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The Office of the President through the Manifesto Implementation Unit (MIU) will next week begin field monitoring and validation of government programmes in eastern Uganda.

This is according to Willis Bashaasha, the Director MIU. Bashaasha revealed to this publication that the field exercise is being undertaken in line with the Unit’s core mandate of tracking, reporting and publicizing the performance, progress and challenges of implementation of the Manifesto Commitments and the Strategic guidelines and directives in the different Ministries Departments and Agencies & Local Government.

He added that the field tours are a follow-up on the recent manifesto validation and monitoring retreats where MIU met with the core manifesto implementers at the different Local Governments across the entire country at the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi.

During the retreats, the Local Government leaders met technocrats from key service delivery Ministries, Departments and Agencies, who presented status reports of the government projects undertaken under their respective jurisdictions across the country.

In the same retreat, the MIU technical teams took stock of the programmes presented by the technocrats as well as the feedback from the Local Government leaders regarding the same programmes.

Bashaasha revealed that the manifesto monitoring unit is hitting the field to crosscheck, corroborate and dig up more relevant information regarding these programmes.

“Monitoring entails confirmation of whatever is stated as having been accomplished. It is in this spirit that we are going to the field to confirm whether what was presented is actually what is on ground. In his guidance, H.E. the President emphasized the issue of faultless service delivery and this partly guides our field visits,” Bashaasha said.

The Objective of the exercise:

Bashaasha noted that the broad objective of the field tours is to ensure that the Manifesto commitments are implemented expeditiously to address people’s concerns in a systematic and structured manner for the benefit of Ugandans.

“In this FY 2023/2024, our major focus is on continuous monitoring, validation and evaluation of the Manifesto achievements, including the evaluation of the performance of the PDM and Manifesto. So, after monitoring, validating and evaluating the Manifesto Commitments, we shall electronically store the information gathered and later disseminate the resultant reports so as to empower Ugandans to appreciate the government and manifesto more, on top of entrenching their right to hold their leaders accountable in terms of service delivery,” he said.

Monitoring of the PDM will be high on the agenda since the programme feeds directly into the government’s socioeconomic development agenda for the citizens; having been earmarked in the NRM Manifesto 2021-26 as the strategy/ purpose vehicle for accelerating wealth & job creation to Ugandans, basing at the parish level.

Scope of field tours

According to Bashaasha, the MIU will monitor the PDM and other government projects in 35 districts of eastern Uganda. The MIU team comprises economists and other technical staff who will compile information regarding the progress, challenges and other aspects pertaining to the PDM and other government projects within 10 days. These will interface with local government leaders/manifesto focal persons in those areas and also meet the various contractors executing the different projects to gather targeted information regarding the programmes under their jurisdictions. The teams will then publicize their findings to facilitate remedial action by relevant stakeholders.

21 September 2023, Kampala – A group of more than 25 hearing-impaired people from Tororo, Omoro, Iganga, Wakiso, Lira and other parts Uganda’s central region will receive business skills training from Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda (CCBU) as part of activities to celebrate World Sign Language Day.

The training continues an economic inclusion programme in which CCBU, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, donated fridges to people with disabilities to boost their businesses and support their livelihoods.

The beneficiaries were trained on how to take care of the fridges and will also be given business training covering financial management and record keeping, among others, to help them run their businesses successfully.

In Uganda, about 1,3 million people live with hearing impairments, most of whom benefit from the Special Grant for Persons with Disabilities. Sign language has been a remarkable enabler in supporting effective communication among people with hearing impairments.

“CCBU has adopted the pillars of employability and entrepreneurship as a framework for its economic inclusion strategy. Our aim is to boost income, provide sustainable earning potential, and improve skills and business knowledge for people with disabilities, resulting in them accessing better opportunities,” said Kirunda Magoola, CCBU Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability Director, at the start of the training.

In the first year of CCBU’s focus on people with disabilities as a target group, the company has aligned its programmes with Uganda’s national goals and identified opportunities for economic inclusion of people with disabilities.

