Heavy police deployment in Masaka ahead of walk-to-work re-launch

SOURCE: THE DAILY MONITOR, 10 AUGUST 2011

Police deploys heavily in Masaka ahead of the re-launch of the opposition nationwide walk-to-work protests today to express their dissatisfaction at the government’s handling of the high and rising cost of living in the country.

Senior Commissioner of Police Andrew Sorowen, in Masaka to oversee the police crackdown on the opposition activists told a press conference earlier this morning that the opposition will not be allowed to address a rally scheduled at 2.PM today at near Nyendo central market because it would disrupt other people’s activities.

But Masaka Municipality MP and national coordinator of Activists for Change pressure group, which is leading the protests, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, says the opposition will go ahead with the rally at Kasana playgrounds.

Opposition Forum for Democratic Change president, Dr Kizza Besigye is expected to speak at the rally, which will also be used as a memorial service in honour of those who were killed during the earlier protests will be held in Nyendo, Masaka, where 2-year-old Juliana Nalwanga was shot. It is expected that the leaders will announce the next course of action countrywide.

Our correspondents on the ground say there is heavy police deployments backed up by military personnel and heavy military hardware.

In late March, the A4C announced protests following a sharp rise in the cost of fuel and other basic commodities. The protests that were brutally quelled by police and other state agencies ended with nine people shot dead in Kampala, Masaka, Mbale and Gulu and most opposition leaders arrested and charged with various offences ranging from inciting violence, failure to obey police orders, assaulting police and being public nuisance. The suspects have been largely discharged either by the DPP dropping the charges or court dismissing them.

Dr Kizza Besigye, leader of the lead opposition party was badly battered and sprayed with toxic substances, leaving him half blind. He was flown to Nairobi and later to the US for treatment, only to return on May 12 to be treated to a tumultuous welcome that overshadowed President Yoweri Museveni’s swearing in for a fourth elective term of office.

Uganda Economy In Coma

SOURCE: THE RED PEPPER, 10 AUGUST 2011

Experts predict further hard economic times. Uganda’s low productivity leaves country uncompetitive.

Uganda’s economy will continue to struggle amidst high cost of living and doing business, economists have warned. Essential commodity prices have been skyrocketing for the last six months forcing consumers to dig deep into their pockets to live a descent life.

This has been fueled by the persistent runaway inflation which soared to 18.7 per cent recently, high fuel prices, depreciating Shilling and emergency load shedding which have sliced the economy like a shape razor.

Uganda Bureau of Statistics recently announced that the annual headline inflation for July hit a record high of 18.7 per cent from 15.7 per cent in June due to low food supplies to most markets and the general expectation of price rises in the country. The headline inflation rose due to a sharp increase in food prices, in particular prices for maize flour, sugar and sweet potatoes.

The rise was also blamed on the continued importation of consumer goods from countries with high inflation and reduced supplies of consumer goods in the country.

The worst part of it is that farmers have registered low farm yields due to looming drought in most parts of the country hence failing to feed the markets and eventually people’s plates. This means the country will continue to have low food supplies at a time when more drought is being predicted.

Uganda to Suffer Malnutrition

A united Nations report revealed that Uganda could be the next country to be hit by alarming malnutrition rates and famine due to drought.

Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) confirmed that food insecurity has already been detected in drought-hit northern areas of Uganda.

Prices for maize, Uganda’s main crop, went up by 67 per cent between June and July due to a delay in the harvest and the effect of greater demand from neighbouring Kenya and southern Sudan, according to Shukri Ahmed, Senior Economist at the FAO.

By the end of last week, Sugar was a scarce commodity with leading supermarket rationing the much needed sugar which is now selling between Shs5000 to Shs8000 across the country.

To add misery to the current situation, the shilling has continued to struggle against major international currencies forcing the central bank to intervene periodically.

Most notably the introduction of a monthly Central Bank Rate, a monetary policy instrument is targeted to curb inflation and support the exchange rate in the interbank interest rates. The Shilling performance has been facilitated by the increasing need for the dollar as more imports are brought into the country.

 Prof. Balunywa Explains the Bruised Economy

In an Interview with Business Sense about the current economic situation in the country, Prof. Wasswa Balunywa, an economist and Principal of Makerere University Business School (MUBS) described it as worrying. He noted that inflation and exchange rate provide the framework of the general performance of the economy.

He said that the factors causing inflation in the country are primarily food prices caused by drought, food export and oil prices. He noted that inflation is a big disease and a disincentive to people who want to save money hence the need to manage it well.

