UGANDA IS INCREASINGLY PLANS TO CREATE MORE POLITICAL POROVINCES IS VEHEMNENTLY OPPOSED AS IT IS TANTAMOUNT TO CREATING POVERTY CORNERS AND BALKANISATION OF THE KENYAN COMMUNITIES.
News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo
The much touted plans that is allegedly being hatched by PNU polkiticians to dismantled the existing eight Provinces is vehemently opposed by Kenya. The Government has been told to engaged on visionary plans and policies to eradicate poverty instead of wasting time on the 2012 election relations issues at the expense of development.
A Kerichgo prominent politician William Kipkemoi Arap Kettienya likedned the creation of more Provinces like the “creation of poverty corners”. Instea of the government wasting its valuable times on such issues ,it should engaged itself on constructive idea meant for poverty eradication.
Kettienya told the two principals in the grand coalition govert to device new mothods and idea of fighting the abject poverty among Kenyans. The country should not always be placed in a state of the elections.Leaders should think about the weldfare odf the citicen of this coluntry instread of egoism. “Not all the time is election time, therefore there nmust be a space and room for people to work,”said Kettienya.
The politician scoffed at the idea, and said the country is safe at its present geographical set up. What should be done is the adjustment of parliamentary and civic boundaries., adding “It is shanmeful that in some placxes the D.C’s appointed to administrate the recently created district are travelling with Matatus, due to lack of government vehicles. Some district have gone for over ten years without the ir headquarters being established.Some of the D.Cs are still working in makeshift buildings inmarket places, and this is a shameful to Kenya.
Instead of the government creating more districts, it should thin a head of empowering the urban and Country Coiuncils by ways of devicingm methods for these bodies to generate income and improve services to the Wananchi. Some County Council and even Town Councils are so poor that they depended entirely on LTF funds to meet the salaries of their employees. in some countries anmd urban council the workers haver gone for months and even years without pay.
Certain parts of the country are so poor.The government must device the ide of regrouping the civic bodies together for the puyrpose of generating incomes.said Mr.Kettienya.
The planned sub-division of the current Provinces is a selfish idea hatched by unpopular politicians, particularily the future presidential candidates who cannot win votes outside their tribal domain. It would cause chaos in cosmopolitan regions where nthe inhabitants are member of multi-ethnic groups. Leader working on this idea are shopping for trouble and bloodshed in this country, said the ODM regional organiser in Nyanza Mzee Odungi Randa.
President Kibaki’s handlers should tell him to leave this country a happy place. The country has witnessed alot of bloodshed in recenit past and therefore anyone who has the welfare of Kenyan at heart should stop this kind of political machanisatio and manoevres. The popular talks, which is currently in the lips of Kenyans is the creqation of Majimbo system of administratioin that would give the Provinces certain outonomous minimum power to run and manage their own affairs.
Who has told the PNU you that by creating more Provinces they will secur voting areas where they had performed dismally in the 2007 general elections? asked Randa. He told ODM and other parties to oppoosed the proposals both inside and outside paliament, and ensure that the proposal did not see the light of the day.And the PNU mafia insisted on the changes, then Kenyans should be prepared to go into another referendum voting to determined the future of this country,”
Mr.Kettienya told those who are tired of leadership to retire honourably and to go home peacefully instead of plotting for dirty tricks and scheme, which are unacceptable and only devices meant to divide Kenyans on ethnic lines.Under all the circumstances, he said the voting pattern in this country will not be the same.
Provinces whether subdivided or not shouldn’t be a priority. The topriority in thisd country is the constitutiomnal and lw reforms. And it shame that PNU leadership is else bent in derailing what the Kenyans people have waited for close to ten years. The constitutional reform should be put in top agenda. nything short of the reform should be put to rest.
So many district have been created, solme ereas the d-the previous locations have bneen turned into district simply because of politivcal expediency..He talked about the recent cxreation of a Sotik district and plans to create another one in Konoin constituency. All these are poverty corners cince the smaller and poor counties willnot be able to generate money for the services delivery to the Wananchi. Kenyans did not vote for tribal balkanisation, but for the constitutional reform, and this should remain the priority, said Mr. Kettieny.
