information sharing boost farming in kyegegwa-uganda.

RIC-NET as an information center has been at forefront towards helping the farmers in the Rwenzori region. Some of the information provided includes, how to manage small scale plots for profitability, care for poultry and weekly Plant Clinic Refresher trainings have been organized to update the farmers on better practices of Agriculture.

Mrs. Leonida Byavilonda who works as community volunteer and a farmer in kyegegwa Town council and shared her happiness on how RIC-NET has helped her develop a poultry farm. Leonida explained that she got information from the center related to poultry keeping. [Care for chicken, preparing the shed, diagnosis of sick ones and market information. She was helped to network with other service provider like the kyegwegwa Veterinary officer. The information obtained was shared with other people in the village where she comes from. She also gets feedback from the farmers about poultry keeping and issues coming out from the villages.
Success trends.
Using the training she obtained knowledge and skills on poultry farming. Poultry keeping has improved as indicated below.
Number of Chicken kept since 2009-2011
Year. 2008 2009 2010 2011
Number of birds kept 20 44 100 120

Percentage change in the increase of poultry keeping according to Mrs.leonida.

Average Income level less expenses since the beginning of her activity
year 2008 2009 2010 2011
Average income per year. 50000 100000 150000 300000

This indicates that the more the chickens less expenses are incurred. The rate per chicken range from10000-15000 depending on the size and the quality. There has been great access to information through RIC-NET information point. Leonida also have been helping the community to provide knowledge on poultry keeping.
According to Ahebwa William, a farmer with Oranges, Pineapples and Mangoes, he explained that, RIC-NET provided him with information on how to plant, care for plant [best agricultural practices] of his fruits. He owns 10 acres of land.
Table showing planted area.
Plants. Oranges Mangoes pineapples
Quantity. 250 per tree 156 per tree 1500

Output for the past income for the past one year.
Plants Average Output per pant in 4 months Income Average income.
Oranges 5 basins 50000 12,500,000
Pineapples 1000 per fruit. 1,500,000
mangoes 4 basins 20000 3,120,000

Income is likely to double next year because the plants are going to yield more than this year.
The secret behind this is the proper care of the plants by using proper pesticides, manure and proper care of the field.
Advice to other small scale farmers.
- Networking with other information providers to get knowledge of business agriculture.
- Sharing skills and knowledge on crop production and animal husbandry.
- Engage in agriculture because of the benefits it has brought i.e. income to the family as well as food security.mr Ahebwa has been able to afford paying school fees for his 5 children, bought a motorcycle to coordinate his business and built a permanent house for his family. He has also cows that support his family with daily milk.Mrs leonida has afforded to provide Tuition fees for her Daughter at University

Activists attack government over ‘soft’ handling of corruption cases

Anti-corruption activists have expressed disappointment over what they described as government’s lack of good will and commitment to fight the vice. Speaking during the first Annual National Anti-Corruption Convention yesterday in Kampala, the activists criticized President Museveni for “his soft approach towards corrupt government officials”.
In a keynote address prepared by ACODE Executive Director Godber Tumushabe and read by NGO Forum’s Arthur Larok, the activists advised Ugandans to look elsewhere for solutions against corruption other than from government. “The Constitution should be reclaimed. The President has an opportunity to make announcements to unlock opportunities to fight corrupt,” Mr Tumushabe’s presentation read in part. Retired Supreme Court Judge George Kanyeihamba said corruption has created unrest in the minds of many Ugandans, saying a government of corrupt officials will not be in power for very long.
Courage
“Ugandans must have courage to speak up,” Justice Kanyeihamba said. He also appealed for “a list of shame” to be adopted by the media to publish the names of public officials involved in corruption.
Army MP Gen. Elly Tumwiine, also present at the meet, encouraged Ugandans to “ignore fear, intimidation” and “defend Uganda against corruption.” He caused laughter when he noted that just like HIV/Aids, many a times, corruption is conceived in secret.
Meanwhile, Western Youth MP Gerald Karuhanga, describing the state of corruption in government in a poem recital, said: “The behavior of our leaders in ungodly”. An academic, Prof. Mwambutsya Ndebesa, called for a shift in methodology of fighting corruption to performance-based accountability imposed on leaders. He called on Ugandans to perform their roles as citizens and not as subjects of a system.
Female Youth MP Monica Amoding laid blame on the last two generation of mothers who, she said, failed to instill virtues of honesty in the current crop of leaders. She said the biggest challenge lawmakers’ face is demand for money from their electorate.
jnjoroge@ug.nationmedia.com

CITIZENS OF RWENZORI REGION VOW TO FIGHT CORRUPT CIVIL SERVANTS.

