By Racheal Nuwahereza.

After a meeting with local leaders, Aliziki Nambi, the Head teacher, announced the indefinite closure of UMEA Day and Boarding Primary School in Mpigi District following reports that demons are attacking and haunting pupils.

It is reported that since Monday, some pupils have been unable to attend lessons complaining of strange illnesses which health workers in the area failed to diagnose and on Thursday, about 50 pupils spent the whole day demonstrating and refused to attend classes.

 “Since there have been no lessons for some days  because pupils refused to go to their classes, I find it more necessary to send them back to their homes to  give us time to resolve this problem,” said Nambi.

The worrying situation is blamed on a graveyard adjacent to the school.

One of the pupils claimed many of her colleagues, who were reportedly attacked by the demons became unconscious whenever they entered the mosque.
 “The demons were saying they were disturbed when a mosque was built in the area and they want it removed. They are also unhappy that a tree where they used to rest was cut down,” she said.

Moses Balyohere, a long-serving teacher at the school said some pupils presented signs of mental disorder, shouting and jumping, while others were physically weak adding that he and his colleague have also been affected by these evil spirits but they sought the intervention of sheikhs to pray for them.

Gerald Katongole, the district inspector of schools said he has been busy with the registration of Primary Seven candidates but he awaits the school administration to communicate to his office about what exactly happened.

 
Several pupils and students continue to fall victim to demon attack reports in schools across the country. 

In 2015, Bwala Secondary School in Masaka Municipality was closed and in 2019, Mityana Junior School in Mityana Municipality was also closed indefinitely following reports of demon attacks on students.

However, psychologists and doctors believe these are not demons, but effects of mass hysteria and convulsion disorders.

Mass hysteria is the term used to describe a situation in which various people suffer from a set of symptoms whose physical explanation cannot be established.

By Racheal Nuwahereza

The newly-elected Speaker of the 11th Parliament, Rt Hon Anita Among, has declined to occupy the office premises of her predecessor Jacob Oulanyah.

Among, the former deputy Speaker was on Friday elected and sworn-in, ascending to full speakership.

She however decided to retain the deputy Speaker office on the 5th floor of Parliament Building, upending a long tradition of Speakers sitting on the 6th floor.

The floor allocation at Parliament is said to be intentional, reflecting the leadership hierarchy whereby the Speaker’s office on the 6th floor is customized to be more spacious and magnificent.

According to sources in Parliament, Among opted to keep her office on grounds that she is “comfortable in it”, and that relocating to the 6th floor would resurrect fond memories with Oulanyah whom she publicly proclaims as her mentor.

Clarifying on this matter, Chris Obore, the Parliament’s director for public and corporate affairs said: “There is no provision in the Administration of Parliament Act where a Speaker should sit. The deputy Speaker is going to sit on the sixth floor and the Speaker remains in her former office on 5th floor. ”

He added: “Office space at Parliament is allocated by the sergeant-at-arms; it is just space within Parliament. Among has just preferred to remain in her office. You want her to start moving her things again?”

Additionally, Among is reportedly using her personal car for official work as Parliament has never bought for her the official vehicle because of budgetary constraints and procurement procedures.

Obore also confirmed reports indicating that the staff who previously worked with Oulanyah, would stay until their current contracts run out.

It remains unclear if these individuals will work with Among, or with her deputy who is assuming the office on the sixth floor.

By Racheal Nuwahereza

Yona Kanyomozi, a former minister in the regime of Obote 2 in 1980’s has dragged former  Prime Minister, John Patrick Amama Mbabazi to court for failure to pay rent amounting to UGX 27million($7507) for his office along Nakasero road in Kampala.

The court documents reveal that in 2015, Kanyomozi entered into an unwritten tenancy agreement with Amama Mbabazi when he rented the office space on Plot 29 along Nakasero road whose monthly rent was $5000(approximately UGX 18 million) starting August 1^st 2015 to serve as the head office for Go Forward during the 2015/16 presidential campaigns.  

Through his lawyers Anguria and Co Advocates, Kanyomozi, revealed that Mbabazi paid six months in advance ending December 2015, but after the expiry of the six months that he had paid, Mbabazi continued occupying the office space for another four months between January and April 2016 without complying with the terms of the tenancy agreement.

Kanyomozi says that after the first deposit, Mbabazi started becoming uncooperative, avoiding him and paying rent in insignificant portions despite demands and reminders by the landlord for full payment.

Court documents show that by October 2021, Mbabazi paid only $39992(approximately UGX 143.7million), leaving an outstanding balance of $7507(approximately UGX 27 million) and all efforts to have the issue resolved have proved futile as he has purposefully denied Kanyomozi audience.

