Muha-kanizi on spot over Shillings 90b farmers' cash:

By Yasiin Mugerwa

Posted 29 September, 2014

 

 

The Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi who kept calling himself “ born again Christian” was today pushed on the wall and forced to apologise for the “inefficiencies” in the running of a Shs 90 billion facility meant for helping the poor farmers access cheap credit.

The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee noted “gross inefficiencies, conflict of interest and lack of supervision of the funds” on the part of Bank of Uganda and Ministry of Finance. Because of lack of supervision, PAC Chairperson Ms Alice Alaso said, the money has gone to the well-off farmers at the expense of the poor farmers and written off more than Shs499 million in bad debts.

On December 3 2009, the Governor Bank of Uganda Prof Emmanuel Mutebile wrote to Ministry of Finance, saying that Bank of Uganda could not monitor the implementation and evaluation of the facility, citing conflict of interest however to date, Mr Muhakanizi had not taken action. The ST apologised for “inefficiency” saying “he is also human”.

The committee expressed concerns about the possible risk to the funds and ordered Muhakanizi to streamline the monitoring of the scheme within one month. Officials from BoU told the committee that they signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ministry of Finance and clearly STATED that monitoring of the agriculture 

credit facility will not be their mandate.

Mr Muhakanizi returns to PAC next week.

 

But The suffering goes on without any social welfare in this poor African country:

 

Nakasango nga asindika kitawe bagende okusabiriza ssente.

 

Taata Omusoga ava e Iganga ate nga mulema oluusi antuma okumugulira bamalaaya wano mu Kampala:

 

By Lawrence Kitatta

 

Added 21st September 2016

 

Nakasango anyumya bw’ati:

Nzuukuka ku makya ng’obudde tebunnakya ne tutegula ebikunta oluvannyuma taata bw’aba yeetewuulizzaako mu kaveera nkakwata ne nkasuula mu kipipa kya Kcca ekiri e busukkakkubo. kyokka oluguudo ndusala mmagamaga emmotoka zireme kunkoona.

Bwe tuba twasuze n’amazzi tunaabako mu maaso era tunywako oluusi ne njolekera Kiswa gye nsoma mu P1.

Taata eyandibadde ampa ssente za bodaboda okuntwala ku ssomero ate nze mba nnina okumusindika ku kagaali nga tuva e Lugogo we tusula ku mulyango gwa GTZ.

Olumu ku ssomero anzigyayo ssaawa 4:00 ne tugenda ku kkubo gye tusabiriza. Olumu nsoma naye olulala nnemererwa.

Olusoma oluwedde nakola ebibuuzo era okuva olwo saaddayo kusoma. Buli lunaku tuzunga ekibuga kumpi okukimalako ne mpulira nga n’obugere bunfuuyirira.

Kasango ng’azingako akaveera akakola nga bulangiti e Lugogo okumpi ne siteegi ya New Vision, we basula ate Nakasango nga yeetereza batandike olugendo lw’okubuna ekibuga nga basabiriza.

 

Naye taata bw’atuuka ku kaserengeto olwo ng’anteeka mu maaso ng’akagaali kayiringita. Taata yangamba nti maama wange ye Nasim Namulondo abeera Iganga era gye yanzigya okundeeta e Kampala okutandika okusabiriza ku luguudo.

Enkuba bw’etonnya mu budde obw’ekiro olwo ne tuyimirira ku lubalaza we tusula olumu n’okutukuba etukuba naddala ng’erimu kibuyaga.

Obudde buli lwe buziba mba mu kweraliikirira. Taata oyo talina nsonyi antuma okumuyitira bamalaaya ekiro!

Omanyi bwe tuba twebase nsula ku ludda kw’assa ebigere wabula olumu ngenda okusisimuka nga mpulira anninnya mu maaso, ngenda okulaba nga mukazi.

Olumu mpulira n’amaloboozi ekiro naye nga sirina kyakukola. Bw’aleeta bamalaaya nga sinneebaka olwo nsituka busitusi ne ntuula ku kkubo mu kayumba ka siteegi ya New Vision okutuusa lwe bamaliriza naye ate olumu nneekanga nsuze awo. Olumu antuma e Nakawa ngule sooda.

Wano nga beetegeka okugenda.

 

TAATA YANZIBA AWAKA

Bwe yali yaakandeeta okunzigya mu kyalo ng’annyambaza nnyo engoye z’abalenzi nga tayagala bamulaba kumanya nti ndi muwala naye kati nange nnyambala ngoye z’abawala.

