Related items

• 
  CORONAVIRUS | Gov't suspends public transport
   

   

  9:00pm  |   CORONAVIRUS: Three billion under lockdown
  
  Let me leave you with this five-minute read that should paint for you a picture on what's happening around the world as the United Nations warns that humanity is under threat.
  
  This story is by AFP:
  
  

  

   

  More than three billion people are living under lockdown measures to stem the spread of the killer coronavirus that the United Nations warned Wednesday is threatening all of humanity.
  
  As the global death toll soared past 20,000 Spain joined Italy in seeing its number of fatalities overtake China, where the virus first emerged just three months ago.
  
  "COVID-19 is threatening the whole of humanity -– and the whole of humanity must fight back," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, launching an appeal for $2 billion to help the world's poor.
  
  "Global action and solidarity are crucial. Individual country responses are not going to be enough."
  
  Markets rebounded after Washington vowed to spend $2 trillion to fend off a US economic collapse, while governments elsewhere are still taking ever more dramatic steps to contain the disease.
  
  India's stay-at-home order for its 1.3 billion people is now the biggest, taking the total number of people facing restrictions on their daily lives to more than three billion.
  
  

   Indian police personnel stand guard at a traffic light during the first day of a 21-day government-imposed nationwide lockdown

   

  Russia, which announced the death of two patients who tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, is expected to follow suit.
  
  President Vladimir Putin declared next week a public holiday and postponed a public vote on controversial constitutional reforms, urging people to help each other and follow instructions given by medics and the authorities.
  
  In Britain, heir to the throne Prince Charles became the latest high-profile figure to become infected while Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the country's response to tackle the outbreak despite accusations it was slow to act.
  
  The G20 major economies will hold an emergency videoconference summit on Thursday to discuss a global response to the crisis, as will the 27 leaders of the European Union, the outbreak's new epicentre.
  
  China has begun to relax its own draconian restrictions on free movement in the province of Hubei -- the original epicentre of the outbreak -- after the country reported no new cases.
  
  Huge crowds jammed trains and buses as people in the province of 50 million people took their first opportunity to travel.
  
  But Spain saw the number of deaths surge to 3,434 after more than 738 people died in the past 24 hours and the government announced a 432-million-euro ($467 million) deal to buy medical supplies from Beijing.
  
  

   A member of the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) carries out a general disinfection at the Apanid residence for people with physical and intellectual disabilities in Madrid

   

  'People dying alone'
  
  At La Paz university hospital in Madrid, accident and emergency nurse Guillen del Barrio sounded bereft as he related what happened overnight.
  
  "It is really hard, we had feverish people for many hours in the waiting room," the 30-year-old told AFP.
  
  "Many of my colleagues were crying because there were people who are dying alone, without seeing their family for the last time."
  
  Spain and Italy were joined by France and six more EU countries in urging Germany and the Netherlands to allow the issue of joint European bonds to cut borrowing costs and stabilise the eurozone economy.
  
  This is likely to fall on deaf ears when the 27 leaders talk on Thursday -- with northern members wary of pooling debt with big spenders -- but they will sign off on an "unprecedented" recovery plan.
  
  

   Police officers control motorists during an anti-drug operation in Marseille, southern France

   

  Coronavirus cases are also spreading in the Middle East, where Iran's death toll topped 2,000, and in Africa, where Mali declaring its first case and several nations announced states of emergency.
  
  And in Japan, which has postponed this year's Olympic Games, Tokyo's governor urged residents to stay home this weekend, warning of a possible "explosion" of the coronavirus.
  
  The impact of the pandemic is also hitting European football in a big way, with top-flight leagues and tournaments cancelled.
  
  

  

   

  'Wartime level of investment'
  
  The economic damage of the virus -- and the lockdowns -- could also be devastating, with fears of a worldwide recession worse than the financial meltdown more than a decade ago.
  
  But financial markets rose after US leaders agreed a stimulus package worth roughly 10 percent of their economy, an injection Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said represented a "wartime level of investment".
  
  The US Senate was poised to pass the massive relief package for Americans and businesses ravaged by the pandemic as New York hospitals braced for a wave of virus patients,
  
  Meanwhile, nearly 130 million Americans, or 40 percent of the population, are under or will soon come under some lockdown order, including in the largest state of California.
  
