PRIEST GETS 10 YEARS IN JAIL FOR DEFILEMENT
A priest attached to Pakwach catholic parish in Nebbi Diocese has been jailed for 10 years for defiling a 15 year old girl. High court Judge Justice Yasin Nyanzi, on Thursday sent Rev. Fr. Santos Constatino Wapokura , 47, to prison after finding him guilty. Court heard that Wapokura who is also HIV-positive, defiled the girl three times between November 2009 and March 2010. The girl was a house maid at Pakwach catholic mission. The girl in the recorded statement said that Wapokura would often ask her to go to his house, where he would force her into sex.
"At first I feared to tell my parents until I told Irene Adocrach, one of my friends who encouraged me to report the matter to my parents," said part of the girl's statement read by Justice Nyanzi. This according to court prompted her father Santo Onyai to report the matter to police leading to Wapokura's arrest. Wapokura had been on remand since May 5, 2010. "I respect the decision of this court and am sorry for what ever happened. Let the will of God be done in my life," Wapokura said in court before the judge passed the sentence. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632464-priest-gets-10-years-in-jail-for-defilement.html
WOMAN GETS 12 YEARS IN JAIL FOR CHILD ABDUCTION
The Makindye Chief Magistrate, Charles Sserubuga has sentenced a woman to twelve years in jail and another to seven years after convicting them of several offences related to child kidnap. Sylvia Nakanwagi (25) a waitress in a restaurant on Mukwano Arcade in downtown Kampala was Friday convicted on six counts of kidnap, conspiracy to commit a felony, acts intended to cause grievous harm, causing grievous body harm and conspiracy to defeat justice. Her accomplice, Phionah Nassaazi was convicted for the first three counts and was committed to seven years. The two women had on the previous day pleaded guilty to the offences.
The third accused, Denis Bwogi Ssebugwawo, a boda boda rider in Makindye pleaded not guilty and was remanded till July 19 when his trial is expected to start. Court heard that in the month of March, Nakanwagi commissioned Nassaazi to kidnap two children, Prince Edema Kaizuka who was one and half months old by that time, and his brother Simon Kaizuka who was only three years. Nassaazi stole the babies from their mother, Mariam Babirye, a food vendor in Nabisaalu zone in Makindye. They were recovered from Nakanwagi after a hunt that lasted for three months. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632496-woman-gets-12-years-in-jail-for-child-abduction.html
DEFILED GIRL'S CONDITION IMPROVES, STEP FATHER REMANDED
The 5yr old girl at Mulago hospital allegedly defiled by a step father missed the operation where she was lined up on Thursday due to unavoidable circumstances but doctors believe she will be operated on next week. The good news is that her condition has improved steadily from pain of the septic wound and malaria which attacked her last Saturday morning. "She was vomiting and shivering last Saturday and refused to eat food provided by good Samaritans until she got medication," a smiling mother Annet Ayoru 22yr explained.
The doctor who explained on conditions of anonymity said the girl has already been checked by an Uro-gynaecologist to evaluate the extent of the damage and plan for repair. Following a story in Saturday Vision and New Vision website of how she was in need of assistance, good samaritans came to her rescue by providing food, blankets, clothes and money for her up-keep at Mulago hospital. NGOs that fight for children's rights like Caring Hands Foundation Limited and Raising Voice have also come on board to see that justice is done. "Ours is to work with the doctors at the ward in ensuring that such a case is attended to as soon as possible. We also provide the necessary drugs or equipments needed for the surgery in case of need," explained Dr John Mundaka from Caring Hands Foundation Limited. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632477-defiled-girl-s-condition-improves-step-father-remanded.html
GOVERNMENT ALLAYS NGO FEARS
The chairperson non-governmental organisations board, Mr Gabriel Kangwagye, has denied reports that a number of human rights NGOs have been listed for de-registration. Speaking during a consultative meeting with the heads of various NGOs in Kampala on Saturday, Mr Kangwagye said there is no conflict between government and the NGOs because their work compliments that of government. Mr Kangwagye said there are new structures of communication which have been developed at district, sub-county and national level which will also act as the monitoring mechanism for their activities and fears should be allayed. The NGOs board chairperson added that people who are speaking about closing NGOs are speaking from a point of ignorance.
