20100828
reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday accused striking state workers of abandoning the sick at hospitals and said he expected a deal to be reached soon to end the labour action by about 1.3 million.

20100824
reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Tuesday that its members at a Rio Tinto-BHP Billiton joint venture will go on an indefinite strike from Friday following a wage dispute.

5060101
Together, they cut the image of four innocent youths—only until they narrated how they planned and executed the bomb attacks that left 76 people dead in Kampala last month.

Paraded before journalists in Kampala yesterday by military intelligence officials, the suspects accused of masterminding the attacks in Kabalagala and Kyadondo Rugby Club, gave chilling narrations of how serving as al Shabaab conduits, they meted death and misery in Kampala.

al Shabaab factor
Their suspected coordinator, Mr Issa Ahmed Luyima, spoke of how he had joined the Somali terrorist outfit in 2009 and participated in fighting Ugandan-led peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
The 33-year-old Luyima, speaking with a straight face, revealed how he recruited his brother, Hassan Haruna Luyima, into the mission after two suicide bombers disagreed with him and went back to Kenya.

“I was forced to recruit my brother after two of the suicide bombers left because they said they were not getting enough information on the preparations of the attack,” he told journalists; his face betraying no emotion.
It is the younger Luyima who was tasked with the aborted attack on Makindye House and also helped a Somali suicide bomber blow himself up at the Ethiopian Restaurant in Kabalagala, a Kampala suburb.

But for the third suspect, Mr Edris Nsubuga, it was a battle of emotions as he broke down while narrating how he travelled with a Somali suicide bomber from Namasuba, a city suburb, to Kyadondo where they committed the grisly act.

The Bachelor of Commerce student at Makerere University described himself as an evil man who caused misery to Ugandans. “I am very sorry for the loss of life that happened because of my actions. I’m an evil man,” he said amid sobs.

Mr Nsubuga said he detonated the second bomb at exactly 11:15pm, using a phone a few seconds after the suicide bomber blew up himself. There were two bomb explosions at Kyadondo.

Preparations
Asked about what punishment he thought he deserves, Mr Nsubuga said, “I want my life but let the law take its course,” as he wiped away tears. The narration indicates that the attackers rented a house in Namasuba where the planning, assembling and testing of the bombs was done for days before the attack.

The fourth suspect, Mr Mohamoud Mugisha, whose parents migrated from Rwanda, joined Al Shabaab in 2008 in Nairobi. His brief, he said involved looking for a house in which the terrorist cell would work.

His first choice, a house in Nakulabye, was rejected by his bosses in Kenya because there were soldiers living in the neighbourhood. The military intelligence boss, Brig. James Mugira, said they had dismantled the network of the terrorists.

“We spent sleepless nights and our efforts have yielded good results. We would like to warn anybody whether inside or outside Uganda not to dare to attack Ugandans,” he said.

5060100 (Uganda)
The mission looked accomplished. Suspects had confessed to the crime but silently, a war was simmering. Who was to take the credit for arresting suspects behind the 7/11 bomb attacks that left 76 people dead?

Yesterday, this clash came to the fore when the police and the army openly feuded on who was to be lauded for apprehending the suspects.
Both security organs held parallel press conferences at about the same time—each seeking to be credited for the accomplishment.

The police chief, Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura, who held a press conference at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala at 12.20pm, said the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, which had paraded the suspects about an hour earlier at its headquarters in Kitante, had acted “unprofessionally”.
“That is unprofessional. I don’t want to argue before the press but we shall sort them out later,” Maj. Gen. Kayihura said after learning of the army briefing.
He wondered how suspects could be paraded when investigations were still ongoing. “This will jeopardise our investigations. Please I plead with you to just give us one day and publish those photographs,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Kayihura learnt later that the information he was reluctant to give had already been given out to the press by the head of CMI, Brig. James Mugira and army and Defence spokesperson Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye.

He said the police were the lead-agency in hunting for the suspects while the Joint Anti Terrorism Task Force and CMI were “just to keep suspects in custody”.
Brig. Mugira had earlier on paraded four key suspects, given out the details of the investigations and even given them a chance to narrate their alleged operations to the media.

Brig. Mugira told reporters: “We promised the public that we would hunt down the perpetrators. We have kept our promise. We have apprehended all those responsible for the planning and execution of these cowardly attacks.”

Lt. Col. Kulayigye when contacted later said he could not respond to his superiors through the media.

The number of Ugandans who have been condemned to death by hanging in China for trafficking in illegal drugs has risen to 20, the country’s envoy to Beijing has said.

Ambassador Charles Madibo Wagidoso told Ugandan journalists on tour in China that up to 54 nationals are currently behind bars in China.
“It is unfortunate but we have more than 50 Ugandans detained in various prisons in China and counting because just last week another one was arrested,” he said. “Twenty have been sentenced to death and the rest have sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment.”

By 2008, eight Ugandans out of a group of 38 apprehended suspects, had been sentenced to death. The envoy spoke of a worrying trend and said there were indications that more women were getting involved in the dodgy business of narcotics, a trade he admitted is claiming youthful jobless victims. Of the 54 locked up, 25 are women, he revealed.

“They are innocent vulnerable young people,” he said. “All of them below 40 years.”
The convicts are held at prisons in Beijing, China’s capital, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, a city frequently thronged by African businessmen, Mr Wagidoso revealed.
He spoke of a narcotics trafficking racket between drug lords in Kampala, Dubai and Thailand, where unemployed Ugandans are recruited into smuggling the drugs with baits of quick cash.