Citizen Representatives of the Rwenzori region aired out their views on the on-going corruption in the country. This was during the Launching of Anti-Corruption week organized by Rwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition [RAC] at Kagote SDA hall in Fort-Portal Municipality under the theme “A just and corrupt free society” with mission “to contribute to poverty reduction in the Rwenzori region by empowering citizens to expose and cause action against corruption”. RIC-NET is part of this fight against corruption through the program of Social Accountability.
The citizens showed their dissatisfactions on how; police fuel corruption by taking position in some cases, that even some cases in the community are not investigated for example the case in BUFUNGO sub county kyenjonjo where a couple killed each other, in some circumstance investigations are just minimal giving ground for the court to throw out cases, and police investigation favour the rich.
Similarly; the Judiciary favour special people e.g. Anti-corruption cases, Government also have been supportive of people close and or related to government officials or the president. Yet “Mr. Museveni talks about zero tolerance to corruption. Later when he went to Rwanda, he declared that his Government was surrounded by thieves”

“Justice delayed is justice denied”, the judiciary is no longer independent from the Government. This is evidenced in the cases the IPP or the IGG have taken to court and later withdraw cases due to lack of sufficient evidence. Why are the people involved in gross corruption left unpunished but those with cases of 1000 or less punished? Why is the government siding with the people engaged in mass corruption e.g. Hon.Muhwezi, Hon.Mbabazi? Other cases like Uganda Vs Mugabi Pius and two other Ref.IGG FP/CF/03/09.Does the government understand the citizen manifesto about combating corruption?

NRM drafts new law to silence MPs

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Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi talks to NRM MPs at a retreat in Kyankwanzi .

Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi talks to NRM MPs at a retreat in Kyankwanzi . PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA
By MERCY NALUGO & YASIIN MUGERWA (email the author)

Posted Sunday, December 4 2011 at 00:00

Five days after President Museveni attacked the 1995 Constitution and accused Parliament of sabotaging his projects, the NRM Caucus leadership has responded by drafting new rules which will among others silence critical members of the party in the House and ultimately help the President stamp his authority.

The new draft rules make it compulsory for members to vote in a particular way and binds members to support the agreed party positions in Parliament.

Any member who issues statements or leaks party information to the media and the general public without consent from the Caucus leadership commits an offence and could face expulsion and removal from party positions in Parliament.

Supporting the position of another political party [even if it’s in public interest] in a manner contrary to the aims, objectives and policies of the NRM and the Caucus attracts disciplinary proceedings against such a member(s).

While independent-minded members have described the new Caucus Rules of Procedure as unconstitutional, this newspaper understands that the draft was debated on Friday during a divided Caucus meeting at State House, Entebbe. President Museveni also attended this meeting where some lawmakers accused their leaders of dishonesty.

“This is a futile effort, the President and the NRM Caucus leaders should wake up and face the reality. Hiding behind the rules will not help in anyway. They should know that they are not the first to expel members from the party, the UPC people did it but the situation only got worse,” Mr Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga) said. “The President should not run away from the mustard seed he himself planted and has begun to germinate.”
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Ruhindi’s take
Debating the new rules, the Deputy Attorney General Freddie Ruhindi, reportedly raised serious objections on the legality of the draft, saying several provisions need to be re-examined to ensure that they are in conformity with the Constitution and other relevant laws of Uganda.

“We can only support these rules as long as they are in conformity with the Constitution and the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, short of that the people behind these rules will be wasting time,” said Mr Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East). “The party can only sack me from their Caucus but not my constituency.”

