Uganda

The Association of Teachers of French in Uganda has appealed to the Government to introduce a policy on foreign languages.
The association made this appeal in a petition to the Ministry of East African Community Affairs.
The petition lamented the sharp decline in the number of French candidates in different schools in the country while drawing attention to the lack of a clear foreign language policy, lack of sensitization about the importance of international languages, and negative subject choice policy at Advanced level classes continue to impact French negatively.
It also emphasized the need for teaching French with specific purposes for professional development just as it urged the government to reinforce the National Curriculum Development Centre-NCDC’s policy to enable compulsory integration and learning of French in secondary schools and universities.

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The Uganda Police has declared that the deployment of senior police officers shall be determined by their performances in the ongoing anti-terrorism training program.
This disclosure was made by Police Public Relations Officer, The Uganda Police has declared that the deployment of senior police officers shall be determined by their performances in the ongoing anti-terrorism training program.
This disclosure was made by Police Public Relations Officer,The Uganda Police has declared that the deployment of senior police officers shall be determined by their performances in the ongoing anti-terrorism training program.
This disclosure was made by Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO), Mr. Fred Enanga.

“It is not going to be automatic that everyone will go back to where he or she was. Their deployment is going to be based on their performance during training. This will be concluded by the end of two weeks,” the PPRO stated.

A total of  170 District/Division Police Commanders(DPC) on the completion of  a three months refresher course last week were been sent on two weeks leave.

The late Deputy Inspector General of Police Lt Gen Paul Lokech had sent the commanders to Olilim Counter-Terrorism Police Training School in Katakwi district in May to equip them with new skills in observing human rights during their day-to-day operations, swifter response to emergencies and building community policing.

However, But before their departure, Lokech had ordered them to hand over their offices to Officers In-charge of the various stations, who, from the time were to serve as acting DPCs.

Some of the DPCs had already been replaced in the reshuffle issued out by Lokech two weeks before his death
. The decision to retrain DPCs was concluded during a meeting with DPCs and President Yoweri Museveni at Entebbe State House in April. Museveni reportedly raised a number of issues that rotated around chaotic scenes registered during political party primaries and general elections.

The issues highlighted included lack of intelligence gathering techniques which saw some political groups successfully organize protests, failure to brief juniors on operation procedures which saw them shooting and injuring civilians during the election period while other DPCs were accused of hobnobbing with groups evicting people.

President Yoweri Museveni had earlier on ordered the Inspector General of Police Martin Okoth Ochola to draft new operation rules and ensure they are shared with each policeman. Ochola came up with 15 Standard Operating Procedures to address the gaps, and printed 50.000 copies of revised SOPs which were shared with every police officer.

Police commanders and their juniors were advised to ensure strict adherence to the SOPs in order to minimize operational mistakes and further enable police officers to enforce law and order, to the expectations of the public they serve.

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A High Court in Kampala Uganda has ordered the immediate release of Dr. Stella Nyanzi.

Dr. Nyanzi had appealed the judgment of  a  lower court which convicted and sentenced her to 18 months imprisonment for harassing President Yoweri Museveni

The trial Judge, Justice Peter Adonyo who heard the appeal submitted that the trial Magistrate, Gladys Kamasanyu of the  Buganda Magistrate Court  had no jurisdiction to convict  Dr. Nyanzi of cyber harassment.

Furthermore, the Judge declared that the prosecution failed to provide evidence showing the location of device where the offence was committed.

“Prosecution did not as well ascertain the kind of device which was used to send as the digital prints were not presented before Buganda road,” the judge observed.

The Judge  noted  that  Dr Nyanzi and her lawyers were not allowed enough time to prepare their defense thus amounting to unfairness, while disclosing that  the first prosecution witness did not provide a forensic report on his findings indicating which mobile data was used after he asserted that Dr Nyanzi might have used a phone.

Dr. Nyanzi who has served nine out of the 18 months sentence, collapsed after the judgment was delivered and was hurriedly was rushed out of the court room for medical care.

Youths in Uganda have expressed  worry over the increasing rate of under age females who engage in prostitution.

According to  the chairperson of the youth council, Mr Shafik Kyagulanyi over 100 girls, a sizable number drop outs, are affected.

"We are worried that the number of underage girls joining the sex workers network could increase because once we have the vice as part of the normal activities, many young girls could see it as an opportunity to make a living," Mr Kyagulanyi said.

"Some of the young girls who have dropped out of school think that the sex workers earn quick money. We now have a fear that several young girls could get attracted to the vice which exposes them to HIV/Aids among other diseases," Mr. Kyagulanyi stated

The Ugandan Government is planning to review the tax regime it recently introduced on Social Media.

The government's decision is coming on the heels of street protests against the tax in the country's capital by Ugandans.

According to the Prime Minister, Ruhakama Rugunda, the government had taken into consideration the  response of the public to the tax.

"Government is now reviewing the taxes taking into consideration the concerns of the public and an amended bill will be debated on July 19," said Rugunda.

 A levy of Ush200 (or Sh6) per person on a daily basis was introduced by government, before users could be able to access WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Mobile internet users are required  to input a code on their phones to pay the charge before they are able to access social media sites.

Members of the Ugandan Parliament have proposed the setting up of a special committee to look into the allegations of slave labour involving several girls from the country, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates(UAE).

According to    the member representing Butambala in the Parliament, Mr Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi a visit Dubai by the lawmakers of Budget Committee, exposed a labour recruitment centre, "which for all intent and purpose resembles a well-organised slave market".

Kiyumbi disclosed that when the committee visited Jaira state, it discovered girls from various countries, accommodated in several small buildings, patiently waiting to be sold to buyers with the ''highest bid''.

He also stated that the girls were being maltreated, while lamenting that 16 of them  had committed suicide between February and August 2017.