couldn't travel to the U.S. without proper age documentation. Fate kind of owed him.

He singled between first and second, and Abooki raced home, well ahead of the throw. Uganda 2, Canada 1. The Ugandan players picked up Abooki (which wasn't hard) and carried him around. As fans streamed down from the hill to join in the celebration, Cantelon gathered his Canadian players and told them how proud he was of them and how lucky they all were to be a part of this. Coach George wandered off into the outfield, overcome with emotion.

And then, suddenly, the players took off into the outfield, Ugandans followed by Canadians, sliding just for the pure joy of it.

Exhausted, they came back in for the medal ceremony and a team picture -- not two team pictures, but one team picture. They conducted interviews with media members who had never actually seen a game before. After gathering up their equipment -- the Ugandans had been given new bat bags by Easton -- they wandered back to the lunch pavilion together and ate alongside each other: black-and-yellow shirts mixed with white-and-red ones.

They'll play again later this week, near the source of the Nile in Jinja, but not before going on a safari together at Lake Mburo National Park. The trip will be as eye-opening for the Ugandans as it will be for the Canadians because most of the players have never been able to afford to travel around their own country.

As for the 200 or so witnesses, well, they not only saw a great game -- "I especially liked it that the little guy scored the winning run," Rollins said -- but a great beginning.

Call it the Ugandan start. HTTP://WWW.UGANDAN-NEWS.COM



By Steve Wulf who is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/30/uganda-beats-canada-2-1-in-baseball-ugandan-news-com/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:32:57 +0000 Betty Achiro http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/21/uganda-museveni-039-s-brutal-reality-obscured-by-canadian-firm-hill-and-kno/ General Yoweri Museveni has ruled Uganda for more than 25 years. Since taking power in a 1986 military coup, he has stacked this Central African count...

Having ruled Uganda since 1986, Yoweri Museveni has been likened to Robert Mugabe

Museveni has used the state treasury to build a climate of fear through a security apparatus that persecutes dissidents and critics with imprisonment, torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings. He has reduced the country's parliament to a rubber-stamp body, censored the nation's media, and militarized its civil institutions.

To distract his countrymen, Museveni has fanned the flames of homophobia in Uganda to the point of encouraging legislation that would penalize homosexuality with execution. By rallying the public against "the homosexual threat" with one hand, he is able to free his other hand to continue consolidating his repressive rule. Museveni is waging a war on Uganda's gay community and its human rights activists.

Reports from groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch confirm the country's descent into authoritarianism. According to British journalist Peter Tatchell, today's Uganda is, "in effect, a constitutional dictatorship," and Museveni is "the new Robert Mugabe."

Most readers may have heard a very different story: one about how Museveni's "strong leadership" has brought stability, economic growth, and a successful HIV/AIDS policy to war-torn Uganda. Indeed, Bill Clinton once lauded him as the head of a "new breed" of African leaders. As the Economist noted, Museveni has been "kindly treated" by the international media.

In large part, Museveni's transgressions have continued to be downplayed because he took power in the wake of Idi Amin's butchery and disastrous civil war. But the main reason Museveni has escaped criticism is that he enjoys an excellent public relations service.

Dictators like Museveni often hire PR firms to whitewash their records. These companies, mostly based in the U.S. and Europe, specialize in distracting the public from evidence of human-rights violations with glowing rhetoric about stability, economic growth, and commitments to help the poor. Their propaganda finds its way into sources that are deemed reliable by many journalists, from articles in respectable news outlets to citizen media like Wikipedia.

Examples of firms that whitewash the human-rights violations of despotic regimes include Bell Pottinger (for Egypt's Hosni Mubarak), Qorvis Communications (for Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang), Brown Lloyd James (for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi), and Hill & Knowlton, which has made a small fortune working for Yoweri Museveni and has offices in every major world capital.

When companies are exposed or criticized for their activities, they respond that their associations with these regimes are "limited engagements" lasting only a few months or that their assignments have to do exclusively with "tourism" or "economic progress." If the true nature and extent of their work is revealed, they say that they are consultants helping to create "economic opportunity," providing a guiding hand to governments as they seek to improve the lives of their country's poor.

On its webpage, Hill & Knowlton claims that "since becoming president in 1986, Yoweri Museveni has introduced democratic reforms and has been credited with substantially improving human rights."

This couldn't be farther from the truth about Uganda, where political opponents disappear, where journalists are arrested for criticizing the government, and where any comprehensive human rights report contains appalling anecdotes and disturbing analysis about a country where the judiciary has very little independence and where the regime has very little respect for the rule of law.

An example of effective media manipulation is how the Hill & Knowlton quote provided above from their webpage can be found word-for-word in the BBC country profile of Uganda. From there, this mendacious fantasy has spread like wildfire (Go ahead, Google the quotation).

