Makerere dons agree to work on

-
0

Muasa chairperson Tanga Odoi (L) and other members talk after the meeting. Photo by Faiswal Kasirye

Makerere University lecturers under their umbrella organisation, Makerere University Academic Staff Association (Muasa), say they will not strike as they had promised since government is “positively responding” to their demands.

The lecturers had late in the semester threatened to resume industrial action that they had called off, citing failure by government to fulfill the memorandum of understanding it had signed with the university management.

“I would like to assure parents and students that the semester will open normally because government is positively responding to the demands that led us to lay down our tools last year, we will teach gladly despite our grievances,” Muasa spokesperson Louis Kakinda told journalists after a general assembly on Wednesday.

Muasa had met to discuss a draft inter-ministerial proposal to harmonise top-up allowances by tapping money from major units by 28 per cent on their annual budgets and channel it to staff.

This means that money on functional fees apart from the crucial one of hostel fees, which accommodates students feeding and the library fees, will be the only ones to remain untouched by the proposed measure.
However, the lecturers were by the end of the meeting divided on the proposals, saying their pay will still be low which will affect the innovativeness and morale in some units of the university.

The burden of loans
“You don’t expect a lecturer to continue handling more than 1,000 students when his/her top-up is reduced. I don’t think this will benefit any of us. Besides, how sustainable is it?” Mr Denis Mbabazi from the academic registrar’s department, asked.

If put into effect, his fellow staff who were initially earning Shs800,000 in top-up allowance will earn only Shs150,000.
“These people have loans which were obtained on their top-up,” he added.

While other lecturers such as Ms Grace Kabatwanga said this was the best mechanism to harmonise the issue of top-ups, they still feel the strain will continue to be felt in the university due to the ever increasing number of programmes.

The lecturers late last year went on strike demanding harmonisation of top- up allowances, increase of their salaries by 100 per cent as well as payment of pension money worth Shs16 billion the National insurance Corporation owed them.

By Abdu Kiyaga, Daily Monitor

Opposition dismiss Museveni speech

-
0

President Museveni should stop ‘recycling the same old template of empty promises to Ugandans,’ the opposition leaders said yesterday while reacting to a speech the President delivered in Kapchorwa District during celebrations to mark the NRM Day.

The President in his speech outlined what he called key NRM achievements in the last 26 years, including the discovery of huge oil deposits, infrastructural development, free education and placing Uganda’s economy to a speedy recovery path.

But opposition leaders said the day is not worth celebrating.

UPC party vice president Joseph Bossa said the NRM government has failed to deliver on its promises yet Mr Museveni even continues to make more.

“The President is a wishful thinker and his NRM government has destroyed the little that was put in place by the colonialists and the UPC government. It has been a period of destruction and the current trends indicate that corruption is growing by the day,” said Mr Bossa.

The President said his government will embark on fixing the infrastructure, raise pay for scientists to match international levels and ensure political discipline.

Like in the previous speeches, the President also hinted on the NRM’s commitment to fight corruption and promised to end load-shedding with the functioning of the Bujagali Dam.

DP’s deputy secretary general Vincent Mayanja, said Uganda needs good governance.

Accountability needed
“We need accountable people who are committed to the will to fight corruption. The President said the country will not experience blackouts after the commissioning of Bujagali but the solution is to remove all utility services from the private sector.”

The FDC vice president for Eastern Uganda, Ms Salaamu Musumba, said there was nothing new the President delivered in his speech. “He was reading from the same old template. It is a recycled speech that belongs to the recycle bin. I watched the way the vice president was dossing and all his ministers looked tired and the demeanor of a tired lot being addressed by a tired general,” Ms Musumba said.

Conservative Party president John Ken Lukyamuzi told Daily Monitor yesterday that the NRM Day is no longer worth celebrating. “The President should not deceive people about the oil production as there is still a lot of environmental hindrances. And for as long as the President is thinking in terms of endless administration, he will never take the country forward. He has failed to control the current economic crisis,” Mr Lukyamuzi said.

