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Wednesday 26 February 2014

Who lit the mini-skirt fire?



Some Ugandans had started to undress in public women wearing short clothes claiming that the anti-pornography law banned them. How did they get there?

Daily Monitor started it off with this:

Government tables Bill to outlaw miniskirts

Wearing of miniskirts could soon land one in jail or attract heavy fines if Parliament approves a new piece of legislation that seeks to further clarify the offence of pornography in Uganda’s laws. (April 5, 2013)http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Government-tables-Bill-to-outlaw-miniskirts/-/688334/1739768/-/p77d82/-/index.html
Then came this:
MPs pass Bill against miniskirts

Now in this editorial of Feb 25, 2014:

Anti-pornography law is being abused

Daily Monitor says: “The media has also been remiss in its duty to properly explain the nitty gritty of the Act. Nowhere in the 19 pages of the Act is the word miniskirt mentioned, yet it has been dubbed the anti-miniskirt law by some.
“What the law does prohibit, however, is pornography which it defines as “any representation through publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent show, information technology or by whatever means, of a person engaged in real or stimulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual excitement.”
DM, you lit the fire. Thank you for leading the efforts to stop it. Sensationalism can be costly!

Drogba could return to Chelsea


Didier Drogba at 40 may just play for Chelsea. The Ivorian footballer loves the Club. Interesting stuff from BBC here:

Didier Drogba: Galatasaray striker on his Chelsea love affair

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26325234

Tuesday 25 February 2014

Anti-gay law: What will the west lose?


The Guardian quotes President Museveni after he signs the anti-gay law: "Outsiders cannot dictate to us. This is our country. I advise friends from the west not to make this an issue, because if they make it an issue the more they will lose. If the west does not want to work with us because of homosexuals, then we have enough space to ourselves here."

What will the west lose?
Pastor Martin Ssempa (at National Theatre) shields his eyes from a dust storm just before the afternoon downpour yesterday. If those youth were employed I doubt they would be standing there with him


Interestingly politicians have made the populace believe that this law is important, more important than access to food, water, good healthcare, good education and meaningful employment.

An excited shoe shine somewhere near Parliament,  whom I have known for many years to be a critic of Museveni's government exclaimed when he saw me: "There was rain when the president signed [the anti-gay act]." What he meant was that Museveni's signature was a blessing. When I asked him how relevant the law was to him and his family he said: "Very important. We don't want those things [homosexuality]"

In writing this I may have already broken the law as this could be interpreted as promoting the practice of homosexuality. But I still insist that it is not laws against homosexuality or pornography that we need now. If we want respect from the west, we have to work towards political and economic independence. You don't achieve that by spending time drafting and passing laws against the minority. You need to pass laws that can liberate the majority.

We need fresh start in Uganda!

 

Tuesday 18 February 2014

What if Museveni signed the anti-gay bill?



The President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
                                                                                                                                                                       President Museveni may be aging but the man still knows the tricks of playing Omweeso: be fast going forward, reverse for a catch and fake a step when your opponent blinks.

His return for the Presidency in 2016 is not surprising because he, in 2005, did not move to remove presidential term limits to benefit anyone else. But his pronouncement on Sunday that he would sign the anti-gay bill caught many by surprise – yet it must have been calculated.

If his signature, or even just stating that he would sign, can serve as ample reward to his NRM party MPs for nominating him as the unopposed NRM candidate for Presidency in  2016 then why not?

If public servants are unpaid for four months then why not promise them an anti-gay signature so that they have something else to talk about other than crying “poverty”, “poverty” all the time?

Why not provoke Obama on the anti-gay front so he has something else to attend to other than Uganda in the South Sudan conflict?

To Museveni, this quote from Obama’s reaction must have not been unexpected:  “As we have conveyed to President Museveni, enacting this legislation will complicate our valued relationship with Uganda. At a time when, tragically, we are seeing an increase in reports of violence and harassment targeting members of the LGBT community from Russia to Nigeria, I salute all those in Uganda and around the world who remain committed to respecting the human rights and fundamental human dignity of all persons.”

