No African leader worth Mo Ibrahim’s $5m reward AGAIN

For a second consecutive year, no leader in Africa has been deemed worthy of the $5 million Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The foundation’s prize committee announced Monday that it had decided not to award the prize — the fourth time there has been no winner in its seven-year history.

Winners must be democratically-elected leaders who have stepped down in the past three years after serving their constitutionally mandated term, and have demonstrated “excellence in office.” The committee’s failure to again find a prize winner has led some to comment that its selection criteria are too narrow, and should be broadened to include those showing leadership in civil society.

But Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born telecommunications businessman and billionaire, who created the foundation in 2006, defended the prize. “Most African countries are new states — some of the states did not exist 70 years, 50 years ago,” he said, adding, “In established democracies there are some kinds of checks and balances, but at the early stages in a state’s formation the power of the president is huge … And we need really to point the finger at where the responsibility lies.

Africa’s Newest Billionaire: Ugandan-Born Sudhir Ruparelia, Builds $1.1 Billion Fortune From The Ground Up

Ugandan-born Sudhir Ruparelia worked menial jobs in the United Kingdom, saved up, returned to the country of his birth and built the largest property portfolio in the land 
The next time you find yourself walking or driving through the Central Business District of Kampala, Uganda’s bustling, cosmopolitan capital, take a moment to gaze up at the city’s impressive glistering skyline.
And if you bother to count the buildings one by one, chances are that you’ll count a decent number belonging to Sudhir Ruparelia, a Ugandan property developer, hotelier, banker and Africa’s newest billionaire.
Born in Uganda 56 years ago, Ruparelia was compelled to relocate to the United Kingdom with his parents when he was 16. The year was 1972 and Uganda’s Indophobic leader at the time, Idi Amin had expelled all African-Asians from the East African country in an ethnic cleansing move. Idi Amin’s government claimed that indigenous Indians were hoarding wealth and goods to the detriment of indigenous African and were ‘sabotaging’ the economy. While in the United Kingdom, Ruparelia survived by doing menial jobs and diligently saving his earnings. By 1985, when he was 29, he returned to Uganda armed with $25,000 in savings with which he started building the eponymous Ruparelia groupnow valued at about $1.5 billion with interests in everything from hotels, residential real estate, insurance and floriculture to banks and educational institutions. His controlling stake in the Ruparelia group makes him Uganda’s richest man, with a net-worth of at least $1.1 billion, according to data.
Legend has it that Sudhir Ruparelia, a 56 year-old ebullient, yet controversial Indian-Ugandan tycoon, owns half of the buildings in Kampala. Of course, this is a hyperbole of monumental proportions, but judging by the cheeky grin on his face, Ruparelia apparently relishes the exaggeration.
“If I owned half of the buildings in Kampala, I’d probably be god,” he says cheekily. “Reports of my property holdings are quite frankly, grossly exaggerated. I don’t own half of Kampala as people suggest, but I own quite a lot. And I’ve worked very hard for it,” he says the last sentence emphatically.
Speke Hotel Group
Ruparelia owns a significant chunk of Kampala’s most prestigious pieces of commercial and residential real estate and in some of the swankiest neighbourhoods in the country. Through one of his holding companies, Speke Hotel Group, he owns in his kitty, the Speke resort, a 5-star Hotel and resort which sits on 76 acres on an idyllic setting at Munyoyo on the shores of Lake Victoria. This is easily the most valuable asset in his extensive property portfolio. The resort has 59 Presidential suites, mainly because in 2007, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting took place there and 59 Heads of state were present. Sudhir says he built the resort specifically for the meeting. Other facilities include 10 state-of-the-art conference rooms, including a 1,000-seat ballroom and 9 multi-function meeting rooms accommodating groups of 10 to 300. The resort also has Uganda’s only Olympic size swimming pool, an equestrian centre and a choice of bars and restaurants. The property has a current value of at least $160 million according to Ruparelia, a figure corroborated by a couple of estate surveyors in Uganda. In 2010, the Libyan Government had attempted to acquire the resort for $120 million. Sudhir declined.