“These people are out of employment and they are normally paid ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 (between Shs6-10 million) for single transmission,” he said. “To an unemployed person, he sees $5,000 as a fortune and will undertake the risk without weighing the problem.”

Narcotics trade is a matter that has put Ugandan travellers to China on police radars following the first arrests and eventual sentencing of more than a dozen countrymen between September 2006 and December 2007.
Many of the suspects were arrested transporting between 800 grammes to a kilogramme of heroine, crimes that carry a maximum death penalty.

The Ugandan government subsequently engaged in closed negotiations with China to lessen the sentences or repatriate its condemned citizens but the talks appear to have dragged on.

Mr Wagidoso said he was still engaging Beijing. “We are negotiating to see if they can be allowed to be extradited to serve their sentences in Uganda so that they can have access to their relatives and friends so that they can be a little more comfortable.”

The ambassador said: “We are getting a good response from the Chinese government but that is now subject to signing of a consular treaty and extradition treaty. When that happens, then we will be able to firmly move forward.”

The envoy admitted, however, to a an obstacle: “There is also the dilemma for the Chinese government; if they do it for one country, will they do it for all the other countries?”

20100810
reuters

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling African National Congress is not looking at ways to nationalise mines but wants to intervene in ways to best manage the sector crucial to the state's economy, an official said on Tuesday.

20100810
africanews

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has extended a hand of friendship to the European Union and the United States during the celebration of the southern African country's National Heroes' Day. His conciliatory speech follows a week after he told the US and EU to "go to hell" at his sister's funeral.

20100810
africanews

Somali Islamist rebels have ousted three Christian aid agencies for spreading Christianity in the country. The Al-Qaeda linked group Al-Shabaab said that the World Vision, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency and Diakonia must immediately leave the country.

50698
Since 9/11, international terrorism has, sometimes erroneously, been associated with Islam, so this Ramathan, let’s dismember our religion from this association,Nasser writes,
By Thursday next week, Muslims all over the world will be fasting, having started their holy month of Ramathan. Not eating from dawn to sunset, striving not to do anything sinful, and a complete change in behaviour among other things will be expected of them for 30 days. Mosques will be full to capacity, streets beggars will be “happy”, alms will be given to the needy and so many other good things will be done.

However, according to Sheikh Abdul Matovu, due to the recent terrorist incidents where they are said to have been involved, Muslims should use this Ramathan to rinse their religion. Since 9/11, international terrorism has been, sometimes erroneously, associated with Islam– Al Qaeda, Al Shabaab, and Al Ittihad al Islamia, among others. So far, for the July 11 Kampala double bombings, all the top suspects are Muslims - Ali Issa Ssenkumba, Idris Magondu, Hussein Hassan Agade and Mohammed Aden Addow.
Over time, there has been an international ‘conception’ that relates terrorism to Islam. Whenever terrorists strike, most people think it’s Muslim-related.

Regrettably, many terrorists groups have used the name Islam to promote their cause and this gave many non-Muslims a chance to asperse Islam and label the Muslims as terrorists. Deliberately ignored on the other hand, are terrorists who happen to be Christians or Jews. Terrorism as an act of violence has been committed by people from all religious and political backgrounds.

According to Shamim Monero, a Muslim student at the Islamic University in Uganda, some terrorists were not Muslim but used religion to support their task.
“It is very unfair for terror to be associated with Islam. Kony and Lakwena used religion to blind their followers, but was it Islam?” She asks emotionally
.
According to Jamal Omar Habib, a Muslim from Kisenyi in Kampala, after the recent bombings in Kampala, many, including security operatives, started watching Muslims closely. “Some people look at us as terrorists because we dress in Islamic attire, more so when you are of Somali origin or look Somali,” says Habib.

Shaban Nkutu, a student at the Islamic University in Uganda, also condemns those who relate Islam to terrorism and says human life should be taken only in the fight for justice. According to him, it’s the law of the land that differentiates between justice and injustice, so it’s in a government’s power to kill for injustice.
Islamic teachings condemn terrorism. In most instances, terrorist claim that they kill people in revenge. But, the Quran asks us not to allow anger drive us into temptation: “Do not be provoked by your conflicts with some people into committing injustice.” 5:8.

Following the 9 11 bombings in America, Islamic organisations and Muslims all over the world condemned the act, calling it cowardly.
“Attacking innocent people is not courageous, it is stupid and will be punished on the Day of Judgment. ... It’s not courageous to attack innocent children, women and civilians. It is courageous to protect freedom, it’s courageous to defend one and not to attack,” Shaykh Muhammed Sayyid al-Tantawi, imam of al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Egypt, said at the time.

As we fast this season, let us unite as Muslims and cleanse our religion of this association with terror, by being good examples in society through being peaceful. The religion of Islam should not be confused by what these so-called Muslim terrorists have done. They actually, by the definition of the Quran, are not Muslims or at least as much Muslims as the Ku Klux Klan are good Christians. We should not let our emotions overcome our logic and understanding.

— Additional reporting from the Internet

506098
President Museveni has given a stern warning to cultural leaders not to engage in active politics, saying this might cause violence in the country.

“The cultural leaders must play their olubimbi literally meaning their part but not to actively get involved in politics because this might cause turmoil in the country,” President Museveni said while launching the Bamasaba cultural circumcision ceremony in Mbale District on Friday.