  President Donald Trump has voiced hope the US will be "raring to go" by mid-April, but his optimism appeared to stand almost alone among world leaders.
  
  

  

   

  Anxious Indians raced for supplies after the government ordered the world's second-biggest population to stay at home for three weeks from Wednesday.
  
  "To save India, to save its every citizen, you, your family... every street, every neighbourhood is being put under lockdown," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
  
  Whether the order will be obeyed in full remained to be seen. Mumbai vegetable trader Rafiq Ansari said his customers were getting angry over shortages and price hikes.
  
  "I don't understand what's going on," the 35-year-old told AFP. "We are going to face major shortages in the days ahead."
  
  Iran announced it would ban intercity travel as it finally got tough with the virus that has killed more than 2,000 people in one of the world's deadliest outbreaks.
  
  Many governments are listening to health experts who warn the only way to slow the epidemic -- and save the lives of the elderly and vulnerable -- is by imposing "social isolation" measures.
  
  

   Priest Don Kresimir Busic holds a crucifix and prays with a woman in Manta, near Cuneo, Piedmont, as part of a countryside procession to bless houses against the coronavirus pandemic

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:43pm  |   The President has spoken
  
  President Yoweri Museveni's message is clear, and key among the additional measures are the following:
  
  - Public transport has been suspended for the next two weeks.
  
  - Markets have been limited to selling only foodstuffs.
  
  - Only essential staff to be allowed in government offices.
  
  

  

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:39pm  |   'What we are dealing with has been handled before'
  
  
  While concluding his speech, the President makes a biblical allusion (Isaiah 26:20) to contexualize what the world is going through at the moment in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  The scriptural extraction says (depending on the version of the Bible you are using): "Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by."
  
  "What we are dealing with have been there before and have been handled," says Museveni.
  
  He wraps up his speech by reminded the public that eight of the original nine coronavirus cases in Uganda are recovering steadily. The other one is not steady yet.
  
  "I wish you good luck, I wish you God's protection. Thank you very much," he signs off.
  
  

  

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:35pm  |   Government vehicles to be stationed at district headquarters
  
  Museveni says: "Now that we have got cases in other parts of the country (beyond Kampala and Entebbe), we have a system of getting samples from suspected people all the way to Entebbe for testing. There are teams near villages who do surveillance.
  
  "These inform people who are at the 100 hubs across the country, who in turn take samples [from the suspected people] and send them to Entebbe aboard Posta Buses."
  
  To ease this countrywide surveillance, the President says: "I am directing that all govenrment vehicles in the districts (except the ones for the army and Police) should be centralised at the district headquarters under the command of the district health officer, aided by a Police officer.
  
  "We are going to ensure that [these vehicles] have enough fuel."
  
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:27pm  |   Business of boda bodas
  
  "In Kampala, companies will be identified to start doing this business of bodabodas. I hope there won't be corruption and bribery," says Museveni.
  
  
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:27pm  |   Government offices should be rid of non-essential staff
  
  "Each ministry and government department should work out a plan of the essential staff that need to remain on duty," says the President.
  
  This can be done on rotational basis.
  
  "At district level, district officials can identify boda bodas who can deliver food and other cargo to wherever it is needed. This  crisis will teach us other methods of doing business," adds the President.
  
  

  

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:23pm  |   Markets to sell only food - nothing else
  
  After dealing with public transport, the President says the other big problem are the markets, as they bring together many people.
  
  He, however, says he is happy to learn that the people in these markets have tried to adhere to hygiene measures - washing of hands with soap and water. But that is not enough.
  
  Therefore, the  second new additional measure is that the markets should be for selling only food - matooke, sweet potatoes, caassava, rice, beans, peas, chicken, meat, etc.
  
  Save for food, the selling of other items has been suspended.
  
  "We think this will reduce numbers and then they can maintain social distance. We think by removing the non-food items and sellers, it will reduce the numbers," says Museveni.
  
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:18pm  |   Ambulances allowed to move
  
  The only other vehicles allowed to move are ambulances, vehicles of security agencies and some institutions as well as vehicles for sanitary services (like KCCA garbage collection trucks).
  