Ms Cerinah Nebanda (Butalejja Woman), another independent-minded lawmaker said: “We shall not accept and they should be mindful of the fact that we are peoples’ representatives.”

Amid protests
The draft rules come amid growing attempts by the government to silence critical media, restrict political activities through the Public Order Management Bill, and introduce longer pre-trial detention for real and perceived enemies of the state.
The leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Nandala Mafabi, yesterday described the NRM move as escapist and asked the NRM members to fight for their rights.

“It’s unfortunate to hear that some people are not happy that the 9th Parliament is working for the people of Uganda,” Mr Mafabi said. “Gagging members will stifle debate in the House and this will in the end make the 9th Parliament a waste of time.”

However, the Caucus leaders insist that “its objective is to facilitate a fair and transparent process by the Caucus for considering, generating and adopting a common position on any parliamentary business before the matter is tabled for debate in the House.”
The other objective is to strengthen internal cohesion within and amongst the Caucus members so as to give full effect to the appreciation of group merit in a multiparty democracy.

MESEVEN MEET NRM MEMBERS ON OIL

President Museveni today meets NRM Caucus again to try and convince members to back him on a $2.9 billion (Shs7.3 trillion) oil deal to bring Total-CNOOC into Uganda’s oil industry through a farm-out by Tullow Oil.

Sources who attended a caucus meeting at State House Entebbe on Friday said the President wants MPs to debate the matter today, in a last-ditch effort to sway the majority in Parliament to backtrack on the House resolution that put a freeze on new contracts until oil laws are in place.

“The President said he wanted to brief us on the ongoing negations with Tullow, that he wants to keep us informed as his partners. He gave us copies of the stabilisation clause in preparation for tomorrow’s debate on this transaction,” a member who attended the meeting said. “He said we should read the documents and give him feedback on this Total-CNOOC-Tullow transaction before he signs,” the member added.

Sources quoted the President as saying negotiations with Tullow were in advanced stages and that disagreements on taxes involved had delayed the signing of the deal.
Although there was no debate on the matter on Friday, some members took issue with the President and wondered why he chose to brief the NRM Caucus and not Parliament on a matter of national importance.

President fears confidence loss
“A caucus can’t decide for Parliament,” a member, who requested not to be named in order to speak freely, said. “The President is in a hurry to sign this Tullow deal but we have passed a resolution stopping the signing of new contracts without the laws in place. What the President needs to do is to ask his ministers to expedite the oil laws because we found oil but we are moving in darkness.”

During the NRM retreat in Kyankwanzi in October, the President reportedly argued that the resolutions of Parliament on the matter would affect the $2.9 billion deal to bring Total and CNOOC into Uganda’s oil industry. The President has since written to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga rejecting the resolution on freezing oil transactions.
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However, lawmakers accuse Tullow of peddling air. The MPs want government to withhold its consent to signing of a deal expected to be concluded as soon as the two parties agree on the tax component.

Mr Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga - NRM), who petitioned Parliament to debate what members called corruption in the Oil sector, said: “We cannot get taxes from an illegal transaction. That’s why we asked him to respect the decision of Parliament.”

Asked why the President was keen to have the $2.9 billion farm-out deal with Tullow signed, Mr Ssekikubo said: “He told us that investors would lose confidence in him, a claim we rejected in public interest.”

ymugerwa@ug.nationmedia.com

INFORMATION SHARING CAUSES ACTION TOWARDS SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY.

Information is any relevant news or data or facts gathered, processed and analyzed and shared with other stake holders who include among others; the farmers, health officer, political leader, teachers religious leader and members of Public. The role of information officers is to identify such silent issues in the society that can be amplified. The training took place on 28th November at RIC-Net head office in fort Portal.
The focus of the training was how the information we gather can speak out and influence change in the communities where we work. The main facilitator Ms Alice Mushenene Mbayahi mentioned that “what makes good information is the 5W’s”. Information should have content, evidenced based, having facts and based on the community are facing. Information should be shared and should emphasize on a single issue for action to be realize.
She emphasized on the methods of gathering information as observation, discussions, interview and dialogue. Information officer should easily identify the sources, monitor the project or issues in the community, share with other stakeholders, and identify the local government development project cycle.