“My advice to you is to play the roles and responsibilities within your boundaries.”
Mr Museveni said the Movement government fought and restored traditional institutions because it was important to allow people preserve their norms.

Abusing benefits?
“We knew the benefits of restoring these institutions but it would sound bad if they abuse them by actively getting into politics,” he added. The traditional imbalu (circumcision ceremony) takes place after every even year and this year’s event took place at Bumutoto cultural grounds.

Thousands of people walked several kilometres as far as Western Kenya, Sironko, Bududa, Bulambuli, Manafwa, Mbale and other surrounding districts to witness the ceremony.

The President commended the Bamasaba for inviting their colleagues [Bakusu] from Western Kenya, which shows a sign of unity as Uganda and other countries are geared at creating the East African Community (EAC).

“I don’t personally agree with the issue of borders. These were grave mistakes created by the colonial masters because this divided people and yet they speak the same language. This is why I am agitating for the creation of the EAC,” Mr Museveni said amid applause from the mammoth gathering.
President Museveni further said that people should not fight over borders because “we are one”.

“Fighting should not be a solution but let us come together for unity in Africa in general. Countries like Congo and Sudan will join us later,” he said adding that agitating for EAC does not mean “I am looking for food. I have my cows”. Some international scientists have recommended circumcision as a means to curb the spread of HIV/Aids.

But Mr Museveni urged young people not to think that with circumcision they will be safe from the scourge and should guard themselves against contracting the disease.
Mr Museveni pledged to provide a vehicle to the newly elected Bamasaba cultural leader, the Umukuka Wilson Wamimbi, who is former high commissioner to Canada.
In response to a request made by the host chairman, Mr Charles Walimbwa, President Museveni promised to allocate part of National Forestry Authority land located at Bugema to Bumutoto cultural site for expansion.

President Museveni, who donated Shs10 million towards the function, also backed the proposal of carving Namisidwa district out of Manafwa District after the leaders in Manafwa locked horns over the matter.

506097
In the previous part of the serialised research into the life of fallen former president Godfrey Binaisa, we talked about his days as a lawyer. In this last part, Fred Guweddeko narrates how Binaisa spearheaded the economic boycott until he was deported to Karamoja:-

When Augustine Kamya, the UNM chairman, was arrested over the boycott, his lawyer Binaisa, negotiated with the prosecutor, Mr K S Fuad, to reduce the political temperature by preferring a mild criminal charge. With the mild criminal charge, Binaisa showed that Kamya could not be denied bail. The government was relying on Binaisa to mitigate the boycott.

Upon release, Kamya did not reduce the political temperature of the boycott as negotiated by Binaisa. He instead raised it by declaring at a mass rally on March 9, 1959: “From now, 10 minutes to six, all trade in Uganda is transferred into the hands of Africans. From this hour, no African should enter into non-African shop.”
The UNM was proscribed and its overall leaders remanded to Luzira Prison.
Binaisa withdrew from the defence of Kamya and organised a British lawyer replacement called Roland Brown. Then, without explanation, Binaisa advised boycott de-listing of some items, but the uncontrolled anti-colonial mobs ignored.
Downing colonial rule?
Popular violence of the boycott was so high that it began raising expectations of downing colonial rule in Uganda. Binaisa advised the committee leaders to rename the UNM calling it UFM. An educated E.M.K. Mulira was placed in the leadership. Binaisa promised the government and companies greater control of the boycott.

The boycott violence however increased. The UFM was also proscribed and its leaders detained under the Deportation Order Law. Binaisa engaged a British Lawyer, Christopher Showcross for the legal defence of the detained boycott leaders while he [Binaisa] continued holding political and commercial negotiations.
The Governor and security officials were threatening Binaisa to make sensible negotiations. The Uganda treasury was collapsing without tax revenue.

The British import and export firms in Uganda, Indian commercial houses and traders and at this stage the commercial banks were begging Binaisa to control the boycott.
Binaisa was soliciting cash from the commercial interests to stop the boycott. Binaisa was also paying cash to meet the costs of the full-time boycott violence teams.
Binaisa and the remaining boycott committee leaders and the public were more than convinced that the colonial government was weakening under the economic violence pressure.

After the second boycott organisation, UFM was banned; Binaisa floated the UFC under another educated leader Mr Kitayimbwa with more promises to depoliticise and control the violence.

The boycott increased with Binaisa no longer controlling the official items list. The violence also increased and the boycott extended to stopping village farmers from selling food for the city.

Curfew was declared in five sub-counties in Buganda. Military patrols were deployed. A British captain commanding peace keeping troops in Masaka was attacked and seriously injured by the boycott mobs.

Over 10,000 natives had lost jobs with Indians and British firms. Governor Crawford banned the boycott umbrella organisation (UFC). Binaisa, who was leading the boycott items committee, floated another organisation titled UFU under Haji Kayongo.

As the boycott was recording nine months, the Binaisa-led three-member negotiating team reached agreement with the Governor. It was to transform the militant violent action into civil demands. Binaisa was to present the civil demands of the violent boycott mobs. The new leader of the boycott, Haji Kayongo, rejected Binaisa saying the people wanted to oust British rule through economic boycott violent action.
Binaisa replaced the illiterate Haji Kayongo with the polished Father Spartus Mukasa as leader of the boycott UFU organisation. Binaisa organised through Father Mukasa to translate boycott violence into civil demands. The man of God declined involvement in crooked activities and stepped down.

