New councils pulling strings over allowances in 2011

Salary Rift in Fort Portal Threatens Service Delivery

Felix Basiime & Geoffrey Mutegeki

29 August 2011 [http://allafrica.com/stories/201108291803.html]

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It all started with pay cheque amendments but the tides are looking ever volatile now, threatening to hit the core of Fort Portal Municipality and wash away the dreams its leaders hold for it.

On Thursday, mayor Edison Asaba Ruyonga and his deputy Margaret Kihika stormed out of a council session at Musisa Hall in protest after the council maintained their earlier position to reduce the mayor's emoluments from Shs2.8 million as proposed by the executive to Shs2 million per month.

The rift between the mayors and the council is widening and some councillors are considering disciplinary actions. "The mayor and his deputy are undermining us. This is the second time they are running out of this council. It is bad if they want cooperation we should be one and deliberate together," a councillor, who preferred anonymity, said.

The court petition

Mr Ruyonga and Ms Kihika in July dragged the council to court accusing it of reducing their emoluments. This was after the councillors in a June 27 session reasoned that the allowances received by the two officials are higher compared to other municipalities in the country, yet service delivery was still poor.

In the previous council (2006-2010), the mayor received Shs4.9 million as allowances per month, but the new council cut it down to Shs2.8 million. However, Mr Ruyonga and Ms Kihika said the manner in which the resolution was arrived at was illegal and petitioned court.

On July 12, the High Court in Fort Portal issued an interim injunction staying the decision by the council until the main application by the two officials is heard and determined on January 18, 2012.

This, however, created tension and conflicts between the councillors and the mayors. Attempts by Kabarole District NRM caucus chaired by Local Government Minister Adolf Mwesige to have the parties settle their differences, hit a snag early this month.

The NRM caucus asked Mr Ruyonga and Ms Kihika to withdraw the case and settle the matter outside court but the mayor demanded that the council foots the legal costs.

Mr Mwesige is said to have advised the councillors that according to the Local Government Act, it is not the council that determines allowances for its councilors, but the ministry and that the councillors have no powers to reduce or increase allowances.

Legislator calls for unity

Meanwhile, Kabarole Woman MP Victoria Businge Rusoke has challenged the council to end their conflicts and focus on service delivery and development of the town. 

"These conflicts are diverting us from our work and focus of service delivery. You are not doing what you are supposed to do to the people. We need to cooperate, respect each other and serve the people accordingly," Ms Rusoke told the council session that she attended as an ex-officio after the mayors stormed out.

Councillor Gilbert Kayondo said: "The town has no power, sign posts are not in place but we are here arguing over emoluments. We came to work for our people so let's fulfil it."

King Oyo Moves to End Conflicts in His Kingdom

Felix Basiime

2 October 2011 [http://allafrica.com/stories/201110030672.html]

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King Oyo Nyimba of Tooro, who was in 2010 sued by some of his subjects for alleged "unconstitutional decisions", has made a big stride to end conflicts in his kingdom.

Last week he entered a consent judgment with the party that sued him and accepted all their conditions to withdraw all court cases.

The conflicts started after the king fired his Prime Minister, Mr William Nyakatura in October 2010, which was followed by some kingdom officials resigning, trading accusations and counter accusations that attracted some demonstrations in town by a section of the subjects.

In the main application, the Plaintiffs: Mr John Baranga, Mr John Kusemererwa, Mr Mordecai Kakorwa and Mr Lawrence Kawamara through their lawyer Mr Johnson Musana, sued King Oyo, head of the ruling Babiito clan, Mr Charles Kamurasi, Mr Francis Mugenyi, the King's Principal Private Secretary, and Mr Augustine Kayonga for allegedly abusing the kingdom's assets and powers granted to them.

King Oyo later in December 2010 replaced Mr Nyakatura with Dr Apollo Karugaba, and also appointed his mother, Best Kemigisa, as one of the five regents. These appointments also attracted stiff challenges from some subjects and clan leaders, who opened a new case in the High Court in Fort Portal arguing that the appointments were illegal.

According to King Oyo, the appointments were meant to end the leadership vacuum that had lasted about six months.