“The price was simply not good enough,” he recollects. “In any case, it would be hard for me to contemplate selling Speke resort. The place holds sentimental value for me. 59 Heads of Government were in this place. I think it’s hard to place a value on that,” Sudhir says.
While Speke Resort remains his most important property till date, Sudhir also owns an impressive collection of other valuable hotel assets. He owns the prestigious Kabira Country club which has 95 luxurious guest rooms. Kabira Country club is the preferred leisure spot of many of Uganda’s wealthiest people and young highflying professionals. Sudhir’s portfolio also includes Speke Hotel which is located in Kampala’s CBD and Tourist Hotel, a budget hotel also located in the CBD. He also owns Speke Apartments, which provide 27 modern serviced apartments in one of the best residential areas of Kampala. Rent at the apartments are not cheap – at least by Ugandan standards. The cheapest you’d pay for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,800 a month. And if you think the price is outrageous, the apartments are fully booked all the time, mostly by corporate executives, expatriates and government officials.
But these are just five of his properties. Through his real estate holding company, Meera Investments (which is named after his first daughter), Sudhir owns at least 300 residential and commercial properties in Uganda, from the landmark Crane Chambers located on Kampala road in the CBD, which serves as the Headquarter for his many businesses to scores of other apartment blocks, shopping centers, office buildings and chunks of extremely valuable land in the city. He owns Baumann House, another landmark building in Kampala, located on Parliamentary Avenue, Kampala. The building houses the Headquarters of the Ugandan Police force and previously served as the office for over 200 Members of Parliament in Kampala. Sudhir also owns 2 private Islands. In 2011, Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni revealed that Sudhir earns $400m per annum from his businesses, mostly from his real estate concerns.
Crane Bank
Sudhir Ruparelia is the founder and dominant shareholder in Crane Bank, Uganda’s second largest commercial bank.
The beginnings of Crane Bank were modest. When Sudhir Ruparelia returned to Uganda from the United Kingdom, he began importing popular brands of Kenyan alcohol with the $25,000 he had saved through his years of working menial jobs in the United Kingdom. Uganda had no breweries at the time and so the country depended largely on imports. Sudhir struck a coup when he acquired the sole rights to distribute Kenya’s most premium beer brands in Uganda. Along with importing alcoholic beverages, Ruparelia also ventured into importing commodities like salt, sugar and cigarettes from traders at the Mombasa ports.
At the time, the vast majority of Sudhir’s customers were foreign nationals who paid for their stock in foreign currency. Sudhir spotted opportunity. He quickly formed an informal foreign exchange business. It became an immediate success, and Sudhir was making daily profits of about $10,000.
“I knew I had hit something big,” he says.
By 1989, President Yoweri Museveni banned the importation of beer in an effort to encourage indigenous manufacturing of alcohol. Sudhir decided he was not interested in producing beer. He opted to focus on his informal Forex business instead.
In 1990, Sudhir formalized this currency trading business when he opened Crane Forex Bureau. It was the first of its kind in Uganda and it is still the biggest chain of Forex Bureaus in the country.
With the daily profits Sudhir was realizing from Crane Forex bureaus, he started buying up huge chunks of land and dilapidated commercial and residential structures in Kampala’s CBD and other suburbs at ridiculously low prices.
“Some of the properties I bought at the time were valued at about 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars. That was way back in the early 90s. Properties were cheap back then and we were making a lot of money on a daily basis, so I kept acquiring. Today, many of those properties are worth millions of dollars,” Sudhir explains.
It was during this period (1990 – 1994) that Ruparelia acquired a huge chunk of land and property in Kampala’s CBD, as well as several other choice properties which house his numerous hotel, tourism and residential interests. Sudhir says he acquired some properties for as little as $50,000 in 1991 and they are worth $12 million today. Many of the properties he owns made their value within 4 years. It’s with the rental income earned from these properties and his thriving forex business that Ruparelia continually acquired more properties at dirt cheap prices.
As Sudhir’s forex business became so large, he decided it was time to build an even bigger financial services corporation. He applied for a commercial banking license which was granted. By 1995, Sudhir opened the doors of his new bank, Crane Bank to the general public. Sudhir used customer deposits to fund large-scale forex deals as well as acquisitions, developments and other activities in the Ruparelia Group while leveraging on impeccable customer service, attractive interest rates for deposits and the largest ATM network in Uganda to lure customers. Today, Crane Bank is the second largest commercial bank in Ugandan- second only to Stanbic Bank. In 2011, the Bank’s Profit before tax (PBT) was UGX90.23 billion ($40m) representing about 61 percent of Stanbic’s pre-tax profit of $65.4 million. Sudhir is the controlling shareholder of Crane Bank.
Other Assets
Other companies in the Ruparelia group include Goldstar Insurance, an Ugandan non-life Insurance firm. The Ruparelia Group also owns Kampala International School (KISU), an international high school in Kampala located in the high-brow Bukoto district. KIS’ students are children of Uganda’s elite and the school fees per annum are as high $13000. The property sits on 12 acres of prime land at the center of Kampala. The property the school sits on is valued at over $15 million alone. He also owns Kampala Parents School, a secondary school in Kampala for middle-class Ugandans and Rosebud, Uganda’s largest exporter of roses. Rosebud commands around 35% of Uganda’s rose export, exporting over 9 million stems per month.
Controversy
In 2010, a Canadian businessman Sadrudin Gulamhussein claimed Sudhir attempted to fraudulently acquire Gulanhussein’s $1.2 million property by forging a land title for the property located in Nasakero, a highbrow residential area in Kampala. The case lingered in court and the Judge ruled in favour of the Canadian businessman.
Philanthropy
As Uganda’s richest man, Sudhir is also one of the country’s most notable philanthropists. Sudhir has given away millions to building churches, mosques, rehabilitating schools and funding hospitals.
*Breakdown Of Sudhir Ruparelia’s Key Assets*
Meera Investments – $600 million
Crane Bank – $250 million
Speak Hotel Group – $240 million
Rosebud – $10 million
Other Investments (Schools, Personal Homes) – $30 million
Total: $1.12 Billion
Source: Venture-Africa