A panic wave last week swept through the NGO community after talk went around that the government was about to move on several NGOs it felt are hostile to it. He said as far as the NGO board is concerned, there is no hit list of organisations earmarked for closure because the process of registration is the same as that of closure and most NGOs the board works with are doing work in communities which help people. Read more
A COMMUNITY MOBILISATION INTERVENTION TO PREVENT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND REDUCE HIV/AIDS RISK IN KAMPALA, UGANDA (THE SASA! STUDY): STUDY PROTOCOL FOR A CLUSTER RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIAL
Gender based violence, including violence by an intimate partner, is a major global human rights and public health problem, with important connections with HIV risk. Indeed, the elimination of sexual and gender based violence is a core pillar of HIV prevention for UNAIDS. Integrated strategies to address the gender norms, relations and inequities that underlie both violence against women and HIV/AIDS are needed. However there is limited evidence about the potential impact of different intervention models. This protocol describes the SASA!
Study: an evaluation of a community mobilisation intervention to prevent violence against women and reduce HIV/AIDS risk in Kampala, Uganda. The SASA! Study is a pair-matched cluster randomised controlled trial being conducted in eight communities in Kampala. It is designed to assess the community-level impact of the SASA! intervention on the following six primary outcomes: attitudes towards the acceptability of violence against women and the acceptability of a woman refusing sex (among male and female community members); past year experience of physical intimate partner violence and sexual intimate partner violence (among females); Read more
http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/13/1/96/abstract
KADAGA RUBBISHES CLAIMS SHE PLANS TO UNSEAT MUSEVENI
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has refuted a story by a local newspaper that quoted her as saying 'I have capacity to oust Museveni '. According to Kadaga, the story which was published on Tuesday June 26 was a deliberate effort by the editors to pit her against President Yoweri Museveni. "It creates an impression that there is a quiet power struggle between His Excellency the president and the speaker of parliament which is not the truth," said Ranny Ismail the Principle Public relations officer Parliament of Uganda.
Ranny made the remarks on Wednesday at parliament while delivering a statement by the parliament's Public relations and information office on behalf of Speaker Kadaga. While meeting with Saudi Arabian deputy prime minister of foreign affairs His Royal highness Prince, Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah recently in Kampala , Kadaga is said to have told Abdullah that she was among the potential people that would emerge as future president after Museveni. According to the paper, Kadaga further told Abdullah she had the capacity of defeating President Museveni in 2016 if she offered herself as an independent candidate. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632427-kadaga-rubbishes-claims-she-plans-to-unseat-museveni.html
RIGHTS BODY WARNS ARMY ON RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHCR) has dismissed justifications by the military police officers for their use of heavy handed methods in quelling riots, saying no amount of provocation warrants killing of unarmed civilians. The UHCR told the military police officers of the Uganda Peoples' Defense Forces (UPDF) who are sometimes called upon to reinforce the police during demonstrations that shooting into unarmed civilians because they have been provoked is no defense for them before the law. They were responding to complaints from military police officers who said that what UHRC calls "excessive force" is sometimes used against provocative crowds, with civilians attacking members of security forces in riots.
This was during a closed door meeting at the army headquarters in Bombo on Friday. The army officers accused UHRC of being more interested in promoting the rights of demonstrators at the expense of the rights of members of the security forces who are sometimes assaulted and killed by lawless rioters. "Do you people (UHRC) know that we also have rights? An officer asked before adding "I imagine I have been sent to the street to quell a riot and rioters are not taking my orders and are instead attacking me. There is a right to protect business and those who are not part of the demonstrations," Another officer tasked UHRC officers to explain what action they had taken on civilians who have allegedly killed police officers in demonstrations and what measures they have to protect the rights of members of security agencies charged with the responsibility of quelling demonstrations. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632507-rights-body-warns-army-on-rights-violations.html
HIV PREVALENCE RISE WORRYING
If efforts to reverse the rapid increase in HIV infections are not intensified, Uganda could be fighting a losing battle against the deadly disease. A report released by Health Minister Christine Ondoa last week paints a grim picture. According to the 2011 Uganda Aids Indicator Survey, the country's HIV/Aids prevalence rate has risen from 6.4 per cent in 2005 to 7.3 as of September, 2011.
This is a worrisome development given Uganda's past record of reducing the prevalence rate from 15 per cent in the early 90s to 6-7 per cent by 2000. With more than 130,000 new HIV infections being recorded in the country every year, it is apparent that we are not doing enough to stem increasing infections. The findings also reveal gender and regional prevalence variance that calls for unique approaches to addressing the problem. For instance, the report shows that the prevalence rise among women is higher, increasing from 7.5 per cent to 8.3 per cent compared to the rise from 5 per cent to 6.1 per cent among men. Similarly, women in urban areas registered a higher prevalence—11 per cent—compared to their rural counterparts at 8 per cent. Read more
POLICE RESCUE TRAFFICKED KIDS
The Police on Thursday night raided a rental house in Mutundwe, a Kampala suburb, and rescued 10 children who had been smuggled into the country and left starving. The children, aged three to 13 years, had been confined in two rooms and had gone on rampage, stealing food from neighbours and shops. Others were scavenging for food from dustbins to survive. According to the deputy Police spokesperson, Judith Nabakooba, who took part in the raid, most of the children were severely malnourished and sick.