By Mercy Nalugo, Daily Monitor

Kinawataka wetland invaded

-
0

Two months after the Environmental Police was established, the abuse of wetlands has continued unabated in the city, with Kinawataka, one of the largest water catchment areas, being hit by pollution from various industries and land reclamation.

Sections of the wetland have been reclaimed up to Butabikka where it pours into Lake Victoria. Residents accuse factories of disposing chemical waste into the wetland.

When Daily Monitor visited the swamp on Wednesday, trucks were seen ferrying soil into a section of the swamp. Mr David Nyiiro, a guard this newspaper found at the premises, said the dumping has been going on for the last four months and the project belongs to a foreign investor.

“We get between 120 and 200 trucks here daily and this has been going on for the last four months.
Environmental Police commandant Godfrey Taire Idwege confirmed the development, saying he received a formal complaint on Wednesday.

“We received the complaint yesterday and we are investigating the matter and what we are finding is that there are people who were allocated the wetland but they are not following the guidelines they were given,” he said.

However, the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) yesterday said they are not aware of the development. Nema spokesperson Naomi Karekaho cited night dumping, but said she will cross-check with the office.

By Stephen Otage, Daily Monitor

Do you have a story or an article to publish? Please email us to [email protected].

Clinton’s deputy, Museveni talk rights today

-
0

Ambassador William Burns

The US deputy Secretary of State, Ambassador William Burns, is expected in the country today to engage with President Museveni on a range of bilateral issues, including regional security and good governance.

In a statement released by the Department of State, the guests and Mr Museveni will also discuss human rights issues as well.

“In Uganda, deputy Secretary Burns’ discussions with President Museveni and members of Uganda’s civil society will highlight the strength of the bilateral partnership on a range of issues, including regional security and on helping Uganda strengthen its commitment to good governance and respect for human rights,” reads the statement announcing the four-nation Africa tour by the team.

The planned talks partly to focus on human rights come months after the US warned, particularly during the walk-to-work protests, that government got it wrong to prohibit peaceful demonstrations.

Last November, Department of State Spokesperson, Ms Victoria Nuland, issued a statement highlighting Washington’s unease over “Uganda’s deteriorating human rights record”. She at the time highlighted police’s decision to confine FDC party leader, Dr Kizza Besigye, to his Kasangati home under colonial-era ‘preventive arrest’ legislation.

The November 2 press statement urged Uganda government to “protect the rights of all of its citizens, including minority groups”.

President Obama’s administration has condemned the MP David Bahati-initiated anti-gay bill that, among other things, proposes death sentence for homosexuals who deliberately infect others with HIV.

It is understood that on the Deputy Secretary’s team will be other powerful Washington politicians, among them top US diplomat for Africa, Amb. Johnnie Carson.

The team, while on the Ugandan leg of the four-nation tour, plans to visit a medical clinic in Entebbe that officials say is “advancing integrated health service delivery, a key part of the US Global Health Initiative”.

Ambassador Burns is the top most Obama administration official to visit Uganda after Ms Maria Otero, the under-secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights as well as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Carson.

According to the itinerary, Burns’ team will be in Africa from today up to Monday and attend the weekend African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia but after stopovers in Ghana and South Sudan.

The South Sudan trip and a meeting its Vice President, Dr Riek Machar, will focus on encouraging “expeditious resolution to outstanding post-Comprehensive Peace Agreement issues”, alongside promoting reconciliation and break the cycle of inter-ethnic violence.

He serves as the principal deputy, adviser, and alter ego to the Secretary of State; serves as acting Secretary of State when called upon; and assists the Secretary in the formulation and conduct of US foreign policy and in giving general supervision and direction to all elements of the Department.