  "This is to cause people to postpone their unsafe journeys from one point to another point. The only people who can move safely are those moving using private cars," says the President.
  
  

  

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:13pm  |   Government suspends public transport
  
  In its latest measures, the government has decided to suspend all public transport - that includes taxis, coasters/minibuses, buses, passenger trains, auto rickshaw (tuk tuks) and all boda bodas.
  
  The suspension is for 14 days.
  
  Why this suspension?
  
  "Because we want to limit movement. The only vehicles to move should be private vehicles, which should carry no more than three people, including the driver," says the President.
  
  But there are a few exceptions.
  
  Trucks and lorries delivering cargo (food and other essentials) are allowed to continue moving.
  
  The President says that boda bodas and tuk tuks can move only if they are carrying cargo. He says boda boda riders should not simply sit back and sulk over the suspension of their services - instead, they should think about using their bikes to transport cargo.
  
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  8:09pm  |   President begins address
  
  The president is speaking to the nation.
  
  He says the original nine cases are in "good condition" and their temperatures are going down - save for one, whose temperature keeps flactuating.
  
  "We are going to get scattered cases across the country. Therefore, we are happy that we took the other big steps in the past - we closed the schools in time and we closed the churches and mosques."
  
  With more coronavirus cases coming up, the President says the country needs to take additional measures.
  
  

  

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  7:47pm  |   Coronavirus in Uganda: Graphical illustration
  
  To get an idea of what is happening in the country in light of the new coronavirus, this map below from the government information portal shows where the confirmed cases are located and where alerts to the ministry are coming from.
  
  

  

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  7:43pm  |   'Nothing has caused prices of food to be hiked'
  
  In his fourth address on Tuesday, President Museveni reiterated his call to Ugandans to adhere to his and the health ministry's directives aimed at arresting the spread of the new coronavirus within the population.
  
  In his message, he mentioned that he may call a ban on the usage of public transport in case the situation worsens. In doing so, he would also promote using bicycles as an ideal alternative.
  
  The President also warned "crooks" against hiking the prices of especially foodstuffs, saying he would use spies to catch anyone taking advantage of the situation. If found, a culprit will be arrested and their license revoked.
  
  "Nothing has caused prices of foodstuffs to be hiked. The bananas we had yesterday are the same today, the maize is the same. So the crooks who are taking advantage of coronavirus to hike prices of foodstuffs anywhere in this country will be arrested and their licenses revoked," he reechoed his warning in a tweet.
  
  

  

   
  
  ______________________________
  
  
  7:25pm  |   'It is a tough job during such a difficult time'
  
  Also called Ma Yun, the 55-year-old Chinese tycoon sent out a message of thanks to Ethiopian Prime Miniter Abiy Ahmed for "helping us distribute supplies throughout Africa".
  
  The large packages were delivered to the recipient nations using Ethiopian Airlines.

  Source: The New Vision

• 
  Necklaces changing lives of HIV-positive widows

  That the necklaces are beautiful is simply unquestionable. From the bright colours of the beads which are stringed together to make a lace (dazzling yellows and reds and greens) to the different shapes in which the beads come (oval, triangle, mango, name it), there is a lot to buoy the eye or the mind that can recognise beauty.

  Yet still, nothing observable about those beautiful, bright-coloured necklaces serves to prepare a beholder for the incredible story behind those handicrafts. A story of necklaces some have called magical for the way they have been able to turn around the lives of everyone connected to them.

  We are talking about the necklaces made by the women of Meeting Point International (MPI), an NGO in Nakawa division, which works to improve the lives of poor women living with HIV –particularly around Kireka and Naguru areas in Kampala.

  MPI was founded 22 years ago by Rose Busingye, a woman who, upon returning to Uganda from a 10-year sojourn in Italy, just couldn’t watch passively as positive women living with HIV in her neighbourhood of Kireka were dehumanised and destroyed by the disease.

  Busingye says: “I saw that the women were very poor and had problems finding food, shelter and other provisions, not only for themselves but their families too. Being HIV positive in tough conditions had made their life hell, and they needed help to begin living meaningful and fairly dignified lives.”