In Kisumu many political elite have question the ratiionale of appointing Hon Mutula kilonzo as the new Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister. This is a clear indication that thew constitutional reform should be a forgotten thing. Kilonzo is not a geneuine reformist, but.one of the many political turn coats in this country. His past record and utterences have painted hims as one of the political sycophants. He has made blunders in the past through his sycophantic outbursts, which potrays him as not the type of person who can effect any meaningful constitutional changes in this country,” said a observed a Kisumu politician who requested his anonymity.
Local resiudents heaped alot of praise on the former holder of the office Ms Masrtha Karua, saying that althogh nshe was a hardline, and had played a pivoital role to assist th0ose who allegedly stole the presidential votes in 2007, she was more honest and mature as well as a serious person than her predecessor Mutula Kilonzo.
ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
UGANDA IS INCREASINGLY BECOMING BELLIGERENT DUE TO ITS DISCOVERY OF HIGHLY VALUED MINERAL RESOURCES IN ITS LAKES AND THE NEED TO STRENGTHEN ITS MILITARY POWER AGAINST HER NEIGHBOURS
News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo
The Migingo Island ownership dispute row went a notch higher when Ugandan marine police confiscated 15 Kenyan boat enginbes and 160 fishing nets.
The Ugandan police also took away several tonnes of fish from Kenyan fishermen last Sunday after accusing Kenyan fishermen of trespassing into their side of Lake Victoria,and the Kenyanfishermen operating oin Migingo Island termed the incident an nact of aggression.
During the seemingly well coordinated operation,Ugandan marine police allegedly stopped the boats, removed the enginbes and left.”They also took away fishing nets valued at about Kshs 250,000, and all the fish the fishermen had caught by thr time of the arrest,said Mr. Juma Ombori, th local deputy chairman of the Migingo Beach Management Unit,adding that each of the seized boat’s engine is valued at a the cost of between Kshs 150,00o and Kshs 300,000.
A physical surgvey conducted by thius writer last week reveal that more than half of the estimated 1,000 men living on Migingo Island are Kenyans.
So far Uganda has sent more than 50 police officers to the tiny island, while Kenya has none.The two countries claims the island.
Past joint meetings between senior government officers have failed to resolve the dispute.A joint survey to ascertain who owns the island is set to start this week.
During the launching ceremony which was also witnessedby Kenya’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula,his Uganda counterpart Sam Kutesa,Uganda”s third Deputy Prime Minister Kirunda Kivejinja who said the identification of the boundary would settle the dispute over the island.
The team of experts and surveyors that will determine the ownership of the Migingo Island has started its work in earnest.
leading the team are Kenya’s director of lands, Mr. Ephntus Murage, and his Uganda counterpart, Mr.Justin Buogi.he team said an independent contractor woulkd be invited in case of disagreement.
At the same time Tanzania has been invited to the joint survey work to be carried out on Migingo Island to determine borders on Lake Victoria.
This was disclosded during ther launch of the survey at Laico Regency, Nairobi. Kenya and Uganda agreed to have the input of their neighybour{Tanzania}
“In determining the boundary at tri-junction of the three East African countries, the government of Tanzania shall be requested to join the survey,”said a joint communique issued by Ministers in Nairobi.
Meanwhile press reports emerging out of Kampala indicate thgat the recent discovery of high value natural resources such as oil and gas in the interland lakes in Uganda is the major reason behind the moves by that country to improve security on its waters. This is also believed to have fueled the Kampala regime latest policy of belligerency.
The newly discovered riches are the major reason why Uganda has stepped up security on its water ways and quietly revamping its marine police in anticipation of tension with its neighbours over the country’s national resources.
A Nairobi based weekly newspaper, the EASTAFRICAN in its lates edition captured detailed account of the political intrgues involving the discovery of high valued mineral resources in Uganda.