Recently, CCBU, in a partnership with the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda, after several months of hard work, launched a reusable sanitary towels project following the training of women with disabilities to make the sanitary towels.

The project, representing an investment by CCBU of over UGX10m, sought to empower women with disabilities in the districts of Mukono and Buikwe.

“We want our business and the communities we serve to benefit from greater shared opportunity. This is about more than the bottom line, because opportunity is not measured by money alone. Opportunity means a better future for people across the African continent,” Kirunda said.

“Profitability is important, but so is doing business the right way by growing with conscience. People and the planet we call home are at the heart of our values.

“By following our values and working for a better shared future, we create inclusive growth that benefits communities, women, people with disabilities and youth, our customers, our employees and our shareholders.”

Senior Presidential Advisor on Busoga in charge of Poverty Alleviation Florence Mutyabule has warned of a looming food crisis in the Busoga sub-region arising from poor land management.

She says Busoga is threatened with food insecurity because food production has greatly reduced. Mutyabule attributed this to land fragmentation especially by children after the death of parents, poor enterprise selection, lack of training and over concentration on sugarcane growing.

“Some families have devoted their entire pieces of land to sugarcane growing leaving children and mothers with no space to grow food and necessary vegetables needed for maintaining balanced diet” she said as she opened this year’s 3-day farming symposium organized by Busoga Farmers Resource Center at Nsinze village [Namutumba district]. The farm which has various land management models has fish, poultry, vegetables, citrus, diary enterprises among others and is being run by a local pastor Dawson Musasizi.

Mutyabule noted that globally, 51million children below 2 years suffer stunting, a situation where they are too short for their age due to malnutrition. She said to avoid under nutrition in children, efforts should be made to also address malnutrition in adolescent girls and women. The SPA said that in Uganda according to UNICEF, there are growing concerns over nutrition across the country with only 15% of 6month-2year old children consuming minimum acceptable diet as measured by diversity and frequency.

She says malnutrition in mothers puts women and new born babies at risk with UNICEF warning that inadequate nutrition during girls’ and women’s lives can lead to weakened immunity, poor cognitive development and an increased risk of life-threatening complications including during pregnancy and child birth.

Mutyabule noted that such complications have irreversible consequences for the children’s survival, growth and future learning capacity.

“In Busoga for example, the issue of malnutrition remains a challenge. Not only do our parents feed children on unbalanced diet, but also many families generally lack food for survival. Parents therefore need to be taught on how to feed their children and mothers” She said.

The SPA welcomed this year’s symposium’s theme ‘FOOD CRISIS’ saying it is timely as 16.4million Ugandans according to WFP face insufficient food consumption. She says region-wide, the highest levels of food insecurity according to statistics were observed in Eastern and Northern with Karamoja taking the lead. Mutyabule says research shows that 45% of Karamojongs face high levels of acute food insecurity with 8% being classified as Emergence and 37% are classified as crisis and attributed this to climate-related problems, localized insecurity among others, adding that of all the nine districts of Karamoja, Kaabong has the highest rates of Malnutrition standing at 18%.

 She encouraged participants in this training who have sizeable pieces of land to embrace the president’s 4-acre model now that they will have acquired the necessary skills. She also asked them to participate in the various government programs including PDM, emyooga among others, saying such programs are meant to improve on people’s incomes and productivity.

“I know Uganda is endowed with good weather but let us not forget the issue of irrigation if we are to defeat the impact of drought on our crops. Harvesting rain water should be a priority to all of us so that our farms are not affected by drought” she counseled and summed up her speech by quoting Genesis 26:1-5.

Meanwhile, Musasizi says the training is aimed at equipping farmers with good farming skills and also addressing the issue of negative mindset towards farming.

“Our vision is to make this place a center of pilgrimage where people come to learn farming. We see some people going to visit places [pilgrims] where they don’t even gain anything but we want this to become a center of faith and work. This is a place where faith and work collaborate, hence the reason we have a special place for prayer” he said.