In doing all this, it was realized that the entry point is important in information sourcing. Create a good social relationship with people, write a simple description of the issue, make follow-ups’ and if no action is done then engage the community in the issue before a dialogue with the authority can be organized.
By the end of the training, the information officers agreed that in order to cause change in the community, there is a great need to develop interest in serving the community, share timely information, improve the means of communication, improve our resource centers with timely information and engage our leaders to practically be accountable to the community they are serving.

CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATION VIEWS ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF OBSERVANCE OF RIGHTS FROM OIL EXPLORATION IN UGANDA

Legal and human rights dimension of Oil and Gas in exploration in Uganda.

Is oil and Gas “curse” in Uganda, or we suffer from the “Dutch Disease”. These were the words of the participants at the workshop to understand the link between the Oil and how the community rights can be realized and protected and how CSO’s can create awareness about Oil in the community.

Introduction of Oil exploration in Uganda.

The exploration begun in 1920 up to 1952. In 1983 Oil exploration resumed and led to the creation of Petroleum Unit of 1985 and the subsequent petroleum Act. During this period a lot of survey was done about Oil but little realized. In 1993, regulations were passed to regulate petroleum activities and later Government started to market these resources. This has led to the current exploration activities taking place in Uganda.

The areas having Oil in Uganda are; the Albertine Graben, the Hoima Basin, the Kioga Basin,kadama area,L.Wamala basin and Victoria basin. High potential of Ugandans Oil is embedded in the Albertine Basin which stretches from West Nile towards Kisoro.It borders DRC through the several ecosystems.

The status for licensing of Oil in Uganda as; Block 1 Pakwach basin to Heritage Oil and Tullow ,Block 2 Albert Basin to Tullow, Block 3A Semulik basin to Heritage-Tullow and Block 4c to Dominion.62 wells have been drilled and 58 are having Oil, this make it 92%success rate. The quality of Ugandan Oil is Medium  value in solid state with low Gas ratio and about 2.5 billion barrows discovered. Uganda Plans to build the refinery in kabala-Bullisa districts.

Legal and Human rights frame work in Uganda as far as Oil is concerned.  

The constitution of Uganda talk about the ownership as provided in the Article 26 (constitutional provision and amendment) “all mineral and petroleum in, on or under any land or water in Uganda are vested in the Government on behalf of the republic of Uganda”. Why the government of Uganda and Republic at the same time brings concern that it belongs to the Ministers and the President.

But Article 26 of the constitution guarantee the right to own property and land being part, but the same land can be taken by the Government for the purpose of Public use. This same Article has been used in Bullisa to evict the people from their land. Section 5/3 of the land acquisition Act requires a person having an interest in such land to “state the amount and the particular” and their claim for compensation of those interests. But such have been challenged by Ignorance of the local people, land grabbing, and low value of money on the side of the peasants above all the payment taking time to be realized.

The grazing and cultivation rights seem not taken into account especially Article 37 which talks about the right to practice and cultural practice as grazing. But the concern was how the cattle in the grazing community were taken into consideration during this eviction process. The petroleum Act Section 39 talks about the same.

The environmental Impact Assessment especially section 20(I) entails the company to carry out study and submit a statement to NEMA. The statement shall be Public document which may be inspected which could be done through public hearings, meetings interviews

Right to clean and health environment should be taken into consideration. Article 39 of the constitution and the petroleum Act section 31 obliges a licensee to mitigate and prevent damages that may harm the environment or its inhabitants

The transparency matters were taken into account as outlined in the right to access information as one way to be transparent. Article 41 of the constitution is cognizant of one right to access information. Also the Access to information Act of 2005, but it was realized that the PEP Act of 1985 contravene the above and some of the by-laws in the contracts between Uganda and the Oil companies make some information to be taken as classified thus denying he citizens the right to free access to information.