PR agents try to alter the public perception of reality, distracting us from human-rights violations so that deals and foreign aid can flow faster and in larger quantities (usually into Swiss bank accounts) -- while the PR agents themselves are rewarded handsomely.

25 years ago, upon the death of Bergen University professor Thorolf Rafto, a prize was created to honor his lifetime commitment to human rights. Professor Rafto began to pursue human-rights work after reading Vladimir V. Tchernavin's I Speak for the Silent Prisoners of the Soviets. He organized student protests against the Gulag and devoted the rest of his life to individual rights. The 2011 Rafto Prize laureate is Ugandan individual-rights activist Frank Mugisha. He is recognized at a ceremony here in Bergen for standing up against Museveni's scapegoating campaign against Uganda's community of sexual minorities.

Not being globally advertised, the Rafto Prize is not well known beyond a small but significant set of public intellectuals and policy institutions. But it has the distinction of having been awarded more than once to people who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Aung San Suu Kyi, Shirin Ebadi, Jos Manuel Ramos-Horta, and Kim Dae-jung were all presented with the Rafto Prize years before they were recognized by the Nobel Institute.

The Rafto Prize was first given in 1986 -- a quarter century ago. That is how long Museveni has treated Uganda as his personal fiefdom and violated the human rights of millions. Perhaps Hill & Knowlton will recognize the 25th anniversary of the Rafto Prize by doing some pro bono work for human rights defenders like Frank Mugisha.

Thor Halvorssen is president of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation and founder and CEO of the Oslo Freedom Forum. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/21/uganda-museveni-039-s-brutal-reality-obscured-by-canadian-firm-hill-and-kno/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:22:43 +0000 Fred Bongomin http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/20/interesting-facts-and-fiction-about-uganda-ugandanfacebook-com/ 2 - 11% of the worlds birds are in Uganda(Country with the most birds in the world)
3 - The capital City “Kampal...]]> 2 - 11% of the worlds birds are in Uganda(Country with the most birds in the world)
3 - The capital City “Kampala” is dusty
4 - Cars, Bodabodas(motor cycle taxi), Bicycles drive on the left side of the road
5 - Boda boda’s are the most the scariest motor bike riders on the left side of the road
6 - Uganda has no National Flower
7 - Bicycles are the main type of transportation in most rural towns of Uganda
8 - Uganda together with its neighbor Rwanda are the only countries with Mountain Gorillas in the world
9 - If you tell a “Ugandan, or Africans” to meet you at 1.00pm, don’t actually expect to see them until at least 1:30. This theory has been tested and proven and is known as East African Standard Time
10 - Ugandan ladies never incur call costs to men. To Avoid paying call charges, they only beep or flash men. Meaning they call you and hang up before you answer, so that you call them back and you incur call charges.
11- There is no such thing as ketchup, Only a red gel like for which ugandans call “Tomato sauce”.
12 - Ugandans tops the world in Alcohol per capita Consumption-(2007 report)with 19.47 litres per capita.
13 - Contrary to the popular belief by Europeans, Americans e.t.c, Officials at Entebbe Airport are not Lions, Trust me, many have been disappointed to see real human beings there at the booth.
14 - 53.9% of the Mountain Gorilla Population is in Uganda. (Only 700 of these endangered species survive and are shared among three(3) countries Incl. Rwanda and DRC
15 - Uganda has 6.8% of World butterfly species
16 - The capital City “Kampala” is one of the dirtiest and potholed cities in the world
17 - There are over 30-plus different indigenous language spoken in Uganda
18 - English is the national language of Uganda
19 - People don't live on trees in Uganda!
20 - Some people i.e the pygmies and bushmen live in Bushes.
21 - Uganda is the smallest of the only 4 African countries whose bird species is above the 10000 mark(Recorded within an area comparable to the size of Great Britain)
22 - Uganda has one of the smallest churches in Uganda measuring roughly 2.5 metres by 1.5 metres.
23 - Uganda is Ranked 3rd in Magic and Wizardry in the world.
24 - 7.8% species of the world mammals are in Uganda.
24 - The Longest river(River Nile) in the world has its source in Uganda.
25 - The earliest-known ancestor of modern apes and humans, the 20 million old fossilized Morotopithecus were unearthed in the 60's near moroto in Eastern Uganda and are now housed at the National Museum.
26 - Being Openly Gay or Lesbian is a crime!
27 - Its the country with the highest density of primates in the world
28 - Uganda has more in inland, water bodies compared to any country on the continent.
29 - The worlds 2nd largest fresh water body, Lake Victoria is partly found in Uganda.
30 - World’s largest caldera mountains on Mt Elgon are in Uganda.
31 - Uganda is Number 110 for freedom of the press according to Freedom House Press Freedom Report.
32 - People from Europe/America are seen as a ticket out of poverty, They will not hesitate to marry them.
33 - They drive on the left side of the Road
34 - Uganda has the 117st ‘happiest’ index place on earth according to the Happy Planet.]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/20/interesting-facts-and-fiction-about-uganda-ugandanfacebook-com/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:55:18 +0000 Betty Achiro http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/15/regrets-from-intellectuals-in-the-nato-countries-on-premature-libyan-war/
Canada and its allies claim their war ...]]>
Canada and its allies claim their war against the Gaddafi regime was justified under the new international Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle. R2P guarantees people protection in various situations. Genocide? War crimes? Time for regime change? Under R2P, almost anything seems possible.




