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Museveni can't rule beyond 2016 - Lord Mayor Lukwago

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Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago during the interview on Friday in Kampala. Photo by Abubaker Lubowa. 

Posted  Sunday, December 1   2013 at  00:00

IN SUMMARY

Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago got another lease of life when court on Thursday upheld an injunction it had slapped on the KCCA meeting that voted to impeach him on Monday. At his home a day before the ruling, Mr Lukwago recounted to Sunday Monitor's Eriasa Mukiibi Sserunjogi and Frederic Musisi his troubled journey at KCCA and stopped only short of declaring his intention to challenge President Museveni in 2016.

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What did you set out to do right from your first day as Lord Mayor?
On that day, after swearing in, I issued a policy statement which I thought would guide members on how we could come up with a shared vision and on how we can transform the city. The hallmark of the document was a shared vision, synergy building, and I stressed that the critical issue which we faced at that time was institutional building.

We talk about services delivery and transforming the city, but these can only be delivered by a vibrant institution called KCCA with all its organs functioning. I indeed put it in the broader picture and said we were working in a very hostile environment and that the country is at crossroads because many institutions are facing a crisis; which comes from the centre and the theme at the centre is one-man's-rule.

I said this is where we have a problem; and that in as much as we want to build an entity which will respond to the challenges of the day, we have to contend with the challenge that our country is on the verge of becoming a failed state where institutions crumble, disintegrate and cannot function normally. It has been a very critical challenge for the last two-and-a-half years I have been in office; all my efforts have been geared to that because it is not one person to deliver the city that we want.

So the policy statement was primarily targeted at the councillors?
Yes it was to the councillors and all the technical people.

Would you say it was well received?
I really doubt if the councillors and the executive director [Jennifer Musisi] appreciated this, but some should have and were really forthcoming and pushing for this agenda.

Unfortunately, the cancer that is eating up the entire nation has not spared KCCA. And that is the one-man's-rule I talked about earlier – personalisation of the State and all government institutions. I have always wondered how many permanent secretaries are in this country. (Ms Musisi is at the lever of permanent secretary).

You can imagine the frequent interactions between President Museveni and the accounting officer of KCCA (Ms Musisi). Is that normal, given that many accounting officers of functional institutions don't get to meet him? All the time he has something to discuss about KCCA, it is the executive director (he meets). The ED can go there to report the Lord Mayor on any case, she can go there to report a councillor, she can report on anything.

You are saying the ED spends more time working with the President than with the people at KCCA?
I want you to get the bigger picture and I do not want to be drawn into that stereotype thinking that I am always fighting with the executive director. But the President gives policy directives to the accounting officer, which is abnormal.

There is a bottom-top arrangement if you are to reflect the will of the people in all policies made, which mandate I have. At KCCA we have different tiers at different levels. If you look at the KCCA Act, it creates a political leadership which is comprised of more than 250 leaders; you have five divisions, each of which has a mayor and on average each division urban council has got about 45 councillors. You have got below them parish leaders; you have got those at village levels; these are all political leaders whose ideas must be put in a particular perspective through my office, where they are supposed to be galvanized across the board at all levels to come up with a policy which is supposed to be implemented by the technical team.

But before you even do that, you have to be mindful that the central government has a role to play in the management of the city, so you have to ensure that the city's views and ideas rhyme with the broader national policies. So you have to look at the National Planning Authority, the physical planning department of KCCA, NEMA, you have to build synergies around various government institutions. That administrative structure would develop synergies that would deliver the city we want.

You were elected to oversee that process…
The critical challenge we have faced is that the system is not functional. All we have seen is the entrenchment of one-man-rule so that President Museveni looks at the ED as a proxy sent to manage the city on his behalf.

In other words, they do not mind about the existence of the elected leaders. What went wrong is that the system of all other political leaders like mayors and councils being under the Lord Mayor is not functional and that is what I term multiple organ failure. That body called KCCA has got different entities like division councils and others which create systems of checks and balances because every human being is prone to excesses. That is why the accounting officer, the councillors and mayors must be checked.

Isn't that your responsibility?
The problem is that those check points have been destroyed because you do not have functional divisional urban councils; there is no functional contracts committee which is independent of the office of the ED; we don't have a physical planning authority as provided for in the Act; we don't have a public accounts committee to scrutinise the accounts for accountability purposes; we don't have committees to perform the other duties. This has been my struggle all along and for you in the media you vulgarised it and demonised me.

You have clearly outlined what you are supposed to do, but you have been accused of concentrating on politicking
I shudder to hear that we, who are demanding for institutions to be put in place, are politicking. The actual people who are politicking are Museveni and his proxies. They say the central government took over Kampala but in reality it is Museveni who personally took over.

In the tribunal, for instance, they claimed that I never signed minutes and that I failed to deliver quality services. But before anyone asks me to account about quality service delivery at KCCA, they need to answer some questions first. Where did the policies emanate from? The idea is that President Museveni calls the ED to State House whenever he wants and gives her instructions on what to do.