Binaisa then appointed Salongo J Kyeyune as leader of the boycott UFU organisation. Police asked Kyeyune to stop the boycott violence but he demanded independence as a condition.

Changing titles
With time, options and credibility running out for him over this crisis, Binaisa assumed leadership of the boycott Movement, under a new title of ‘Uganda League’. He issued demands for ending boycott violence; Self Government by January 1960 (three-months time), Independence by January 1961, Ending curfew, arrests and prosecution of boycott suspects and release of convicted boycott prisoners.
In the subsequent negotiations with the colonial authorities, Binaisa said that his demands were on ending the boycott violence, but not the boycott. The eight months patience of wheel-dealing with Binaisa ran out.

The colonial police had compiled evidence on everything Binaisa had done as a boycott committee member. Evidence linked Binaisa with the Uganda Underground Movement (UUM), which had been throwing petrol bombs at the business premises of violators of the boycott.

Binaisa was arrested on October 7, 1959. His Uganda League was proscribed. Attorney General Dreschfield informed High Court: “Binaisa was directly and indirectly responsible for the reign of terror that had swept Buganda Province since early 1959, for the burning of houses, slashing of crops, assault, intimidation, etc, …. so as to gain his own selfish ends.”

Binaisa indictment constituted a very long list of boycott offences.
It was difficult to press most of the charges on Binaisa. This is because all along the commission of the boycott crimes had all along been working with the Police, Governor and commercial corporations.
In the trial, Binaisa was described by the Attorney General, Mr Dreschfield, as a double-dealer who had pretended to prevent but was instead fanning the boycott. The overall aim of Binaisa in the boycott was to cause the collapse of the colonial government in Uganda. He had not wielded full control of the boycott as he had all along been claiming in his negotiations with the colonial government and the affected parties. Binaisa financially benefitted from companies [illegally] seeking to be delisted from the [illegal] boycott.

Since he was the sole and a generous funder of the boycott activities, personal use of the solicited funds could not be dismissed. The greatest survival of Binaisa from conviction on higher charges lay in the failure of the Colonial Police to identify and link him with the leader of the organised violence gangs.

Clever Museveni
This was an illiterate but clever and violent man called Museveni. He was a Nte [clan] Muganda turned Rwanda migrant. He was funded by Binaisa. Museveni was later to lead the violence in the KY Movement against his former master in the KY vs UPC 1962-64 clashes. Museveni had been funded by the Binaisa chaired boycott committee to execute the more violent mission of the UNM boycott of burning the premises of traders, homes of Ugandans who violated the boycott orders.

506096
Poor work relations among three diplomats at the Uganda Embassy in Kinshasa, DR Congo have disrupted operations and threatened to soil the country’s image, the ambassador has revealed.
In a letter to the Foreign Affairs permanent secretary, Uganda’s top envoy in DR Congo, Ambassador James Kinobe, said; “As the situation stands today, the Mission cannot deliver effectively.” According to sources, Ambassador Kinobe is on a collision path with Ms Nurh Byarufu, the first secretary /political affairs and Ms Fulgensia Tumwesigye, the second secretary/ commercial affairs.
Maj. Kinobe, a former state minister for Youth, said in his letter that the conflict originates from how the mission finances were handled. He also said that his call for accountability and transparency on how money is spent given that Ms Byarufu, who doubles as the accounting officer, was a single signatory to the account, sparked bad blood.
“The second one has been about my demand for finance committee meetings. I realised that Byarufu was not used to the practice of discussing financial matters transparently in meetings and used to handle them privately with the then Head of Mission,” Maj. Kinobe wrote.
Maj. Kinobe says Ms Tumwesigye is the main impediment to the operations of the Embassy. “I do not have anything personal against her and I honestly do not know the motivation for destructive actions,” he said.
Attempts to reach Ms Tumwesigye failed but Regional corporation minister Isaac Musumba said political heads at the ministry asked Ambassador James Mugume to handle the matter but they hadn’t received feedback. Ambassador Mugume was not answering our calls by press time.