So, Canada responded to the colonel's threats against dissidents by clearing the Gaddafi Gang out of the Libyan corral.

But here's the problem.

Before all this, monstrous Moammar was playing pretty straight with us. He had largely backed away from terrorism. And thanks to the 2003 U.S. Iraq invasion, he got the message, ditched nuclear research and spilled the beans on his atomic suppliers.

Yes, Gaddafi would have slaughtered thousands in response to the Libyan uprising. But Canadians were, by and large, safe. Our R2P operations in Libya have changed that.

We launched a regime-change operation without any idea who would replace Gaddafi. In an orgy of post facto fact-finding, Foreign Minister John Baird raced into Libya with the foregone political conclusion: the rebels are our pals. French President Sarkozy achieved something similar by sending philosopher Bernard-Henri Lvy -- "God is dead but my hair is perfect," goes the current jibe -- to Libya to rubber stamp comparably rash declarations.



Such people were oblivious to the Sinjar Records. These captured documents pinpoint origins of foreign terrorists in Iraq, and give evidence of the kinds of Islamists who might replace Gaddafi. West Point's Combating Terrorism Center concluded from these papers that Libya supplied roughly double per capita the terrorists provided by that 9/11 terrorist launch-pad, Saudi Arabia.

As one news source reported, "of the half of Libyans who listed their "work" in Iraq, more than 85 per cent volunteered to be suicide bombers." Nice work if you can get it.

As an illustration of the possibilities, consider that today's garrison-commander of the all-important Tripoli area is Abdul Hakim Belhadj, an apparent extremist. A veteran of the 1980s' Afghan jihad, he is reportedly a former head of the Islamist Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Belhadj led the country's al-Qaeda underground, and was targeted by the CIA's renditions' program.

Then there were people like Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu, veteran of the Afghan jihad who was released from Guantanamo prison. Now a significant rebel leader, Qumu was declared by U.S. authorities "a probable member of al-Qaeda," according to the New York Times.

Add to this, reports that Sudan's army -- the sharp end of Khartoum's genocidal Islamist regime -- may have fought in Libya on the side of our National Transitional Council 'allies,' and be ready to shape the new Libyan leadership -- with Iran's help.

Then there is the draft Libyan constitution, imposing Sharia Islamic law. Such systems in other countries commonly manifest themselves in various forms of religious and gender apartheid. In Saudi Arabia, Iran and -- increasingly -- 'Arab Spring' Egypt, for example, non-Muslims are debased as second-class citizens, or worse, and women valued in fractional terms of men. As though to demonstrate the threat, the new post-Gaddafi acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril announced as a first act of "liberation" the quashing of Gaddafi laws banning polygamy.

Now that the possibility of a radical-Islamic Libya is finally dawning on western leaders, the White House and its allies have something further to fear: obtuse war-planning may have caused about 20,000 portable Libyan surface-to-air (SAM) missiles to go missing. Missiles like this eat airliners for breakfast.

Our political commanders ignored facts, especially this one: without enough boots on the ground, you cannot guard the arms depots of the state you've R2Ped into chaos. Guns and bombs -- and 20,000 missiles -- can go loose, be used by enemies to kill our forces and, eventually, average citizens here at home.

In this regard, it is amazing that air passengers weren't worthy of a little R2P-type concern when governments were planning Gaddafi's demise. We've known for decades that airliners have been dead ducks in the sights of SAMs. Only now are our blindsided governors thinking to ask how that radar-jamming-anti-heat-seeking-infrared research stuff is going.

So what is the result of all this R2P adventuring?

Canada charged into a military mission with no guarantee about which of our enemies might ultimately run Libya as a base targeting Canadians. Muslim Brotherhood? Al-Qaeda? Iran? Sudan? Some combination?

And to reinforce the risks, we supported international funding of Libya's new jumble of leadership, a leadership that is proving sympathetic to Sharia impositions.

Meanwhile, North Korea tells Britain's ambassador that the Libyan intervention taught Kim Jong-Il never to give up his nukes. Gaddafi did, they said, and look what happened to him. Has Canada helped save thousands in Libya only to hazard the future of millions of potential nuclear victims, including those West Coast Canadians within Pyongyang's ballistic missile range?