Sometimes it is the other way round; that if she wants to do something and she wants the blessing of the President she goes there, they agree, and then she comes back and implements it without going through the Authority. And in the end she does not account through the Authority, thereby rendering the entire political system put in place redundant.

Some people are saying they can do without the politics in the city so long as someone is building roads, planting flowers …
The colonialists built roads, schools and hospitals, but why did we demand for self-rule? The will of the people is crucial and paramount. People elect leaders so they can express their will and determine the destiny of this country and so that they can indulge in their affairs. In the current situation, where the ED gets directives from the President on what to do and does not want to account, how do you play the roles of making policies, oversight and monitoring? Because these are key!

You have spoken about the contracts committee several times. What is wrong with it?
The law is very clear that the contracts committee is supposed to be independent of the office of the ED because these are all check points. Imagine that I am the one presiding over the Authority and at the same time appointing the contracts committee, how would we ensure that I do not dish out contracts to people I like? In practice we do not have an independent contracts committee. For close to two years, Madam Jennifer kept saying she was using the URA (Uganda Revenue Authority) contracts committee to do all the procurements and disposals.

We kept wondering why this was so. Granted, the law provides that in times of emergency we can use a contracts committee of another government institution, but in this case Ms Musisi used it for purposes of convenience. All the staff she brought in were from URA. We ask, "why URA?" URA is just a tax collection body and not a service industry. If we had need, why not partner, say, with UNRA (Uganda National Roads Authority) if we are talking about infrastructural development, but URA? When we decided to push so much to have our own contracts committee, she decided to hire her own assistants, all from URA. There is no contracts committee because she does all the procurement and calls her own people.

You had a council to lead, which would help you to raise these questions. Isn't it a failure on your part that instead it voted you out?
I had no problem with the Authority councillors from May (2011) when we were sworn in until October 19 when I appointed my deputy – Sulaiman Kidandala, because many thought they were potential candidates. At one point, the majority NRM councillors even went to the President's Office, where he presided over primaries to select a deputy Lord Mayor.

Councillor Madina Nsereko showed up in my office and said she is the one who had won the primaries, having defeated two candidates. You can imagine, it is my prerogative to choose who deputises me, just like the President has the discretion to choose the vice president. But this time he wanted to preside over the behind-the-scenes machinations to impose on me somebody, and that is where problems started.

After appointing Mr Kidandala in the council meeting and the clerk, Sam Takan, brought me the minutes to sign, he was reprimanded and interdicted. They opened a file against me and him at the DPP for forging the minutes. More than five months later, the DPP exonerated us, saying there was no way the Lord Mayor, who chairs the Authority meeting, could collude with the clerk to forge minutes. But even then they refused to reinstate Mr Takan to his job.

You have a council dominated by NRM members, but you refuse to let one of them deputise for you?
I have heard some people say I should have appointed an NRM deputy, but it is my prerogative to appoint my deputy. I made what I deemed to be the most suitable appointment. And by the way, the councillors had moved on from that and we were moving on well. In fact, we held a number of informal meetings there at Kabuusu and we were moving on well. When the ED boycotted the Authority meetings, the councillors passed a vote-of-no-confidence in her, accusing her of incompetence and other charges.

It is at this point that she realised she had to court the councillors and she started inducing them with money since many of them had financial problems. For instance, the councillors are part-timers who are only supposed to get allowances when they attend meetings but are not paid salary. It is only the Lord Mayor and his deputy who are supposed to be paid salaries. But Ms Musisi put all the councillors on a retainer of Shs2.5 million or Shs3.5 million in order to compromise them.

So how do you expect to lead the Authority without the support of most councillors?
What should I do? I could easily go along with what Mr Museveni wants and there will be no problem at all. The other alternative would be that I bribe the councillors. I don't believe in paying the bribes and I don't even have the money. But I trust that the people of Kampala will take charge and so long as I am in office, I will do my absolute best to do what is right and benefits this city.

If we could turn back the clock and this is your first day in office, is there anything you would have done differently?
That is speculative. But in any case, I have showed how I tried to build institutions and how my efforts were always frustrated. Unless you have suggestions on how I would have handled the situation.

And then the issue of your association with Dr Kizza Besigye?
As I told you, the problem comes from the centre, emanating from President Museveni himself. I decided to adopt a multi-pronged approach to solving this problem and working with Dr Besigye in our efforts to remove the problem is a good thing.

I have heard some of your supporters talking about "president Lukwago". Is that a possibility?
Let me tell you, President Museveni's time is over. There is no way he can go beyond 2016, whatever he does. He has led a generation, the bush war generation, whose time is up. Even Dr Besigye has said he will not stand in 2016 because he realises this.