The Police arrested their caretaker, Mary Sulvano, 23, who was also sick. She had been admitted in a clinic at the time of the raid. She, however, abandoned her sick bed on learning that the Police had stormed their home and returned. Sulvano, who had been on drip, looked so weak and had difficulty in talking. Police detectives supported her to sit, before abandoning their interrogation on seeing that she was not in good condition. She later told the Police that her mother, Leticia Atanasio Fodro, had brought the children from South Sudan. She said Fodro promised to send money for the children's school fees and upkeep. The children stayed in a house belonging to Rose Mary Lwanga of Entebbe. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632513-police-rescue-trafficked-kids.html
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632517-10-000-abandoned-children-rescued.html
NGOS PUSH FOR ICC OFFICE IN ADDIS
Civil society organizations in Africa are optimistic that the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the African Union (AU) can work together to ensure justice for victims of grave international crimes in spite their differences in ideology. In a letter to African member states before the January 2012 AU summit in Addis Ababa, 34 civil society organizations from 20 African countries predicted that the high number of ratifications of the ICC Statute, the strong popular calls for justice in North Africa and the election of Africans to top positions at the ICC would result in a change of leadership at the institution.
The NGOs believe that the appointment of Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda from Gambia and ICC judge Chile Eboe-Osuji from Nigeria reflects the important role that individual Africans are playing in contributing to the success of the court. They add that it is of great significance to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening cooperation between the ICC and the AU. As the ICC celebrates ten years of existence, marked yesterday, July 1, the rhetoric is that of African states accusing the court of selective prosecution. They question why it is only crimes in Africa that have so far been brought before the ICC. The five investigations launched by the ICC prosecution since it started operations in 2002 are about alleged crimes in African countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Central African Republic and Kenya. Read more
UGANDAN WOMEN CRAFT FOR ECONOMIC STABILITY
Never underestimate the power of a woman who can earn her own money and provide for her family. This statement is true everywhere in Africa and other parts of the developing world. One trait that is perpetually apparent when you travel abroad and visit areas in need is people want to work; they want to be able to buy food and pay for their children's education and health needs. They want to take care of their home and put money away to save like everyone else.
Sometimes this is difficult to achieve in developing nations because of rife poverty, war, and lack of economic opportunities. But there are social enterprise models that tap into the creativity, ingenuity, and work ethic of women who craft beautiful clothes, bags, and wares for purchase. "We believe our program is unique in its holistic approach to recovery and commitment to sustainable financial independence for our seamstresses, while creating quality, value-added products that people want to own." Read more
http://mombloggersforsocialgood.com/2012/06/29/ugandan-women-craft-for-economic-stability/
THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN GENDER AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change is the defining issue of our time and the fundamental challenge of the 21st century. Moreover, it is not just an environmental challenge or scientific thesis; it is first and foremost a human issue. It is already adversely impacting individuals around the planet, due to alterations in ecosystems, and increased incidence of natural disasters. These impacts have been observed to be intensifying in frequency and magnitude.' (Edward Cameron) A United Nations Development Program Report of 2008 states that 83% of people who die due to impacts brought about by climate change disasters are women. Women and men are affected in different ways because of the different socio-cultural structure of their roles. They each have differing responsibilities at the household level, at community level and also in the employment sector as well. This proves that their attitudes and approaches towards environmental protection are not similar due to the different ways that they interact with the environment.
This is reason enough to make environmental policies that have a gender perspective in order to cater equally for women and men. The 2009 State of Uganda Population Report focusing on 'addressing the effects of climate change on migration patterns and women' recognized that women in developing countries like Uganda produce 60% to 80% of food, and are also responsible for collecting firewood and water. This links women primarily to natural resources and if these resources like water are affected due to climate change then women are most likely to suffer. The Report states that 70% of the world's poor are women with most of them becoming the victims of climate change impacts. Read more
http://allafrica.com/stories/201206280341.html
INVISIBLE VICTIMS: SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN IN THE GREAT LAKES
According to recent studies, 48 women are raped every hour in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the country has been ranked as the second most dangerous to be a woman in the world. Gender-based violence in the region has become widespread and there has been a proliferation of non-governmental organisations and donor efforts to aid the plight of female victims. Much less attention is being paid, however, to male victims of rape. Like women, men are also targeted and suffer sexual violence. This issue, however, has received considerably less publicity and examination.