So, what if Museveni signed the anti-gay bill?

Some circles suggest that Museveni would sign it knowing that it would be challenged in the courts of law because Parliament passed it without quorum. And he would find some people to blame for “misleading” him into signing it. Life would continue as usual. After all, he has ever appointed former Kampala mayor Ntege Ssebagala minister knowing that he would never go past the Parliament appointments committee given his criminal record and insufficient education.

Friday 14 February 2014

Face to face with Jennifer Musisi



My journey to City Hall yesterday (February 13) started with a phone call at 9.25am: Is this William Odinga? I am personal assistant to the Executive Director (ED) KCCA, said a sweet female voice the other
KCCA ED Jennifer Musisi
side of the line.

Jennifer Musisi, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) ED had scheduled to meet me at 11.00am and the caller wondered whether I could make it. I was in Wandegeya heading north of Kampala to Matuga but immediately decided to turn back to my office at the National Theatre, about 300 metres from City Hall, the home of KCCA.

As I endured the morning traffic jam, exhaust fumes and reflections of sunlight off white cars, I kept wondering how this meeting would go. This is a woman who is loved and hated probably in equal measure.  I had only seen her picture in newspapers and on television, now I was going to see her physically, and hear her voice raw. 

Back in my office, I reflected further on the issue we had to discuss. Then my mind wandered back a couple of years when I founded the Jennifer Musisi Forum on facebook. She probably had been too busy to ever know that such a forum existed. May be it is because people are getting used to her methods of work that the forum is not very active any more, I thought.  

Back then, she had chased self exiled General David Sejusa from a KCCA house he was occupying illegally. She had demolished a structure of President Museveni’s brother because it was in a road reserve. She also had demolished illegal structures in Centenary Park and not only angered a Kampala city division chief, Godfrey Nyakana, his wife who owned the structures, but also Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde. It was because of this courage to fight impunity that some of us supported her. Others chose to abuse, cry or curse her. Now I was going to meet her, something which had never occurred to me until a few weeks ago.

But there was something different about this woman, I though. I only sent her an email at the end of the other week requesting to meet her if possible last week. She responded almost immediately that she would not be available in the past week but would see to that in this one. On Wednesday I sent her a reminder and what followed was the morning phone call yesterday.

By 10 minutes to 11.00am I was at the KCCA gate. To get to her office I had to go through three check points and finally I was at her reception. Everything worked swiftly and within no time I was being called from the lobby.

On this occasion my camera and telephone had to remain at the reception, I was told. With two other people, a lady and a gentleman, I was led through the corridor to her office. I learned that the two were to be in our meeting. They were technical staff in one of the departments of KCCA.

When the door was opened Jennifer walked towards us to give us a welcome. She was calm. The meeting started immediately after the greetings and it went on for half an hour. Everyone talked, everyone listened. Jennifer spoke with composure, straight, yet with warmth. And she listened with keen interest.
At the end, when I requested to remain behind to speak to her about other issues since I was a journalist, she calmly advised me to seek another appointment for that purpose. 

If you want to know what we discussed yesterday, just check The Sunrise next week or visit this blog again and you will get some of it. 

So what is my impression of Jennifer? She is simply professional and too organised. Some Ugandans, who benefit from disorganization, or are simply accustomed to confusion, just can’t cope with her.

Felix Kyeyune, a marketer, tells me that every time he has taken a letter to KCAA they have swiftly responded. A journalist with one of the dailies in Uganda tells me that he has always gotten quick response every time he has needed Jennifer. You don’t get the same treatment from most public offices. They never reply letters, rarely respond to emails, and either pick calls to tell lies or they don’t answer calls at all.

I will now give you one statement from Jennifer in that meeting: “A lot of things in Uganda lack leadership.”
So the people we have in many offices are not the ones we deserve. Do we deserve her in KCCA? I still say YES! I know it is painful to the people whose containers are being removed from road reserves but those are ROAD RESERVES!