Nzijukira nali mbeera ne maama wange ne jjajja, twali tuzannya ne baganda bange be twabeeranga nabo awaka, abakulu tebaaliwo kw’olwo taata yajja awaka n’anzibawo n’antwala ewa jjajja omulala.

Ono kirabika ye maama we amuzaala wabula nga naye saamwetegereza bulungi era simumanyi. Taata bwe yawulira nti gye yanzigya baali batandise okunnoonya kwe kunzigyayo n’andeeta e Kampala.

Kye nzijukira twatuuka kiro era ekkubo eryatuleeta sirimanyi naye angamba nti ewaffe Iganga we wali ekyalo kyaffe.

Wabula okuva lwe natandika okubeera ne taata embeera tebeerangako nnyangu kuba ennaku ezisinga tusiibirira capati n’amazzi emmere tugirya lumu na lumu ate tugirya Kataza Bugoloobi kuba we wali eya layisi gy’asobola okugula.

Eno ku 1500/- tufuna ebijanjaalo n’akawunga ate ennyama ya 3,000/- naye ennyama emirundi gye nnaakagiryako mbala mibale ate essowaani tugigabana.

 

    THE

OBJECTIVES:

 

 It is to develop the elderly of Africa, Uganda financially.

 

Secondly, it is to assist the needy and disabled.

 

Third, it is to humanely visit the sick and stressed.

 

Fourth it is to create financial projects for the needy to generate income for the elderly and young.

 

This organization has carried out such activities as:

Cake and bread baking.

 

Members have been involved in rural building construction and road making and repairs.

 

Members have been involved in decoration on functions.

 

Members have been involved in all means of assistance in burial ceremonies in the communities.

 

 

Ugandan workers are less educated and poorly paid:
 

Publish Date: 22 September, 2014

 

By Samuel Sanya

 

 

MOST working Ugandans are only educated up to secondary level, work for 10 years, six days a week and earn at least shillings 403/- per hour according to a wages survey.

 

In the wage indicator survey, released recently, 1,306 Ugandans from all administrative regions were interviewed by the Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE) in conjunction with Dutch and Tanzanian researchers.

 

Conservative estimates place Uganda’s working population at 17 million. The average working week of respondents is almost 60 hours and they work six days per week.

 

Slightly over half (51%) work evenings, seven of 10 workers report working on Saturdays, while four of 10 work on Sundays.

 

Nearly half of the workers in the sample were managers. Only two of 10 workers had a permanent contract, three of 10 were on fixed term contract while four of 10 workers said they are entitled to social security.

 

Despite the low numbers entitled to pensions, respondents indicated having four dependants on average. The analysis showed that 77% of the workers were paid on or above the poverty line of sh403 per hour or $1.25 (about sh3,000) per day.

 

Five percent of workers had no formal education, 14% studied to primary education 48% had secondary education certificates, 16% had a college education and 17% a university degree. Only 62% of informal workers are paid above the poverty line compared to 97% of the most formal workers.

 

Workers in trade, transport and hospitality are most at risk of poverty with 30% paid less than a dollar a day. Public servants are best paid. At least 92% earned above the poverty line.

 

Labour State minister Rukutana Mwesigwa recently revealed that Cabinet is considering creation of a wage board and a minimum wage.

 

The Government last set a minimum wage of sh6,000 in 1984. In 1975, the Minimum Wage Advisory Council recommended a sh75,000 minimum monthly wage. It remains on paper.

Why are the poor citizens of Uganda receiving money that is accounted for as a national pension for the elderly of this country?

 

By Joseph Kato

 

Posted  Tuesday, July 5   2016

 

The Senior Citizens Grant in Uganda is given to the elderly aged 65 and above to help them live decent livelihoods; however, in some districts, it is the young, energetic poor that are being given the money.

Over 110,000 persons aged 65 and above in 141 sub-counties, towns and 6,028 villages in 15 districts are beneficiaries of the Senior Citizens Grant (SCG) that was started in 2010. SCG is one of the essential modules of the Social Assistance Grant for Empowerment (SAGE), financed by government and development partners such as DFID and Irish Aid.

SCG is aimed at enhancing access to basic needs such as food security, better nutrition, health care and improving housing among others which is legal onus of the state to provide wellbeing and upkeep for the elderly.

David Lambert Tumwesigye, advocacy advisor at Expanding Social Protection (ESP) at the Ministry Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) calls upon the new MPs to join the Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection (UPFSP) so that they can advocate care for the elderly.

What do MPs say?