By Tabu Butagira, Daily Monitor

Condemnation grows over police shooting at journalist

-
0

Journalists walk past a police van during the Work-to Work protest in Kasangati last year. A security operative who shot at Daily Monitor photojournalist Isaac Kasamani, on Tuesday was travelling in the same van. Photo by Isaac Kasamani

Leading global media institutions that work to safeguard press freedom have joined this newspaper’s editorial leadership in condemning Tuesday evening’s police shooting at Daily Monitor photojournalist Isaac Kasamani.

The global media entities are pressing for a full investigation into the incident in which Mr Kassamani was shot at by an unidentified security operative travelling in a police van with registration plate UP 1928 as he covered an opposition procession.

“We demand a thorough investigation into the shooting,” said Mr Mohamed Keita, the Africa Advocacy Coordinator of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“It is deeply disturbing that our colleague Isaac Kasamani should come under fire from a police van while reporting on the actions of Ugandan security operatives.”

This newspaper’s Executive Editor, Mr David Sseppuuya, said a formal protest note would be issued to the Police, which now stand indicted for several incidents of harassment of journalists, most especially those that have covered the Force’s recent violent crackdown on demonstrations.

“We condemn the harassment of journalists whose rights are part of the wider civil and human rights that every citizen should enjoy and that should be protected by the State,” Mr Sseppuuya said. “It is the duty of the State to do this. So if it is the agents of the State that are undermining these rights, then it is very unfortunate.”

Recounting the horrifying incident, Mr Kasamani said: “I was about seven metres away from this police van from which a teargas canister had been thrown near [FDC leader Kizza] Besigye’s car. I saw the door of this van open and in a split second one of its occupants shot in my direction, closed the door and sped off very fast. The bullet missed me narrowly as I was bending down to take the picture but I saw the sparks in my face. I was startled.”
Although it is still not clear whether any formal investigation has been launched, deputy police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba yesterday offered her two cents on the issue.

“Please advise [Kasamani] to go and report to the police Professional Standards Unit,” she said. “Definitely they will have to investigate this matter but personally I haven’t received any report on this.”

Incidents of alleged brutality by security forces against journalists are responsible for plunging Uganda 43 places lower in the latest press freedom ranking by the Paris based Reporters Without Borders.

Local entities, the Human Rights Network for Journalists and the Foreign Correspondents Association of Uganda have also joined their voices in condemning Tuesday’s shooting.

Since April, 2011, when the Walk-to-Work protests started, several journalists and media houses have reported incidents of harassment by security personnel.

Already, President Museveni has vilified reporters covering the police’s crackdown of the demonstrations.

By Emmanuel Gyezaho, Daily Monitor

Makerere VC Barya faces probe over grant

-
0

Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba

The Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, is being investigated over allegations that he mismanaged a Dutch-funded scholarship scheme for PhD students worth Euros 5.7m (Shs17 billion).

But the VC in an interview on Wednesday denied any wrongdoing, saying both internal and external auditors evaluated the project expenses without raising accountability queries.

President Museveni is expected to appoint a substantive VC for Makerere University soon.
The Dutch Embassy in Kampala said it already raised the anomalies with its Foreign Affairs Ministry that in turn notified the implementing agency to commence inquiries.

“As the embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands strongly values accountability and transparency, we have followed up on these allegations,” Mr Melle Leenstra, the Political and Public Affairs officer, wrote in reply to our email enquiries.

He added: “We understand that NUFFIC (The Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education) is investigating the issue. We expect that the applicable Ugandan authorities will duly investigate this matter.”

Makerere’s former Faculty of Computing (CIT) hosted the four-year project to help academic staff from four Ugandan public universities “strengthen ICT training and research capacity”.

Prof. Baryamureeba coordinated the project that closed on May 30, 2011.

Suspect handling of the project came to light following revelations that a March 4, 2008 CIT Appointments and Promotions Committee meeting chaired by Prof. Baryamureeba as the faculty Dean, waived tuition for the 20 beneficiaries yet NUFFIC disbursed Euros160, 000 (Shs480m) for the same purpose.