The guest speaker, also a commercial farmer Pastor-Apostle Alex Mitala, challenged the flock not to concentrate on prayers and refuse to use their hands to work. He urged all clergies to teach their flock how to be productive instead of keeping them in churches all the time. The symposium ends on Saturday and has participants from various regions of Uganda and East Africa.

Coca Cola Beverages Uganda (CCBU) continued its fight against plastic pollution by cleaning up Lake Victoria on World Cleanup Day which was celebrated on Saturday September 16^th.

At the cleanup exercise which was organised by Uganda Junior Rangers, the beverages giant ‘s staff physically participated in cleaning up the lake, while the company also provided waste bins to boost the management of plastic waste.

The cleanup concentrated on Lake Victoria landing sites, and around Murchison Bay area, including Ggaba, Makindye and Nakawa Division coastal areas. Island communities including the Lake Victoria watershed informal settlements near Nakivubo Channel and Entebbe Municipality in Nakiwogo Bay also took part in the activities.

Kirunda Magoola, the Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability Director of CCBU, said the company was on a drive to ensure 25% of its packaging is reusable by 2030 as well as to achieve a 100% collection rate for recycling by 2030.

“We have localised The Coca-Cola Company’s World Without Waste strategy, which is being implemented under our Plastic Recycling Initiative. The initiative has been key in addressing the plastic waste problem,” said Magoola, noting that it gives CCBU an opportunity to engage communities in effective plastic waste management.

Magoola said initiatives like Community Empowerment for a Plastic-Free Lake Victoria-Luzira Landing Site will go a long way in consolidating gains and mitigating the impact of plastic waste on the environment.

“At CCBU, we are leading the industry in making our value chain increasingly sustainable in the way that we manufacture our products, how we distribute them and how we sell them,” said Magoola.

 “Our goal is to collect and recycle the equivalent of 100% of the packaging we sell, working in partnership with The Coca-Cola Company which launched a sustainable packaging strategy in 2018 called World Without Waste.

“We can’t do it alone. We work with stakeholders, nonprofits, communities, governments and our industry toward a clean environment,” said Magoola.

“We are working in our communities to educate people on why and how to recycle through consumer campaigns, on-package messaging and more to create a healthier environment for all.

“We’re working toward these solutions to create a circular economy that benefits society and works for our business. We’ve set ambitious goals for our business, to take responsibility for our packaging across its lifecycle and reduce ocean pollution,” said Magoola.

By Emmah Bwayo

Resident District Commissioners from Elgon sub region have been asked to work closely with other sector heads in promoting government programs and projects.

The call was made by Hajji Yunusu Kakande the Secretary at Office of the President while opening a three day capacity building workshop for RDCs, DRDCs, RISOs, and DISO of greater Bugisu at Wash and Wills Hotel in Mbale City.

According to him, only criminals should be isolated but the rest need to be molded into government programs. He explains that the confusion in communities is spread by elites. 

On team work. Kakande asked the leaders to demonstrate commitment in defending achievements by the NRM party.

He says they must uphold professional values in execution of their duties. Meanwhile, Major Martha Asimwe the head of RDCs reminded the leaders about their core duties of mobilization and monitoring government programs.

EXCLUSIVE PICTURES!

On Friday, President Museveni in company of his wife Janet, attended the launch of Museveni Awooma album at Kololo. The head of state and his wife looked elegant as they watched the Masaka-based artist do his thing. The song praises him and all that he has done for the country. So impressed with the performance he was, that the man from Rwakitura kept wearing a smiling face throughout the period he was at Kololo where he even pledged to support artists. Our inspectors captured the moments. Here we go!

By Aminah Elizabeth Namuddu

Evidence demonstrates that electricity access has the potential to increase income, improve health, education, and decrease poverty. Access to quality and reliable electricity services creates potential for small business ventures and enhances the delivery of social services such as education and health, which ultimately triggers the socio-economic transformation that the Country is committedly pursuing.

Uganda’s access to Clean Energy currently stands at 58 percent, encompassing grid and off-grid connections as well as household solar systems. The Government of Uganda aims to achieve 60 percent electricity access by 2040.