"All the pressure came when King Oyo changed administration. Some of the people were not satisfied and they are the people behind this. They also love the Kingdom, but have to appreciate what the King has done. It is good for people to go to court when they are not satisfied," Mr Arthur Namara, the Kingdom Information Minister, said then.

Later, the clan members secured a court injunction halting all Kingdom activities until the new Rukurato is sworn in.

Earlier, on November 9, 2010, court had advised the feuding parties to settle the matter out of court, and this was done September 5, when the King met some of the Plaintiffs and settled matters.

Among others, King Oyo has agreed with the Plaintiffs that the 1999 Constitution of Tooro Kingdom and regulations made thereunder is the "Supreme Law of Tooro Kingdom", and all appointments and removals from the offices of the kingdom shall be done in conformity with the kingdom's constitution.

But sections of the people see the King's move to accept all conditions by the Plaintiffs as a trap where his decisions will always be quashed at will. "Overall, the King was completely misled and he handed over his power to these people. It showed that all decisions he has been making are wrong," a source from the Royal family intimated to Sunday Monitor.

The same source added: "The King agreed with the people who took him to court that he was wrong in his decision making. At first I thought the talks were aimed at give-and-take position to create harmony among the subjects, but according to the consent judgment, it put the King completely at fault.

"Secondly, they are ready to refuse any nominee of the King through the council if he does not fit in their agenda, which in return weakens the King's ability to make decisions".

Floods devastate Kasese homes

By THEMBO KAHUNGU MISAIRI & FELIX BASIIME 
Posted  Monday, November 14  2011 (Link: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1272672/-/bgu5t2z/-/)

In Summary

Several houses have been destroyed rendering some locals homeless, yet the situation is expected to persist. This could lead to a repeat of the 2007 floods in the east, according to officials.

Kasese: Barely a day after weather experts predicted that the country will again be blanketed in fresh floods as bad as those of 2007, Kasese District was on Saturday soaked in floods again after six months.

Weather experts, according to Sunday Monitor yesterday, have warned that flooding similar to that of 2007, which displaced hundreds of thousands in eastern Uganda, will re-emerge in several parts of the country.

Demolishing buildings
Several houses in the western district of Kasese were on Saturday drenched in floods and others destroyed after a downpour. In Kihungu Parish, Kyalhumba Sub-county, eight houses collapsed with unspecified number of domestic birds killed, according to Robert Kyana, the area councillor.

In Mahango Sub-county, Buhandiro Church of Uganda was unroofed. The church coordinator, Mr Alex Mukababirwa, said they need more than Shs3 million to put back the roof.

Also affected is Mr Donia Thembo the LCI Chairman of Kinyamathe village, Luhiri Parish in Mahango Sub-county, whose family spent the night in the cold after the main house and kitchen collapsed.

Other areas affected include, Kinyateke village in Lake Katwe Sub-county where at least four houses have been confirmed to have collapsed. Ten others were brought down at Kitabu Trading Centre in Kyallhumba Sub-county, costing traders property worth millions of shillings.

In Railway Ward, Kasese Town and Kilembe Quarters in the Central Division, over 300 houses were drenched in floods. Ms Alice Biira, who stays at Kilembe Quarters, said they had nowhere to stay for the night because the whole place was flooded limiting movements.

“We were helped by neighbours who gave us where to sleep because our house was flooded. We are very hungry now that we did not cook supper. I am tired of this problem, my uncle bought this house in a dry season, we did not know that such a situation would come” Ms Biira said.

In Kasese town, there was a traffic jam for more than two hours in Kiteso, few metres from the Kasese Cobalt Company Ltd. as the Kasese-Mbarara road was blocked by the floods for some time.

The LCI Vice Chairman for Railway village, Mr Julius Monday, attributed the problem of persistent floods in the area every rainy season to the poor drainage system in Kasese Town, calling upon the relevant authorities to address the situation.

 

Out of hand

The minister for disaster preparedness, Dr Stephen Mallinga has warned that the situation may get out of hand in some districts as heavy rainfall, which started in March, triggers water-logging and flooding.

The western region focal person and public awareness officer for NEMA, Mr Jeconious Musingwiire reasons that “Kasese will be hit by floods for some time because the green cover has faded on the hills around it which leads to surface run offs, poor tilling of land, river banks have been cultivated so the rivers burst when it rains or when there is an overflow from the snowcapped mountain.”