Agnes Taka, Bugiri Woman MP, appreciates the services that have been offered to the elderly through SAGE. However, she calls upon the government to be open and involve grassroots leaders when selecting beneficiaries saying it will help to avoid issues of segregation.

“We need to know what criterion is followed when choosing SAGE beneficiaries. It is perturbing to learn about activities being done in your constituency from locals. Leaders need to be involved,” argues Taka.

She wonders why majority of the 15 districts where SAGE has been enrolled and the next 20 districts targeted to benefit from the programme are not from poverty stricken areas.

She asks her colleagues to push the government hard so that there can be transparency in the enrollment.

Rtd Lt Cyrus Amodoi, MP Tonoma County, Katakwi district, marvels at why the programme in some districts has been shifted from the elderly to the poorest people.

“What I have seen is that there is political interference in some parts where SAGE has been enrolled. In some places they target the poorest people instead of senior citizens,” says Amodoi.

In response to MPs queries, Drake Rukundo, Policy and Monitoring and Evaluation, UPFSP, says they have on ground people who gather information for the befitting citizens. He encourages the MPs to advocate countrywide enrollment for the elderly.

Rukundo says they want government to commit resources as a priority towards social protection to help the elderly live decent livelihoods because they are the bridge between the past and the future.

He applauds the 9th Parliament for being instrumental in ensuring the survival of the SAGE programme and extending it from 15 districts to additional 40 districts in the next five years.

In the FY 2015/16 Budget process, Parliament made a resolution where the SAGE programme was to be rolled out to the whole country covering 100 oldest persons in every sub-county.

Tumwesigye says the 10th parliament and the government did their work and it remains critical that all districts get covered for fairness and equitable development. The new MPs are expected to enlist to become members so that advocacy on social protection is boosted.

The forum undertakes to provide information and create spaces for engagement on issues touching social protection.

The cabinet passed the social protection policy which proposes a myriad of progressive interventions that if implemented will significantly contribute to the journey from third world to middle income status as envisaged in the Vision 2040.

However, even with the current roll-out plan, only a total of 55 districts will be reached leaving out 57 districts. To maximise pressure on government, the Forum has conducted regional consultative meetings that bring together Members of Parliament, District Chairpersons, District Community Development Officers and the civil society.

Reports from the Ministry

Reports from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development indicate that the senior citizens grant is increasing productive investment where 32 per cent of the beneficiaries use the money to buy livestock or engage in petty trading while 27 per cent of the beneficiaries invest their money in hiring additional labour to work in their gardens.

“At least 16 per cent of the beneficiaries save their month’s payment purposely to cover emergencies, 17 per cent use the gratuities to support productive investments, cultivation (15 per cent and meeting the educational needs of children and/or grandchildren taking 14 per cent,” reads the report on expanding social protection programme for senior citizens grant.

According to the report, majority of the senior citizens grant beneficiaries spend the large part of their transfers on food leading to increased frequency, quantity and quality of meals eaten by beneficiary households.

The report further shows that SCG beneficiaries especially women consistently report improved participation in community affairs, sense of self-esteem and empowerment. Older people report feeling less discriminated against in their communities and more valued by their families on account of their ability to make social contributions to community-based social support mechanisms which are based on reciprocity like contributing to funerals and weddings.

About SAGE

SAGE is a financial support programme for people aged 65 years and above. Currently, the programme is covering 15 districts. A total of 40 more districts have been lined up to benefit from SAGE by 2020.

In the 2015/16 budget, over Shs30b was expected for the national rollout where 100 persons per sub-county were to benefit but government committed Shs9 billion only.

jkato@ug.

nationmedia.com

 

In Uganda, the government has failed to pay its retired public officials their Pension for now 20 months:

Some pensioners(Senior citizens of Uganda) appear before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to present their grievances about the pension scam last year.

27 November, 2016
 
By Stephen Kafeero

UGANDA, Kampala- The ministry of Finance has for the last 20 months not paid pensioners who retired from the defunct Uganda Posts and Telecom Corporation.

The pensioners fault a number of government departments for engaging them in a cat-and-mouse chase as they pursue their retirement benefits.

Information available to this newspaper indicates the ministry of Finance stopped remitting money to Uganda Communications Employees Contributory Pension Scheme (UCECPS) – a government scheme where the workers’ benefits are channeled from the Finance ministry’s Privatisation Unit (PU) - in April 2015.

According to letters this newspaper has seen, Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the Secretary to the Treasury, on July 2, 2015 requested the Auditor General (AG) to undertake a special audit of UCECPS after requests by the scheme to be given more money to pay the pensioners.