“There is no intervention in the market right now that can solve the problems Uganda is facing; it can only be addressed by increasing agriculture productivity. Government should give people an income by enabling them produce something,” Balunywa said.

He added”  “Mutebile (Governor Bank of Uganda) cannot control the export of food and bad weather. He can only point out what’s happening and he leaves it to the ministry of finance together with other line ministries like that of trade, energy and agriculture who need good policies for action.”

Ssempebwa, an economist speaks out

Economists have blamed government for over relying on the private sector which finds it cheaper to import than to manufacture for export. “That happens when the state withdraws from business and solely relies on the private sector to produce.

The private sector follows profit. Importing is more profitable than exporting or manufacturing combined,” John Ssempebwa an economist and former director of trade at PSFU said.

He explained that because the National Export Strategy being implemented by

Uganda Export Promotion Board hasn’t delivered, Uganda’s trade deficit has been increasing steadily.

“It’s like a house that consumes more than it produces. Sooner or later, it will get into serious debt,” Ssempebwa added.

He questions why in Uganda manufacturing and exporting is expensive at a time when costs of production and energy are high. “Why is importing more profitable in-spite of the 25 per cent import duty?

why has government left the private sector to operate in such an environment of high production costs?, why are imports escalating? Why are illegal immigrants allowed to import from their home countries?

“The chaps are not investors and we don’t have common market agreements with their home countries,” Ssempebwa asked. To him these are issues government should address fundamentally for long term economic benefits.

He advises government to put in place a functional National Export Strategy, a tourism plan that brings in at least a million tourists annually, an education export plan that can bring at least 200,000 students from the region and a processed maize export plan that feeds the region.

IMPROVE AGRICULTURE OUTPUT

Agriculture employs the biggest chunk of Ugandans but in the recent years it has slumped due to insufficient government funding and urban migration.

However there is need for renewed effort to revitalize farming on a large scale and taking on irrigation to swat drought.

This, together with value addition will spur export efforts.

“Government should encourage people to go into farming at a large scale. We have so much water in this country but you cannot irrigate small farms,” said Balunywa.

Right now, food is so expensive some families are living on a single meal per day. The little food available is being exported to South

Sudan and DR Congo causing bigger demand yet supply is small, something that has caused prices to go up.

He explained: “The demand in South Sudan is a blessing; we only have to grow more and earn more revenue. It’s an indicator that our productions are demanded.”

The continued export of food and sugar has got people calling for government to halt the sell of these commodities so that domestic market is satisfied. “In terms of inflation the key thing is to increase the incomes of these peasants.” The professor points out.

However, putting a cap on food exported out of the country is not a wise decision; all that needs to be done is to produce more food for export.

W2W II Resumes Wednesday

SOURCE: THE RED PEPPER, 9th AUGUST 2011

The forum for democratic change (FDC) spokesperson Wafulu oguttu has announced that the walk to work demonstrations will kick off come this Wednesday.

Addressing a weekly press conference at the FDC party headquarters on Monday at Najjanankumbi, Oguttu said that two months back the activists for change had stopped their ‘walk to work’ campaigns due to the then pending national budget reading.

He says that the budget released has not brought in positive resolutions to the current economic crisis in the Country.

 “Ugandans should not only look at prices of sugar but also other goods like; meat, posho, school fees, shortage of clean water supply, safety of public money as well as electricity.”

Wafula says that in the president’s meeting with his cabinet, nothing was agreed on as beneficial to Ugandans apart from the usual rhetoric.

“Protests didn’t make both investors and tourists not to come to Uganda because they are done in a peaceful manner but police and other security organs use excessive force which results into chaos’’, Oguttu noted.

Court acquits FDC's Kizza Besigye
SOURCE: THE NEW VISION, 9th AUGUST 2011
Forum for Democratic Change President Kiiza Besigye addressing the media at Kasangati Magistrates Court, after his acquittal A Magistrate’s Court has dismissed a case in which the FDC part president was charged with failure to obey lawful orders of a police. He allegedly committed the offence during the walk to work protests last April. Principal Grade One Magistrate Kasangati court, George Watyekere said in his ruling that he had gone through all the evidence given by the witnesses and found out that Besigye had no case to answer. “After studying all the evidence given by prosecution I have found out that the accused has no case to answer, I therefore acquit him and discharge him immediately” Watyekere said. Speaking shortly after the ruling, Besigye commended the magistrate for handling the case professionally. Prosecutors had asked the court to convict Besigye saying their evidence against the opposition leader was enough to secure a conviction. The magistrate told prosecution that it was free to appeal against the acquittal.

