The Uganda National Roads Authority says that compensations will not get in the way of Constructing the Critical Oil Roads which have to be in place by the year 2019 to facilitate the movement of raw materials that will facilitate the construction of an Oil Refinery, Pipeline and International Airport in the Albertine Region.

In the past UNRA has been faced with challenges of compensations which have ended up stalling the process of construction

As the Uganda National Roads Authority embarks on the quest of constructing  600km of roads in the Albertine Region, UNRA is positive that nothing will stand in their way that will affect them and prevent them from meeting the deadline

The 600km are expected to cost 600 Million dollars with slightly over 100 million dollars of that money used for land acquisitions and Compensations, UNRA says that it has already commenced with the payment of people who are seating on the said land.

According to the Uganda National Roads Authority, 60% of the land is under the Uganda Wildlife Authority and National Forestry Authority which has eased the work compensations

Some of the roads that UNRA aims to construct pass through eco-systems like swamps and forests and have proved to be impassable especially when their is a slight change in weather, An example of those roads is the Kaseeta - Lwera junction on our way to Kabaale in Hoima district where we got stuck for a couple of minutes due to the slippery terrain

Other parts of the critical oil roads will have to pass through game parks and game reserves and utmost attention to detail will be required during the construction to protect the wildlife, perhaps it will also boost tourism

As the Uganda National Roads Authority continues to put emphasis on the construction of the roads that will link the Oil Districts of Buliisa and Hoima and facilitate the construction of the pipeline, airport and refinery, the Authority says that they will also have to protect the environment

Seven members of the same family are among eleven people who perished in an accident along Mpigi - Butambala Gomba road. Police say the head-on collision between the minibus and a saloon car happened at about 9pm. FRANCIS JJINGO has details…

The seven occupants of the Toyota Ispum had been traveling from Gomba district where they had attended an introduction ceremony for one of their relatives. They all perished on the spot. The occupants of the public service minibus were going to Butambala for a funeral.

The accident happened at Boza a few kilometres from Mpigi town, on the newly constructed road. The police spokesperson for Katonga region Joseph Musana attributes the accident to reckless and drink driving blamed on the taxi driver.However, the witnesses at the scene of the accident told NTV that Police took quite some time to arrive at the scene. Mpigi health centre four Medical superintendent Dr John Jubilee says the facility does not have a functional ambulance.  told ntv the health centre does not have a functioning ambulance.One of those who perished was a nurse at the health center.Some of the dead have been identified as Wakabulya Tape from Kaliro, Mukebezi Monica from Kaliro, Mutesi Ruth a a nurse, mutulya Ivan from KALIRO, Monday a taxi driver and a one Micheal from KALIRO. 

Law Enforcement officers working at the Mirama Hills border post in Ntungamo district are facing difficult working conditions and lack decent housing facilities.

This was revealed during an inspection by the parliamentary committee on defense and internal affairs which was assessing the state of security at the border.

The State Minister for Youth and Children’s Affairs, Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, has said Ugandan children need to acquire basic necessities in life including access to clean water.

The minister speaking as the chief guest at a children’s run organised by DSTV to fundraise for the provision of safe water to school children in the poor parts of the country.

President Yoweri Museveni has handed a major boost to the campaign for the renovation  Lira diocese Catholic Church.

The President bought a cow at 10 million shillings, gave 90 million shillings in cash as he promised to give more 310 million shillings.

During the fundraising campaign, Rt. Rev. Joseph Franzelli thanked the President on behalf of the church explaining that many Christians were poor to raise the funds needed for the renovation.

The UNRA Executive Director Allen Kagina has explained why work on major roads that had initially commenced like the Mukono - Katosi road and the Mbale - Tirinyi road.

The Executive Director also revealed that prolonged legal battles are getting in the way of progress and that the Authority is determined to conclude the matter and commence with works

Jane Ntege Nakyanzi, who has been married to Augustine Ntege Mukasa for 18 years, she was evicted from her home by her Husband which say alleges to have constructed together with her husband but she is being evicted by the husband.

She alleges the police and court bailiffs, acted on a false court order to evict her.

This happened in Naalya a Kampala Suburb.

3rd December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The day seeks to raise awareness of challenges of people living with disabilities and to sensitive leaders and policymakers on the need for creating an enabling environment for them. 

Here is a story of a disabled mother in Kangulumira, Mubende district who struggles to make ends meet while dealing with the stigma and discrimination.

The landfill in Nkumba in Wakiso district where rubbish comes from areas all the way from Makindye to Entebbe lies on 15 acres of land.

This rubbish comprising all sorts of waste- from medical to industrial refuse- is a source of livelihood for many.