Dr Mallinga said the floods have also destroyed crops and road infrastructure in many areas in Central, Western, Northern and West Nile sub-region.

Mr Musa Ecweru, Dr Mallinga’s deputy, said if the rain continues, the floods will be similar to that of 2007 that affected approximately 60,000 households, or 400,000 people – 80 per cent of them children and women.

In Summary

Kasese district is located along the Equator in the western region of Uganda. It borders the districts of Kabarole and Bundibugyo in the north, Lake George and Kamwenge in the east, Rubirizi district and Lake Edward in the south and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west.

The district has an approximate total area of 31,205 sq km that is covered by wetlands, water and savannah type of vegetation. It has a mountainous terrain in the north with flat plains in the south.

        

It receives an average rainfall ranging between 900-1600mm annually and two rain seasons that come between March to May and August to November. Temperatures normally range between 23.9ºc and 30.0ºc

In October 2004, 217 families (about 1500 people) in Karusandara were left homeless after floods hit the area

On May 6, 201, floods hit Kasese municipality and destroyed several properties and gardens.

Mount Rwenzori is covered by snow throughout the year and is an important source of numerous tributaries to Lake Victoria and the Nile River.

Rivers Nyamwamba, Rwimi, Mobuku, Ssebore, Lhubiriha, Mpanga, Nyamugasani among others and several streams flow from Mount Rwenzori and most of them burst due to sand excavation on their banks causing flooding.

People living on the slopes of the mountain basically practice poor farming methods thus causing soil erosion and numerous landslides.

Deforestation is another major problem facing the mountain ranges. Over 90 percent of the communities living on the mountain slopes depend on firewood for fuel, leading to extensive destruction of forests letting floods in the low lands and global warming as the glaciers have been greatly affected and are disappearing steadily.

                       

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Uganda Tourism: Rwagimba Hot Springs

Rwagimba Hot Springs; Where People, Cows, Sheep and Goats Go for Healing

Felix Basiime, 12 October 2009 [http://allafrica.com/stories/200910120689.html]

River Rwimi separates Kabarole and Kasese districts, and at Rwagimba are hot springs said to have healing powers.

It is a sunny Sunday morning; other people are holding Bibles going to church to worship but others including cows, sheep and goats are ascending the footsteps of Rwenzori Mountain for healing at Rwagimba hot springs in Kibiito Sub County in Kabarole District.

The journey to Rwagimba is very tiresome with long stretches of steep hills and slopes occupied with thorny shrubs. It feels like you would never reach but eventually roaring sounds come as the fast waters roll over rows of big white stones in the valley and paint River Rwimi white from a distance.

The river snakes through the valleys of several mountains.
A good mountaineer can make it in four hours but because of my heavy weight, it took me and my guides five hours to reach the hot springs.

The journey started with branching off at Nyakigumba trading centre, 25km on Fort Portal-Kasese Road. Then we drove seven kilometres up to Kinyampanika Primary School in Katebwa Sub County where we left our cars.

As we ascended the mountains, we saw several water points where water keeps oozing from the rocks.

"It is from Mount Rwenzori," a resident of Buryampaho village on the mountain slopes told us.
On the mountain slopes in Kibiito are beautiful gardens of passion fruits, cassava, maize and few bananas and inhabitants are mainly Bakonjo up to Rwagimba.

On arrival, there is a sound of waterfalls, girls and women share a bath in one well while boys and men share two others and they are excited. It is about 1p.m., many look tired and haggard as an unpleasant odour emerges from the gas from the salty waters on the river banks. This is the Rwagimba hot springs, a one-stop healing centre for people, cows, sheep and goats.

Despite the "healing waters" at Rwagimba hot springs and the presence of Rwagimba Health Centre III, some people still walk long distances in search of medical treatment in Fort Portal town, about 40km away.

“When the patients get worse at Rwagimba Health Centre, the nurses send for an ambulance from Fort Portal town which stops at Kinyampanika Primary School and then we carry the sick on local stretchers up to the ambulance (more than 10km in the steep mountains)," said Ms Beatrice Ntungo.

