COSASE REVELATIONS SCARE TO FLY IN UGANDA AIRLINES

The revelations by the COSASE committee of the the alleged incompetence,  unqualified managers, extravagant carrier making the country lose 160 billion shillings a year in addition to risking peoples lives and phony purchases of planes is the saddest story todate!

Now that the CEO of the most prestigious Ugandan business is a school drop out till she presents her documents then I can imagine whether the engineers are not welders from Ntungamo or the mechanics are not from "kisseka market" of Mbarara city and the spare parts suppliers are not metal fabricators in Kabwohe.

I will be hard pressed to believe that fueling those very aircrafts which have cost Ugandans so much money is not done using diesel instead of jet fuel.

Watching a documentary on TV of a rescue operation of a plane crash in Chile the investigators reached a conclusion that the engineers on servicing a plane, replaced 2 original screws with duplicates from a  Taiwan car parts manufacturer which could not withstand the strength required by an airline. 

This led to the demise of 130 passengers!

Now that the CEO Bamuturaki is what she is , how about the Engineers, servicing experts and The mechanics ?

I remember when a Doctor recommended surgery of patient because the X-ray images were observing a cockroach in the lungs!

The patient being capable, decided to fly to better hospitals outside the country for better management. 

On going through the pre surgery procedure the Xray was run again and the results were ,

The cockroach was in the Ugandan Xrays not in the lung of the patient!

Had the patient lacked capacity to go finance his medical trip , he would have been cut , to remove a non existing cockroach!

God forbid, one day the Uganda airlines will stop midair and come down reeling because someone from the street in Rushere or Mbarara, was given a lucrative job, because he knows how to work on milk coolers, to manage fueling of the planes.

The right thing now, if those in charge are interested in sharing 160 billion every year, just requisition through the people who gave you jobs without due diligence on your potential, and take the the money without risking people's lives.

As long as you spend your loot in Uganda, you will be okay and infact nobody will touch you.

Like Pinneti,  Musenero and others before you nobody will touch you and mind you those who appoint you are the supreme judges in UGANDA. 

The death of Rev. Kirinda changed our maternal family for the worst and forever. 

The mistake of one incompetent person that day of October 17th 1988 should not be repeated for the same happened under the stewardship of NRM under dictator Museveni. 

Besigye Still Under House Arrest

The leader of People's Front for Transition(PFT), Dr. Kizza Besigye, has expressed his disappointment to the police for blocking his visitors and Ugandans from accessing his home in Kasangati, Wakiso district.

Besigye was put under house arrest after he was intercepted by security operatives following his attempt to mobilise Ugandans to rise up against Museveni's dictatorship and high cost of living which he said were affecting vulnerable common citizens whom he said belong to the "cassava" republic.

Police patrol and military vehicles have been stationed at and around his home since Thursday last week including one sedan car which is in front of his gate.

Colleagues of the (PFT) Red Card Front, who had come to check on him at home, weren't allowed anywhere near the home,something which was very unfortunate, they couldn't get through the roadblock at the junction to his home. Even the food they brought for him had to go back. 

Fellow Ugandans, One day we shall, definitely, overcome this. 

No Bail For Political Opponents - Museveni

Under Museveni's dictatorship, it has become commonplace for critical opposition leaders to face criminal charges and be imprisoned. The president's main rivals Kizza Besigye and, later, Robert Kyagulanyi (aka Bobi Wine) have both been detained on several occasions, but many less prominent politicians have faced similar fates too.

What is causing growing concern now, however, are signs that Museveni wants to make it harder for defendants of criminal offences to get bail. 

The plan to ban bail is to target the opposition politicians because he knows that whoever tries to oppose him he will put him in jail for as long as he wants. The NUP leader has been arrested on numerous occasions in recent years for charges ranging from the unlawful possession of firearms, to treason, to breaking Covid-19 regulations.

Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate who has similarly faced jail and arrests - including on charges of treason and rape. 

Besigye Warns Katumba Wamala Could Get Killed

Kizza Besigye (L) and Gen. Katumba Wamala (R)

Retired UPDF Col, Dr Kizza Besigye the four time presidential candidate has warned bad people dragging former UPDF commander and the current Minister of Works and Transport Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala into succession battles.