I am not saying that that will mark the end of militarism in our politics, however, because new generals are rising to the stage and you never know. But the time for people like (Prime Minister Amama) Mbabazi, (Brig Henry) Tumukunde, (Constitutional Affairs minister Kahinda) Otafiire and (Rujumbura MP Maj Gen Jim) Muhwezi is up. Imagine, for example, that I was only nine years in 1980 when President Museveni first contested the presidency. I am now 43.

So will you stand for president in 2016?
What I want to tell you is that President Museveni should not even dream of ruling beyond 2016.

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{UAH} When Kenyatta was crowned as King of Bunyoro - Thought and Ideas - monitor.co.ug

http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/ThoughtIdeas/When-Kenyatta-was-crowned-as-King-of-Bunyoro/-/689844/2094438/-/c2b863/-/index.html

When Kenyatta was crowned as King of Bunyoro - Thought and Ideas

Ex-Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta was crowned king of Bunyoro in 1962. 

In Summary

Retired Kenyan judge says after Uganda's independence celebrations in 1962, Prime Minister Milton Obote arranged for his large Kenyan delegation to visit Hoima District. But what later transpired at Omukama Tito Owiny's palace left all the gusts bemused.

When Justice Benna Lutta returned to Kenya in 1959 as a barrister from London's Middle Temple, he found himself unemployable. There were no African law firms and none of the Whites and Asians were keen on his services. He headed west to Uganda which had a substantial number of people from his ancestors' Wanga kingdom.

There, with two former fellow students from the UK, Abu Mayanja and Anil Clerk, he set up a law firm. Those were the heady days preceding independence.

Milton Obote, a legco member -- the country's colonial Parliament -- and head of the Uganda People's Congress, spent long hours at the firm's chambers strategising for independence.

In time, Lutta's firm drafted the UPC constitution and the party proceeded to lead Uganda into independence. Obote became very fond of Lutta and the sentiment was mutual.

But Sir Patrick Renison, the then governor of Kenya, while attending a routine East African Governor's meeting at Government House at Entebbe, to which Lutta had been invited, asked the young lawyer where in Uganda he came from. Lutta told him he was a Kenyan. What was he doing in Uganda, then, Renison asked. You people won't have us, Lutta told him, meaning the White establishment had no time for Africans.

To which Renison asked him to apply for a job at the Attorney General's Chambers in Nairobi and Lutta obliged. He returned home to become a Crown Counsel at what is today's Sheria House. Obote released him with monumental reluctance. If he had way, he wouldn't have let his Kenyan friend go. But Lutta was adamant about returning home.

Independence
Come Uganda's independence and Obote asked Lutta to do whatever it took to return to Kampala for the celebrations. Lutta did, as part of a large Kenyan delegation that was headed by Jomo Kenyatta. Luminaries like Jaramogi Odinga, Achieng Oneka, Joe Murumbi, JD Kali and others were in it.

After the celebrations, Obote arranged for his Kenyan visitors to visit Hoima, capital of the Bunyoro Kingdom, for a courtesy call on the king. The Kenyans were happy to accept. Here, Lutta takes up the story:

"When Obote asked us Kenyans to visit Hoima, we all assumed it was just another event of the festivities. We got there at about one o'clock and had lunch and we enjoyed various entertainment activities. At about 6pm, Sir Tito Owiny, the Bunyoro King, invited us all to enter the palace. I don't think anybody else has said this. And the people who were there are all dead.

"When we got inside the palace, Sir Tito faced president Kenyatta and told him: 'Go straight there. That is your father's chair. Go and sit on your father's chair.' And it was not an ordinary chair. It was a throne, very ornate. Kenyatta did not ask any question or hesitate in any manner. He strode majestically there and sat on the throne. It is as if he knew everything."

"But first, a man called John Kakonge was the one interpreting the proceedings. They were crowning Kenyatta as the King of Bunyoro. The Kenyan delegation sat bemused, not understanding what was going on. But Kakonge was translating, saying Kenyatta is being crowned King of the Bunyoro. It went on and on and on. Women were dancing. Drums were beaten. After all this, Sir Tito said to Kenyatta 'you are not going back to Kenya because you are now the King of Bunyoro.'

"Kenyatta replied, 'but I am also going to be King in Kenya.' I remember those words very clearly. The Kenyan delegation seemed stunned. Anyway, it went on and on, until it was finally over. Kakonge was my friend. He had studied in India and on his return, he stayed with me in Kampala. However, all people who could corroborate this story, regrettably, are gone."

But this was by every measure a festive occasion, far removed from the devastating experience that made Lutta resign his seat as judge of the East African Court of Appeal about 10 years later. Again, the story in his own words:

"The Court used to rotate its sittings around the East African capitals. We sat from Mondays to Fridays. One week in 1973, we went to Kampala for our routine sittings. As you know, by that time, Amin had overthrown Obote and was now ruling Uganda. On the Sunday before the following day's sitting, the Chief Justice of Uganda, Benedicto Kiwanuka, who was a good friend of mine, invited us to his house. During that meeting, he told us that Amin was trying to kill him.