There are also few organisations set up to help male victims, the stigma around men who have been raped remains particularly strong in societies across the world, and the problem receives relatively meagre discussion amongst governments, aid agencies and human rights organisations. This is perhaps surprising given that sexual violence against men has been documented in conflicts as far and wide as Yugoslavia, Iraq and El Salvador and that it is often widespread. One third of the male combatants in Liberia's civil war, for example, reported suffering some form of sexual abuse; 21% of the tortured Sri Lankan Tamil males receiving care in London claimed to have experienced sexual violence; and in El Salvador in the 1980s, 76% of male political prisoners were allegedly victims of sexual torture. Read more http://thinkafricapress.com/gender/invisible-victims-male-rape-great-lakes-drc-congo
CAN EA'S FORTUNES CHANGE WITH MORE WOMEN AT THE TOP?
At the just concluded Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) for Eastern Africa region summit in Nairobi, female politicians from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Seychelles and Rwanda resolved to push their governments to create favourable conditions that will increase the number of women in leadership in the different countries. The first move is to compel their respective parties to opt for women leadership. The move, though, is constricted by historical and structural bottlenecks in the different political structures of these countries.
"We need to examine what is the structure of our parties, what positions do women have in those parties," says Ms Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda and Chairperson of CWP Eastern Region. Currently three Countries; Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, have women as Speakers in their respective Legislative Assemblies. The East African Legislative Assembly is also headed by a woman- Ms Margaret Zziwa - as the regional Speaker. Read more
http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/ThoughtIdeas/-/689844/1440652/-/cpu33x/-/index.html
MY UPCOUNTRY TOURS FOR CONSOLIDATING NRM – KADAGA
The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has defended her frequent upcountry trips, saying they are meant to strengthen the ruling NRM party. Kadaga also said she is visiting up-country areas to find out the people's problems and the unfulfilled pledges made by President Yoweri Museveni. "This helps me to remind him [President] about the pledges he made to the people," explained the Speaker during the fundraising function for Nkinga Vocational secondary school in Bitereko Sub County, in Mitooma district.
Kadaga was invited to the function by the area MP Maj. General Kahinda Otafiire. Her comments were in response to complaints voiced earlier by Otafiire about the government's programmes that were supposed to be implemented in his constituency but were scrapped without his knowledge. "When I am in Parliament I also carry out the activities of our party, NRM by ensuring that what we put in the manifesto which we drafted together are implemented," Kadaga, the NRM party vice chairperson said. There has been mounting speculation about Kadaga's constant tours of the countryside. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632535-my-upcountry-tours-for-consolidating-nrm-kadaga.html
CANADIAN NGO DONATES MILLION DOLLAR ARVS
Hebrews (Bayudaya) in Uganda have donated ARVS worth millions of dollars to fifteen government aided and private health centres in Mbale district. The ARVS were on (Wednesday, June 27, 2012) handed over to the in charges of the fifteen health centres at Tobin health Centre in Namakwakwe a suburb of Mbale municipality. The pharmaceuticals were handed over amidst joy and dancing from some of the HIV victims and health workers who had lost hope living for the next five or ten years.
"We have reason to dance and rejoice because the Hebrews have restored hope in us and the relatives of the people suffering from HIV. We have been moving for long distances to look for the drugs and sometimes we reach when they are out of stock," Zulaika Naikote said. She said that the recent information they have been receiving through different media houses that TASO had stopped giving drugs to their clients made them feel abandoned. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632446-canadian-ngo-donates-million-dollar-arvs.html
Life Style
MAAMA MBIRE: THE MOTHER OF BUSINESS
. She provides guidance and an example to career women who constantly debate their work-family balance and is proof that there are usually no shortcuts to a rewarding life. It would also be unfair not to recognise her role in economically empowering grassroots women, especially through her credit access and entrepreneurial projects, writes Brian Magoba. Coincidences sometimes appear more meaningful than they really are and, like horoscopes, cannot be taken seriously. At other times, they are the tool fate uses to shape the destinies of people and nations. Take the example of Tereza Mbire, who coincidentally shares a birthday with Jesus Christ.
She asserts that like him, she too is BBC (Born Before the Computer). But like him, her impact transcends her own generation and affects even dot.com age Ugandans. Like him, she too was an exemplary feminist before the word became popular for her generation. Read more
BEATRICE ANYWAR: MAAMA MABIRA
Maama Mabira may not exactly mean that Beatrice Anywar gave birth to the forest, but it could as well mean that she gave it a second lease on life, writes John K. Abimanyi. It is not yet clear what the long-term fate of Mabira forest is. For all we know, reading from the very short history of the past five years suggests that any sort of a semblance of quiet from this country's executive does not necessarily mean they have taken their eyes off the prize one moment.