A key fundamental of Vision 2040, which took effect in 2013, is the development of infrastructure in the energy, transport, water, oil, and gas sectors because the lack of this impedes the implementation of programs crafted to deliver the Country from peasantry to middle-income status.  

In its Manifesto 2021 – 2026, the NRM Government prescribes the Parish Development Model (PDM) as one of the approaches to enable inclusive, sustainable, balanced, and equitable socio-economic transformation. Conceived under the third National Development Plan (NDP III), the PDM, among others, purposes to deepen the decentralization process and improve household incomes.

The model stands on seven pillars, key among which is the development of infrastructure and systems to support the processing and marketing of Uganda’s agricultural products.

According to the WorldData.info database, Uganda is approximately 241,038  kilometers. Compared to the power transmission grid length, which currently stands at only 3,431  kilometers,  more effort is needed to expand the network to ensure universal access to electricity services.

Amendment of the Electricity Act

On 15^th May 2022, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Uganda, assented to the amendment of the Electricity Act, 1999, Chapter 145 of the Laws of Uganda. Subsequently, the amendment was published in the Uganda Gazette Vol. CXV No. 32, and in 2023, implementation of the new provisions commenced.

The major objective of the amendment was to address limitations in the Electricity Act 1999 to achieve the Electricity sub-sector’s desired efficiency. Therefore, the amendment is a notable milestone with regard to the implementation of the Parish Development Model.

The new provisions, among others, include the introduction of private investment into the transmission segment and deterrent penalties for offenses related to power theft and vandalism of Electricity Infrastructure.

The Transmission segment of the Electricity supply chain has been a preserve of the government through the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL), facilitated by the single-supplier model. This has been a significant hindrance to the timely construction of transmission infrastructure to evacuate generation plants mainly due to constraints in funding occasioned by reliance on donations and the national budget. The delays have also impacted access as a result of the failure to expand the grid to deliver power to communities with ready demand for electricity. However, the amendment of the Act has allowed the private sector into this space.

Relatedly, the Electricity sub-Sector continues grappling with electricity infrastructure vandalism and theft of power. The two vices account for humongous losses to the Industry. In 2019 and 2020 alone, the Country lost over 260 billion shillings to these vices and an unaccountable loss to the business community that heavily relies on electricity. Besides the loss of revenue, vandalism frustrates efforts to expand the grid, accelerate access to electricity services, and provide quality and reliable power supply, especially in rural areas. On several occasions, the 400kV Karuma-Olwiyo and 132kV Karuma-Lira Transmission lines meant to connect the West Nile region to the grid, a much-anticipated solution to the power supply problems in the region, have been vandalized, creating serious delays in the completion of the project.

As opposed to the previous penalty provisions, including a penalty of twenty currency points and a two-year jail term for the two vices, the amendment has heightened the penalties to one hundred currency points (roughly Shs 1 billion) and/or a jail sentence of 12 years or 15 years for repeat offenders. This is expected to deliver a serious signal to the offenders and minimize these crimes.

Increased investment in the transmission infrastructure facilitated by private sector participation and reduced cases of vandalism occasioned by punitive measures provided by the new law are expected to promote universal access to electricity. The increased access will enable more Ugandans at the parish level to set up business ventures and grow their income, ultimately reducing unemployment, triggering wealth creation, and eradicating poverty, thus delivering the intent of the PDM. Therefore, the amendment of the Electricity Act is a huge milestone with regard to the Country’s growth agenda.

The writer is a Senior Communication Officer at the Electricity Regulatory Authority.

Kampala, September 10, 2023 -A team from the World Bank commenced a 10-day mission on Monday to assess the progress in implementing the new Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) project. The project aims to increase access to entrepreneurial services that enable female entrepreneurs to expand their enterprises in targeted locations, including host and refugee districts. It is a government initiative funded by the World Bank with a $217 million grant. The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) is the lead implementing Agency with the Private Sector Foundation Uganda as an implementing Entity.