"Amin was trying to kill him because his soldiers had arrested a man called Michael Stewart, a British national, who was the general manager of the Madhvani Sugar Works in Jinja. Stewart's lawyers had applied for a habeas corpus. Amin told Kiwanuka, before whom the case had come, not to release Stewart.

Retired Kenyan judge says after Uganda's independence celebrations in 1962, Prime Minister Milton Obote arranged for his large Kenyan delegation to visit Hoima District. But what later transpired at Omukama Tito Owiny's palace left all the gusts bemused.

"Kiwanuka told Amin, 'but look, Mr President, if they make out a good case, the law has to take its course.' Amin said, 'no! If you release him, you will see!' Now, that Sunday night, Kiwanuka told me that he knew he was going to be killed. He was a staunch Catholic and he told me that the previous Friday, he had received what Catholics call ablution. Before you die, they pray for you and anoint you with oil to prepare you for your death.

Adamant
"I offered him my car because I had driven all the way from Nairobi to Kampala. I wanted to smuggle him to Kenya. But he firmly refused. He told me, 'if I have to die, I will die in Uganda.' No matter how hard I tried to persuade him, he remained adamant.

"Nothing happened on Monday. On Tuesday morning, we went to court as usual. At 8.30am, we were dressing for the session when we heard a loud noise followed by some commotion. Six soldiers armed with guns burst into the courtroom. They got hold of Kiwanuka, carried him high and bundled him into a car waiting outside and sped off. To this day, I remember the number of that vehicle, UVH 171.

"There was a lot of commotion; people were wailing and shouting and crying. It was bedlam. There and then, we knew that they were going to kill him. The president of the court, the vice-president and me, decided that we should try and see Amin so that we could save Kiwanuka. We tried to see him but he was not available.

"We tried to see Mr Wanume Kibedi, the Foreign minister, but he was also unavailable. We went to the British High Commission and talked to Sir Richard Slatter, the High Commissioner himself and requested him to talk to his counterpart in Nairobi with an urgent request that he talks to president Jomo Kenyatta so that he could talk to his fellow head of state Amin. Sir Richard told us, 'no, I cannot do that. This is an internal matter.'

"Now, we realised that there was very little we could do. We decided to protest by suspending sittings in Kampala. We returned to Nairobi. I said bitterly to myself, 'if they can kill my friend this way, there is no point serving a system like this.' I decided at once to resign from the court.

The other judges were refusing but I asked them, 'how can you serve a system like that? The Chief Justice of Uganda...the Army people, they burst into the courtroom and take him away like that? No, no, no, I can't serve a system like that.'

"We were told that what Amin did was to disembowel Kiwanuka. He removed the liver. When Amin killed people, he used to eat their livers. Kiwanuka's body was not found because it was dipped in an acid bath. That is what happened to Kiwanuka.

"When I told this to my friends they would say, 'oh, don't be emotional.' But my mind was made up. I wrote my resignation letter to three heads of state – Kenyatta, Nyerere and Amin. Kenyatta didn't respond. I went to Dar es Salaam and told Nyerere of my decision. He agreed. He said we, too, were candidates to die because we had protested. Then he asked me what I wanted to do next. I told him I was going to Europe to get a job with the United Nations.

"Nyerere said, 'why do you people always thinks of going to Europe? Why can't you work in Africa?' I told him I didn't know of any African country where I could go and look for a job. He picked up the phone and called President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and told him about me. That is how I ended up in Zambia serving Kaunda as his legal adviser and doing some farming there until I returned home to Kenya."

This article was first published in the Daily Nation.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

When Kenyatta was crowned as King of Bunyoro - Thought and Ideas - monitor.co.ug

http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/ThoughtIdeas/When-Kenyatta-was-crowned-as-King-of-Bunyoro/-/689844/2094438/-/c2b863/-/index.html‎

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{UAH} Africa's Aviation Safety: LAM crash in Mozambique raises doubts

Africa's Aviation Safety: LAM crash in Mozambique raises doubts

BY PROF. DR. WOLFGANG H. THOME, ETN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT | NOV 30, 2013

The crash two days ago of a LAM – Mozambique Airlines Embraer E190, which has cost the lives of 27 passengers and 6 crew, has cast fresh doubts over Africa's aviation safety record, which remains at the bottom of the scale in global comparison with the worst air accident ratio of any continent. The aircraft, production number 581 and delivered by Embraer to LAM in November 2012, was registered as C9-EMC by the Mozambique Civil Aviation Authority. According to information sourced, the aircraft had during the past 12 months flown just over 2.900 hours with just under 1.900 flight cycles. The jet was powered by two General Electric CF34-10E engines which are widely used on this regional aircraft type.

The aircraft was performing flight number 470 from Maputo /Mozambique to Luanda / Angola and the last reported contact took place at 11.30 hrs GMT when the crew reported heavy rain in the area they were located at the time. There was according to information received no further indication of anything wrong with the aircraft until contact with the jet was eventually lost soon afterwards in the border area between Botswana and Namibia.