It revealed that although the Uganda’s marine police force is reltively small, it has recenbtly acquired high speed interceptor boats as part of the budget for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting {CHOGM] that Uganda hosted in 2007.
It is now merging that the acquisitions formn part of a broader strategy to secure Uaganda’s territorial integrity by filling in existing gaps, especially on water.
Apparently, the discovery of high-value natural resources such as oil and gas under and near Uganda’s lakes and the need to protect fisheries resources are the imperative behind moves to improve security on the country’s waters.Otherwise there is nothing serious at stake over the disputed small rocky Migingo island, which is measuring only one acre parcel of valueless piece of land except the fish.
Ugandan officials say terror threats have also undescored the need for improving security on the countryis lakes because Uganda main Entebbe International Airport – the kind of key infrastructure usually targeted by terrorists- is located on a peninsula in Lake Victoria.
It has been disclosed that a presidential directive was issued issued early this year for the marine police unit to be enlarged and made the leading force on the country’s waters, with all other forces only being allowed to conduct operations there with authorisation from the Inspector General of Police.
The Police Marine Unit has recently acquired four specialised boats at a cost of USD 8.6 million tro be paid over a period of five years. The acquisitions and keen interests in marine security come in the wake of an incident inb August 2007, when Congolese troops on the disputed Rukwanzi island in Lake Albert shot and killed oil prospectors who were carrying out surveys on the Ugandan side of the lake.
Much as the boats are up and runing and have recently been seen around Migingo Island, over which Kenya and Uganda are squabbling, questions are being raised over the capacity of the police to take on and maintain such infrastructure both financially nd technically.
In his annual report released last moth, the Auditor General James Muwanga noted. “The decision to acquire these boats appears to have been made without due donsideration of their sustainability.” It is understood that each of these boats has twoengines with a totral package of 1,640 horsepower that consume 160 litres of fuel per hour at top speed.
The Auditor General reported that high operating and maintenance costs could make the equipment redundant unless sufficient resources, as requested by the police, were allocated.
He also disclosed the Ugandan police spoent Ushs 26.4 billion{USD 14.2 million} over nd above the approved budget, adding,”Unauthorised ecess expenditure is a result of breakdown of cointrols over budgetry expenditure.”
Auditor General’s annual report to Parliament for 2008 reveals that police spent an extra Ushs 28 billion {USD 14.2 million} without parliamentary approval on top of the authorised budget of Ushs 134 billion [USD 67 million}.
The national budget framework paper for the next five years shows that the police department wants an allocation of Ushs 152.5 billion{USD 76 million}in the next financial year-about Ushs 12 billion {USD 6 million} more than the running budget.
The bluepprint states that a significant part of the increament will pay for a helicopter and speed boats for the marine police unit.The police budget is projected to reach Ushs 179 billion[USD 89 million] by 2012.
Nonetheless, top officials in the security Ministry said that maintenance costs for the units are inevitable due to terror threats and resources such as oiul and gas being explore near lakes on Ugand’s territory.”What they {auditors} do not unbderstand is that these boats were not for CHOGM alone, but for long term plans to improve out marine unit given terror threats amd guarding natiuonal resources near water bodies,” said Peter Okosi, the Commender of the police marine unit.
In march this year, a plane heading for Mogadishu, Somalia to take supplies to the Uganda peace keeping soldiers on that mission crushed into Lake Victoria shoprtly after taking off from Entebbe International Airport, and the government of Uganda’s first reaction and official communiquye on the matter stated,”We cannot rule out terrorism.”
One of he interceptor boats has been deployed in Lake Albert in the oil-rich Albertine Rift in western Uganda/
Uganda has confirmed huge deposits in this area near the Uganda-DRC Congo border, and moving to start excavation has raised tension with the Kinshasa regime.
ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
– – –
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 09:24:21 -0700 [11:24:21 AM CDT]
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: UGANDA IS INCREASINGLY BECOMING BELLIGERENT DUE TO ITS DISCOVERY OF HIGHLY