Africa’s Newest Billionaire: Ugandan-Born Sudhir Ruparelia, Builds $1.1 Billion Fortune From The Ground Up

Uhuru Kenyatta--playing the race card to avoid prosecution?
[Debate: International Criminal Court]
The African Union (AU) is holding the International Criminal Court (ICC) hostage.
At its special summit held at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia from October 11-13, 2013, the AU demanded the ICC provide immunity from prosecution to sitting heads of state for crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
This demand is unlawful, unjust and contrary to article 27 of the ICC Statute.
The irony inherent in the request by the African leaders for immunity for themselves is that if one takes a look at the map of Africa, it becomes clear that some of the greatest critics of the ICC are leaders from states where presidents have come to power through prolonged armed conflicts that involved the deaths of thousands of civilians in the process.
Along the way, some of these presidents have retained power by use of brute force, state patronage and electoral rigging. Many such leaders have kept themselves in power for more than twenty years and counting. These crop of leaders are accountable to nobody and to no institution.
They cannot be subjected to local jurisdictions because they control all state institutions. Their track record of criminality tend to place them high on the ICC Prosecutor’s list of potential suspects. These are credible reasons why such African leaders are trying to discredit the ICC. Their objective is to pre-empt future criminal actions against them and not necessarily the protection of current accused persons facing trial before the ICC.
As a trade union for African leaders, the AU protects its members and their interests. And, the AU’s interests do not necessarily coincide with those of the ICC.
It is therefore not surprising that the rights of victims to a just and speedy trial never featured at the AU special summit. The same neglected victims have not had justice in their respective national courts because the perpetrators, under the cover of African leaders, enjoy immunity in all cases before a national jurisdiction.
Therefore, in the absence of the ICC, these victims will never get justice, compensation and closer. In turn, the perpetrators are often not investigated or prosecuted. It is prudent for Africans everywhere to be candid about abuses carried out by their leaders, purportedly in their names, and demand prosecution and not immunity.
Leaders who commit serious international crimes must be held to account and not given a free ride.
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, a recent convert to join a group of ICC critics after having invited the same institution to indict his nemesis, the notorious Joseph Kony, now leads an assault on the credibility of the ICC.
President Museveni falsely argues that the ICC is biased and shallow in handling complex African issues.  President Museveni’s argument is nonsensical.First, when President Museveni referred the Lord's Resistance matter and Joseph Kony to the ICC, the Prosecutor acted on his reference. Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and President Museveni held a joint news conference in London announcing to the world that indictments and arrest warrants had been issued against the LRA leader and his senior advisors.
In fact, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, some of Ocampo's colleagues at the ICC were stunned about his public appearance with President Museveni, since the Ugandan leader himself was considered to be a possible candidate for prosecution in connection to crimes committed by Uganda's military in DR Congo. The same article reported that President Museveni had urged then U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to block an investigation of the alleged crimes by Uganda's military in Congo.
This could explain why President Museveni is today determined to derail the court. After the ICC prosecutes Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta in connection to his alleged role in the crimes committed during the 2007 Kenya presidential election campaigns, who knows who could be next?
Second, when the Uganda government and others filed an application before to the ICC to appear as a friend of the court,  amicus curiae, in the Kenya case, the application was granted. They supported a decision allowing the leaders of Kenya to travel back and fourth between the Hague and Kenya. President Museveni’s false statement must be rejected as the ICC; operating from within its legal framework has not, to the best of my knowledge, ignored requests or applications from any accused person or State Party to the Rome Treaty.
President Museveni and some of his colleagues at the AU appear to deliberately ignore the obvious nexus between the United Nations Peacekeeping operations in conflict areas and the ICC investigations and prosecutions. The greatest numbers of the UN peace-keeping operations are in Africa.
And, Africa is the continent were armed conflicts, and most of the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes have occurred, and continues to occur. It is also a continent where perpetrators are rarely investigated or prosecuted; and national governments are unwilling or unable to investigate and prosecute those most responsible for the commission of these horrendous crimes.
The gross and massive violations of international humanitarian law on the African continent necessitate the involvement of the ICC Prosecutor to seek out the perpetrators and provide justice to victims. The deliberate use of a false equivalence by President Museveni that the ICC targets Africa without making a similar claim that the UN peace-keeping operations also targets Africa is disingenuous.
Without armed conflicts on the African continent, there would be fewer cases of violations of international humanitarian law with the result that the services of the ICC may not be necessary. Thus, Africa must put its house in order first before blaming the ICC.
To seek immunity for accused persons on the ground that the ICC targets African leaders is unreasonable and opportunistic. That is not an appropriate remedy. On the contrary, as the African leaders regularly plead with the UN to send peace-keeping troops to Africa, the African leaders, in large numbers ratified the ICC Statute because they recognized very early, the complexity of administering international criminal justice.
In many aspects, African governments begged the ICC Prosecutor, through self-referrals, to intervene in their domestic jurisdictions.  The very reasons why African leaders referred cases to the ICC have not changed. Arguments of state sovereignty are nothing but a fig leaf.
Most reasonable people agree that the ICC is not perfect.
Indeed, all global organizations, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organizations, and others, have weaknesses and flaws. Attempts have always been made by members to improve such global organizations.