Insufficient funding?
The VC said they used the Dutch funds – an average of Euros2,000 per PhD student each year – to pay full tuition for students from other universities and functional fees for Makerere University staff on the scholarship.

The balance of the money was credited to the faculty account and used for paying supervisors and buying stationery, he said.

Prof. Baryamureeba said: “The reason we waived the tuition was because the scholarship funds were insufficient.”
University records show a number of the students are yet to complete their PhD programmes months after the scholarship programme wound up.

This newspaper has established that nine of the beneficiaries have applied to the Directorate of Graduate Studies for between $12, 000 -15, 000 (Shs28.7m-35.9m) of Carnegie Corporation grants.

One of the students, Ms Fridah Katushemererwe, a NUFFIC beneficiary, for instances states in her August 15, 2011 application that her PhD research project delayed due to “lack of funds for both tuition and research”, claiming she even took a dead academic year in 2007.

It was not clear how a student offered a scholarship and later rewarded with tuition waiver could have been in such financial distress to take a dead year or fail to conduct research.

After their applications for Carnegie grants were turned down, Dr Josephine Nabukenya, the Dean of the School of Computing & IT, on October 6, 2011, wrote on behalf of the PhD students to the deputy directorate of Graduate Studies, Dr George Nasinyama, pleading for financial assistance to them.

In the letter, she says NUFFIC funding catered for the beneficiaries’ tuition and functional fees, research books, data collection and analysis and facilitation for short visits to the Netherlands to work with their international supervisors.
“Other research activities especially theory and model testing and validation; thesis writing and printing remain to be done and thus need funding,” she wrote.

Ombudsman Raphael Baku confirmed on Monday that his office is investigating the alleged discrepancies. There are also queries about the spending of Euros72, 750 (Shs218m) project administration funds.

Makerere’s director for Graduate Studies and Research, Prof. Eli Katunguka, has written to the university council chairman, Eng. Wana Etyem, outlining what he considers irregularities such as non-registration of the PhD students with his directorate, missing project agreement document, non-payment of tuition for the scholarship beneficiaries and exclusion of the university administration from the project execution.

“This predisposes the project to fraud and mismanagement,” Prof. Katunguka’s January 13 letter reads in part.
He added: “The project should be investigated and fresh audits by international auditors conducted to reveal the scope of the mismanagement of NUFFIC funds.”

Dodgy VC
Eng. Etyem said on Wednesday that the concerns raised are of “administrative nature”.
“Sometimes people feel they are not being heard promptly and that is why they appeal to the chairman, he said by telephone.

“I received the letter and have instructed relevant organs of the university to advise me before I can respond”.
Prof. Katunguka said the VC was being dodgy over the accountability.

The grant was supposed to benefit 20 PhD students.

By Tabu Butagira, Daily Monitor

Motivational Message Of The Week: Why I Admire And Commend Lottery Players

News Ghana
-
46

Probably staking lottery is not an option for you because of your moral and religious standing. However, I believe the inspiration and lessons that can be learnt from the various persistent lottery ‘stakers’ is worthy of consideration by even people of faith.

If we really desire to be successful in life, then the hearts, addictions and beliefs of the unswerving lottery players must be borrowed and permanently retained.

There are thousands of people out there who for many years have played the lottery consistently despite not ever winning the jackpot. The chance of winning a jackpot is highly infinitesimal and these players are very well aware of that.

Despite the fact that they are well informed of the little chance they have to make any substantial winning, they consistently give away money (play the lottery) each week or day.

What does this continuous act of pushing and giving away money when they know they have little chance to win tells you about lottery players?

The fact that some of them have been playing for months or years without the win they want is a clear evidence of how little their chances of winning are…despite this evidence, they still keep playing…

We may be thinking that they have a strong belief, strong madness or addiction. Whether it is an addiction, madness or belief, it definitely is a strong one, an unquenchable one for that matter.

It is this mannerism of pushing without results, believing as strong as possible despite contradictory evidence that we need to borrow from the lottery player if we want to be success in life.

