Civil Servant officials have been urged to always supervise contractors’ work done on projects brought in their areas of supervision.

The call was sounded by the State Minister for Kampala, Hon Kabuye Kyofatogabye during roads and markets benchmarking done by the Ministry of Kampala Capital City and metropolitan affairs under the office of the president funded by the World Bank in Isingiro District yesterday.

Minister Kabuye said there is poor supervision of civil works observed on the ongoing projects by the responsible civil Servant from the District, thus urging all civil servants to be kin on supervising contractors who attend to these projects for accurate and quality work.

The minister however revealed that the Ministry of Kampala Capital City and metropolitan affairs under the office of the president funded by the World Bank came up with the Greater Kampala metropolitan urban development program intending to create connectivity and solving jam problems, a project worth 619 Million dollars targeting to construct over 330KM of roads in the metropolitan areas, that is six Municipalities surrounding the City, three Districts plus the Capital City.

He urged political leaders in the District to also have time to benchmark for projects brought in their Districts.

AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational Pharmaceutical and biotechnology company that manufactured a COVID-19 vaccine, Vaxzevria says the vaccine is being withdrawn worldwide. This comes months after the pharmaceutical giant admitted for the first time in court documents that the vaccine can cause very rare but life threatening injuries.

The drug maker has withdrawn the vaccine from European Union market and has gone an extra mile to voluntarily withdraw its “marketing authorisation”. The company’s application to withdraw the vaccine from the market was made on March 5th, 2024 and came into effect on Tuesday May 7th, 2024.

The decision to withdraw it brings the use of the jab, that was praised by former UK Premier, Boris Johnson who referred to its production as “a triumph for British Science” to an end. He went on to credit it for saving more than six million lives.

AstraZeneca said their vaccine, Vaxzevria was, however, being removed from markets for commercial reasons. It said the vaccine was no longer being manufactured or supplied, having been overridden by modified vaccines which are able to tackle new COVID-19 variants. 

Vaxzevria vaccine was first given a nod for usage in January,2021 and in few weeks, concerns arose about the vaccine’s safety. Following that, a number of countries halted the use of the vaccine after what was described as ‘unusual but rare blood clots’ were detected in a number of people who were immunised using the same vaccine.

Fragmentary results from Vaxzevria’s first major trial, used by Britain to grant permission to the usage of the vaccine were surrounded by a manufacturing mistake that was not immediately acknowledged by researchers. Some countries, worried about effects of the vaccine and how well it would protect older people, restricted its use to only younger people. This was attributed to insufficient data about the same vaccine but the course was later reversed so that the elderly also took jabs of the vaccine.

Vaxzevria has come under intense survey recently due to a very rare side effect, that causes blood clots and thrombocytopenia. AstraZeneca admitted in court documents lodged with the High Court in the UK in February 2024 that the vaccine “can, in very rare cases, cause TTS”.

TTS – which stands for Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome – has been linked to at least 81 deaths in the UK as well as hundreds of serious injuries. AstraZeneca is being sued by more than 50 alleged victims and grieving relatives in a High Court case.

AstraZeneca vaccine doses, in billions were given to third world countries through a United Nations coordinated programme and was considered cheap, easy to produce and distribute. However, studies later revealed that the more expensive messenger RNA vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna provided better protection against COVID-19 and its many variants. This compelled a number of countries to switch to other shots, leaving the one manufactured by AstraZeneca.

The Speaker of Uganda’s Parliament, Rt. Hon. Annet Anita Among, has been slapped with sanctions by the government of United Kingdom(UK). The UK government says that Among is a beneficiary of returns from the Karamoja iron sheets scandal; a scandal that saw a number of ministers spend nights in the coolers.

The Deputy Foreign Secretary for the UK government, Andrew Mitchell, in a statement released on April, 30th, said that the Bukedea Woman Member of Parliament together with the former Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Mary Goretti Kitutu and her deputy, Agnes Nandutu will be faced with asset freezes and travel bans.