With respect to the United Nations, African leaders have not threatened to pull out of the organization because its peace-keeping operations target Africa or because the continent does not have a Permanent seat on the Security Council. Criticisms of the ICC by African leaders are anchored primarily on false grounds. However, the real challenges that face the ICC can be effectively discussed within its legal framework without necessarily using a cover that the institution targets Africa.
A candid Archbishop Desmond Tutu unveils the elephant in the room when he says: “African leaders behind the move to extract the continent from jurisdiction of the ICC are effectively seeking a license to kill, maim and oppress their people without consequences.”
Tutu's warnings come from wealth of experience given his own country's history, as he recalled: "In South Africa, it has taken a long process of truth and reconciliation for the wounds of apartheid to begin to heal. In Kenya, the post-election violence wounds will take a long time to heal. Put simply, where justice and order is not restored, there can be no healing, leaving violence and hatred ticking like a bomb in the corner."
Tutu added: "At the front, we need the heavyweight champions of Africa – South Africa and Nigeria – to exercise their leadership and stop those that do not like the rules from attempting to re-write them.
Elsewhere, Tutu warns "The continent has suffered the consequences of unaccountable governance for too long to disown the protections offered by the I.C.C."
I fully concur.
On the other hand,  Uhuru Kenyatta whose trial at the ICC at the Hague is scheduled to start November 12, while in Ethiopia used hard language to denounce the court, saying it "stopped being the home of justice the day it became the toy of declining imperial powers," and that the ICC was guilty of  "bias and race-hunting".
This is an interesting way for a suspect to conduct a defense weeks before his trial starts. In fact, President Museveni gave President Kenyatta the template of dealing with the ICC during the Kenyan leader's swearing in ceremony earlier this year.
Instead of being negative and destructive, the African Union can choose to play a positive role. Under article 121 of the ICC Statute, there are detailed provisions for amendments. Article 121(1) for example authorizes any State Party to propose amendments to any provision of the statute. The text of any proposed amendment shall be submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall promptly circulate it to all State Parties.
The proposed amendment is dealt with at a meeting of the Assembly of State Parties or at a Review Conference. The process is simple, straightforward with no complication. Any serious State Party will adopt this course.
As regards the granting of immunity to African heads of state, such a request, based on current law, would be unlawful. Article 27(1) of the Rome Treaty expressly provides that the statute shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity in particular, official capacity as a head of state or government, a member of a government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Statute, nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence.
On immunity from prosecution, article 27(2) clarifies that immunities or special procedural rules may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national law or international law, shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction of such a person.
If the AU find article 27 offensive and seek a remedy, the forum to go to is to the State Party meeting or a review conference where a proposed amendment to article 27 is presented. The AU special summit is not a forum from where the African leaders can issue directives to the ICC and literally seeking to hold the ICC hostage.
These AU resolutions have no legal effect and the ICC is free to ignore such reckless ultimatum. Overall, even if the AU were to submit a proposed amendment, it would face serious challenges because article 27 reflects existing international customary law and has been the law applicable since the Nuremberg Trials. The chances of amending article 27 to create special status for African leaders are unrealistic, but it is their right to try and propose their preferred amendment.
By seeking to amend article 27, the AU loses its moral authority, or whatever little moral authority it may have had in some part of Africa. It appears the African leaders need unfettered authority to oppress their people without consequences as articulated by Archbishop Tutu.
By ignoring both the victims and evidence of criminality implicating accused at the ICC trials, the AU is simply peddling the old notion of African leaders’ relation to power where the "big man" does no wrong and is accountable to no one or any institution. Or at worse, AU is hiding its head in the sun.
Poor ostrich.
The sub-text of the AU decision is not about the ICC. It is about a relationship between African leaders and their victims. The ICC Statute has altered that relationship and made all accused persons, regardless of their status or official position, individually criminally responsible for their acts or omissions.
It is against this legal norm on responsibility and accountability that scares the African leaders and not some obscure idea that the ICC targets Africa. The African leaders themselves know that the ICC is not targeting Africans but investigating and prosecuting perpetrators, most of whom are "leaders" based on credible evidence.
It is conceded that ICC investigations may not be in the interest of African leaders, but the victims who remain unprotected by their governments appreciate and support it. To the ordinary African, the ICC has not gone far enough. There are many African leaders out there who need to be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
In conclusion, just as the UN peace-keepers seek to provide security to the civilian population in armed conflict situations, the ICC seeks to provide justice to the victims who cannot get any form of remedy from their national justice system.
The ICC serves good purposes and is of benefit to the African victims and the civilian population. All people of good will must support the ICC in fulfilling its mandate
- See more at: http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/au-gambles-why-museveni-kenyatta-and-other-african-rulers-are-holding-icc#sthash.ZHHowaQs.dpuf

Kenya acquits UK Islamist suspect Jermaine Grant of robbery

A UK citizen suspected of being a militant Islamist has been acquitted by a Kenyan court of robbery with violence over an incident in 2008. The prosecution had failed to prove its case against Jermaine Grant of east London, the court ruled. He is due to appear again in a Kenyan court on 23 September on another set of terror-related charges.