The team from the Bank is led by Ms. Margarita Puerto Gomez, a Senior Social Development Specialist who is also Task Team Leader for GROW Project, and includes Mr. Samuel Clark, a Senior Social Development Specialist based in Nairobi, Kenya, and Ms. Fatima Naqvi, a Senior Social Protection Specialist. They are accompanied by a delegation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from Seattle USA. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Stephen Asiimwe, CEO, PSFU and Ms. Ruth Buyizika Kasolo who is the Deputy Project Coordinator.

During the entry meeting held at the Ministry headquarters in Kampala, Mr. Aggrey David Kibenge, the Permanent Secretary, commended the team for their support from the project’s design to approval stage. He revealed that the delegation would hold various engagements for each sub-component of the project to assess the implementation status.

Kibenge emphasized the importance of diligence and commitment from all stakeholders to meet the strict timelines because the project was declared effective in January of this year, will close on December 31, 2027, and is non-extendable. On her part Ms. Margarita Puerto Gomez, a Senior Social Development Specialist who is also Task Team Leader for GROW Project assured Government of the Banks support and that the World Bank team is available to help the Ministry accelerate project implementation including addressing challenges related to procurements, disbursements as well as funds absorption, among others.

In his presentation, the Project Coordinator, Mr. Alex Asiimwe, who also serves as the Commissioner of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Productivity, identified the milestones and challenges. He informed the meeting that to achieve the development objective of the project, a wrap-around approach is being used to address the myriad challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in Uganda; a package of integrated services is being provided to individuals or groups of women entrepreneurs. Alex reported on the progress of access to trade/sector-specific skills where a call for Expression of Interest (EoI) for Window 1 & 2 was issued and due date 6^th Sept 2023; on core business entrepreneurship course for micro and small enterprises, he said that the MUBS was developing the curriculum to enable the Ministry engage training firms to train women entrepreneurs.

Regarding the eagerly anticipated grant support for micro enterprises through business competitions, Mr. Asiimwe revealed that the engagement of women entrepreneurs had been initiated, the grants manual as a disbursement condition was being finalized and the competition would start before the end of this year.

For the sub-component aimed at facilitating access to credit for enterprise growth, the Commissioner reported that consultative meetings and an assessment study had been conducted with financial institutions to inform the operational manual and loans product. A Call for Expression of Interest for Participating Financial Institutions was issued and closed on September 1, 2023. The process of licensing the lending institution had progressed, with guidance from the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA) on the use of the PSFU catalytic fund.

Under the sub-component focused on establishing multi-purpose service and production facilities to boost women enterprise productivity, Mr. Asiimwe said that mapping of existing multi-purpose Common User Facilities in the country under phase one had been completed, and phase two would be finished by September 2023 to pave the way for the design and upgrading of the facilities.

Mr. Asiimwe enumerated that the GROW Steering Committee and the Technical Committee were constituted and held their first meetings on August 14, 2023, and August 22, 2023, respectively. He noted that key next steps and timelines had been established to accelerate the project’s implementation.

This is the second Implementation Support Mission (ISM) by the Bank for the GROW Project, with the first one having been conducted in January 2023.

By Juma Nsubuga

Hundreds of people have this morning turned up for the Akright City Run 2023 which was organized under the Theme: Kick darkness out of Akright city (Estate).

Mr Robert Epaye the president Akright city says that Akright run is organized annually and the main purpose of this year’s run is to kick darkness out of Akright and lighting all the city (Akright) streets.

“We run annually with different intentions. This year the event is about lightening the streets of Arkright” he says adding that “We all notice that our streets in Akright are dark which is a security threat to residents” he adds.

Meanwhile, the chief runner, Sydney Asubo who’s the executive director Financial Intelligence Authority says this run is to facilitate the project of lighting up Akright streets since they don’t have appropriate lights. 

“The funds we have corrected from this run is to help in kicking darkness out of Akright” he said.

Akright city (Estate) is found in Bwebajja Kajansi town council, Ssisa sub-county in Wakiso district and has a population of over 50,000 people. The event was crowned by award of medals to the best performers.