The Agape Sanctuary ministries church is under investigation for failing to pay billions of shillings to contractors who undertook work to build places of worship.

Six months after contractors took loans to commence construction, they have not been paid.

Coffee farmers in  Lwengo district have accused UPDF officers in charge of Operation Wealth Creation Programme in the district of supplying them with poor quality seedlings.

Some of the farmers are also accusing the UPDF officers of inflating the quantities and costs of the coffee seedlings procured.

However, the UPDF has denied the accusations and maintain that they have followed all the guidelines as set out by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority in the execution of their duties

A boy yet to be identified has been knocked dead in Kyebando along the Northern bypass.

According to eyewitnesses he may have been going to the market nearby

News inquiries into the escalating corruption in the country suggest that local government officials are engaged in the bribery scandals more often.

According to the inspector general of government, Irene Mulyagonja, this information was got through interaction which with locals in the districts they visited during the anti-corruption caravan.

The information comes just a few days to the international anti-corruption day that’s due to take place on the 9th of December.

The IGG was addressing journalist at the National Media Centre in Kampala.

The 7 police officers who were arrested and charged with the kidnap of 2 Rwandese nationals have been taken back on remand after the General Court Martial failed to rule on their bail application.

The  7 member court chaired by Lt. Gen  Andrew Gutti  had convened to hear the bail applications of; SPC Joel Aguma,  SSP Nixon Agasirwe Karuhanga, D/ASP James Magada, D/AIP Benon Atwebembeirwe, D/Sgt Abel Tumukunde, SPC Faisal Katende and D/CPL Amon Kwarisima  but state prosecutor Maj. Raphael Mugisha said he could not ably respond to them and asked the court for more 2 weeks within which to make his response.

Nixon Agasirwe Karuhanga; the former commander of police's Special Operations Unit who presented his bail application first, asked the court to be lenient and release him on bail because he is  a single parent whose children and dependants are suffering due to his imprisonment.  

In a bid to prove to the court that they have fixed places of residence and that they will not abscond, the suspects presented letters from their  LC officials, passports and National I'Ds.

The suspects' bail applications were presented to court by their 3 lawyers Frank Kanduho, Caleb Alaka and Evans Ochieng

They also presented to court sureties who included their police comrades, relatives and friends.

Among the surities is AIGP Richard Ndahura; the crime intelligence director ; Commissioner of police Fortunate Habyara  ;  the police's Human Resorce directorate , SSP Andrew Kaggwa attached to the Field Force Unit at Naguru and  Rt. Commissioner of police Laban Muhabwe.

The officers have further  called upon court to treat them as first  offenders with no  known criminal records  and to presume them innocent until they are proved guilty by court .

However, Maj. Rapheal Mugisha told the court that Chieftaincy of military intelligence is in advanced stages of its investigations against the said police officers and that by  January 15th/2018, the case will be fixed for hearing . Consequently, the court granted his request up to the 18th/ December and sent the suspects back on remand until then.

 The 7 police officers  are charged alongside 2 civilians ;   Rene Rutangugira  and Bahati Mugenga for the   Kidnap of   Joel Mutabazi and Jackson Kaleemera on the 25th/October 2013 at Kamengo in Mpigi district.

According to prosecution the accused while in posession of a pistol and grenades which are ordinarily a monopoly  of the UPDF conveyed two Rwandan refugees Lt Mutabazi and Kaleemera to the Republic of  Rwanda without their consent.

On 9th December, the world will be marking the international anti-corruption day with an intention to create more awareness about the vice.

As part of the celebrations, scores of government institutions joined hands to conduct a nation-wide campaign against corruption which ran for one week.

Today, the IGG Irene Mulyagonja gave a report on the caravan where she indicated that the masses are aware of corruption and its effects on their livelihood.

The Inspectorate of  government says research conducted during the anti-corruption week last month, indicates a  huge rise in the  level of the  corruption in local governments

The IGG, Justice Irene Mulyagonja told journalists in Kampala that this could hinder development, mostly rural Uganda.

She highlighted the increasing corruption among local government officials giving examples of how officials in Kabarole district have dealt with the newly constructed Mpanga Market in Fort-portal town.

Mulyagonja also says that they found out that even the temporary market where vendors ha been relocated was maintained and revenue from their levied by some district officials.

According to the corruption perception Index annual report conducted by Transparency international in 2016, Uganda ranks among the 25 most corrupt countries on the globe.

Since the FDC elected new leadership, several party members have had mixed reactions about their new leaders, With many having divergent views.

Traces of disunity evident within the party, a reconciliation committee was established to mend ties.

The Forum For Democratic Change Party started a reconciliation process meant to address the acrimony and divisions that emerged during the recently concluded elections for the party’s president.