Kenyan police allege he was linked to the widow of a suicide bomber involved in the July 2005 attacks in London. Mr Grant has already served a two-and-half-year jail term for being in Kenya illegally. He was tried by a court in the capital, Nairobi, on charges related to a raid on a police station near the border with Somalia in 2008. A gang, suspected to be made up of militants of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group, attacked the police station, freeing Mr Grant after he was arrested for trying to cross into Somalia, police alleged.

The gang allegedly stole four guns, stole a police vehicle and wounded a police officer during the attack. The court ruled that the charges against Mr Grant had not been proven. “The prosecution has failed to establish the case against him beyond reasonable doubt,” magistrate Kiarie Wa Kiarie told the court. Mr Grant, who remains in custody, is due to stand trial in the coastal city of Mombasa on 23 September after being accused of possessing explosive materials.

Police allege that when they raided a house Mr Grant was staying in in 2011, they found ingredients needed to make a bomb – hydrogen peroxide and ammonium nitrate, as well as batteries and electrical switches. Last year, Kenyan government prosecutor Jacob Ondari alleged that Mr Grant had worked with Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of London Underground bomber Jermaine Lindsay, on a bomb plot. Ms Lewthwaite is wanted by the Kenyan authorities and is alleged to be travelling on a forged passport. Her husband blew himself up on a London Underground train on 7 July 2005, killing 26 people.

I am not DRC’s keeper – President Paul Kagame tells the world

Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he doesn’t understand why people keep asking him how to end decades of conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, despite accusations by U.N. experts that Rwanda backs Congolese rebels. “It’s like, you know, the world has decided, for Congo, you ask Rwanda. Why? I don’t understand,” Kagame told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York.

Millions of people have died from violence, disease and hunger in Congo’s resource-rich eastern borderlands during nearly two decades of ethnically driven conflict that has its roots in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. A more than year-long insurgency by M23 rebels is the latest incarnation of a Tutsi-dominated rebellion. There have been repeated, and unsuccessful, efforts to integrate rebel groups into the Congolese army. U.N. experts and the Congolese government have accused Rwanda of backing the rebellion, a charge Rwanda denies.

The United States and other countries have called on Kigali to end support for M23 rebels, saying there is evidence Rwandan military officials have been involved. “My question always is, why doesn’t the country, the state of Congo, deal with the issues themselves? They should be the ones telling the world nothing is working, or what they think can work for them

Let young leaders in or risk being overthrown – Mo Ibrahim

Elderly African leaders who have resorted to changing their countries’ constitutions so that they could stay in power forever and those rigging elections so as to be returned to power over and over again, have been warned that the more they hang on to power the more they risk being overthrown.

Warning that the reluctance by Africa’s octogenarians to give way to young leaders will lead to more revolutions on the continent, Africa’s leading philanthropist, Dr Mo Ibrahim has said Africa is failing to rise to the challenge of having more young people today than anywhere else in the world.

, Dr Ibrahim says that within less than three generations, four out of 10 young people in the world will be living in Africa. “In a world changing with breakneck speed, it is young people who are best equipped to identify and deliver fresh solutions to our problems,” he said.

The Sudanese-British telecom entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Celtel telecommunications company before selling it for US$3.4 billion in 2005, said the reluctance by elderly African leaders to relinquish power has seen them tamper with their countries’ constitutional terms so they could continue “long after they were supposed to have stepped down”. He said in a world where such leaders as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair came to power when he was only 43 and has since left and US President Barack Obama who came to power when he was 47 is due to leave after only eight years, Africa must ask itself why it is reluctant to let younger leaders take the reins of power. “In contrast, Africa has just witnessed an 89-year old sworn in as President of Zimbabwe, a post he first gained 25 years ago. And this was after he had already led his country as Prime Minister for nearly a decade,” Dr Ibrahim writes.

He said being refused to take part in decision-making and debates has left young people turning their backs on the political process and thereby leading to a fall in election turnout among the young. “The danger is that, denied the chance of peaceful change, despair and anger is fostered. We must at least enable our young people to play a more active part in the decision-making process. If we do not, we will see even more leaders overthrown,” Ibrahim warned.