Concurrent with all this, Libya becomes an international weapons Wal-Mart that is literally going great guns in the Proliferation Department. Al-Qaeda and Iran's Quds Force are making off with everything from bullets to missiles.

True, most of this material could get detonated in the region. But you never know when some of it might come up to greet you on your next carefree airline descent into a Canadian airport.

Who will have the responsibility to protect you then?


David B. Harris]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/15/regrets-from-intellectuals-in-the-nato-countries-on-premature-libyan-war/ Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:07:00 +0000 Betty Achiro http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/14/western-style-democracy-is-a-ploy-to-exploit-africans/ African countries have never bothered to seriously sit and develop home-grown democratic institutions. Unless this is done, we will never witness true...

These are the choices that most africans get when in comes to vote


They stood united againts a percieved common enemy. But now the enemy is within. Their own bad african leaders who more than 98% are fielded by western governments in the name of democracy. The truth of the matter is that, one can never be a president in any country on earth unless they have a mean streak and are willing to kill or destroy an opponent so as to be in power. Barrack Obama is no exception. Perhaps Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela.

In rising up against colonial discrimination, marginalisation, forced labour, taxation, forced growing of cash crops, forceful removal from ancestral lands and other forms of oppression, Africans demonstrated that they value peace, justice and full participation in governance of their countries. Africa needs to develop a formula of democracy that enables its citizens to fully and equally participate in all its governance systems.


African youth being brain washed with the polluted western world democracy ideas. They cheer in hope.
Colonialists are determined against all odds, to continue exploiting Africa’s resources/raw materials to feed their industries back home. When they realised they could no longer fulfil African peoples’ demand for self rule, they devised means of pitting African tribes against each other and promoted religious rivalry. This explains why by the time most African countries got their independence, the existing political parties were largely formed based on ethnicity or religion. In Kenya for example, the Kenya African national Union (KANU) was dominated by the Kikuyu ethnic tribe; Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe is largely dominated by Shona people and in Uganda, the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) which ruled the country twice in 1960’s and 80’s was dominated by protestants.

This divide-and rule tactic has sustained disunity among Africans and led to wars, costing the lives of millions of Africans. Rwanda during the 1994 genocide where about one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus lost their lives as well as Ivory Coast, where hundreds of people lost their lives and thousands of others were displaced during the political impasse that followed December 2010 elections, that was largely between the Northerners on the side of Alassane Quattara, and southerners on the side of Laurent Gbagbo are cases in point.

Western (imported) democracy will lead Africa nowhere, apart from causing further hatred amongst Africans. Democracy that leads to war is not what Africa needs. African countries should develop new democratic models rooted in its people’s traditions that embrace such aspects as sharing, defending each other, protecting natural resources and respecting each other. In this way, peace and justice will flourish in Africa. The new democratic model should be embrace inclusiveness. All political parties in Africa should be broad based and draw members across all tribes and religions in their countries. The “winner it takes it all” politics should cease. Opportunities should be based on merit instead of party loyalty and ‘big man syndrome.’

Western driven democracy in Africa is cosmetic. It is designed to fulfil the hidden interests of western powers in Africa. That is why Africa has never developed. The scramble for Africa has reached fever-pitch again. Shall we be passive as we watch the resource-endowed continent disintegrate? Shall we be passive as we watch the continent dance to any wind of external music that wafts across it? Africans must be proactive and wean themselves off imported institutions, evolve own democratic and development models and determine their destiny.

By Moses Hategeka]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/14/western-style-democracy-is-a-ploy-to-exploit-africans/ Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:58:23 +0000 Kim Nsubuga http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/13/rwandans-in-australia-are-up-in-arms-againts-president-paul-kagame/

Paul Kagame, Warning Rwandans against Supporting General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa



About 500 people from across various states of Australia will participate in this protest against Kagame’s participation in Chogm. The protest is coordinated by Rwandan communities in Perth, Queensland and Sydney and will be supported by the Rwandan National Congress, the country’s strongest opposition political organisation.

“We are well prepared to put up a huge peaceful demonstration against President Paul Kagame’s visit to Australia. He has committed grave atrocities in Rwanda and perpetrated heinous crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” says the Protest Taskforce Co-ordinator, Robert Mukombozi.

“It is against the values of Australia that a leader who denies his people the fundamental freedoms should be allowed to participate in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM),” Mukombozi says.

Mr Kagame allegedly heads a grossly corrupt government-himself spending a whopping $20,000 on a hotel room per night while the average Rwandan lives under $1 a day and the country is dependent on +50% aid.

The Rwanda Patriotic Front government maintains its hold onto power through acts of repression, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings of critics and opponents of the regimes.