Harold Kaija, the party’s Deputy Secretary General, says while no formal meetings have been called between the two major factions of the party, informal talks between different stakeholders are underway.

Meanwhile, the party's National Executive Committee is set to sit this Wednesday to assess the agenda of new Party President Patrick Amuriat.

Depending on the outcome of the NEC meeting, the party is also expected to appoint a new interim electoral Commission.

Asked why the new President Patrick Amuriat hasn't yet formed a new cabinet, Kaija said the party has better priorities.

Local NGOs have expressed their concern over the growing trend towards stricter regulation, diminishing avenues for free expression and general hostility towards Civil Society Organizations.

The NGOs were reacting to the findings contained in a report on the Shrinking Civil Society Space in the Horn of Africa, which was based on research conducted in 10 countries including Uganda.

In the report released by the Human Rights Network Uganda, Uganda recorded a disproportionately high number of attacks on NGOs with at least 29 break-ins recorded this year alone. Recently the offices of two governance NGOs, Action Aid and the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies were raided by police and the organizations’ accounts were frozen.

The Executive Director of Human Rights network, Mohammed Ndifuna, says the government is targeting the legitimate and valuable work of the Civil Society Organizations after the introduction of an NGO policy in 2012, which subsequently laid the groundwork for the enactment of more restrictive laws regulating NGOs.

According to civil society activists, the growing restrictive atmosphere in Uganda is part of a regional trend.

Albaqir Mukhtar, a Sudanese national whose organization was closed in 2012 says 13 NGOs have been expelled from Sudan in recent years and the prospect of seeking legal redress is a waste of time.He says they took the NGO law to court and have now spent 11 years in court

However, the deputy executive director of the Uganda Media Centre Col. Shaban Bantariza, says Uganda has its own circumstances and priorities that necessitate the regulation of NGOs.He says they if you do not regulate civil society then the result is anarchy.

Former Buikwe South Member of Parliament Dr Lulume Bayiga was driven from the police hospital in Naguru, Kampala where he had been admitted and taken to Mukono.  

The visibly weak opposition politician was presented before the Grade One Magistrate in Lugazi, Buyikwe district and charged alongside 15 others with obstructing police work, causing injury to a police officer and holding an unlawful assembly.

The former MP denied the charges and was driven back to Kampala where he was remanded to Luzira prison.Lulume’s Lawyer Aggrey Mushagara says the charges preferred against his client cannot stand the legal test. 

Dr. Lulume was arrested on Saturday in Lugazi while giving medical care to people at a health camp organized by the Rotary Club of Mukono

He was thereafter admitted to the police hospital in Naguru after allegedly sustaining spinal cord injuries he claims were inflicted by police officers who brutally arrested him. 

But police spokesman Emilian Kayima told NTV that if investigations show that Dr. Lulume was assaulted during arrest, the officers involved would face the law.

Malnutrition among children in the Karamoja sub-region remains one of the major concerns for local authorities.

The situation has been made even more complicated by recent severe droughts, which affected crop production, and the consequent increase in the poverty level, which now stands at 72%.

With this situation in mind, a team of European Union Ambassadors is currently in the region to access the impact of EU-funded programmes that are meant to improve the livelihoods of Karamoja’s people.

These programmes are mostly implemented through agencies like World Food Programme and UNICEF.

At Namalu Health centre in Nakapiripirit, children below the age of two receive nutritious foods to improve their diet.

With this support, the number of acutely malnourished children has reduced from about 700 in May to 391 by November 2017.

During their meeting with local leaders, the EU Ambassadors called for greater efforts towards curbing environmental degradation, reducing the number of school dropouts and putting an end to certain traditional practices.

Meanwhile, the chairpersons of the seven districts in Karamoja called on the donors to directly channel development funds through local governments to avoid misuse from the central government.

Next year the European Union is expected to release over 80 million dollars through the Karamoja Development Partner Group.

On 9th November 2017, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu appeared on NTV’s On The Spot talk show to discuss issues pertaining to the then ongoing doctors’ strike.

A day later Dr Moriku was admitted to Mulago Hospital.

According to State Minister for health, Sarah Achieng Opendi doctors diagnosed her with food poisoning.

Opendi told NTV that Dr. Moriku later developed chest complications and had difficulty breathing.

For a week now the Dr Moriku has been under intensive care.

Today, Opendi visited her colleague at International Hospital Kampala.

There are plans to fly the former coordinator of The Aids Support Organization (TASO) to Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi for further tests and treatment.

In order to confirm or eliminate the possibility that Dr. Moriku might have been poisoned, the government has sent samples to South Africa for a toxicology analysis to establish the problem that continues to immobilize the minister.

The government of Uganda is footing the medical bills.