Presently, there are 10 African leaders who have been in power for more than 15 years who should think hard and long about what Dr Ibrahim has said: They are (their countries in bold):

Why Al Qaeda has identified Africa as ‘the weakest link’

The just concluded standoff between Kenyan security services and the terrorist group calling itself Al Shabaab that left at least 62 people dead and nearly 200 injured in the Kenyan capital Nairobi last weekend, may be proof that Africa is now being seen by Al Qaeda as the weakest link following its defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan and in Naples.

Since the World Trade Centre attack in New York City in September 2011 and the July 2005 London Underground terror attacks, Western countries have taken steps to increase security in every sphere of life, spending billions of dollars in counter intelligence, human intelligence and surveillance systems that have helped them deter most of any further attacks.

Here in the United Kingdom, we have become used to living a life of constant surveillance with CCCTV cameras stationed almost everywhere one goes, recording each and every step we make once we leave our homes to go for work. There are also cameras recording the movement of vehicles everywhere including high speed motorways where cameras have been posted to record what goes on almost every hour of the day.

The Al Shabaab attack in Nairobi at the weekend could also be blamed for the lack of interest the West has displayed since October 1993 when the United States suffered severe casualties in what has since become known as The Battle of Mogadishu, Black Hawk Down or The Day of the Rangers when two US Black Hawk helicopters were gunned down by Somali militants resulting into the death of at least 18 US marines, 80 injured and one pilot captured by the Somalis. It led then President Bill Clinton to order an immediate withdrawal of American forces from Somalia, a decision that the Somalis took as an outright victory against the world’s most powerful nation.

UJCC welcomes anti-pornography bill

Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) has welcomed the anti- pornography bill that prohibits obscene publications. The chairman of the council Sylvester Arinaitwe has told the committee of legal and parliamentary affairs now scrutinizing the bill that pornographic publications need to be regulated in order to protect the children. He says that some of the pornographic materials have been distributed freely even in schools without considering the impact on children.

The bill has been in parliament since 2011 when it was tabled by the State Minister of Ethics Rev Fr Simon Lokodo.The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) opposed the bill saying that that the framers duplicated provisions in existing laws, including the Uganda Communications Commission Act.

It has also been argued that Section 166 of the Penal Code Act, Cap. 120, covers all the ills that the Anti-Pornography Bill seeks to cure.Rev Fr. Simon Lokodo has vowed that if the Anti-Pornography Bill is passed, his ministry will ensure that cultural practices that include walking naked are stopped.

Gen Tumwine urges parliament to declare Sejusa’s seat vacant

The former commander of the then National Resistance Army which changed its name to the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) has urged the country’s national legislative assembly to declare the army seat of Gen David Sejusa vacant.

Gen Elly Tumwine who chairs the 10-man UPDF parliamentary caucus, told a parliamentary Rules, Privileges and Disciplinary Committee Thursday that Gen Sejusa has proved to be an undisciplined army officer who had abused the integrity of the army in the eyes of the public and the country at large. He said: “What is the purpose of this committee? It’s time for logic to apply now. No need to waste time on legal gymnastics.”

Describing Gen Sejusa as his childhood friend, Gen Tumwine told the committee that as Gen Sejusa had branded the Ugandan government led by Gen Yoweri Museveni to be a dictatorship, he “must be fought at all costs”. He added that although Gen Sejusa is a childhood friend who has served for a long time in the UPDF and is “a very intelligent lawyer” who has played a big role in setting up army rules within the UPDF, he should have learned from his past mistakes that have made him come in and out of the army. “He should have learned from those mistake,” Gen Tumwine said.

Tumwine’s outburst came after lawyers representing Gen Sejusa told the parliamentary committee that their client had instructed them he had withdrawn from his earlier decision to agree to appear before the committee via Skype. Sejusa is currently in the United Kingdom since he left Uganda after publicly complaining there was a plot by the Ugandan leader to have his son (Museveni’s) succeed him as the country’s leader. For the first time since Gen Sejusa mentioned this plan last April, President Museveni talked commented about Gen Sejusa when he told a press conference his son had no plans “at the moment” to get involved in the country’s politics. Museveni played down threats from Gen Sejusa of overthrowing him by saying: “He knows my house. Let him come and get me.”

Teachers strike requires dialogue

The Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) set September 16th as the date they would lay down their tools if a salary raise of 20% was not implemented by government as agreed in their negotiations in the last year. At the time they wanted a 100% salary raise, but government said it would be difficult to realize this because of other pressing issues in the budget. To the dismay of the teachers when the budget was read, this money was not allocated.

From the government side it is understandable that there is no money a condition that came about due to donor cuts in support for budget. The donors astounded by rampant corruption denoted by the scandal in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and in the Ministry of Public Service over Pension withdrew support for most of the budget. Uganda has to fend for herself. The abrupt manner in which the cuts were made created some sort of crisis. Right now the president has maintained that there is no money to increase teacher salaries. The government also feels that if the teachers have their way, even if they were initially promised, other civil servants like health workers, the armed forces and others will lay down their tools and demand for a pay rise.

On the side of the teachers, the pay rise was long overdue. They cite the alarming rise in cost of living, the heavy burden especially of free education and the fact that fending for themselves means they could compromise the quality of education. The teachers are right about their demand and were right to strike.