5060695
The government has declared five days of mourning fallen former president Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, starting today. According to the funeral programme released by the government yesterday, the late Binaisa is to be buried on Wednesday at a yet to be disclosed place.
Minister for Information and National Guidance, Ms Kabakumba Masiko, yesterday announced at the Uganda Media Centre that flags would fly at half mast, as a symbol of national mourning.
Lawyers of Uganda’s fifth president say the former head of state had said he wished to be buried at Kololo ceremonial grounds next to former president Yusuf Lule and independence struggle hero Ignatius Musaazi. However, Ms Kabakumba said the wish for a Kololo burial wasn’t known to the government. “Family members from the UK and the US will arrive in the country on Saturday. Monday at 5pm, the body will leave Mulago for Parliament where a guard of honour will be staged,” Ms Masiko said.
Binaisa is survived by seven children, four of whom live abroad. “There will be an overnight vigil at Parliament and the following day will be the signing of the condolence book and paying of last respects,” she said.
Parliament will in a special session then pay tribute to the late in the afternoon; after which the body will be transported to his home in Makindye for an overnight vigil. The motion to pay respects to Uganda’s first independence Attorney General is to be moved by Prof Apolo Nsibambi and seconded by the leader of Opposition Prof Ogenga Latigo.
There will also be a funeral service at Namirembe Cathedral on Wednesday to be followed by his burial at 1 pm. Binaisa died in his sleep on Thursday morning at his Makindye home and a post-mortem report by Mulago Hospital indicates the 90-year-old died of cardiac arrest.
Opinion leaders speak out
Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere, who was a member of the National Consultative Council that put Binaisa into power, will greatly miss him because of his “intellectual humour and his Oxford English” that earned him the title Queen’s Counsel (QC). Binaisa’s role in the drafting of the infamous 1967 constitution that outlawed the Buganda Kingdom still lingers in his detractors’ minds.
Binaisa’s legacy in the eyes of contemporaries
Mr William Nyakatura, Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister. He was a gentleman, patriotic, in the past he worked under a wrong regime (Obote I) as an Attorney General where an arbitrary constitution was done under him but as a person and president for 11 months, he was a jolly and responsible man.
Prof Ogenga Latigo-Leader of Opposition
Binaisa was a key player in drafting the indigenous Constitution during former President Dr. Apollo Milton Obote’s regime. His role then demonstrated a sign of unity as someone from central Uganda was seen to work diligently with someone from the north. This dispelled the myth that there is nepotism in Uganda. So we will dearly miss him as a man who greatly contributed to the development of this country.
Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere, Disaster Preparedness minister. He was a scarce person. He was an educated elite who spoke good English. When we elected him chairman of the UNLF, he spoke in Oxford English and everybody was impressed. He was humorous and humane. He assumed the office of the President in a peaceful manner .He excelled as the queen’s Councilor (QC). I will miss his intellectual humour.
Israel Mayengo,a Member of Binaisa’s small Parliament of 30 people
I have known him for so many years. Before he became President up to the time he went into exile. We met in Moshi but he never attended the conference that toppled President Idi Amin.He was stopped at the gate. When I went back to the hotel, I found him smoking a cigarette and he told me that (the late) Kayira had locked him out of the Moshi conference. But I will always remember him for his total devotion to all Ugandans. He never discriminated against any tribe. The Acholis,the Banyankole,the Baganda and people of other tribes all felt they were at home.
Charles Peter Mayega
He is one of the technical people who crafted the 1967 Constitution which abolished kingdoms particularly the kingdom of Buganda. But later in life he identified himself as an ardent subject of the Kabaka. I remember him as the president who was here when the state was volatile at the time of cold blood murders when people were being gunned down. Mengo has since forgiven him and he has always been keen on what has been going on concerning the Kabaka and the kingdom.
Prof Apollo Nsibambi
He took charge when he became president. Uganda had gone through a lot of instability and the military factor was extremely significant. The military commission, however, accepted Binaisa’s decisions although it controlled and had a lot of power. Tanzania had assisted to overthrow Amin and the Tanzanian factor was also crucial. There was no civilian supremacy in his days. May he rest in peace.”
Francis Atugonza, Hoima town council chairman
Binaisa participated in the manipulation of the constitution in 1967. He has been part of the problem of this country. He set a precedent of changing constitutions in this country which has persisted to-date. He challenges us as leaders to leave a legacy behind well knowing we shall be judged by the decisions we take while still in office especially those who manipulate constitutions.
Prof Dan Nabudere
I knew Binaisa when we were organising the Moshi Conference in the US. He did not represent any of the 22 organisations. So, he was not included in the UNLF arrangements. He came into the picture when Lule was removed as president. He was in Nairobi and some factions within the UNLF fronted him to replace Lule. Among them was the faction led by President Museveni. I remember him as a patriotic Ugandan who was among the few Ugandans that fought hard to unite the country. I worked with his government until he was overthrown by Obote. He was Attorney General for a very long time in a turbulent period.
Bidandi Ssali
He was a nationalist who lived a political life. As President, he struggled very much to keep the UNLF umbrella government but in the end, he was defeated. I remember him as one who dared control the army by appointing the then army commander, the late Oyite Ojok as high commission, which actually led to his downfall. He was a person of integrity who never used his position of leadership for personal gains. He was a mentor who instilled values of leadership into people. I got interested in him in 1962 when I had just left the university. I also served as minister in his government. He had his shortcomings but who doesn’t?

505094
Former Ugandan leader Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa went to see his physicians for a routine visit on Monday. Family sources informed this newspaper yesterday that Mr Binaisa’s blood sugar levels had fluctuated prior to his visit but his doctors said he wasn’t in any danger, releasing him to go back home.
His daughter, Ms Nakalema Binaisa, offered this newspaper insight into her fathers last moments. Excerpts;
He was in very good spirit. With hindsight I actually realise now that he was saying good bye. On Monday the doctors told us that his sugar levels had stabilised. We went back home, he was eating his food and he was walking. Last night [Wednesday] the nurse went to check on him. He had a couple of nurses looking after him for both during the day and at night. So she went to check on him and he asked her: “Nurse olibulingi? Are you okay?” as he smiled. She responded and said yes Mzee I am so fine. He seemed happy to ask her.
Good bye...
The nurse said he was in a cheerful mood. He woke up at 3:00am and she checked on him again and told him: “Mzee dayo owebakee, (please go back to sleep). Before, he had been asking about his late mother, our grand mother, and she told him everybody is okay. Then, he turned to his side and she tucked him in and he went to sleep.
She went to wake him at 6 am to take his bath and that’s when she realised he couldn’t wake up. The doctors said his heart just stopped beating. It wasn’t a heart attack.
We are still in shock. He was such a cheerful man. You know he suffered a stroke two years ago and he has had problems for a while. We thought he would make it 100 because whenever he got ill, he would come around again. We are grateful to God that we have had that extra time with Dad. We tried our best and offered him the best medical care. There was nothing left that was not done. He was happy and smiling.
He was a sensitive man and I remember him always telling me: “This is your Africa. You have to stay here and care for your Africa. You won’t get another.”
We are so grateful to Uncle Gordon Wavamuno who ensured that Daddy’s life story was recorded and told on WBS so all the young people can get to know everything about his life. As a family, we are also grateful to you all.