In Rwanda, leaders of political parties are languishing in prisons scattered around the country on fabricated charges of treason, inciting ethnic violence, sectarianism and genocide revisionism among other forms of vague accusations. They are currently imprisoned under cruel and inhumane conditions in Kigali. Ms Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Mr Bernard Ntaganda, Mr. Deo Mushayidi, Mr.Charles Ntakirutinka, Ms.Seraphine Mukamana, Mr.Andrew Muganwa are among the critical voices that are perishing in prisons. Other politicians like Andre Kagwa Rwisereka have been murdered while members of popular political organisations like the Rwandan National Congress are now exiled.

Military officers that have tried to promote democracy, rule of law and political pluralism have also been exiled, particularly, former Chief of Staff Lt.Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa (who survived an assassination attempt on 19th June 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa) and former external intelligence chief Colonel Patrick Karegeya. They are allegedly being hunted by hit squads for opposing military rule.

Opposition parties such as United Democratic Forces-FDU Inkingi, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and The Social Party-Imberakuri have been blocked from participating in the political affairs of Rwanda.

Apart from harassing the opposition, the government of Rwanda has enormously tampered the freedom of speech in the country, shattering independent media meant to check the government.

In July 2010, Mr. Jean-Lonard Rugambage, a journalist and critic of the government, was murdered. Newspapers that are critical of government have been forced to close down (UMUSESO, The Weekly Post, Umuco, Le Journal Afrique and UMUVUGIZI Newspapers among others) and their owners forced to flee the country.

Many Rwandan journalists are now operating online from exile because of threats to their lives. Mr Ally Yusuf Mugenzi, Jean Bosco Gasasira, Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, Thomas Kamirindi, Steven Baguma, Lucie Umukundwa, Charles Kabonero, Eleneus Akanga, Mugisha Furaha, Didas Gasana and Amiel Nkuliza are among those exiled.

Journalists are jailed on charges related to their freedom of expression. Two Editors of Umurabyo Newspaper (Ms.Agnes Uwimana Nkusi and Ms.Saidat Mukakibibi) are in Prison. Other media houses exercise self-censorship in order to survive. Civil society organisations are forced to take the official Government line in order to operate.

Such gross abuse of human rights has been documented throughout the years by all major international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, and most recently the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

“We believe that Mr Kagame should be arrested and taken to the Netherlands based International Criminal Court at The Hague for trial on the documented killings he has allegedly committed and continued to perpetrate against innocent civilians in Rwanda and the DRCongo,” Mukombozi says.

The Rwandan genocide in 1994 left so many in the international community, including Australia, with a sense of guilt that they wish they had known and done better to prevent or stop the carnage that engulfed Rwanda, leaving more than a million of its citizens dead. Rwandan President’s former senior official, Dr Theogene Rudasingwa recently linked Mr Kagame to the shooting down of Habyarimana’s plane.

It is the expectation of the majority of Rwandans that Australia will support all Rwandans to build a free, united, democratic, stable and prosperous Rwanda that will begin to reconcile and heal at last, the Protest Taskforce observes.

For more information/interviews please contact Robert Mukombozi]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/13/rwandans-in-australia-are-up-in-arms-againts-president-paul-kagame/ Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:58:47 +0000 Kim Nsubuga http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/12/kenya-and-alshabaab-will-kenya-win-it-considering-the-number-of-ethnic-soma/ ...]]>
Almost all Eastern Africa countries, except Kenya have had war either with neighbours or within their boundaries. Kenya has however known small scale riots namely, the shifta uprising (1967) and post-elections chaos (2007). The country has been relatively peaceful but the Al-Shabaab incursions are putting this record to test.

Should Kenya ignore all realities and shun taking on Al-Shabaab or let her security hang in the balance? Logically, the choice is obvious. However, before making it, there were some issues that needed analysis and consideration.

First, before going to war with Al-Shabaab, Kenya ought to have secured support from neighbouring African countries. Unfortunately time and circumstances did not allow this. So too, neighbours are duty bound to support Kenya militarily and politically simply because Al-Shabaab’s activities in the region have always affected all countries. Refer to the piracy in the Indian Ocean that has badly affected the economies of the region, the Uganda attack during the World Cup games as well as the Dar es Salaam and Nairobi Al-Qaeda bombings in 1998.

For other African countries to come into the big picture, they must obtain consent from the African Union (AU) which should have declared war against Al-Shabaab. This would avert the danger of other countries blaming Kenya for invading the failed state of Somalia. Countries such as Britain, United States and other that have already been affected by terrorism, must not sit back and watch.

Secondly, Kenya whose shilling is now in a free cascade should have ensured that the war will not damage the shilling further. Remember, Tanzania lost her economic stability in 1978 when it took on Idi Amin. The economy of Tanzania has never recovered even though this is not the only reason for the country’s sick economy and currency.

Kenya’s economy depends heavily on tourism. Therefore, when Kenya is taking on Al-Shabaab for attempting to sabotage and suffocate tourism and security in Kenya, it must have ensured that the war does not stifle tourism.