Speaking to his supporters at Mengo a Kampala suburb, Besigye insisted that those who had started circulating invitation cards on social media inviting people to celebrate Gen. Katumba’ birthday want him dead.

“Those people wanted the man to be killed and he understood it very well that’s why he ran very first to disown the celebrations,” Besigye said.

He revealed that there are many military officers in UPDF who are under captivity after President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni intentionally refused to retire them because he fears they may later have political ambitions.

He divulged that he fought for 10 years to be retired from the army and his comrades like Gen. David Sejusa, Gen. Edward Kale Kayihura and Gen. Katumba are still struggling to be freed from the army.

Last week, Gen. Katumba disowned a fake invitation card calling Ugandans to attend his birthday party.

Last year, Gen. Katumba survived gunmen who attacked him along Kisota road in Kampala killing his daughter Brendah Nantongo Katumba and his driver Sgt Haruna Kayondo.

World Press Freedom Day

I dedicate today's World Press Freedom day to all those out there doing their best to expose the evils perpetrated against our country and its people by the regime despite the brutality, torture and intimidation you suffer on an almost daily basis. Please hang in there and know that I appreciate you and the tenacity with which you popularise the truth about what's wrong with our country - Uganda. As watchdogs of the State and society in general, you play a thankless role in building our nation. Please don't let up!

The Dubious Deals of Enrica Pinetti

There is a fundamental problem with Enrica Pinetti, the “foreign investor” behind the controversial Vinci Coffee Company. She is also the promoter of Lubowa Hospital. She has also been given contracts to build some roads without any competitive bidding. Pinetti seems to enjoy the confidence of President Yoweri Museveni. But rather than use such an asset reasonably, Pinetti negotiates deals that are harmful to the Ugandan taxpayer. But worse still and a consequence, she has a habit of arrogantly dealing public officials and agencies that provide oversight on government contracts. Consequently, she (for now) seems above the law. 

Former South African president, Jacob Zuma, had a problem with the Gupta brothers. Museveni has a problem with Pinetti. The Gupta brothers were accused of state capture. What Pinetti has achieved in Uganda is presidential capture. This is why Museveni has even been willing to break the rules, or to disregard both value and price, to give her business. I am not a fan of bureaucratic red-tape. So, violating arcane procedures to secure what is good for the country is ok with me – in certain circumstances. The issue is that Pinetti lacks any credible business record of success to be the beneficiary of multimillion dollar taxpayer funds and other benefits arbitrarily and easily extended to her companies. 

Contrary to her critics, I actually do not have a big problem with the terms of the agreement between Vinci and government. As a student of industrial policy, I am aware to set the industrialization ball rolling, it needs to extend incentives to investors that distort the market and harm some players. These incentives would best be provided, not to an individual firm, but to an entire sector that government considers strategic. And they would include access to cheap/free prime land, tax exemptions of different types, subsidies on electricity, transport etc. As companies grow in scale, they reduce unit costs and therefore become competitive in global or regional markets. Once mature, government can remove them.

The problem is that Vinci and Pinetti have no prior experience in coffee to justify her getting those incentives. In fact, she represents the biggest problem with Africa – our obsession with foreign investors even when they are of questionable competences. Pinetti has never roasted coffee and sold it on the international market. On what basis did Uganda give her these incentives then? Andrew Rugasira, a Ugandan businessman of the Good Africa Coffee fame, invested everything he had in this business. He got supermarket shelf space in the leading supermarket chains in Europe and North America and began selling our coffee there. He got into inevitable cashflow problems and sought government support. The greatest government of Uganda could do to support him was $800,000 from UDB.

Pinetti, on the other hand, gets sweetheart deals from government that are exorbitantly expensive to the state of Uganda. Some have failed to take off as promised by her. And when questioned, she yells and insults public officials, refuses to appear before parliamentary committees. Once she blocked legislators, led by the minister of health responsible for oversight over Lubowa from visiting the construction site. She then upped the ante and blocked the prime minister of this country – from visiting her construction site. This, more than the contents of the coffee agreement she recently signed with government, is the crux of the matter. 