506093
Former President Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa’s death on Thursday means Uganda is one of only a handful of democracies without a living ex-president. Former Ugandan leaders General Tito Okello Lutwa, Apollo Milton Obote, Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada and Paulo Muwanga have all perished in the last 24 years.
Unusually, Godfrey Binaisa is the only one of the five on this list to have breathed his last on home soil. He had earlier in the 1980’s exiled himself in New York, US, where he practiced law and only returned to Uganda in the 1990s to become the first and only ex-president to benefit from the provisions of the 1995 Uganda Constitution.
Milton Obote (1925-2005)
With Obote, his surviving wife, Ms Miria Kalule, the party he founded- Uganda People’s Congress and a couple of Pan Africanists like journalist Andrew Mwenda who kept petitioning the government to allow him to return home. He never lived to see Ugandan soil again, and the two-time ex-president was only returned to Uganda in a coffin after he died of kidney failure in South Africa. He was living in Zambia. In August 2005, he announced his intention to step down as leader of the UPC. On October 10, 2005, he died. To the surprise of many, the late Obote was given a state funeral, which was attended by President Museveni.
Paulo Muwanga (1924 - April 1, 1991)
He was the chairman of the governing Military Commission that deposed Godfrey Binaisa on May 12, 1980. He was the de-facto President of Uganda for a few days in May 1980 until the establishment of the Presidential Commission of Uganda. He held the office of President of Uganda between May 22 and December 15, 1980. Among the members of the commission were President Museveni, Oyite Ojok and Tito Okello who had deposed Binaisa in the May 12 1980 coup. From August 1, to August 25, 1980, he served as prime minister. Following the elections on December 10, 1980, Muwanga installed himself as the head of the Electoral Commission and declared Obote’s Uganda People’s Congress the winner.

Gen. Tito Lutwa Okello (1914–1996)
He was a Ugandan military officer and politician. He was the President of Uganda from July 26, 1985 to January 26, 1986. He was one of the commanders in the coalition between the Tanzania People’s Defense Force and the Uganda National Liberation Army, who removed Amin from power in 1979. He was selected to be the commander of the Ugandan National Liberation Army from 1980 to 1985. In July 1985, together with Bazilio Olara-Okello, Tito Okello staged the coup d’état that ousted Obote. He ruled for six months until he was overthrown by the National Resistance Army (NRA) operating under the leadership of President Museveni. He went to exile in Kenya, where he died on June 2, 1996. His remains were repatriated and buried at his ancestral home in Kitgum District. He was 82. In January 2010, Gen. Lutwa was posthumously awarded the Kagera National Medal of Honour for fighting the Idi Amin dictatorship.
Gen. Idi Amin Dada (1925-2003)
On July 20, 2003, one of Amin’s wives, Madina, reported that he was in a coma and near death at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She pleaded with Ugandan President Museveni to allow him to return to Uganda for the remainder of his life. President Museveni replied that the former dictator would have to answer for his alleged sins. Amin died in Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2003 and was buried in Ruwais Cemetery in Jeddah.
Prof. Yusuf Lule (1912 - January 21, 1985)
He is the former president known for two things: He ruled for only two months between April 13 and June 20, 1979. Besides this misfortune, he also died just before the NRA, with whom his Uganda Freedom Fighters fought alongside, came to power in 1986. Lule was the leader of the Uganda National Liberation Front and was installed as President after Amin was toppled. In June 1979, following a dispute over the extent of presidential powers, the NCC replaced Lule with Binaisa. Out of office, he led UFF, a resistance group which joined with Yoweri Museveni’s Popular Resistance Army (PRA) in 1981. The two groups combined to form the National Resistance Army (NRA). Lule did not live to witness the victory because he had died in 1985 of kidney failure.
Sir Edward Mutesa II (November 19, 1924 - November 21, 1969)
He was Kabaka of Buganda Buganda from November 22, 1939 until his death. He was the 35th Kabaka of Buganda and the first President of Uganda. Mutesa was exiled by British Governor Sir Andrew Cohen in 1953 after he opposed the unification of British East Africa which composed of Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika.
After two years in exile, Mutesa was allowed to return to the throne under a negotiated settlement which made him a constitutional monarch and gave the Baganda the right to elect representatives to the kingdom’s parliament, the Lukiiko. Under the country’s new constitution, Buganda was a semi-autonomous part of a federation. The federal Prime Minister was Obote, leader of the Uganda People’s Congress, which was in a governing coalition with the dominant Buganda regional party, Kabaka Yekka. The post of governor general was abolished in 1963 and replaced by a non-executive president, a post that Mutesa held.
The coalition between Mutesa and Obote’s parties collapsed after the 1964 referendum which transferred two counties (Buyaga and Bugangazi) from Buganda to Bunyoro. This ended in a bitter war with Obote raiding the king’s palace and exiling Mutesa. Mutesa died of alcohol poisoning in his London flat in 1969. Mutesa’s body was returned to Uganda in 1971 after the overthrow of Obote. He was given a state funeral at Kasubi Nabulagala.