  Busingye got some of her own money and added to it what she was able to raise from her friends overseas, then began seeking out the suffering women and trying to help them live better lives. She registered the NGO Meeting Point in order to have her initiative working in an organized manner.

  “She would help us with medication as well as food to eat,” says 68-year old Janet Nabirye, who was one of the first to join Meeting Point Kireka in 2000. “She also would find sponsors to pay our children’s school fees.”

  Starting to make Necklaces
  Busingye recalls that as the number of women she was helping increased, it became very challenging to meet the bills, and she had to figure out a way the women could also help themselves.

  Since most of them had formerly been working in the stone quarry, breaking stones, she only had to find something that would both bring in some more money and also not wear them out since most were living with HIV. “I had seen a few of them making crafts, and since I knew that crafts had a market in Europe, I settled on introducing craft making as a business for Meeting Point,” Busingye says.

  The women shared their craft-making skills among themselves, and a few volunteers from Europe also came and offered them some training. Tina Kabakunirwa, who has been with Meeting Point since 2004, recalls that the necklaces were just part of several other handcrafts that the women made, others including sweaters, mats among others. She says the ladies in fact still make other crafts alongside the necklaces, only that the necklaces sell most and have eventually become the flagbearer of all crafts they make.

  The process of making the necklaces

  The necklaces are made primarily from waste paper – all sorts including newspapers and magazines, among others. The process starts with making of beads, and here magazine pages are marked off and cut into long, thin triangles.
  The triangles are then rolled around a needle and sealed with glue, creating an egg-shaped bead. The beads are then threaded onto a string and vanished to give them a glossy shine –the varnish taking two to three days to dry.

  The women make their necklaces as individuals, mostly at home, each making her own unique and creative designs.
  Then each presents their product to Meeting Point, which puts all the products together and looks for market for everything –most going overseas. However, each woman receives payment for her particular products as they sold.

  How the necklaces have changed the women’s lives

  Josephine Atimango, a member, says, “Necklace and bead-making has been a wonder for us. Many of us never used to have food at home, we used to toil for long hours in the quarries of Kireka to get something to survive on, but now we no longer need to do that.” SRC: Monitor

• 
  media floored the State in Kayihura tapes case

  On Friday last week, the High Court in Kampala quashed all the proceedings held in camera by Buganda Road Court in a case where a police officer Ronald Poteri, is accused of leaking Gen Kale Kayihura’s confidential information to the public.
  The court ruled on grounds that Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Lillina Bucyana should have heard from the side of journalists in order to balance the competing rights of access to information and guarding against the threat of exposing the secrets of national security.
  The run-ins of the court reporters under their umbrella body, the Uganda Court Reporters Association (UCRA), and the State begun on June 25 when Mr Lino Anguzu, the Resident State Attorney at Buganda Road Court, without prior warning to the defence, successfully applied orally and briefly to have the trial of officer Poteri heard in camera.
  In support of his application, the State submitted that Mr Poteri was charged with disclosure of official secrets and that the evidence would include classified information, secrets of police investigative tactics and calling informants whose identity should not be revealed, hence need to bar journalists.
  Additionally, the State submitted that if the evidence is published, it may cause friction between police and the Executive.

  Judicial review
  But being dissatisfied with the decision of the magistrate to bar them from covering the Poteri hearings, the reporters, through their lawyer Isaac Semakadde, ran to court to challenge the same by way of judicial review.
  Judicial review is the process by which the High Court exercises its supervisory jurisdiction and evaluates proceedings and decisions of inferior courts, tribunals of whether they were properly taken or not.
  To that effect, on August 1, the application came for hearing before High Court judge Mugambe, with the State being represented by Mr Oburu Odoi.
  Mr Oburu majorly relied on the sworn in statements of Mr Anguzu, and those of Geoffrey Wangolo Madete, a State attorney from the Attorney General’s chambers, to oppose the journalists’ application to review magistrate Bucyana’s decision.
  The State argued that this was not a good case for judicial review and the court reporters should have instead appealed against Buganda Road Court decision of barring them from covering the proceedings.
  The State also insisted that the decision taken by the magistrate was legal and she committed no error.
  The State further submitted that the journalists had other options such as applying for revision of the decision of the court or should have gone to the Constitutional Court to seek for a constitutional interpretation.

