September 25 - October 02, 2014

Media Monitoring Report for Uganda

Posted on October 2, 2014

Compiled by Marilyn Verghis, Media Monitoring Reporter

New Vision, Oct 1, 2014 – Mbabazi unfit to be NRM Secretary General - Bahati

long time Museveni yes-man David Bahati says that Mbabazi may be the legal party’s secretary general, but he may not effectively perform his duties as the secretary general to take the party forward
“In my own opinion the President has relinquished Mbabazi of the post of Prime Minister. Do you think he can be entrusted with a big task of a secretary general?” Bahati
“No one is stronger than the party , as President Museveni said recently at a grand welcome from USA, the NRM political organization is not a party you just play with , many people shed blood during the liberation war to bring about freedom and peace ,” said Bahati
After naming himself Caucus Chairperson President Yoweri Museveni allegedly said that the constitution empowers him to do many things as the secretary general
“I have read through the party Constitution and have discovered the chairman has powers to do so many things without the party secretariat." the source quoted Museveni as saying

The Daily Monitor, September 29, 2014 - Democracy talk scares Museveni, says varsity don

Prof Maximiano Ngabirano, the director of East Africa School of Diplomacy, Governance and International Studies at Uganda Martyrs University (UMU) names multiple east Africa governments in discouraging Arts because students of such courses reveal governance inefficiencies which political leaders don’t like
“Why government is attacking conflict resolution is that there is no way you can study peace and conflict in the Great Lakes region without talking about ex-rebels and state houses of these countries have ex-rebels. They are part of our agenda and knowing that they (leaders) are part of it, their tendency is to discourage [Arts courses],” Prof Ngabirano said
made the remarks at the UMU’s School of Post graduate Studies second annual public lecture

The Daily Monitor, October 1, 2014 - I can assume duties played by Mbabazi as SG, says Museveni

Museveni continues to be questioned after the sacking of former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi
on Monday Museveni claimed to be able to assume the functios Mbabazi had undertaken as secretary general of the ruling
members questioned the relevance of discussing a report on the bungled 2010 party primaries in the absence of Mbabazi, who is the secretary general to which Museveni told MPs that they should proceed with the debate and agreed to consult with Mbabazi later
uncertainty over the political direction things will take following the removal of Mbabazi

The Observer, September 30, 2014 – Leaders want more support for

Story of Charles Okello, then aged 18 who was abducted by LRA rebels from his parents’ home in Amuru district of Uganda. In 2008, after 12 years in South Sudan, Uganda and DR Congo, Okello was appointed an escort of Kony, later promoted to a lieutenant, leading a small fighting unit as the LRA retreated to the Central African Republic (CAR).
April this year, Okello and his unit were ambushed by a UPDF contingent in the CAR jungle where he was shot in the leg.
Now that he is free he has nowhere to go as he was orphaned by the conflict but interestingly now states “I am now used to fighting and I want to stay with the UPDF and fight Kony because I have nowhere to stay,”
According to the non-governmental organisation Invisible Children, the recent mass release and defection of LRA captives suggests that the rebels have lost ground
Patrick Munduga, the regional head of office at Invisible Children says that as they continue to encourage victims to return home, long-term reintegration remains a challenge across all cases