506091
Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, a lawyer, former President and Attorney General in the post independent government, died yesterday in Kampala, Fred Guweddeko writes about his life;
The late Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa was President of Uganda from July 1979 to May 1980.
He was born on May 30, 1920 in Mityana, where his father was the headmaster of the Church of Uganda Mityana Central School.
His father Canon Anania Jjuuko Binaisa [1892-1999], descended from Ssekabaka Kikulwe, the 23rd King of Buganda. Thus though very unpopular with the culturally monarchical Baganda for his role in destroying Buganda Kingdom in I966, Binaisa was of the Royal Clan.
Canon Binaisa was born at Kiwumu in the Bukoba District of Tanzania where his parents had fled the 1898-90 religious wars in Buganda. This history led to his son, [President] Binaisa in 1979-80 being labelled a Tanzanian. Canon Binaisa was an Anglican Christian Missionary, working for Gods’ Ministry. As Canon Binaisa was a missionary, his wife, Naome Nantume Manyangwa [1897-1985] was the income-earner head of the household.
Binaisa and his father
The life of the late Godfrey Binaisa was characterised by rejection, contradiction and conflict with the poverty, ethics, social and political values of his fathers’ missionary calling in the Anglican Church.
Because of the poverty in the missionaries’ home, the late Binaisa being the first-born helped his mother in commercial cash crop agriculture from the age of eight. By 13 years [1932], Binaisa was already making surplus money for all family school fees and other needs.
Besides organising migrant labour in cotton farming, young Binaisa earned a lot more money from selling cotton and buying products like kerosene from Indian traders.
Natives were short-changed in selling to and buying from Indians but the young Binaisa was so clever that he somehow received more money and bought more goods from the Indians. For a fee, natives would use young Binaisa to sell and buy for them from Indian traders. Canon Binaisa demanded his son be a ‘Good Samaritan’ and provide these ‘commercial’ services free. On learning that his son somehow cheated Indian traders, Canon Binaisa was enraged.
As Binaisa grew, the contradictions with his father extended to life-style, religion, economic ethics, etc, and finally to politics. In Junior secondary school, the late Binaisa made money by using migrant labourers and natives to find rare live animals, birds, etc, which he sold to Europeans. He bought several ‘luxury’ shoes, shorts, bicycle, etc, to the annoyance of his father. At Makerere, Binaisa riled his religious father by joining the Radical Scientific Society that sought scientific explanations, challenged religion and advocated secularism.
Because of the association of his son with the 1946-49 Bataka Movement, and his betrayal of the leadership, Canon Binaisa lost family and church property to the arson acts of the nationalists. His son initially plotted with the anti-colonial protest groups but switched to the side of the Colonial Government. In independence politics, Binaisa greatly embarrassed his father, a priest by joining the Uganda National Congress (UNC) that was associated with anti-religion communist tendencies.
When Canon Binaisa retired after 50 years in church service in 1963, he offered to save Buganda from an impending crisis under the Kabaka Yekka Movement by serving as Chaplain of the Mengo government.
During this same period [1963-66], his son Godfrey Binaisa was the leader of the Baganda on the UPC side that were fighting against Mengo. In the battle between Mengo and the UPC government, father and son fought on opposite sides. When Idi Amin overthrew Milton Obote in 1971, angry Baganda looking for Binaisa severely beat Canon Binaisa and destroyed his property for being a parent.
Under Amins’ rule, Canon Binaisa spent a year in hiding fearing for his life after security agents killed the father of Sheik Kamulegeya. Whenever Amin complained about Binaisa, the father who had changed to the name of Jjuko went into hiding. Since Amin had given wealth to Baganda traders under the economic war, none of them even within the CoU wanted to associate with Canon Binaisa and yet the father was never on good terms with his son.
When in 1979, his son became President of Uganda against popular feelings and the midst of violence, Canon Binaisa declined to bless this achievement. Canon Binaisa said his son should not have accepted to be the dumping place for a stolen Presidency. This was not the end, Canon Binaisa who had since 1972 entirely committed his life to establishing the CoU at Kamwokya in Kampala, was shunned by the congregation because he was father to the unpopular President Binaisa.
The only request that Canon Binaisa made to President Binaisa was to allocate Dairy Corporation powder milk for CoU purposes.
However, President Binaisas’ chit to the Dairy Corporation was ignored. To the embarrassment of Canon Binaisa, the chit from the son to issue milk to the father was exhibited in the NCC [Parliament] as evidence of family corruption in a ‘no confidence’ motion. Unlike other parents, Canon Binaisa and his son were never harmonised.
The late Godfrey Binaisa attended Non-grade, Elementary at Nateete CoU School and ‘Middle’ school [1927-1932] in Mackay Memorial, both at Nateete in the present Lubaga Division in Kampala District. During this period, the belief was that it was inhuman to hoard young children in a room for teaching and thus the norm was for Non-grade and Elementary classes to be held under trees.
Education
Binaisa joined Budo Junior [1933-36] [now Kings College] for Intermediate and Junior Secondary education. In his pre-college education, Binaisa holds a fantastic achievement of skipping three years/classes through the ‘Express’ exams process. This is where for instance a senior three student can sit O-level exams and proceed to A-level upon passing.
Binaisa joined Makerere College in 1937 for Cambridge [1937-38] and Medicine [1939-40] when he was dismissed. At Makerere College, Binaisa shared a room in Sejoongo House with Jaramogi A Oginga-Odinga, from Kenya, with whom they became the ‘ideological factories’ of Makerere.
Binaisa was for ‘Radical Science’ and Oginga-Odinga for ‘Liberal Arts’. On the intellectual side, Binaisa won the ‘Research Cup’ in 1938 for advances in science research.
In 1939, Binaisa received the ‘Forster Prize’ for his scientific findings on swamp worms. In the same year, Binaisa discovered worm specie outside existing entomological taxonomy. The ‘Thesis’ was submitted to Cambridge University.
The problem for Binaisa was that by 1939, the colonial law did not allow Uganda natives to be awarded university degrees. Binaisa could not be considered for a doctorate.
In student adventure, Binaisa spent the 1937 holiday in Buganda Singo County prison upon conviction under the then Native law preventing boys over 16 years from remaining in school to avoid graduated tax.
This case caused issuing of student ‘Identity’ cards at Makerere. These identity cards posed a colonial policy problem that recognised natives only under their tribes and not any other identity.
Binaisa was the richest student at Makerere as he sold rare animal skins to European collectors. Binaisas’ large collection of stuffed animals, skins and skeletons without a licence was seized by the authorities in 1938. They were given to Makerere College and became the foundation for the current Uganda Museum.
When World War II broke out, a war public information office was located at Makerere and the students received one of the first radio sets in Uganda for official British war news.
Students including Binaisa tampered with the radio and secretly monitored German war information news deep in the time. It happened that in 1940, German was winning the war. Binaisa engaged in counteracting official British war news with the truths. He was dismissed at the end of 1940 for, according to him, supporting German in the war.

