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Showing posts from April, 2012

PRESS RELEASE:President meets Turkish-Ugandan business community,

President Yoweri Museveni has hailed the political relationships between Uganda and Turkey and called for Turkish investors to exploit the opportunities in infrastructure development in Uganda, power and roads with tolls. “Our political relations are very good. Our army has been active in Somalia and Turkey has joined the efforts there in helping improve the social and economic side of the situation in Somalia. We were also in London for the Somalia Conference while TUSKON is helping build a hospital in Jinja for our people,” he said. The President was today meeting a delegation of Turkish Investors and their Uganda business partners at State House in Entebbe. The delegation was led by Uganda’s Honorary Counsel to Turkey Mustafa Gunay and included Bilal Akoc, Timur Tegdemir, Ejder Kilig, Lokman Cinar and Burak Aray. The Uganda delegation was led by Kintu Moses Nyonyintono. The meeting was attended by the Speaker of Parliament Hon. Rebecca Kadaga and the Minister of State for Foreign A

St Joseph’s Technical Institute to introduce oil and gas courses

The discovery of oil and gas in the Albert and the Rwenzori regions has prompted St Joseph’s Technical Institute Virika in Kabarole district to start course units in oil and gas training. Speaking during the 4th graduation ceremony of the institute on Saturday, the Principle Edison Mirembe said that the institute is in its final stages of introducing oil and gas courses. Started 1920’s by the missionaries with aim of empowering and developing skills among the youths, will be the first high learning institution to introduce oil and gas in western Uganda. Mirembe revealed that the institute has already applied to the ministry of education and sports to have some of its staff trained in oil and gas. “We have already applied to the ministry of education and sports to train oil and gas technicians,” Mirembe said. He attributed the increasing youth unemployment in Uganda to the poor training they acquire but does not equip them with skills in job creation. Mirembe urged governm

PRESS RELEASE: President meets British entrepreneur over Gold, Oil mining prospects

President Yoweri Museveni has said Uganda has a lot of potential in almost all sectors of the economy but lacks entrepreneurship skills and capital to go into successful large scale production. “We have worked on the infrastructure; we have worked on the markets with our country now accessing markets in the region; in Africa through COMESA; USA, China and India. We also have raw materials and labour is easy to skill,” he said. President Museveni was today meeting Hon. Nathaniel Philip Victor James Rothschild a British-born financier and a scion of the prominent Rothschild family in the United Kingdom at State House in Entebbe. Hon. Rothschild who was accompanied by the Speaker of Parliament Hon. Rebecca Kadaga and Ambassador Etuket from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was introduced to Uganda by a Ugandan born entrepreneur and career accountant Henry Baisi currently based in the United Kingdom. Rothschild who is a director in the Gold mining firm African Barrick Gold plc (ABG) a compa

Over 600 Congolese refugees taken to Kamwenge

Congolese refugees who fled the fighting between government forces and rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo have finally been resettled in Rwamwanja refugees’ settlement camp in Kamwenge district. The refugees who had been stranded in Kisoro district entered Kamwenge town on Tuesday night aboard eight buses and were escorted by two police patrol vehicles. Francis Bafakai a settlement officer in the prime minister’s office said that brought in 672 refugees and they are expecting more 600 at the end of this week.   On Sunday, Congolese officials led by Vincente Mwanbusya met officials from Uganda and addressed the refugees at Bunagana border and urged them to return home but a two days later they were ferried by the UNHCR to Kamwenge district. Bafaki said that up to 7,000 Congolese refugees have fled to Uganda to escape violence in their home country, adding that residents are nervous and scared of the coming of refugees in their area but urged them to stay calm as no one

Oil companies to employ only 10,000 people

The much excitement that came as a result of oil and gas discovery in Uganda may be short lived if communities are not prepared to grab the opportunities that come with the discovery. The oil companies have finally disclosed that the exploration and production of oil and gas in Uganda will not directly provide many jobs to meet expectations of unemployed youth and urged them to engage in activities aiming at becoming service providers instead of job seekers. Jimmy Kiberu, the corporate affairs manager of Tullow Uganda said that the sector will only provide 10,000 jobs which is a drop in the ocean. “People have many expectations of getting jobs in the oil sector unfortunately we will only employee 10,000 people. My appeal is that engage in service provision in order to benefit from the sector indirectly,” Kiberu said. Kiberu was on Thursday during the Rwenzori region stakeholder’s consultative meeting on oil and gas at Mountains of the moon hotel in Kabarole district organized

Working class should go back to farming during weekend- Namwese

Most people stay in the urban centers and enslave themselves in jobs even when they have land where they can cultivate food for their families and for sell. This increases on their burden of buying food every day and also affects their income as well. You wonder someone works for 40 years but when you look back she/ he has nothing to show for all the years spent in formal employment because all the salary was spend in food, school fees and others. There are the words of Brenda Namwese a resident of Bukomero trading center in Bukomero town council in Kiboga district.   Namwese stays in an urban center but refused to buy food which she can cultivate for herself, urging   that,    staying in urban center does not mean that one should not engage in farming because at the end of the day you will have to buy food. “We spend a lot of money in urban centers buying food which we are able to dig for ourselves. When I sat down and calculated the money I was spending in food, I got annoy