As for national security, this is sine qua non. Nobody can discuss or put a choice on this. Kenya has to fight to make sure that Kenyans and their visitors are secured so as to enjoy their lives. This, if anything, is non-negotiable.

Kenya is not facing Al-Shabaab only. She has looming wars almost in all her boundaries except the boundary with Tanzania. On the west there is Migingo Island crisis with Uganda while in the north, Ethiopian bandits have always put Kenya on alert. Now that Kenya has decided to take on Al-Shabaab, the message for the rest will be crystal clear: a peaceful country can turn to war if it is forced to do so.

The Al-Shabaab spokesman recently warned that Kenya's beautiful buildings and tourism would be badly affected for engaging Al-Shabaab. Such verbiage must agitate Kenya even more to make sure that Al-Shabaab is exterminated soon. How can Kenya allow Al-Shabaab to keep on spitting on it and get away with it under the strength of issuing threats? Nunca mas, (never again)!

Going to war depends on the seriousness of provocation especially when it has to do with national security; the personal behaviour of a country’s commander in chief and the economy. Nobody wants to go to war games. But if you are forced as it is in this case, you have no choice but to go to war. It is not an easy choice, this is why Kenya is currently vacillating amidst many battles.

By Nkwazi Mhango
A Canada based Tanzanian and author of Saa Ya Ukombozi.]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/12/kenya-and-alshabaab-will-kenya-win-it-considering-the-number-of-ethnic-soma/ Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:58:47 +0000 Kim Nsubuga http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/11/why-many-africans-are-sad-about-the-death-of-muammer-gaddafi/

Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi

He noted that Col Gaddafi had committed to paying the salaries for the staff of 20 for the next 20 years. “His death means everything comes to an end,” Mr. Abdul said.

On Friday, approximately 30,000 people packed the mosque to pay tribute to the slain leader, according to the Daily Monitor, a prominent independent Ugandan newspaper. It reported that Sheikh Amir Mutyaba, a former ambassador to Libya, wept as he told followers that Col Gaddafi had “died as a hero.” He added that while “Allah will bless him,” foreign “oil diggers will be punished,” likely alluding to a perception among some that the West intervened in Libya mainly because of its oil riches.

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and about half of which is Muslim, a senator told local news media that Colonel Qaddafi “was one of the finest African leaders we have.” And a former Nigerian militia leader, who said he was once financed by Col Gaddafi, told Agence France-Presse that the former Libyan leader’s death would be “avenged.” The colonel “spilled his blood as a martyr to rekindle the fire of revolution all over the world,” said Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the militia leader. “The people of the world will rise up against this.”

Colonel Qaddafi came to power in 1969 as a 27-year old ideologue, who modelled himself on President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and focused his energy on leading a pan-Arab renaissance. But by the turn of the century, feeling spurned by his fellow Arabs, he turned his focus south toward sub-Saharan Africa. He used his own money, as well as state-owned investment firms, to build mosques, hotels and telecommunications companies. He also meddled in the politics of other African countries — at least a dozen coups or attempted coups on the continent were traced to his support. One of the many grandiose titles he embraced for himself was “the king of kings of Africa.”

Over time, his efforts won him many African allies, and when the uprising against him began this year, the African Union took months to recognize a rebel council as the country’s governing authority. There were many reports early in the revolution that Col Gaddafi had reached out to fighters in African states and had used them as mercenaries, but journalists saw little evidence of mercenaries during the revolt.

As Col Gaddafi’s enemies begin their efforts to rebuild their country, many on the continent remain angry that the transfer of power happened, in large part, because of the military support NATO provided to the former rebels. In Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe led a liberation struggle against a white-minority regime that ended in 1980, a presidential spokesman said Col Gaddafi would be remembered there for his support of Zimbabwe’s independence fight and railed against foreign interference in Africa’s affairs. “The government cannot accept drawing blood as a model for changing political systems on the continent,” said George Charamba, the spokesman. “More so when that blood is drawn at the instigation of foreign countries.”

Zimbabwe, of course, has had its own run-ins with West, facing intense criticism for a bloody, discredited presidential election in 2008. “As a matter of principle,” Mr. Charamba said, “Zimbabwe does not believe it is the duty of the West to tell us who our friends are and who our enemies are, who the beautiful ones are and who the ugly ones are.”

Even some Africans who said they did not necessarily support Col Gaddafi were stricken by the way he was killed and argued that he had left behind an important legacy. “I had never been really a fan of Gaddafi, but now I am touched by how he died,” said Manny Ansar, the director of a popular annual music festival in Mali. “Love him or not, we must recognize that this is one of the greatest African leaders who influenced several generations, including mine, and found in the constancy and courage of his positions what we research in a hero. In a word: pride.”]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/11/why-many-africans-are-sad-about-the-death-of-muammer-gaddafi/ Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:16:43 +0000 Kim Nsubuga http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/9/president-museveni-rewards-igp-kayihua-039-s-brutally-with-another-4-years/
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has renewed the contract of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kale Kayihura.