Most accidents in Africa were in the past blamed on the use of aged, often Soviet era turboprop or jet aircraft, attributed to poor pilot training and poor maintenance. Newer, state of the art aircraft have only recently made a wider entry into the continents aircraft registers, mainly driven by Africa's leading carrier which have renewed and expanded their fleets in recent years and in the tow of which other airlines too started to phase out older aircraft. IATA's IOSA audits, short for IATA Operational Safety Audit, have been adopted by the leading airlines in Africa but many carriers are still in the process of being audited, in other words still in the stage of adopting the standards and moving towards full compliance. LAM, according to the IATA listings for African airlines, however does hold IOSA certification.

The crash of a relatively new aircraft will therefore be investigated, though under the lead of the Namibian aviation authorities – in charge because the crash happened in their territory – with close assistance from Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, which so far has an excellent safety record for their range of different turboprop and jet aircraft. Embraer reportedly have offered their full cooperation and technical support to the air accident investigation team which has been put into place by the Namibian Ministry of Work, Transport and Communications.

While the weather was described as poor, it is only the now unfolding air crash investigation which can shed light on the cause of the accident and the search is underway for the aircraft's voice and data recorder, which can provide clues as to any potential causes of the crash.

Condolences are extended to all the families and friends of the passengers and crews on board of LAM flight 470.

___________________________________

Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

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{UAH} East Africa set for historic shift as states adopt EU-type monetary union plan - News - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/East-Africa-set-for-historic-shift/-/2558/2094110/-/ep4o8hz/-/index.html

‎

East Africa set for historic shift as states adopt EU-type monetary union plan - News

The single currency can only be adopted by at least three countries. FILE 

With the signing of the East African Community Monetary Union Protocol, the five member countries start on a journey that will eventually see them operate a single currency, potentially transforming them into a strong single market with greatly enhanced clout in African and global trade but also exposing them to risk of stumbling from crisis to crippling crisis in the manner of the Eurozone.

Under the Protocol, whose signing ends nearly four years of haggling, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya will harmonise their economic and monetary policies for long-term growth.

Among the key indicators that the member countries must harmonise are inflation rates, the tax to GDP ratio, debt to GDP ratio and fiscal deficits.

In addition, the Protocol, to be rolled out over 10 years as the region undertakes the requisite institutional and economic reforms to support it, provides for the establishment of a regional central bank.

It is expected to progressively trim the monopoly of the national banking systems in charting monetary and fiscal policy, with most of the economic decisions currently being made at the national level by central banks being taken over by regional institutions.

Under Article 5 of the Protocol, member states will first have to fully implement the Customs Union and the Common Market Protocol before they can implement the Monetary Union.

They will also have to first harmonise and co-ordinate their fiscal, monetary and exchange policies, as well as phase out any outstanding central bank lending to their governments and public entities.

The member states must also first attain the set macroeconomic criteria and maintain them for at least three consecutive years before embarking on the monetary union. This entails: Capping core inflation at five per cent; fiscal deficits, excluding grants, of no more than six per cent of GDP and a minimum tax-to-GDP ratio of 25 per cent.

Once the prerequisites have been met, the member states must also meet the macroeconomic convergence criteria. This entails maintaining a ceiling on headline inflation of eight per cent, a ceiling on fiscal deficits, including grants, of three per cent of GDP, a ceiling on gross public debt of 50 per cent of GDP on net present value terms; and maintaining a reserve cover of four-and-a half months of imports.

The countries will only undertake to adopt a single currency after all the prerequisites and macroeconomic criteria have been met. The single currency can only be adopted by at least three countries.

"Upon adoption of the single currency, the Monetary Union shall commence," reads the text of the protocol.

And, as the countries strive to achieve the set criteria, the EAC Heads of State Summit will establish an institution, to be known as the East African Monetary Institute, to prepare for the monetary union.

According to the Monetary Union Protocol, member states must maintain an inflation rate ceiling of eight per cent. Currently, all the countries are within this threshold, apart from Uganda.

The provision requiring that countries maintain core and headline inflation at five per cent and eight per cent respectively is seen as a challenge for the five economies considering that as net importers they are exposed to wild fluctuations of determinants of inflation such as global fuel prices.

‎Latest data shows that Tanzania's inflation rate rose to 6.3 per cent in October from 6.1 per cent the previous month. Rwanda's inflation rate remained unchanged at 5.1 per cent, the same rate as September. Uganda and Kenya's inflation rates fell in October to 8.1 per cent and 7.6 per cent respectively.

The other key threshold that the five countries will have to meet is keeping the tax to GDP ratio at 25 per cent. Given their narrow tax bases, the different tax collection regimes and the fact that most of the region's businesses are informal and thus do not pay tax, economists said the countries may find it difficult to meet this parameter.

Currently, Kenya has the highest tax to GDP ratio at about 23 per cent, Tanzania is at 18 per cent, while Uganda and Rwanda tie at 12.6 per cent.