  Court’s take
  But justice Mugambe disagreed with the State’s submission that the journalists should have appealed Buganda Road Court’s decision before citing Section 204 (1) (a) and (7) of the Magistrates Court Act that she said reserves the right of appeal in criminal cases only to the convicted persons.
  “So appeal is not an available remedy for the applicants (court reporters) before me who were not party to the proceedings before the trial court,” held Justice Mugambe.
  Adding: “I also do not see any serious question warranting constitutional interpretation as suggested by the respondent (State).”
  The judge went on to say the court reporters had one remedy of revision of the decision of Buganda Road Court and that they had not exploited the same.
  However, she was quick to say she was mindful of the delays that are associated with revisions cases which could delay of justice for the journalists.
  Taking the circumstances into account, the judge exceptionally allowed to hear the journalists complaint by way of judicial review.

  How Mugambe faulted Bucyana’s decision
  Justice Mugambe in her ruling concentrated on evaluating the procedure that Buganda Road Court Magistrate Bucyana used to bar the journalists from attending the Poteri proceedings.
  The judge noted that Magistrate Bucyana was confronted with two competing rights of proceedings in camera by excluding the press and the public not to expose the secrets of national security and on the other hand, the right of access to information by the press and the public.
  Justice Mugambe went on to explain that both sets of rights/interests are legally protected in the law and she should have weighed both carefully before coming up with a decision of locking out journalists.
  In further faulting Buganda Road Chief Magistrate, Justice Mugambe observed that she was duty bound to evaluate whether the limitation to ban the press, being sought by the State, was sufficient in a free and democratic society and also whether the State had evidence to back the same, but she did not.
  “The trial magistrate in reaching her decision was duty bound to inquire into the evidence concerning the alleged secrecy of the audio recordings and communications that were the subject of the application, in order to satisfy herself that indeed the limitation requested by the State was objectively verified, justified and necessary.” ruled Justice Mugambe
  She added: “The State attorney should have assisted the trial magistrate by providing this evidence but he did not. This, however, does not excuse the trial magistrate; she had a duty to ask for this evidence in order to make an informed and evidence-based analysis in determining the application to proceed in-camera, but she did not.”
  Further, Justice Mugambe observed that the journalists were condemned unheard despite being present in court when the magistrate was pronouncing her decision to exclude them from the proceedings.
  “Without the said balancing and weighing of the competing rights/interests in her ruling, it is not demonstrably clear to me if the trial magistrate properly took the public interest into account when making her decision as required by Article 43 (1) of the Constitution,” she held.
  She added: “Moreover, by giving such a blanket cover of in-camera proceedings for the entire trial, the trial magistrate sucked in the defence case proceedings. Such in-camera proceedings for the defence case should have been only at the request of the defence if they felt it necessary….This, in my view, also keeps the trial magistrate’s decision/ruling marred in procedural impropriety.”
  While signing off, the judge quashed all the proceedings held in camera before directing magistrate Bucyana to first weigh and balance the competing rights and interests in issue by hearing all the parties concerned and also have a critical analysis of relevant evidence of the State.
  The journalists were awarded costs to that effect for having successfully challenged the media ban.

  About the tapes

  The State alleges that in March 2014 at the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate (CIID) headquarters in Kampala, Mr Ronald Poteri, being in possession of an official secret entrusted to him as a person holding an office of the government, passed on the confidential information to persons not authorised to receive it.
  The recordings are part of the 87 tapes of different persons interviewed in various investigations, including an alleged plot to assassinate Gen Kayihura.
  Police say detective Poteri handed the recordings to Ms Jacqueline Mbabazi, the wife of former Prime Minister, Mr Amama Mbabazi.
  Ms Mbabazi, who addressed a couple of press conferences in the months after the leaked tapes, said she had recordings of Gen Kayihura coaching youths to pin her husband Mr Mbabazi on nurturing presidential ambitions to contest against President Museveni in 2016.
  In one of the tapes, Kayihura, after hearing from a National Resistance Movement member from Kayunga District (Alex Kasirivu) how Mbabazi’s group had allegedly mobilised against Museveni, asks his informer which advice he had for Museveni. SRC: Monitor