Sources at Parliament have confirmed to t...]]>
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has renewed the contract of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kale Kayihura.

Sources at Parliament have confirmed to the New Vision that the principal private secretary to the President has sent Kayihura’s name to the House for vetting.

Kayihura is to serve for another four-year term if the Parliament appointments committee chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga approves his contract.

He is required to appear before the committee at a date to be communicated to him by the Clerk to Parliament.

Kayihura is a Ugandan lawyer, soldier and policeman.

Kayihura at the rank of Major General in the army has been at the helm of the Police force in Uganda since 2005 when he replaced General Edward Katumba Wamala as the Police chief.

He is still an active member of the Uganda's military and was previously the Head of the Country's Revenue Protection Services as well as a senior commander during the Congo civil war.]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/9/president-museveni-rewards-igp-kayihua-039-s-brutally-with-another-4-years/ Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:07:21 +0000 Kim Nsubuga http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/8/ugandan-oil-graft-was-museveni-involved/
Many are now asking whether these government officials were able to consciously continue and sign this deal without president Museveni's approval. And if indeed these Government officals accepted bribes, was the president part of these bribes? These questions follow in the wake of Seneior Government officials attepting to prevent the Oil deal details from being public.

The U.S. envoy in Uganda proposed last year possibly revoking the Uganda security minister’s U.S. visa over allegations he had accepted bribes in exchange for supporting the sale of oil assets in the African country, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.


The six senior Ugandan Ministers involved with the Ugandan Oil Deal with Tullow. Now dubbed the six thieves.

The leaked cable reveals that U.S. diplomats feared the allegations of high-level corruption in Uganda’s government could have prevented U.S. oil major Exxon MobilCorp. from securing a multibillion-dollar deal to join in developing the assets. It also demonstrates U.S. government resolve to confront allegations of corruption that it believes may jeopardize U.S. economic interests and aid to Africa.

The U.S. diplomats’ actions came at a pivotal time in Uganda’s nascent oil industry. If Uganda doesn’t heed the U.S. calls for openness and transparency in its oil deals and allocation of oil revenue, it may risk tarnishing its reputation with Western investors before its oil industry begins to mature.

Ambassador Jerry Lanier said in the leaked cable, dated Dec. 17, 2009, that U.S. diplomats in Uganda were concerned about unsubstantiated claims that Uganda Security Minister Amama Mbabazi and Hilary Onek, Uganda’s minister in charge of energy and minerals development, had taken payments for supporting Italian oil company Eni SpA’s proposed $1.5 billion purchase of London-listed Heritage Oil PLC’s stakes in two oil blocks in the country.

“This is a critical moment for the future of Uganda’s oil industry,” Mr. Lanier said in the cable, which had been marked classified. “Depending on the outcome of this major deal, we believe it could be time to consider tougher action—to include visa revocation—for senior officials like Mbabazi who are consistently linked to corruption scandals impacting the international activity of U.S. businesses, U.S. foreign assistance goals, and the stability of democratic institutions.”

Eni and both the Uganda ministers Friday denied the allegations described in the leaked cable. Heritage issued a statement saying the company “has never made any improper payments to any government, politician and/or official whatsoever and nor will it ever do so.”

As the Ugandan Oil Deal with Tullow starts to unravel, many questions are being posed. Is it true that these accused Ugandan Ministers really were bribed? and if so, is it possible that these ministers would recieve a bribe without the Ugandan President knowing of or being a partner in it?

The U.S. State Department spokesman Andy Laine declined on Friday to confirm the contents of the diplomatic cable published on WikiLeaks or to comment on whether U.S. officials have since followed up on Mr. Lanier’s recommendations in the leaked document. Mr. Lanier couldn’t be reached on his Ugandan phones for comment Friday, and the U.S. Mission in Uganda declined to comment on the matter. A British High Commission spokeswoman also declined to immediately comment Friday.

ExxonMobil didn’t provide comment Saturday in response to e-mail and phone contacts.

A Ugandan government official familiar with the situation said Friday that the U.S. Embassy did contact Mr. Museveni and complained in connection with the oil deal. The Ugandan president sanctioned an inquiryinto the allegations, which didn’t confirm any bribery, the official said. Ofono Opondo, the ruling party spokesman, declined to comment.

By NICHOLAS BARIYO And LEIA PARKER, WSJ, la kitgum, 2011-10-12]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/8/ugandan-oil-graft-was-museveni-involved/ Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:29:28 +0000 Betty Achiro http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/7/dont-invest-in-tullow-energy-in-uganda-tullow-is-a-sinking-ship-that-needs-/


If you invest in Tullow Energy in Uganda, you risk losing. Tullow oil has been accused with other senior Ugandan ministers of sealing an oil deal not beneficial to Uganda. Currently as of 12/Oct/2011, the Ugandan parliament has also ordered the suspension of signing any more PSA(profit sharing agreement) with Tullow energy and asked that the then energy minister and other senior government officials that negotiated the oil deal with Uganda, step aside to pave way for investigations. Uganda's parliament say that the oil deals are shady and bear all the hall marks of corporate unethical practices. The deal is said to exploit Uganda and very lopsided.