Giving up on the plan, the dreams, the wants and the desire is not an option for the lottery addict. It should also not be an option for the success addict.

Being able to hold the things you are passionate about, and believing in them no matter what people say or the evidences they provide to discourage you is what will fetch the success you desire.

It surely will be a long journey but then with the heart of the lottery player and the non-giving up spirit of the lottery addict, success will be eventually fetched.

It took years of hard work, consistent push and a non-giving up spirit for Rome to be built. It stands in glam and glory because the builders were addicts; they ignored all evidences contradictory to their beliefs and desire to build a great city. Eventually, it was achieved.

Do not give up on your dreams, do not abandon your passion and stick to your plans no matter how long it is taking to fetch the results you want.

Without sticking to your own dreams, plans, beliefs and passion, you will end up falling into the plans, dreams and beliefs of others. And guess what they have for you in their plans and dreams? NOTHING!

Good Morning & Have A Great Week!

By: Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri/ ScrewLife.Com

View the original article here

New Movie: Teaser Trailer Of ‘My Life My Damage’

News Ghana
-
0

Uche Jombo Studios have released a teaser trailer for their new movie’My Life My Damage’. Their first movie in the trilogy ‘Damage’  addressed domestic violence and other related issues. Now we have “My Life My Damage”  which focuses on HIV and drug addiction.

Nollywood Actress Tonto Dikeh plays the lead role and also doubles as the co-producer of the movie.

Check out the teaser below…

View the original article here

Organizers Of Festival Of Films, Accra Gets Major Boost From Ghana Government!

News Ghana
-
0

 

Festival Of Films, Accra

The organizers of the maiden edition of the Festival Of Films, Africa (F.O.F.A) has received a major boost as the government of Ghana under the auspices of Ghana Tourist Authority has come on board to partner them to make the festival a success. ?F.O.F.A. has selected Ghana for this festival as Ghana has been named one of the selected ten tourist destinations in the world for 2012.

The festival will bring together film makers across Africa and the diaspora under one umbrella in the beautiful city of Accra, and at the Silverbird Cinemas located at the plush Accra Mall in the capital of Ghana, to celebrate and showcase the beautiful works of Africans Film makers.

The main objective of F.O.F.A is to move the African film forward, create interaction among film makers across Africa, educate and inform African film makers about the new trends in film making, and bridge the distribution gap between African countries. The festival will have workshops and seminars facilitated by international and local experts for film makers and all those involved in movie making. The time is now for “TOP INTERNATIONAL QUALITY FILMS” to be produced in Ghana and Africa. F.O.F.A will make this a reality

From 1st to 4th March 2012, F.O.F.A will see to the organization of different events; there will be showing of selected African films at the Silverbird cinemas, exhibition of African films (Dvds/Vcds) to be purchased at 20% discount at the Accra mall, workshop/seminars, sponsored by Goethe institute which will take place at the institute, Professionals in film educating film makers in Africa on contemporary film production. The crowning event of FOFA will be a dinner gala night where renowned Film makers will be honored for distinguishing themselves in the movie industry.

F.O.F.A organizers will bring to Ghana a Hollywood and Bollywood stars to grace the festival. This is a way of strengthening the international relations between film makers across the world. ?It will bring all stakeholders together and present to them, through the seminars, opportunities for collaboration and funding.

F.O.F.A has come to stay, LETS CELEBRATE THE AFRICAN FILM MAKER

Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com

D’banj Releases A New Video For ‘Entertainer’ & Preps For His New York Concert

News Ghana
-
0

Check out the brand new video for D’banj’s track ‘Entertainer’ which feats footage from his tour and clips from backstage and several of his video shoots.

The video has cameo appearances from big names like Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and Tim Westwood.

And guess what, it is all geared towards building the needed buzz for his upcoming New York concert and his hit song-Oliver Twist.

 
View the original article here

1...49,54749,54849,549...49,605Page 49,548 of 49,605