Yet for all her arrogance, Pinetti has many questions to answer regarding her deals. Government of Uganda contracted Finasi, her company, to source funds, build, equip and for the first eight years manage a first class 264-bed hospital and 60-bed three-star hotel at Lubowa at $250m. Total built up area is supposed to be 72,000 square meters. All the money for this project is an eight years loan at an interest rate of 6.45%, giving an interest cost of $129m, making a total of $379m. 

Initially, Finasi entered a contract with Roko Construction Company to build the hospital and the three-star hotel at a total cost of $70m. The two sides fell out and Finasi paid Roko $2m to exit. It then contracted Chinese contractor, Power China International, to do the same job at a cost of $57m, although in her quotation to government the total cost of civil works in building the hospital, the motel and hostels for medical workers and the training school comes to $69m. If total cost of all the civil works in her contract with the Chinese is $57m, where does the balance of $193m go? 

Feasibility studies for the project cost $1.7m, the design of the hospital and motel cost $11.26m and the appraisal of the project cost $14.3m. Medical equipment and furniture cost $75m, its delivery and shipment $9m, its installation $14m, testing and commissioning $1.4m and training for equipment use $1.4m. And there is $18m for medicine and consumables for the first one year. I have the entire list of all the equipment and furniture she promises to buy and install in the hospital and motel and their costs – and that is where the problem with Lubowa lies.

Mulago hospital with 900 beds, has just been refitted with state of the art medical equipment and facilities plus an integrated hospital management system recently at a cost $24.3m. Given Mulago’s 640 extra beds compared to Lubowa, we need to question the costs of Lubowa and whether they reflect value for money. The difference between equipping Mulago and Lubowa is very high: $24.3m against more than $100m. Even if we added 10% as profit for the project sponsor, surely making over $140m profit of a project of $250m is just too much for a poor country. 

The same Pinetti apparently is now in the road construction business. She convinced the president to give her seven roads without any competitive bidding, which is okay. This is in spite of the fact that she has no known experience in road construction. One of the roads had already been designed by UNRA with estimates on its likely cost. When she put in her bill, the difference between the estimated cost by UNRA and what she asked for was Shs 117 billion. Again, Pinetti got her way. 

Pinetti’s seemingly above-the-law behavior is going to bring her trouble regardless of whichever support she feels she has from Museveni. There is a time when a parliamentary committee and the minister of health went to Lubowa to visit the site of this hospital and she locked them outside. The new Prime Minister decided to test Pinetti’s power and went to Lubowa to visit the site. She was literally chased away.

Remember this project is 100% financed by government of Uganda under ministry of health. Parliament, the minister of finance and our Prime Minister have a right and a duty to inspect the works. Pinetti and her people claim they had not been informed in advance to provide safety to the visiting dignitaries. This is a technical excuse not an explanation of humiliating our public officials. This behavior can only be conducted by a person with a very low regard of Uganda’s public institutions and their leaders. It is a behavior this country will not tolerate and her abuse of public funds using exorbitant and inflated costs will not stand.

Today In History

Today 28 th April marks 11 years since the regime attempted to kill President Kizza Besigye using their CMI tormentors,  Turyagumanawe Grace and  Arinatwe Gilbert Bwana. 

It was on this rainy day of 28th April  2011,  at about  10:30 Am at the Mulago roundabout when the president was on his way to work  

And the cling of notorious regime officers led by crooks, Arinitwe Gilbert Bwana,  Turyagumanawe Grace, Muhumaza Albert, and walusimbi smashed the window screens of the war machine  UAN 661 V using the hammer and pistols, sprayed dangerous chemical substances to have the president and his aides out. 

The affected occupants included president kizza Besigye, his aides   Francis mwijukye, Byomuhangi Charles and Driver Kato. 

The brutal incident happened during the indomitable walk to work campaign, a campaign that almost took the regime, Deep sources in the regime said that Gen Museveni's presidential jet and family were on the run.

Before this, on 27th April, president kizza Besigye had been released on bail, having spent his Easter holidays from the cells.

Kiiza Besigye was driven to kasaganti police station, helpless laid down on the floor unable to talk, blind not eating anything,  waiting for his sister Dr Olive kobusigye,  who brought him clothes and medication.