Yona Kanyomozi now wants the Commercial Division of the High Court in Kampala to declare that Mbabazi breached the contract he entered for rent of office space on Plot 29 along Nakasero road and be ordered to pay $7507(approximately shs27 million) in rent arrears.

The former minister also wants court to order Mbabazi to pay $20,000(approximately UGX 73million) as general damages plus interest from the date of defaulting on payment until when he pays.

Consequently, the court has given Mbabazi 15 days to file his defence in the matter or else the court will proceed with the suit and give judgment in his absence.

By Racheal Nuwahereza

Julius Charles, 28-year old man from Dar-es salaam, Tanzania is believed to be the world’s tallest man according to his age.

Julius who is 2 meters and 60 cm tall is referred as Julius the Giant and he believes that he will continue growing taller and taller because he is still young and hopes to make it to the Guinness book of world records.

According to Afrimax English, at birth, Julius weighed 22 pounds equivalent to 10 kgs and at the age of 10 years, he was taller than all members of his family and his age mates.

Not only does he have an extreme height, but also a big voice and feet. He only puts on imported clothes from Sweden because they are extremely big and it is not easy to find clothes that fit him in Africa.

The tall man is however unhappy with his body size because people insult him and it stood in the way of his education.

“My growth brought me a lot of disadvantages especially in college, by then I had become very tall so I was forced to quit school for I had already become the college’s breaking news. Wherever I was, scholars were staring at me with shock, for that reason, many schools rejected me because I had become like a distraction,” said Julius.

Julius has no close friend in his native land, he cannot ride in a normal car, fit on the normal bed size or chair, and it is even difficult for him to get into a relationship.

Julius’ height also serves as a blessing in disguise as it has enabled him to travel to different parts of the world; he easily got into a basketball team in America and got friends abroad. He is a brand ambassador of various companies and also an actor.

By Racheal Nuwahereza

Tension has been growing in South Sudan’s capital Juba as President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President, Riek Machar disagree on how to implement some security arrangements as stipulated in the 2018 peace agreement.

On Monday, President Kiir convened a press conference at the presidential palace after Riek Machar, the first vice president said his house has been surrounded by security forces, putting at risk his personal safety and people within the residential area in which he lives.

“Without prior information, the South Sudan People Defense Forces (SSPDF) deployed armed forces with armoured personnel carriers on the routes to my residence. Persons who attempted to go to the residence were turned off by these troops. The deployment was removed only at 6.15 am this morning [Monday] with no explanation provided,” Machar said in a statement.

In this statement, Machar called on the regional, international community, and the United Nations Security Council to take note of the situation.

In response Kiir said; “There is no issue of insecurity on the streets in Juba. What is being done is a normal thing that happens in any country.   In Juba here, there are people, criminals who have infiltrated and are living with civilians. And these people can go and shoot near the house, for example, if they go to the house of Riek Machar and they fire there, we will see it is Riek who has started to attack people. So, the presence of army and security forces in the streets of Juba does not show there is insecurity,” said Kiir at the press conference.

The president described it as “normal practice”, but Machar condemned the move, saying it “creates doubt” that the fragile peace process can succeed adding that the SSPDF deployment undermines peace building.

“Such an act is disruptive to the peace implementation process and weakens trust and confidence building, reconciliation and healing among the people and dialogue among peace parties. It also created doubts nationally, regionally and internationally and reflects very poorly on the commitment of peace parties to resolve issues peacefully,” said Machar.

Additionally, the United States has expressed “concern” over growing tensions in South Sudan.

In a statement, the US State Department called on President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar to honour their obligations under the peace deal signed in 2018. It also noted that the two leaders were both responsible for the deteriorating situation.

President Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in 2018 following five years of civil war.

But its implementation has been hampered by mistrust among the leaders, inter-communal fighting and insecurity.

South Sudan leader declassifies files on civil war

In the Monday address, President Salva Kiir also issued a directive to declassify all documents on the country’s long-running civil war promising to grant a presidential pardon  to all those found culpable of offences by the released materials.

Salva Kiir’s first ever such directive comes a day after dozens of heavily armed troops were deployed around the residence of the First Vice President Riek Machar.

“This is very important so that the people of South Sudan know the truth and judge for themselves, and from this knowledge, we must tell the truth because genuine reconciliation has its basis on it. So there is no cause for alarm over this, because we are interested in it for the public to know the truth about the background of the conflict in our country. We all considered this agreement as the path to our stability and I am committed with our partners to implement it. I come before you today to affirm my government’s commitment to peace in our country,” Kiir told journalists.