The response by the government has been one of communication in disarray. One minute it is characterized by threats, the next minute it is a promise to look for the money, the next minute there is a communication that there will be no money at all. This mixed signal makes it difficult for the teachers to see government reliable, especially when they had failed to keep their word the first time round.

It is likely that the government is borrowing a leaf from Kenya where the government issued an ultimatum for all teachers to get back to work or else they would be thrown out of employment. Within days all teachers had returned to work.

There is also the possibility that the government is looking at disunity within the teacher union to see if they can take advantage of the situation and get some people to work. Already some head teachers in up country locations appeared to resist the instructions to strike as of this morning. However UNATU officials were vigilant and patrolled the entire country watching over groups that would go against the strike.

Both sides in this standoff have a point as to their approach to the problem. But the approach may not necessarily salvage the situation. It is important for the teachers to demand for their pay, but considering how much this government values grassroots support it is unthinkable that they would ruffle the feathers of a grassroots constituency like teachers. Therefore there is a huge possibility that there is no money.

The way forward for the government and UNATU is to seek dialogue and negotiate again. Government should not take a high handed approach and UNATU should not hard bargain especially if they can come up with a road map. The consensus between the two parties should be that the remuneration of teachers should be improved.

This may sound outlandish but it is good for government to explore with cost-sharing between parents and the state to improve the welfare of teachers. Right now the government cannot afford resources to fully support the education system. Without donor funding we need to go back to the days when parents paid fees. Of course there have been appeals for budget cuts to some sectors. But it is unlikely that these cuts will be a sustainable solution, especially if after a year there is a deficiency that needs to be addressed in the manner in which the teachers issue has arisen.

MUSEVENI VOWS TO CRUSH GEN SEJUSA.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to crush the renegade army general, David Sejusa if he dares attack Uganda, as he has allegedly been threatening to do since he fled to Britain several months ago.
 Addressing a press conference Wednesday evening at State House in the capital, Kampala, Museveni referred to Sejusa as an army deserter who is supposed to be dealt with.
Following reports that Sejusa plans to overthrow the government, Museveni said force could not be used to take over power in the East African nation.
He said he is anxiously waiting for Sejusa to attack the country, so he is taught a lesson of his life.
'Let him come here. Let him dare attack the country," Museveni bellowed.
"He knows my address, let him come and attack me. We have been waiting for him for some time.''
He said that Sejusa, who is also an MP representing the army, has been trying to use parliament to evade the law, but he has been finally dealt with, as arrangements to expel him from the legislature were drawing to a close.
Sejusa fled the country to UK, claiming that his life was in danger, after he opposed an alleged succession plan, which suggested that Museveni's son, Muhozi Kayinerugaba was being groomed to take over the preseidency.However, the government has denied the existence of such a plan.

SAD AND SORRY STATE OF ROADS IN KAMPALA CITY

PRISONALIAMENT

SEJUSA'S DECISION NOT TO RETURN TO PARLIAMENT AS ORDERED BY THE SPEAKER, MUST HAVE BEEN THE EASIEST CHOICE HE HAS EVER MADE! I AM NOT SURE WHETHER THIS WAS JUST A FORMALITY OR A GIMMICK! YOUR GUESS IS AS BAD AS MINE, AS TO WHAT WOULD BE AWAITING HIS RETURN TO UGANDA. ANY IDEAS ON HOW THIS WOULD UNFOLD? THE WELCOME, THE CONVOY, THE CHEMICAL WEAPONS (TEAR GAS), THE PARADE AS HE ENTERS "PRISONALIAMENT" DID HE JUST BLOW UP A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE HIS SEAT OR WAS IT HIS 9TH SENSE? TELL US! AND DON'T FORGET TO LIKE MY PAGE. SEJUSA IS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT YOU NEED MORE THAN AN ADDRESS TO WAGE WAR AND REMOVE A GOVERNMENT! SURELY HE KNOWS HOW A QUARTER PIN IS PUT IN PLACE AND HOW YOU CAN REMOVE IT! SO GET YOUR POP CORN READY, SIT BACK AND WATCH THESE BUSH WAR VETERANS SORT OUT THEIR DIFFERENCES!

Al SHABAAB IN NAIROBI – IS KAMPALA NEXT?

Fears are growing that the horrifying attack by Somali militants that took place in the Kenyan capital Nairobi may soon be repeated in other East African capitals especially that of Kampala in Uganda and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

The ease with which Al-Shabaab militants managed to infiltrate a shopping mall partly owned by Israel, a country that is always on the alert for such an attack from Arab militants, has sent shock waves amongst security officials not only in East Africa but in major Western capitals where Somali immigrants have made such countries their home.

Kenya and Uganda are two of the East African countries where for over three decades governments have been sympathetic to the plight of Somalis escaping dictatorial rule especially during the regime of Gen Mohamed Siad Barre who ruled the country from October 1969 until he was deposed in January 1991 and exiled, yes, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi before being forces by Somali opposition groups to leave Nairobi for Lagos where he died of a heart attack in January 1995.