With his blindness, bandaged bleeding face and right arm that was shot on the third day of the protests.

The president was brought to the kasaganti magistrate court at the noon, the court accepted his request of travelling to Kenya for medical treatment.

Gen.Museveni tried to block the KL flight, but the situation was saved by the American Ambassador to Uganda who intervened and the president was airlifted to Agahknan Hospital.

On 29th April 2011,  protests broke out in different parts of the country, Arinatwe Gilbert Bwana's family and  Banana plantation were attacked, and different regime officers and stations were also attacked and burnt. 

Police and Gen. Museveni deceived the world,  that it was president Kiiza Besigye who owned the hammer, without speaking facts about how their hooded crook walusimbi had used it to smash the window screens before throwing it inside the car to hit the president. 

On the 12th of May, the president was accompanied by our first lady Eng Winnie Byanima, the president returned, and he was welcomed by massive crowds of jolly supporters on the 40km journey from Entebbe airport to Kampala took six hours.

However, the massive crowds were later disrupted by the Nrm police which fired teargas to disperse our people.

It was the same day when Gen. Museveni was swearing-in, most of the heads of state from different countries that had come to witness the sham swearing-in,  faced the roughness of the people who had occupied  Entebbe road, Nigeria's president  Good luck Jonathan was the victim when his car was hit by a stone.

The  walk  to work campaign  remains the  only United  political campaign feared by the regime, we lost many of the captives during the protests 

The regime arrested, Gunned down our fighters and innocent civilians. 

Work to walk was put to halt after this brutality, upon his return, the president found the majority of the FDC youth, A4C  leaders were already compromised by the regime and managed by Gen kale kayihura who distributed  Goats,  25 million each and gave out scholarships. 

Where is Arinitwe Gilbert is, a few years ago  I heard that he had run mad, later the rumour circulated that he had turned out to be a pastor, and in 2016  reports said that he was redeployed back to the intelligence Department. 

The struggle has taken a long time but people shall win 

NUP Torture Victim

Alexandreos Marinos is a 29 year old young woman who has been strongly supporting the People Power Movement and the National Unity Platform over the years. She has been living in Mbuya, not very far from the CMI facility. 

A few days back, she was attacked by uniformed and non-uniformed soldiers who abducted her and took her to the CMI facility. She was gravely tortured and sustained several injuries. Like many other women who end up in these detention facilities, she says that she was raped by the beasts who had warned her several times to stop supporting us or else she would face dire consequences. Most women unfortunately, always fear to speak about the sexual assault, and I want to salute Marinos for speaking out about this because that might be the beginning of putting an end to these crimes . In fact, most of the women who speak to us about rape, normally request us not to disclose this because of the stigma associated with it. 

Her biggest crime according to the CMI thugs who did unthinkable things to her, was that she has been playing "Bobi Wine's music" in the neighbourhood. They said all manner of profanities to her, while kicking her, slapping her and whipping her with wires. 

They warned her never to speak about this, before dumping her on a roadside. After speaking out to a few people, they attacked her again and tried to take her away two days ago. Neighbors gathered and the thugs fled. She went to police but they refused to take in her complaint! 

The Museveni regime will go down as one of the most criminal regimes. It must simply be stopped. My conviction and assurance is that eventually, there will be justice to the countless victims of these crimes against humanity. 

Shame To Uganda's Health System

Reflecting upon the events and controversies surrounding the death of the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah. 

The late Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah's death has re-ignited the debate about the state of Uganda’s public healthcare, more than 36 years since the NRA seized power – with lack of funding remaining the single biggest barrier to health service delivery. To worsen matters, the few resources allocated to the sector tend to be misused, lost to corruption and patronage, or ‘invested’ in ill-advised infrastructure projects such as the Lubowa Hospital saga. Recently, funds for Covid vaccine development have been added to those for which there is neither accountability nor visible outcomes.

As a result of maladministration, there are too few public health facilities in place. 38% of the population lives over 5Km away from a public health facility (and 21% over 5km away from any health facility). Given the condition of most rural roads, and the absence of a public transport ststem, that is an unacceptable burden for over ten million people.