Tullow oil is also currently embroiled with Uganda Government in a UK court for about half a billion dollars of taxes owed to Uganda. The Uganda Parliament has disavowed any recognition of the UK courts on Ugandan Oil issues. farther more the parliament contents that all deals as was agreed earlier in negotiations by Tullow and the accused ministers be reviewed on the allegations of bribery in excess of 17 million dollars was paid. As of today, two of the senior Ugandan ministers that participated in negotiating the oil deals have been forced to resign pending other investigations of fraud in CHOGM common wealth matters. Other members of parliament are labeling treason charges be applied to these ministers if found guilty of selling out Ugandan oil for personal bribery benefit.

If these ministers get convicted, Ugandan parliament have moved to cancel any farther dealings with Tullow oil and refund their initial investment capital on account of corporate malpractice, which might also render their initial contract invalid. It is rumored that Norway's Statoil with two other unknown oil companies, possible China's CNOOC again are interested in taking over Tullow energies concessions and will pay any penalties if any. Even if these ministers are found Innocent, with the advent of Current president Yoweri Museveni losing power, possible in 5 years or less, it is almost certain that all protection for Tullow will be lost. All Tullows deakls will be cancelled and Tullow will not recover its initial investment.

Tullows only other anchor was the President himself. But the president too was the one that halted the finalization of Tullows deal. Above all, President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni too, has been defied by his own parliament (opposition mP's united with his own NRM party MP's)and senior military officers. Matters where worse when the former Chief of the Armed Forces, also chief of the Military tribunal and head Military parliamentary member, Gen Elly Tumwine also defied the president and joined ranks with rebel members of parliament that are seeking to cancel and make public all of Tullow energy dealing. It is almo most likely that Tullow Energy's project in Ghana will face the same scrutiny. And just like a domino effect, Tullow snew ventures in British Guyana may also be subject to stringer monitoring. Some times when unbridled corporate greed rears its ugly head, Investors and share holders end up paying the price while the Corporate CEO's award themselves bonuses.

Tullow energy's consortium of protectors in the Ugandan Government appears to have collapsed. For those of you who know African politics, you should be aware that Tullow energy's executive claim that they will weather the storm. But i can tell you that in Africa when the Opposition and the Government unites(which is very rare, continuing to invest your money in Tullow Uganda is liking playing Russian revolver roulette with two shells rather than six in the chamber!. African politics has a way of biting you back in the tush. Ask those investors who banked in Gaddafi and his oil. In Africa make sure you make a deal with both the Government and the Opposition at the same time. Todays opposition is very easily to nites Government. And all bets are off!.

If you are smart, this is the time to skip out of the Tullow energy ship and get one of the few life rafts before it gets any worse. When Talisman had its problems, many people and big shots refused to skip the boat They thought that they could weather the storm. When Talisman was forced out of Sudan, many lost their money. It was too late to jump the sinking ship.

Read links of some current articles on the Tullow turmoil below

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1254014/-/bi1ytcz/-/index.html

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1254234/-/bi1x7nz/-/index.html

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1254018/-/bi1yt8z/-/index.html

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1254018/-/bi1yt8z/-/index.html

www.ugandanfacebook.com]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/7/dont-invest-in-tullow-energy-in-uganda-tullow-is-a-sinking-ship-that-needs-/ Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:47:25 +0000 Betty Achiro http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/6/museveni-refuse-to-comment-on-resignation-of-ministers-over-oil-deals/ Presisent Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has today refused to comment on the proposed resignation of some of his senior ministers over their allegation role a...

The members of parliament yesterday called for the resignation of prime minister Amama Mbabazi, Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa and Minister Hillary Onek

The president was whether he would side with the people’s representatives or he will go ahead with the ministers, something which he refused to comment on.

President Museveni was also read one of the diplomatic cables from the US embassy which stated that he is always relucatnt to act on matters which concern Amama Mbabazi. He said that it is not true that he does not act on Mbabazi but he does not want to persecute people who are innocent.

President Museveni said that he heard about the Temangalo saga where Amama Mbabazi was accused of corruption but there was not enough evidence.

Asked whether it was true he took a oil bribe from ENi, as it was alleged from the Wiki leaks documents, the president called all that “Rubbish” which was written by an Idiot]]> http://www.ugandasocialnetwork.com/blog/6/museveni-refuse-to-comment-on-resignation-of-ministers-over-oil-deals/ Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:47:16 +0000 Site Admin