Court acquits Besigye of walk to work charges

SOURCE: THE DAILY MONITOR, 9TH AUGUST 2011

Opposition Leader Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye jubilating with his supporters outside the Kasangati Magistrates' Court Tuesday August 9, 2011 shortly after he was cleared of all the walk to work offences.

Kasangati Court has this morning acquitted and discharged the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leader, Kizza Besigye of the charges related to walk to work without defending himself. The charges included ; rioting after proclamation, incitement to violence, and disobeying lawful orders of a traffic police officer.

While giving his ruling, the presiding magistrate George Watyekere concurred with the defense lawyer, David Mpanga’s submissions that prosecution had failed to adduce evidence to back the allegations pinned against his client and such could not necessitate him to defend himself.

“it’s the finding of this court that a prima facie case has not been made against the accused person on the available evidence to require him to defend himself. A tribunal directing itself to the law like the one presided over by me cannot convict the accused if no explanation is given in his defense,” ruled Magistrate Watyekere.

In April this year, Dr Besigye joined other opposition protests to urge government action on the rising cost of living particularly food and fuel. A pressure group Activists for Change (A4C) called the protests that required participants to “Walk to Work” or Walk to Church.

Government reacted strongly deploying hundreds of heavily armed police and other security agencies to block the walkers, many were violently arrested including Dr Besigye while at least five people died as a result of the disturbances while several hundred were injured or arrested.

Earlier last month, the Director of Public Prosecution (DDP) dropped charges of incitement to violence against Dr. Besigye. Ms Gladys Nyanzi represented the State and was advised to appeal in unsatisfied with the ruling.

A visibly relieved Besigye said government was wasting both time and tax payers money in opursuing cases against it political opponents well knowing that they cannot successfully prosecute them, he said reffering to previous charges of rape and treason which all collapsed. “ I have been dragged to court and charged with various offence ranging from criminal to traffic offences but in all, prosecution has never made a prima facie case against me including the rape one requiring me to defend myself,” he said.

There was excitement in Kasangati trading center soon after the ruling as his supporters surrounded his car while shouting and flashing the party’s V sign. The anti-riot police that had deployed around the court premises swung into action to disperse the supporters. Besigye later drove into town.
Present at court was his sister, Dr Olive Kobusigye.

Court Dismisses Besigye ‘Walk to Work’ Charges

SOURCE: THE RED PEPPER, 9 AUGUST 2011

Besigye and co-accused inside Court in Kasangati on Tuesday

The Kasangati chief magistrate’s court on Tuesday dismissed all the work-to-work charges that Kizza Besigye has been facing.

Besigye has been facing three charges of disobeying lawful orders thus disrupting traffic flow, rioting after a proclamation by a police officer and inciting violence.

While delivering his ruling as to whether Besigye has a case to answer or not, George William Watyekere the kasangati grade 1 magistrate threw out all the charges on grounds that all the witnesses produced before court were untruthful and there testimonies had a lot of contradictions which he couldn’t over rule.

Prosecution led by Ivan Nkwasibwe and Gladys Nyanzi had produced three witnesses in court to pin Besigye.

These included Collins Mukitte who was the Kasangati police boss at the time Besigye arrested, Patrick Mawa a traffic officer and one Bernard Kirya.

The magistrate however trashed the evidence of Kirya since he testified that he never saw Besigye committing the offence but just executed his arrest a matter that wasn’t before court.

Meanwhile, Besigye says he is suing the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for always dragging him to court over offences that he can’t substantiate.

“The country is disgraced by that office, in all these cases the prosecution has never made any premafasie case right from the rape case” he said.

‘Uganda Shilling, world’s worst performer’

SOURCE: THE DAILY MONITOR, 07/08/2011

The Uganda Shilling, is now the worst performing currency in the world. It has been at the bottom for the last two months now. The Shilling has depreciated by 10 per cent against the dollar over the last two months, making it the world’s worst performer in the period.

The Shilling this week, fell to the lowest in five weeks against the dollar as demand for the US currency outweighed its sales by the central bank. The currency of Africa’s second-biggest coffee producer depreciated 0.9 per cent to 2,672.5 per dollar, the weakest intraday level since June 30, by August 4, at 2:37 p.m. in Kampala.

The central bank sold a “reasonable” amount of dollars, the second time in a week, after witnessing volatility in the market, Mr Stephen Kaboyo, the director of financial markets at the central bank, told Bloomberg news agency, by telephone from Kampala.

Inflation stands at 18.7 per cent, the highest in ten years.