When contacted, ministry of Finance spokesperson Jim Mugunga said the ministry could not handle the pensioners’ issues without the results of the AG’s audit.

“There were issues with the fund and the ministry requested for an audit by the AG. We are yet to receive the results,” Mr Mugunga said.

Three months after Mr Muhakanizi’s July 2, 2015 audit request, Ms Keto Nyapendi Kayemba, the assistant AG, asked for more time to complete the audit.

Audit scope widened

In an October 27, 2015 letter to the director of the Privatisation Unit on the update of the audit, Ms Kayemba said “the scope of this special audit has inevitably been extended to start right from inception of the scheme in 1998. We anticipate, therefore, that the exercise will necessitate at least two months to be completed.”

Ms Kayemba’s audit extension request should have ended in December last year but to date, 11 months later, no report has been presented to the Finance ministry, the pensioners or their fund managers.

It has since taken more than a year to audit the fund, which has less than 700 pensioners.

The AG spokesperson, Ms Gloria Namugera, explained that the process of validation of pensioners countrywide and calculating the pension funds from 1998 to date required more time than had been anticipated.

“By early December, the audit report should be out,” Ms Namugera said.

Challenged on whether it is the AG’s habit to recommend halting pay to employees and clients of organisations they are auditing, Ms Namugera said: “It is not up to us to recommend pay or not but an organisation would be more comfortable to pay after validation. The information provided after auditing is vital and may have implications on current and future payments.”

Mr David Nkojo, the UCECPS chairman of board of trustees, said the fund’s hands are tied in as far as helping their clients.

“We are waiting for government to give us money. We have been doing audits but the Secretary to the Treasury [Muhakanizi] requested for this particular one to be done by the AG,” he said.

The pensioners, however, have contested the legality of their staying unpaid for the whole period.

“It is illegal not to pay us. We should be paid. Many of us are dying. Since we started the scheme, we have lost more than 100 colleagues,” Mr Santos Alima, the chairperson of Uganda Communications Pensioners Association (UCOPA), told Sunday Monitor in an interview.

Nb

It is unfortunate indeed. The system is not working.