Tsetse flies kill cows in Ntoroko district

The cattle keepers in Ntoroko district have decried the rate at which tsetse from Semliki national park are killing their cows. Ntoroko district is estimated to have 160,000 heads of cattle but the herdsmen are now worried that if the tsetse flies are not controlled, their livestock is at stake of perishing. Mujungu said that the national park stages a threat to the people of Ntoroko because tested flies and trypanosomiasis come from there and attack their animals. “Tsetse fly and tick challenges are high in the greater Rwebisengo area especially at the interface with conversation area. Famers lose many animals to East Cost Fever and Trypanosomosis,” Christopher Mujungu, a resident of Rwebisengo said. He said that the cattle keepers are also facing a big problem of lions which come from Semliki national park and eat their cows, adding they have lost over 200 cows to lion in a period of ten year. He appeared to Uganda Wildlife Authority to relocate the lions from the park to other park

Parliaments scale up efforts to secure the health of women and children

Leaders of nearly 120 national parliaments attending a major meeting in Ugandan capital, Kampala this week resolved to prioritize action and resources for improving the health of women and children. Delegates to the Inter-Parliamentary Union   (IPU) passed a resolution on Thursday ( 5 th April 2012) calling for all member-parliaments to take all possible measures to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 by 2015.   MDG 4 aims to reduce child deaths around the world by two thirds by 2015, while MDG 5 aims to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters by the same year.   This is the first time that the world’s parliaments, acting through the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), have passed a resolution on this issue. The debate on the resolution, which took place over three days in Kampala this week, featured interventions from more than 50 member-delegations, associate members and observers, including Nigeria, Brazil, the UK, Sweden and Indonesia. The re

Press release: Kumi gets specialized orthopaedic centre, as President cautions against Hepatitis B

President Yoweri Museveni has hailed Dr. John Ekure, an orthopaedic specialist who overcame his personal tragedy when his mother died and exploited his opportunities and challenges by investing in a multi-million orthopaedic facility to help other Ugandans. “The important thing is that he transcended that tragedy and made something out of his life. He studied on a government programme and after he got an education not only as the only specialist orthopedic doctor here, he became something else, an entrepreneur. Somebody who has spectacles to see opportunities and challenges and exploit them is brilliant. I came to give him moral and material support,” he said. The President said he would direct the Minister for works and Transport to work with the contractors of the Tororo – Soroti road to include a section of the road leading to the orthopaedic centre so that the tarmac can protect the equipment in the hospital from dust. He also pledge to bring electricity to the centre and donated

here is a hidden treasure in hoe- Kayaayo

In 1995 she abandoned her job at Busitema National College, Tororo where she worked as a records clerk. This marked the beginning a new life as a farmer in her home area in Kabarole district. Her friends and relatives criticized her while others called a fool for abandoning her permanent job to misery called farming. Nevertheless, Florence Kayaayo had a different view about farming.   She settled on the land she had had bought together with her husband Emmanuel Rusoke Kayaayo in Kibale village, Kisomoro sub-county Kabarole district.   “I wanted to show those that despised me when I left my job that farming was had a hidden golden that all of them did not know,” she says. Realizing that most people in her village were farmers, Kayaayo started growing Irish potatoes, maize, beans, matooke, cassava and sweet potatoes her four acres for home consumption. After studying how people lived, she also noticed that people were prone to famine because they did not store food. “I

Thousands appeal to government over poor health facilities.

Thousands of people in Kibiito sub-county in Kabarole district have appealed to government to improve on the poor road network and poor health facilities in the area. The residents said they walk about 30 kms in the mountainous area seeking for health services at Rwagimba health center III. They said that the Government and Kabarole district leadership in particular have failed to extend social services in their area.  The most affected villages are Buryampaho, Rwagimba, Busanda, Bukara and Bulyambaghu. According to William Mumbere an elder in the area said that the health center rarely has drugs because vehicles, boda-boda and bicycles don’t reach there. Mumbere said that once in while when the drugs are delivered to the health, the delivery van stops at Kinyampanika primary school and they mobilize the community to carry drugs their head to the health center. “When we get drugs we mobilize the community and divide the drugs so that people can carry it to Rw

Cancer patients struggle to survive

Cancer patients struggle to survive the disease and costs, however most cancers can be prevented and even cured if detected early and treatment made available. But frequent drug stock-outs and an ill-equipped health system mean many patients cannot afford the high cost of treatment, many end up dying. Once a rare disease, cancers of various kinds are emerging to be a big killer in Uganda. Despite this threat, many of these cancers are either not getting treated or costing huge sums of money. His breath was slow and desperate, taking every successful breath as if it were his last. Early this month, Ronald Ahwera joined the agony queue at the Mulago Cancer Institute, the only cancer facility in a country of 34 million people. Funding to the health sector, most of it from foreign donors, largely goes to three diseases namely HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. So cancer patients like Ahwera are paying a heavy price. He had arrived here a few days earlier than 4th October whe