But regardless of how the future of Mabira forest turns out, it will be noted that some people made it count in their attempts to save the forest. One of those people is Beatrice Atim Anywar, Woman Member of Parliament for Kitgum District. For her actions, she was even christened Mama Mabira, by which she is fondly known today.
Before 2007, when the New Vision reported of the state's plans to give away part of the forest to Sugar Corporation Uganda Limited (Scoul), Anywar was a freshman Member of Parliament (MP). But then the plan to give Mabira away suddenly came about and it presented the woman who had earlier been destined to spend a lifetime in the convent with a fight, which will now forever be associated with her name. She was the shadow minister for environment then. Prof F.C Oweyegha-Afunaduula, an environmentalist and academician, says at that time, the environmental lobby in Uganda needed some form of political leadership, and Hon Anywar conveniently stepped into those shoes. Read more
WHO GETS PREGNANT SHORTLY AFTER RETURNING FROM MATERNITY LEAVE?
You have just returned to work from the three-month maternity leave only to discover you are pregnant again. What will your boss or workmates think of you? Susan Muyiyi finds out If you came across a heavily-pregnant woman with her fifth child when the fourth is barely a year old, you would probably not think much of it. However, if it is an educated woman, you would probably think, "she should have known better." When Molly started spending a lot of time eating diced raw mangoes with salt, suspicion was rife that she was expecting. This was shortly after she had returned from maternity leave. When she could no longer handle the whispers in the corridors, she blurted out to whoever asked her or stared at her bulging tummy that; "it just happened!"
Can a pregnancy just happen? Why are young educated women having poorly-spaced pregnancies? Is it a race against time, ignorance or the unavailability of contraceptives? Other women Her Vision spoke to who had a second child on the heels of the first said when they conceived, they were not planning to neither were they doing anything to stop it from happening. They were aware of the consequences of unprotected sex, but laxity settled in.
Read more
ARE MEN MORE INTELLIGENT THAN WOMEN?
According to Prof Satoshi Kanazawa, they are. Writing in The Scientific Fundamentalist, an online publication, he refuted the notion that men and women had the same average intelligence as manufactured out of political expediency. More recently, Kanazawa says, there have been an increasing number of studies that cast doubt on this politically correct conclusion. Studies with large representative national samples, as well as meta-analyses of a large number of published studies throughout the world, all conclude that men on average are slightly, but significantly more intelligent than women, by about 3-5 IQ points.
In their article in the American Journal of Psychology, the professor and his colleague, Diane J. Reyniers, explain that men are more intelligent because they are generally taller. "Psychometricians have known since the end of the 19th century that height is positively correlated with intelligence," they wrote, "and men in every human population are taller than women. Read more
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/632479-are-men-more-intelligent-than-women.html
TURNING YOUR HOME INTO A MONEY-MAKER
Do you spend a lot of time home and wish you could have something to boost your income or create an alternative income source. Perhaps it is an idea that could make up for free space in your house or home. Here are some home-based businesses you could venture into in no particular order;
Website business
All you will need is a work-desk and a personal computer. We live in an information age, the future enterprenuers are those who can provide people with the right information at the right time. The greatest task lies in generating traffic, advertisements will flow. In a matter of time, you could be reaping big. Steven Mukasa, the Team Leader at www.bigeye.ug, an entertainment website, says "One needs to buy a domain name at around Shs80,000 and pay for hosting and a website designer."
He advises that using a social media platform can help one to grow traffic faster. The secret is specialising in something. Read more
DIARY OF A WORKING MARRIED WOMAN: LOVE IS…
Are there things you do only because you love your spouse? You know that if it were someone else, there is no way you would be listening on and on to a long winding story about why our roads are the way they are. Or you would certainly not be picking up socks, ties and belts from the floor every evening before you went to bed, for them. Or, you would not sleep in the same bed with a woman whose hair smells like she has been from the soap factory. But because they are your partner, you stomach these big and small things. That is what love is.
It is a Tuesday evening. The week is already looking and feeling long. After a particularly hard day at work, you call the husband to find out when he shall be passing by work to pick you up or where you can meet him in town so you can go home together, only for him to tell you he decided to go home earlier and catch the early evening match. Love is smiling through gritted teeth and telling him it is okay, he does not have to come back for you and you will find your way back through gridlocked traffic, standing in a bus for 40 minutes between two sweaty men with one eyeing you rather funnily. Read more
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Public Relations & Communications Department
Action For Development
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