We met Ntungo in the hills of Buryampaho carrying a three months old baby. She said she was to walk about 20km on the slopes and hills to get better treatment for her baby at Nyakigumba trading centre.

That aside, people around the Rwagimba mountain, come down to wash their clothes on the banks of river Rwimi as several domestic animals from Kibiito and from across the river in Kasese District also quench themselves with the cold running waters of Rwimi and lick the salt deposits near the hot springs.

River Rwimi separates Kabarole and Kasese districts, and at Rwagimba, there is cold running water, stagnant hot and warm waters in the springs at the banks, salt and rocks all that make the place unique and beautiful.

As we enjoyed the warm bath, I was told this place has a king. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "A king in another kingdom!" Considering the area is in Tooro Kingdom which has its King.

"Yes," Mr Edison Mumbere, 38, replied. Mumbere had just come from Kasese also to bathe in the hot springs. He added, "You have just missed him, he was here before you came but now he has gone."

Mr Musaheri Kiringabakwe, a Mukonjo, is the king of the Rwagimba hot springs and the Rwagimba hill, on the footsteps of Mount Rwenzori.

"He inherited this territory and powers from his late father, Kiringabakwe," one of the king's subjects, Mr Josua Wakulya told me. Wakulya and other subjects keep vigil at the hot springs the whole day, cleaning the place and waiting for visitors.

He said that they plan to start charging the visitors Shs300 per head although the place has no toilet facilities yet. Several rituals are performed at Rwagimba hot springs by King Kiringabakwe and his subjects, allegedly to appease the gods and save the people around the hills from any calamities.

"Every first moon of the month at sunrise and sunset, we (the kings and his committee) slaughter sheep and chicken to lessen the troubles in the area like drought, famine, ailments, etc.," said Wakulya.

He added, "Should we miss this ritual, people who come to the hot springs don't get healed and people around these hills suffer from strange diseases and crops don't yield well."

Interestingly, at Rwagimba hot springs are three wells abandoned by the King of Tooro, though in his territory, they are now in the hands of the "unrecognised" King Kiringabakwe.

"This well we are bathing in with you was for the King of Tooro," Mumbere said and he points to another, "The other one belonged to his wife and the other one was for people suffering from leprosy."

An old man who emerges from the hot water comes up to confirm Mumbere's assertion saying the King of Tooro and his wife used to be carried by his subjects to these wells at the hot springs but the exercise stopped long ago.

"I doubt whether King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru IV (the current King of Tooro) can come here to bathe in these hot springs," said Mumbere.

The journey back was also tiring as I suffered from muscle pulls and spent four days with aching legs and arms.

                                         Other major hot springs in Western region

·         The Ihimba hot springs are situated on Kabale-Katuna Road, 8km out of Kabale town. The hot springs derive their name from the Bahimba people who live near these springs. They are well known by local residents for their healing properties. Many of the Bakiga and the people of Rwanda suffering from rheumatism, backache and other ailments use the healing properties of the Ihimba hot springs.

·         The Kitagata Hot Springs are in Bushenyi District, and are located near Kitagata trading centre.

·         Nyamasizi Hot Springs located in Kanungu District and Kisoro District in Kinkizi County.

·         Semuliki Hot Springs/Buranga hot springs, the hottest in the country with thermal water emanating from the springs with temperatures of up to 98ºC are located at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountain along the Fort Portal - Bundibugyo road in Bundibugyo district. The area has the most impressive geothermal surface manifestations in Uganda.

Climate Change in Uganda

Uganda: When a Dying Lake Hurts the Living

Felix Basiime

19 June 2010 (http://allafrica.com/stories/201006210758.html)

ANALYSIS

Climate change is threatening Lake Katwe and the lives of over 8,000 residents who engage in salt extraction for a living. The lake has flooded forcing people to seek alternative jobs.

It was a bright sunny day when I arrived at Lake Katwe deep inside Queen Elizabeth National Park. The sight of a woman sweating profusely drew my attention. Ms Aidah Mbambu, 40, was busy drawing water out of a salt well which had flooded. 

"I have been trying to empty this well for the last three weeks but it fills up quickly," she starts her story.

Ms Mwambu has been extracting salt from the lake for over 15 years. And from this business, she has supported her six children. She is not alone. More than 8,000 people own small wells (salt plots) on the shallow lake. Their lives depend on extracting salt.