The speaker of the 11th parliament has been accused of opening the wallet endlessly to splash the tax payers hard earned money. Social media activists like Dr.Jim Spire Ssentongo and journalist Agather Atuhaire unearthed her weekly spending figures which shocked Ugandans. She claimed that the duo and those who backed their campaign dubbed #UgandaParliamentExhbition were agents of foreigners who were against her for steering parliament into passing the anti-homosexuality law last year.

The UK government has used the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions for the first time on individuals involved in corruption in Uganda as a way of forcing accountability amongst regime agents.

“Today, the UK is sending a clear message to those who think benefiting at the expense of others is acceptable. Corruption has consequences and you will be held responsible,” Mr. Mitchell stated.

The UK insists that the persons of Hon. Among, Hon. Kitutu and Hon. Nandutu, using their offices, denied services to Karamoja sub region. In this region, more than 60% of the people live in abject poverty culminating from drought and insecurity.

It is believed that these sanctions will aid in putting funds to the target beneficiaries deterring economic resources from going to the people who should actually be aiming at lobbying for more to uplift the status of needy persons and communities.

Under section 8B of the Immigration Act 1971, an affected person must be refused to leave or to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom.

Previously, the UK sanctions under the Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime, targeted persons involved in corruption scandals across the world, including Russia, South Africa, Venezuela among other countries.

Parliament, in December 2021, passed a supplementary budget to support a number of programmes in the Karamoja sub region worth Shs39b meant to purchase 100,000 iron sheets, a number of relief items such as food among others. In 2022,the iron sheets were purchased but instead of delivering them to Karamoja ,it was established that 14,200 iron sheet pieces were shared among some ministers in the current government.

Amos Lugoloobi,Uganda’s state minister for Finance and Planning had used the iron sheets to roof a goat barn but to the surprise of many, when President Museveni made a mini shakeup in his cabinet, Amos Lugoloobi was kept in his portfolio, slashing the other two key culprits, Nandutu and Kitutu. However, the trio is still facing charges before the anti-corruption court.

“The Ugandan courts are rightly taking action to crack down on those politicians who seek to line their own pockets at their constituents’ expense,” Mr. Mitchell noted.

As a way of combating graft globally, these sanctions have been slapped on 42 entities and individuals since April, 2021 across the world. Uganda’s Speaker is a key figure in the current regime that has been sanctioned by a foreign nation over graft. It should also be remembered that last month, she was praised by the fountain of honour for putting up a multibillion health facility in her home district using what observers say is a tax payer’s money.

Dr. Pius Ruhemurana, the former mayor of Kabale Municipality has gone to be with the Lord. He succumbed to stroke at around 2:00am on Wednesday April,24,2024 at Rugarama Hospital in Kabale Municipality.

The hospital authorities said that the 76 years old veteran politician had been battling stroke for over two years.

Ruhemurana, a trained medical doctor, a staunch supporter of Dr.Kiiza Besigye and a Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) stalwart was a distinguished gynaecologist who ran a private clinic in Kabale municipality and as well held a number of leadership positions.

Ruhemurana enjoyed a long career, serving as the mayor of Kabale Municipality for over 20 years in the movement system and retained this seat severally on the FDC ticket after multiparty system of governance was introduced . He was elected mayor of Kabale in 1996 until 2016 when he lost this seat.

In a hot contest of polls in 2006, he defeated his arch rival, NRM’s George Mbonigaba to retain his seat but lost it in 2016 to Emmanuel Byamugisha Sentaro, the current mayor for Kabale Municipality.

Despite this defeat, he remained an influential figure in FDC until the time of his demise. He will be remembered for his straightforward speech and boldness especially at times when many in his area found it hard to speak out when faced with difficulty.

He also served as the chairperson for FDC in Kabale Municipality as well as the Kabale district FDC vice chairperson.He will also be remembered as one who embraced both science and God’s ways, serving as Head of Laity for Kabale Diocese and the chairperson Board of Trustees of Kabale Gold club.