The former Speaker of Uganda Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga who loved so much this current government: <br />Unfortunately for what goes up has got to come down:
The former Speaker of Uganda Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga who loved so much this current government: Unfortunately for what goes up has got to come down:
In picture is Senior Presidential advisor John Nagenda:<br /><br />Dozens of top civil servants, including two permanent secretaries, a principal private secretary to President Museveni, and several presidential advisors, have been struck off the government payroll.<br />The affected civil servants, who number 9,000 in total, are now required to report to the ministry of public service between August 15 and August 26 for validation of their particulars.
In picture is Senior Presidential advisor John Nagenda: Dozens of top civil servants, including two permanent secretaries, a principal private secretary to President Museveni, and several presidential advisors, have been struck off the government payroll. The affected civil servants, who number 9,000 in total, are now required to report to the ministry of public service between August 15 and August 26 for validation of their particulars.
David Oloka (R) consults with his lawyer Nathan Osinde at a recent court session at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala. Photo by Bominic Bukenya
David Oloka (R) consults with his lawyer Nathan Osinde at a recent court session at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala. Photo by Bominic Bukenya
Abakadde nga bagumikiriza okufuna obuyambi bwemmere
Abakadde nga bagumikiriza okufuna obuyambi bwemmere
Obuyambi nga butuuse okuwebwa abakadde.
Obuyambi nga butuuse okuwebwa abakadde.
Abakadde abakyala nga bakubaganya ebirowoozo mulukiiko lwabwe, kunsonga zokuyambibwa
Abakadde abakyala nga bakubaganya ebirowoozo mulukiiko lwabwe, kunsonga zokuyambibwa
An elderly Ugandan citizen receives money under the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) in Mbale District on March 8, 2020 PHOTO/DAVID.
An elderly Ugandan citizen receives money under the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) in Mbale District on March 8, 2020 PHOTO/DAVID.
The few able elderly of Uganda lining up to receive a universal African National Pension in Bundibugyo District in 2016<br />Jinja- Government has announced that there will be no arrears for elders to benefit from the Senior Citizen Grant (SCG) programme that is covering all districts with effect from next year.
The few able elderly of Uganda lining up to receive a universal African National Pension in Bundibugyo District in 2016 Jinja- Government has announced that there will be no arrears for elders to benefit from the Senior Citizen Grant (SCG) programme that is covering all districts with effect from next year.
Omukadde ng&#039;aggyibwako ebyetaagisa okufuna ssente ze e Kayunga:
Omukadde ng'aggyibwako ebyetaagisa okufuna ssente ze e Kayunga:
You see them and then you don&rsquo;t see them. I didn&rsquo;t notice them for a long while until my friend PK told me about them. They are yesterday&rsquo;s civil servants, authorities&rsquo; managers and parastatal bureaucrats. They ruled the roost yesterday but have been laid to waste by the vagaries of nature and living an urban unpensioned life.<br />PK told me they used to live in government houses in Bugolobi, Nakasero, and Kololo. They drove around in government vehicles, and travelled to &lsquo;outside&rsquo; countries&rsquo; regularly. They were the baby boomers. And they cared for their children. Took them to Budo or Gayaza, and other like schools.
You see them and then you don’t see them. I didn’t notice them for a long while until my friend PK told me about them. They are yesterday’s civil servants, authorities’ managers and parastatal bureaucrats. They ruled the roost yesterday but have been laid to waste by the vagaries of nature and living an urban unpensioned life. PK told me they used to live in government houses in Bugolobi, Nakasero, and Kololo. They drove around in government vehicles, and travelled to ‘outside’ countries’ regularly. They were the baby boomers. And they cared for their children. Took them to Budo or Gayaza, and other like schools.
Nnamukadde Nagawa ne bazzukulu be abaasimattuse omuliro nga basula bweeru:
Nnamukadde Nagawa ne bazzukulu be abaasimattuse omuliro nga basula bweeru:
The pretty aerial view of Kampala city:<br />Interesting tropical city of Kampala. It seems some trees are starting to grow in some parts of this old African city.<br />One reckons African countries have enough money to buy and vaccinate their populations other than locking them in continuous SOPs and military curfew. The African countries cannot make all sorts of excuses in a situation where African scientists are buying experimental mice for 8 million Uganda shillings each. And where there is not enough funds in the normal health administration of every day medical care for the poor citizens of these countries. National Medical stores have all kinds of international drugs to try and treat the sick for free for any other killer diseases. But that is never the case. The poor people in Africa pay much more to get any government medical prescription and public hospital treatment.
The pretty aerial view of Kampala city: Interesting tropical city of Kampala. It seems some trees are starting to grow in some parts of this old African city. One reckons African countries have enough money to buy and vaccinate their populations other than locking them in continuous SOPs and military curfew. The African countries cannot make all sorts of excuses in a situation where African scientists are buying experimental mice for 8 million Uganda shillings each. And where there is not enough funds in the normal health administration of every day medical care for the poor citizens of these countries. National Medical stores have all kinds of international drugs to try and treat the sick for free for any other killer diseases. But that is never the case. The poor people in Africa pay much more to get any government medical prescription and public hospital treatment.
The Kabaka of Buganda&rsquo;s refurbished Rolls Royce Phantom V Cloud.<br />One reckons there is more Ganda engineering that can embark on recovering the public railway transport system that assisted very much the land locked country of Buganda to come out of the woods. One believes that after reading such efforts by these big wigs to work on this private car, there is all that determination to rebuild a modern railway cheaply from Tororo through the city of Kampala to Kasese by many local contractors. That massive land that was given away for the East African Railways by the great grand parents can easily be recovered for such a new modern rail project.
The Kabaka of Buganda’s refurbished Rolls Royce Phantom V Cloud. One reckons there is more Ganda engineering that can embark on recovering the public railway transport system that assisted very much the land locked country of Buganda to come out of the woods. One believes that after reading such efforts by these big wigs to work on this private car, there is all that determination to rebuild a modern railway cheaply from Tororo through the city of Kampala to Kasese by many local contractors. That massive land that was given away for the East African Railways by the great grand parents can easily be recovered for such a new modern rail project.
The old Rolls Royce before refurbishment. Many Ganda patriot believe more should have been done especially on the side of the Central government to completely recover these vehicles.
The old Rolls Royce before refurbishment. Many Ganda patriot believe more should have been done especially on the side of the Central government to completely recover these vehicles.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa says that whereas service providers have been calling upon government to subsidize electricity connections under the Free Connections Policy, government will have to look at the policy &ldquo;to see how best we can support distribution companies to connect people across the country&rdquo;.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa says that whereas service providers have been calling upon government to subsidize electricity connections under the Free Connections Policy, government will have to look at the policy “to see how best we can support distribution companies to connect people across the country”.