Health facilities lack basic drugs, medical equipment and staff. The staff are overworked in generally unsafe conditions, but underpaid. Their demands for better conditions are usually met with threats of collective dismissal. 

For close to four decades, the NRA regime has not established a public health insurance scheme to lift the burden of medical expenses off the majority of the population which is already struggling with hunger. 11% of Ugandans subsist on one meal a day. Only 37% have three meals a day!

It is public knowledge that in his final days, the late Speaker was flown abroad for treatment on a chartered flight that cost the tax-payer Shs. 1,700,000,000/=. This sum is sufficient to build more than one health facility or to buy numerous ambulances. It would be sufficient for a CT scan, or 100-plus dialysis machines. Both services are currently only available to a very small section of the population. 

This past week, public debate has centered on whether the tax payer should spend 2.5 billion shillings on the Speaker's burial, at a time when prices of basic commodities for citizens are skyrocketing and the regime is making no effort to cushion them! The biggest irony came in with the announcement by Jane Ruth  Achieng, the health minister, that there is no money to continue paying the COVID19 support staff.

The average Ugandan citizen covers 37% of their healthcare costs. Donors cover about 45%, while government covers only 15%. Whereas on paper it is government policy that all surgical care in public hospitals is to be provided free of charge, in reality patients are usually compelled to meet the greater part of their surgical bills. Statistics show that 75% of Uganda’s population would be bankrupted if they had to pay for surgery- the cost is impoverishing and catastrophic.

Private health insurance is unaffordable by most, and concentrated in urban areas. It covers less than 1% of the total national population. The vast majority of Ugandans, 75% of whom stay in rural areas, are on their own — abandoned to their fate.

In a nutshell, the regime has completely failed to make effective health care accessible to all citizens. Rather than the economically disempowered, it is the wealthy or ‘connected’ that benefit from the shoe-string health budget. 

Still, I wish to assure you countrymen and women, that with sheer political will as the starting point, these barriers to healthcare can be overcome. Let us refuse to be distracted by political opportunists who have tried to hide the healthcare crisis by creating a North-South divide. There is no such divide. What we have is the divide between a few political elite and the vast majority of poor and desperate people in all regions of Uganda. 

The late Speaker organised a significant donation from Parliament of equipment to Lalogi Health Centre, Omoro's first Health Centre IV. Let our national tribute to him be to unite in working towards better governance and healthcare.

We have enough resources to run and fully stock a public health facility in every sub-county, eliminate the prohibitive cost of accessing treatment in public facilities, while at the same time paying health workers what they should earn.

We must appoint technocrats on merit to manage our healthcare system, and then let them do their job with minimal political interference or patronage. There should be credible mechanisms to hold accountable those of them who misuse the funds entrusted to them. 

Effecting these and more interventions would improve the quality of our public healthcare services, and restore public trust in our facilities. There should come such a time when it is foreigners that fly to Uganda for treatment. 

Bobi Wine Kyagulanyi To Address Geneva Summit

Bobi Wine Kyagulanyi to travel to Geneva, Switzerland to participate in the 2022 Geneva Summit For Human Rights and Democracy that is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 6th April. He will address the Summit and share his experiences and perspectives in Uganda on the theme 'How To Topple A Dictator'.

The Geneva Summit shines a spotlight on urgent human rights situations that require global attention. It gives human rights defenders, activists and former political prisoners a platform to testify about their personal struggles for democracy and freedom, while building an international community to take on dictatorships. 

Kakwenza Tweets Another Reason For Torture

Exiled Ugandan novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has claimed in a tweet that he once received “transport” money from Museveni and refused to show up and added that this issue was one of the reasons for his torture.

Kakwenza who has become notorious for trolling president Museveni and the first son Mohoozi

I once ate Museveni's transport money & failed to show up. Nov. 2020 I was called & I told lady caller that I was in Rukungiri, broke without fuel. She sent me 5m. After withdrawing it, I switched off my phone for a month.

That was also the reason for his torture. 

Kakwenza, who now lives in Germany, fled the country in early February after spending a month in detention where he was tortured for insulting the president and his son on social media.

He is heavily followed by Ugandans on social media because the story of his arrest and torture was a point of concern for the public for several weeks at the beginning of this year.