506090
Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa, the last surviving former Ugandan head of state died at his home in Kampala yesterday. He was 90. Mr Binaisa, who famously declared that the chair (power) is sweet, with the statement: Entebbe ewooma, during his 11month reign as President, died peacefully in his bed, family sources said yesterday.
“We are gutted and really depressed,” said Ms Nakalema Binaisa, a daughter to the former President. Visibly distraught by the death, Ms Nakalema struggled to hold back tears in an interview with this newspaper.
“We went to the hospital on Monday but we were told that his blood sugar levels had stabilised,” she said. “We went back home and he seemed alright. His nurse went to check on him before he went to sleep and he was smiling last night [Wednesday].
This morning [yesterday] at 6am she went to wake him for his bath but he did not wake up.” His body was taken to the Mulago Hospital yesterday morning for a post-mortem examination. Ms Nakalema said her father’s physicians suspect the former leader could have died due to a cardiac arrest.
“His heart just stopped beating,” she said. “He was always with us, happy and we had so many plans. He was a fabulous human being; we are so gutted.”
Arrangements are under way for a state funeral for the former leader. Officials at the Office of the President and the Prime Minister’s Office are coordinating burial arrangements, the government said.
Mr Binaisa is said to have been battling diabetes before his death. The former leader was in poor health after he suffered a stroke in 2008 which kept him bedridden in a Nairobi hospital for more than a month. His subsequent appearances in public became limited.
A nephew to the former leader, Mr Martin Lwanga, told reporters at the Media Centre that Mr Binaisa had not been in good health for the past year.
“... and given his age, you can understand the circumstances,” he said.
Last wish
It also emerged that the former president had left a wish list detailing where he would like to be buried, a request that Mr Lwanga said had been handed to the government.
Daily Monitor understands that Mr Binaisa’s last wish was a desire to be buried at the Kololo ceremonial grounds, next to the resting place of Ignatius Kangave Musaazi, founder of Uganda’s first political party, the Uganda National Congress.
“Musaazi was his mentor and it is he who brought daddy into politics,” said Ms Nakalema.
As news of his death spread, condolence messages began trickling in. The government hastily arranged a press briefing at the Media Centre in Kampala where journalists were told that President Museveni had been informed about Binaisa’s death and expressed sadness.
“President Museveni on behalf of the government of Uganda conveys condolences to the family, relatives and friends,” said Media Centre director Fred Opolot.
In Parliament, Deputy Speaker Rebecca Kadaga broke news of his death and led the House to observe a minute of silence in honour of the former president. She said details relating to his burial and official mourning ceremony would be “communicated by government following consultations with relatives.”
Mr Binaisa is survived by seven children; three boys and four girls, plus four grand children and a great grand child.

20100803
africanews

South Africa's former police boss and ex-president of Interpol Jackie Selebi has been handed a 15-year jail sentence for graft. He is one of the high profile officials in the country to face justice for corruption. Selebi was convicted for receiving bribes from a drug lord last month.

20100802
africanews

Nigeria's Falconets bowed to the fire-power of their German counterparts who became the first host nation to lift the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. An 8th minute goal from Germany's Alexandra Popp and a 91st minute own goal gave the host a 2-0 win over the West Africans.

20100730
allafrica

Nairobi — PRIME Minister Raila Odinga has been named among the politicians making "unsavoury, derogatory and insulting" remarks during the campaigns before referendum on the proposed constitution on August 4.