Other legal rights observed were the right to work. This is seen from Article 7 of the International Covenant of Economic social and cultural rights. It talks about the right to favourable conditions of work, safe and health working conditions. Article 40(2) of the constitution provides for right to work and is in conformity with the above.

………………………………To be continued

Farmers in Kisinga sub county appreciate having plant clinic.

Farmers in Kisinga sub county appreciate having plant clinic.

“Healthy plants for a healthy future” is now the motto in Kisinga Sub-County Kasese District. Kisinga is located in Bukonzo County East. Speaking to some of the farmer’s e on 11.11.11 during a field monitoring exercise of the Plant Clinic in Kisinga by the RIC-NET Community Out Reach Officer Kaliba Charles and Dr. Reeder Robert from Global Plant wise UK, the farmers expressed gratitude to RIC-NET and Asaba Wilberforce the Kisinga Plant Doctor for extending Plant Clinic services closer to them.

According to the Plant Doctor, Asaba Wilberforce, he noted that I attend to 25-35 farmers every market day and 10 farmers on a daily basis at the plant clinic in Kiburara trading center. The crops mostly affected and brought to the clinic for diagnosis are maize, mangoes, tomatoes, beans, cassava, cotton coffee, and bananas. The farmers revealed that there biggest challenge is Banana bacterial wilt which has reduced banana production and led to continued poverty and hunger in the Sub County

During the Plant  Clinic operation, the team also learnt from the numbers of clients received that  Cassava mosaic virus disease (CMD) caused by Cassava Mosaic Gemini viruses (CMGs) was the other commonest disease affecting the crops in the area second to bananas. This too has contributed to low yields at harvest time.

Besides, cassava, are beans which too are affected by Bacteria (the Black bean Aphid [Aphisfabae). that leads to stunted growth, yellowing and sometimes causes black spotting of leaves leading to extensive damage of the crops.  Responding to the clients’ complaints, Dr, Reeder Robert, mentioned that currently there is no medicine to treat these cases brought to him especially the beans, bananas and cassava. He noted that Cassava mosaic cases can only be prevented by planting good and disease free stems. Dr. Reeder, advised the farmers on some best agricultural practices like planting disease free stems, suckers and seeds together with proper and timely preparation of the fields.

Other cases that were identified were on Mangoes which were observed to have black spots and splitting at a later stage.  According to Mr. Muhindo, the infection had reduced yields per plant. They revealed that, previously from one mango tree, they would harvest around three basins per season but currently they harvest only one basin per season. Commenting on this, Dr.Reeder Robert explained that just as we Humans beings need daily medication attention so do plants; “We should not wait for the whole field to be destroyed before we take action” he asserted.  

Kasese has the highest number of early marriages:

The authorities in Kasese are struggling to contain the increasing number of child-mothers in the district due to defilement and high rate of early marriages. The Rwenzururu kingdom health minister Mr. Enock Muhindo said all the stake holders should educate people against the traditional practice among the Banyarwanzururu of marrying girls below the age of 18.

At the National Peace exposition Day planning meeting held in kasese under the title “early marriage and Child-Mother in the district “he said many child-mothers are finding it difficult to cope with the health along this rising economic situation’s Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng,the executive Director of the ISIS-women international cross cultural exchange, the organizers of the program said their findings show that kasese has the highest number of early marriages and consequently child-mother in the region.

The high rate of early marriages reported among some communities in the Rwenzori sub region and Kasese in particular may result in a socio-economic crisis if not curbed.

The district V/c/person Ms Naume Mbambo said the district is also facing problems of poor maternity facilities. “Our health units in rural areas lack delivery items in the maternity ward” she said there is a shortage of beds, mattresses, gloves and other necessities for the expectant mothers. Due to poor communication network in the District some mothers have been forced to deliver on the way or at home, in other related issue, some parents look at daughters as source of wealth and made it difficult to fight defilement.

It is believed that Kasese District has 3 hospitals and 63 health Units out of which 16 are government aided while 46 are privately owned. Doctor to population ratio stands at 1:31300 midwife/nurse to population ratio at 1:2196.female fertility rate at 7:4 children and maternal mortality at 39%

Source; the monitor of 30th sept 2011