Countries will also be expected to keep their fiscal deficit (including grants) at less than three per cent. Excluding grants, they should maintain it at six per cent. Countries will also be expected to keep their debt to GDP ratio at not more than half to qualify to join the monetary union.

All the EAC countries have been registering increasing debt levels, a situation that will poses a headache for them as they look to comply with the provisions of the protocol. Though only Kenya and Tanzania are anywhere close to the limit, other countries continue to register significant rises in their debt levels.

Tanzania has seen its debt to GDP ratio jump from 30 per cent in 2008, to 45 per cent as at the end of last year, according to latest data from the World Bank.

Kenya's debt-to-GDP ratio, usually seen as a measure of the health of a country's economy, now stands as 54.1 per cent of GDP, compared with 51.7 per cent in June.

Latest data by the Central Bank of Kenya shows that the country's public debt increased by Ksh110 billion ($1.2 billion) to stand at Ksh2 trillion ($23.5 billion) at the end of August, up from Ksh1.8 trillion ($21.1 billion) in June.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been pushing for a lower debt-to-GDP ratio. The government's strategy has been to keep the ratio below 45 per cent in the medium term, with a target of 43.9 per cent by June 2016.

Higher ratios increase the risk of defaulting on debt obligations in the event of economic and financial distress and could erode the country's credit rating. But there are other fears over the overall reliance on the EU model of monetary integration for the EAC arrangement.

"The criteria are still based on the EU-type monetary integration, a model that I feel is bankrupt. Actually, the criteria they have put down, in my view, are unrealistic, and a recipe for 'backdoor' neo-liberalism — a quite inappropriate set of macro-targets," said an economist in Kigali on condition of anonymity because he consults for the government.

The thinking behind the eventual transition to the use of a single currency across the region is to reduce the costs and risks of transacting business across the national boundaries of the partner states of the EAC.

The EAMU, its proponents say, will do away with the costs incurred currently while transacting in different currencies.

A trader travelling from Kenya through Uganda to Burundi and Rwanda, for example, will lose more than 20 per cent of the value of the initial currency while converting during stopovers in these countries.

"A single currency in the EAC will enhance trade competitiveness across the region as fears of loss that mainly results from foreign exchange conversion in each country will be eliminated. Our worry remains whether they will implement what they are putting on paper," said Sebaggala Kigozi, the executive director at the Uganda Manufacturers Association.

Business executives, economists and technocrats expressed muted optimism over the immediate benefits expected from EAMU, arguing the project requires a large dose of political will to be fully operational.

Their caution arises from the delays and faltering commitment seen among the EAC economies in implementing the Common Market Protocol, which allows for free movement of labour, goods and services.

"The biggest risk is getting into a single currency before you achieve significant convergence in fiscal and monetary benchmarks. Without free movement of labour across the region, it will remain hard for traders to realise benefits from a single currency regime," said Adam Mugume, the executive director for research at the Bank of Uganda (BoU).

Additional reporting by Benard Busuulwa, Berna Namata and Alex Ngarambe

East Africa set for historic shift as states adopt EU-type monetary union plan - News - www.theeastafrican.co.ke
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/East-Africa-set-for-historic-shift/-/2558/2094110/-/ep4o8hz/-/index.html

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{UAH} Way Back When: Today In History

Way Back When: Today In History

• Way Back When: Today In History

  

  Archbishop John Sentamu, the new archbishop of York, plays the bongos at his enthronement service in York, England. Associated Press file

Posted: Saturday, November 30, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 7:40 am, Sat Nov 30, 2013.

By GENE CURTIS | 0 comments

1974 - Ex-emperor gives away fortune

Deposed Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie approved the transfer of his personal fortune -— believed to be about $15 billion —- to help drought victims in Ethiopia. A government spokesman said the 82-year-old former monarch had authorized the transfer "of his own free will." The Provisional Military Administrative Council denied reports that it had threatened to kill Selassie if he refused. The council said Selassie grew rich during his 46-year reign while Ethiopians starved.

1991 - Dust storm crashes kill 17

A blinding dust storm that reduced visibility to zero triggered a chain-reaction pileup by 93 cars and 11 big rigs on Interstate 5 that killed 17 people and injured 150. The crashes began about 2:30 p.m. when the wind suddenly picked up near the farm town Coalinga, causing dust from freshly plowed fields that were dry because of five years of drought to become airborne. Wreckage of vehicles was strewn over a one-mile stretch of the highway that links Los Angeles and San Francisco.

2005 - Black archbishop installed

John Sentamu, 56, who moved to London in 1974 after clashing with dictator Idi Amin in his native Uganda, was installed as the 97th archbishop of York, making him the first black archbishop of the Church of England. The installation ceremony featured Sentamu playing bongos with dancers in leopard skin-print outfits during a dance of rejoicing. Sentamu recalled in a sermon that a predecessor in the 1960s spoke of longing for the church's second-highest position to be filled by a black and told the cheering crowd: "Well, here I am!"