Plots on the shores of the lake are demarcated and owned by individuals or families. The ownership is hereditary.

A plot means a pond of at least 10 or 12 feet wide and between three to five feet deep. At the center of the lake, only licenced individuals are allowed to extract the salt leaving the locals to own plots at the shores.

Out of mining salt, Ms Mbambu says she earns between Shs 20,000 to Shs 40,000 daily. But her livelihood is now threatened. "There is no salt now, water has flooded our salt pans," says Ms Mwambu, "I have grown up in Katwe and have never seen such a situation."

The reduction in the amount of salt extracted has exposed the locals to economic hard times. Ms Mbambu says she has, for the first time, failed to send her three children to school this term. "I am afraid of taking a loan, so my children are still at home," she said.

                                                   Flooding

The salty Lake Katwe flooded in May, 2010 a few days ahead of the peak season for extracting salt. Business usually booms during the dry seasons, (from January- March and June-September) when the water in the shallow lake evaporates exposing the salty rocks underneath. The flooding has also left more than 3,000 porters jobless.

According to Mr Nicholas Arinaitwe Kagongo, an environmentalist at the Lake Katwe Salt Tourism and Information Centre, the floods that hit the area recently, dissolved the salt in more than 8,000 salt pans.

"There used to be over 30 streams refreshing lake Katwe but now only 4 are left," Mr Arinaitwe says.

He says lake Katwe may become barren just like other salt lakes in the district if the current climate changes are anything to go by. "There were four salty lakes in Kasese District but now two are left, and others got 'barren' due to similar environmental factors that Lake Katwe is facing now," he adds.

The salty lakes are in the areas of Katwe, Nyamunuka, Bunyampaka and Munyanyange.
Today, only Katwe and Bunyampaka have salt. Mr Arinaitwe says high extraction following the high demand for salt in Uganda and the neighbouring countries, has also affected the salt quantity in the lake.

Other factors include the degradation by animals and residents who cut the vegetation surrounding the lake. The grass and other shrubs control the rain water runoff.

"The problem is that we have been using the grass from the slopes around the lake and on the lake banks to create our salt wells which caused the rain water runoff, but we had stopped this and had started using sand in sacks," Ms Mbambu says.

Experts blame it on mishandling of environment. "There is an unchecked run off of rain water from the hills due to poor vegetation caused by bush burning," said Mr Jeconious Musingwiire.

Mr Musingwiire, the western region focal person and public awareness officer for NEMA, said there was need to properly manage the water catchment area around the lake. And Mr Paul Isabirye, the Coordinator of the Climate Change Unit under the Ministry of Water and Environment says "there must be an investigation into why the streams are drying. Trees must be planted around the lake. They will safe guard the banks".

Traders around East and central Africa have for many years flocked Lake Katwe to load about eight to 10 lorries of salt daily. The lake produces three types of salt- Crude salt for animal leak, edible salt (sodium chloride) and unwashed salt. The women scrap the bottom of the garden to scoop the salt. They use their feet to crash the salt to form small/fine crystals and then wash the crystals forming edible salt (washed salt/ sodium chloride).

Kasese local government earns about Shs240 million annually in taxes from the salty lake. Lake Katwe remains the main source of income among the inhabitants of Katwe-Kabatoro town council in Busongora south. People still practice rudimentary mining of salt to earn a living.

There are health complications in this job however, notes one of the guides in the area. "For the women when the female reproductive organs get in contact with this salty water more often, they develop uterus complications," says Nicholas. "The men on the other hand are also affected. When the male organs get in contact with this salty water, they itch. This makes them scratch their male organs causing wounds."

To minimize these effects, the women are advised to wear a pad before they enter the water. This helps to reduce on the amount of "salt water" entering their reproductive organs. The men on the other hand use condoms, Nicholas says.

                                                 About the lake

Lake Katwe has a salt rock that lies on a contour line that connects lakes: Katwe , Munyanyange, Nyamunuka and Kasenyi (Bunyampaka). In the middle of the lake are vents or holes which go from the main salt rock to the outside. They are scattered in different parts of the lake.

Water from the streams goes through the vents and dissolves the main rock to become a salt solution which quickly turns into salt.