Somali refugees have made both these countries their homes, engaging in businesses of every kind and are often seen on the streets of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kampala munching away at their khat, a green-leafed shrub that has been chewed for centuries mostly in the horn of Africa. While most Somalis who have settled in Kenya and Uganda are peace loving people and have blended in well with folks in those countries, their presence in these countries have made it difficult for security services to differentiate them from a new breed of Muslim extremists who want to preserve Somalia as an entirely Muslim state aligned with the thinking of the detested Al Qaeda terrorist group.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Quote of the day: “In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” —Thurgood Marshall became the first African- American Supreme Court justice on October 2, 1967.

KENYAN TROOPS LOOTED WESTGATE SHOPPING MALL.

For four days the world held its breath as the al-Qaeda-linked Somali terrorist group, Al-Shabaab allegedly defied all attempts to subdue them when they stormed the Westgate Shopping Mall in Kenya’s capital Nairobi and started shooting everyone that did not answer to knowing an Islamic prayer.

The attack on the mall left several families around the world devastated as at least 72 people are now feared to have been killed during the four days that Al-Shabaab was thought to have been holding up against Kenya’s elite commando troops assisted by Israel’s secret police, British security services and a host of other Western security services.

But this story has since dramatically changed after shop owners were allowed to enter the partly-destroyed mall on Monday only to be met by gaping empty spaces where their goods had been before the attack on the mall took place. As Kenyan security forces laid siege to the Mall while the terrorist were believed to be still holding hostages inside, a ring of steel was thrown around the vast complex, making it virtually impossible for anyone either to go in or come out. So where did the looters come from?

Reuters news agency is now reporting that store owners who have entered the mall to check on what they could salvage from the partly burnt building, were amazed to find that as no one could have come in or gone out of the building during the four days, it must have been Kenyan security personnel who helped themselves to various goods that included expensive watches, gold rings and bracelets etc., while they were at the same time carrying out the task of trying to apprehend the Al-Shabaab terrorists.

The shop owners say tills were found forced open and cash taken out, jewellery was missing from stands in shops and various electronic shops had been looted clean during the four-day siege. Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku was quoted as saying that his government took such allegations seriously but in the same note defended the security services who he said had done all they could to protect the property in the mall and hinted at some of the property being held by soldiers in order to protect them from being taken away.

Jackal News site blogger still missing

BLOGGER Bogonko Bosire is yet to be found almost two weeks after he went missing. Yesterday, his co-blogger and State House director of digital, news media and diasporan affairs Dennis Itumbi confirmed that Bosire is missing. He said family and friends have looked for Bosire in a number of places including morgues to no ava

THE HAUNTING OF Kagame Museveni AND THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Can you give a part of a country to another country simply by agreement of some rebels or presidents ?
To understand what is happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo , we must return to the origins of this crisis to understand what drives Kagame and Museveni not to release the song.
Kagame and Museveni signed a few years ago , the agreement Lemera requiring Mzee Kabila dispose of Congolese land in Rwanda and Uganda when he became president of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Believe such an agreement was ignoring the individual, as if he had signed this agreement fooled, he did know he would not be able to fulfill its promise as the Congo does not belong to a man or a group of individuals , whether president or whether MPs and senators.
Thus what we could not have an agreement of mafia , we would snatch forcibly . There will be born , RCD , MLC, the CNDP and the M23 ...
Now, if we empty of substance agreement rogue lawless , the M23 will vanish like smoke we could not maintain the plastic Kigali will lose its makeup is up to because of low blows and crimes worthy of brigands highways committed by Kagame and his mafia and finally Kagame will melt away like a candle that burned overnight band .
But the height , they are not limited to the M23, they have the ambition to grow and dress this heinous crime to the stature of Kosovo to impose the Congolese people .
You are Congolese, Rwandan you are , you are Ugandan , say that you are all short African citizens , what do you think of this agreement that the presidents of republics signed without consulting their people ?
Should we still go on the basis of African Unity , the inviolability of borders gained independence and destroy everything we have built together so far as Africans?
Why would we lose our time to carve Africa instead of building large regional groups that should lead the United States of Africa?
Anyone who wants to cut the small states in Africa , it would not recolonize Africa and African identity that destroy our elders struggled to lay the foundation ?
Can we still speak of an African agenda against the imperialists, if we , son and daughters of Africa , sacrifice our own people by mafia agendas in favor of the haunting and the beast power and without vision?
Let's be realistic and let us assume our responsibilities instead of creating and maintaining dignified rogue states pirates major seas. 

The International Criminal Court has made public an arrest warrant for former Cote d'Ivoire's minister Charles Ble Goude over war crimes allegations

A leaked National Security Intelligence (NIS) report says that early this year Godane held meetings in Somalia to come up with strategies on how to execute attacks in Kenya. The FBI has put a $7 million bounty on him.