2007 - Clinton office seized

A man later identified as Leelande Eisenberg, who was known to be mentally unstable, walked into Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, N.H., with what looked like a bomb taped to his chest. Eisenberg, 47, demanded to speak with the candidate for president and held several people in the office hostage for five hours before surrendering to a SWAT team. The package appeared to have been made with road flares.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

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{UAH} HELL IS REAL. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY DECISION IN YOUR LIFE

Buried Alive: The Horrifying Reality Of Hell

By David J. Stewart

"..to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." —Jude 1:13

There is no death any more frightening than to be buried alive. Luke 16:22-23, "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." The rich unsaved man died in his sins during the night, waking up in a confined space with no way out. The man cried out in torments, but he could not escape and there was no relief from his anguish, pain and panic.

 

Waking up in Hell will be worse than waking up in a coffin—not only confined, trapped, darkness, lonely, panic and there's no way out; but also burning in flames, tormented, and without the presence of God forever and ever!

The Bible describes Hell as a furnace! Matthew 13:50: "And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Furnace is defined as "an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced." All Christ-rejecters will wake up upon death in the confines of a fiery furnace, with no way out.

The Bible also describes Hell as a place of "blackness of darkness." Jude 1:13, "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." The Greek word for "darkness" is skotos and simply means "obscurity" (the absence of illumination). Literally Hell will be a place of darkness. However, the Greek word for "blackness"is zophos and means "gloom." Gloom is defined as "an atmosphere of depression and melancholy." Hell is going to be a place of great depression, where there will be continual feelings of thoughtful sadness. No amount of self-help thinking will encourage a soul that has been condemned to Hell for all eternity. Oh, friend, whoever you may be, I beg you not to go to Hell. It is such an awful place of misery, sorrow, loneliness and horrifying torment day-and night.

Historical records indicate that during the 17th century when plague victims often collapsed seemingly dead, there were 149 actual cases of people being buried alive. A disturbingly high rate of people being buried alive have occurred in modern times, such as in Pakistan in 2008 when 3 teen girls and 2 adults were buried alive. Hell will be a place of claustrophobia (a morbid fear of being closed in a confined space). People who go to Hell will be overwhelmed with the reality that they are not trapped in a confined space, from which they can never escape, nor will there be an end. How horrifying! Oh, how frightening is the very thought of being confined in a place forever that is dark, gloomy, sad, depressing—a place of torments and flames of fire—a furnace in a confined space.

Psalms 50:22, "Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."

Hell is a Lake of Fire that is confined, dark and miserable. Revelation 20:14-15, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." There won't be any sun, moon nor stars in Hell. It will be a confined place of the blackness of darkness.

All unbelievers who die in their sins will suffer God's wrath and vengeance for ever and ever, punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. While the saints (God's children) with the Lord are enjoying "ALL THINGS" (Romans 8:32), the unbelieving (Satan's children) will get NOTHING from God except eternal damnation. Romans 8:32, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Those in Hell are going to hate themselves, knowing that they could have enjoyed all things from God; but instead they are suffering the eternal wrath and vengeance of an angry God, because they died in their sins without Christ.

My friend, if you are not saved you are already condemned. If you died this moment, your fate is sealed. You will go to Hell forever. Nothing that you nor the living do, can change your fate once you die. John 3:18, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." The Bible describes in detail why people go to Hell and what happens to them once they get there. 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." People go to Hell for not obeying the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2nd Peter 2:4 and 21, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment ... For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."

Once you've heard the truth of the Gospel and reject it, the light that is in thee becomes darkness and you are two-fold the child of Hell. Matthew 6:23, "But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" If you are not saved, Satan owns you!!! "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother" (1st John 3:10). Each and every Christian believer belongs to Jesus Christ. 1st Corinthians 3:23, "And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."

                                                                         

All those lost without Christ will be cast body and soul into Hell forever and ever. Did you know that God casts one's "body" into Hell too? Matthew 10:28, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." It would seem likely that God must provide some type of body that can withstand the intense heat of a furnace, burning day and night, where the smoke ascendeth up forever and ever. Revelation 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.)." The Word of God ought to frighten anyone who has never come to Jesus to be forgiven of their sins and receive eternal life. It's all free in Christ Jesus, paid for by His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19).

For those who reject God's goodness and kindness, turning away the gift of God, then God cannot deny Himself for being faithful. 2nd Timothy 2:13, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." It is a fearful thing to fall into God's hands the Bible warns. Ecclesiastes 12:7 teaches that God gives the human spirit to each body, and our spirit will return to God for judgment when we die (Hebrews 9:27). Hebrews 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Eternal life is free for even the vilest murderer, child rapist or Washington politician (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). To be saved, simply believe upon Jesus' name—trusting that He died, was buried and rose from the dead as payment for your sins—whose precious blood cleanses away even the darkest stains of sin. Praise the name of Jesus!

Death is inevitable for us all. Today may be the last day of your life, or mine. I'm ready to meet God, knowing that I am saved in Christ Jesus. Are you ready to meet your Maker? Have you been born-again by the Spirit of God (John 3:5-7) in obedience to the seed of the Word of God (1st Peter 1:23)? Specifically, have you obeyed the Gospel? Would you like to be saved now? The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you receive what Christ did at Calvary as payment for your sins, then you are saved.

"...if I make my bed in hell..." —Psalm 139:8

The Saving Gospel Is That Jesus Died, Was Buried And Rose For Our Sins

The only people who go to Hell are those who make their bed there, just as Psalm 139:8 teaches. We read in Matthew 25:41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." God never intended for one human being to enter into Hell. It is mankind who makes his bed in Hell, choosing to burn in the flames of God's vengeance forever (2nd Thessalonians 1:8,9).

Don't make the mistake of believing that skeptics and naysayers would convert if only they had more evidence or proof...

"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:27-31).

If a person will not listen to the Word of God (i.e., Moses and the prophets), then nothing is going to convince them of the truth. Romans 1:20 tells us that nature itself PROVES, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there is a God... "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."

Oh, listen my friend, you will have no valid excuse on Judgment Day when you stand trial before God (Hebrews 9:27; Romans 14:12). If you die in your sins, you will go to Hell (John 8:24). You need to have your sins blotted out; but you cannot do anything of your own merit or self-righteousness to remedy the problem (Isaiah 64:6). No matter how much good you accomplish in your earthly life, you'll still have sins on your record against you. The answer is Jesus Christ, Who paid for your sins in full with His own precious blood... "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1st Peter 1:18,19).

To be saved, you simply need to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God Who died, was buried and rose from the dead to pay for YOUR sins (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). John 1:12-13, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Christ died, was buried and rose for my sins, plus NOTHING, equals salvation!

We need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS to have our sins forgiven... "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). 2nd Corinthians 5:21 states, "For he [God the Father] hath made him [God the Son] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." This is why we read in Romans 4:5, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Amen! Any sinner can be saved and go to Heaven because Jesus took our sins upon Himself; and when we place our faith in Him as our Savior, He places His righteousness upon our record. This is called IMPUTATION. We go to Heaven not because of our own self-righteousness; but rather, because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 5:14, "Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it." Hell is getting bigger and bigger every day, being occupied by tens-of-millions of people every day who die in their sins without Jesus Christ as their Savior. Please don't make your bed in Hellfire. If you do go to Hell, it will only be because you turned down the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23), which God offers exclusively through His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Acts 10:43). 

John 20:31, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

 

 

"It is not out of fear but out of a feeling for what is right that we should abstain from doing wrong." "Doing right is based most of all on respecting the other person." "We ought to do our best to help those who have suffered injustice." "The wise man belongs to all countries, for the whole world is a homeland to a great heart." "Poverty in a democracy is as much to be preferred to so-called prosperity under despots as freedom is to slavery" "I would rather discover a single causal law than be king of Persia!"
 Democritus (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC)

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{UAH} ME 2 HATE RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY! :(

 

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{UAH} Outsourcing UNAA

Now that it has been repeatedly suggested that we should "outsource" the constitutional role of the UNAA Board of Trustees (by appointing an outside arbitrator), may be it is time for UNAA to consider outsourcing the Executive and the Council too. The idea to outsource the BOT has come from ppeople that do not agree with the BOT's decisions.  The same rationale would be used to outsource the Executive and the Council...the suggestion would come from people that are not happy with the decisions of the Executive and the Council.

UNAA's activities can be effectively organized by non-members. UNAA's main activity is the convention...you don't have to be a member in order to organize the convention. In fact, the vast majority of people that have helped organize conventions in the recent past, just joined UNAA in order to be part of the local organizing committee.  The vast majority of those folks do not renew their membership once the convention leaves their city...and most of them do not go the next year's convention.  You can look at recent  local organizers in San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia,  New York, DC...and I am sure the Dallas folks will follow this trend.

There  are only 2 tough questions related to this:

1. who would appoint the organizers?

2. who would supervise the organizers?

May be the members should just request bids and require organizers to pledge a certain amount of money for the right to organize the convention. That money would hve to paid to UNAA as soon as the bidding ends. i.e if you want to organize the convention next year in San Diego, you pay us today!

Think about the advantages:

1. guaranteed profit for UNAA since UNAA ould get the money BEFORE the convention starts.

2. minimal Kla politics since organizers would want to have as many delegates as possible

3. no need for Mr Gaburungyi/Ms Nairuba/Mr Kimbugwe to play any games with voters' lists.

4. the current impasse between our 3 organs (Board of Trustees, Executives and Council) would be eliminated.

5. all those friendships that have been strained by the current events in UNAA would hopefully mend. 

6. no need to have elections for UNAA leadership

7. etc.

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