RWENZURURU KINGDOM DRIVER DIES FOLLOWING ACCIDENT

Tragedy has again befallen the Rwenzururu Kingdom as the second death is confirmed following a fatal road accident that involved the convoy of the Omusinga on December 23^rd.

Mr.John Kule who hails from Kilembe sub-county was pronounced dead at Mulago National Referral Hospital at about 1:00 am according to the Kingdom spokesperson Mr. Patrick Nyamunungu.

Mr. Kule who was driving the fourth car in Omusinga Mumbere’s convoy sustained severe injuries when his car got involved in a head on collision in Mumbende district as the King returned to Kasese for Christmas celebrations.

One person-the palace chief cook Jetress Kabugho died on spot and was buried on the Christmas Eve at her ancestral home in Mahango sub-county.

The driver and three others were first admitted at the Nakasero hospital before he was transferred to Mulago hospital. The others are back home after being discharged.

The spokesperson said a cabinet meeting was being arranged to plan transporting the body to Kasese and also burial arrangements.

“It is confirmed our driver passed on last week at Mulago hospital. His death is unfortunate because the rest with whom they were admitted were discharged and are back home. We are going to sit to finalize the burial arrangements”.  Mr.Nyamunungu said.

Mr. Nyamunungu said Kule was a new driver having been recruited at the start of December.

This is the fourth official the Rwenzururu Kingdom has lost to road accidents since this year started.

On June 28, a royal guard died on spot when the King’s convoy got involved in an accident on his way to Bundibugyo district to mark 50^th anniversary of the Rwenzururu Kingdom.

Early this year, the Kingdom finance minister the late Isaya Kule died at Mulago hospital following an accident at the Kasese-Fort portal road when his car rammed into a packed trailer.

King Charles Wesley Mumbere in his Christmas message pondered a review of the recruitment process for the royal transportation drivers as a measure of avoiding future accidents.

“The royal transportation ministry should sit down and review the recruitment process of these drivers. May be some of them are not competent to drive in such an important convoy. You never know what who next will be affected” Mumbere said in a Christmas message aired on local Radio stations.

END.

MONUMENT ON RUTOTO BUS ACCIDENT VICTIMS MASS GRAVE IN KASESE

Kasese Municipal council is considering erecting a historical monument on the on the mass grave where the remains of the Rutoto Bus Accident victims were laid.

Tragedy befell Kasese district on July 17^th 2002 where about seventy people perished in a fire that erupted after a bus belong to the SB coaches was involved in a head-on collision with fuel tanker near Rutoto trading center along the Kasese-Mbarara Highway.

They were buried in a mass grave at the Kasese Catholic Diocese cemetery on July 18^th following a requiem mass at the Rwenzori Square.

Only one victim by the names of Samuel Tibara was buried at his ancestral home in Mahango as the only body that was identified by the family.

Moving the motion in the council sitting on Thursday, the municipal councilor for Railway ward Mr. Didas Baluku said that constructing a historical monument on the mass grave will be as a way of paying tribute to the victims and raise awareness on traffic laws and regulations.

Mr. Baluku also said that the monument will promote urban tourism in addition with social, cultural and tradition values associated to death in the African Society.

He notably read to council the names of those buried in the mass grave as Eunice Nyangoma, Lt. Byamukama, Valeri Muhindo, Isaiah Mbusa , Seleveneous Muhindo, Joseph Ngamuhabyaki and Stephen Baluku among others.

Mr. Baluku also proposed to council that July 17^th of every year be declared a “black day” where by people dress in only black clothes in memory of the traffic tragedy.

The motion was then seconded by the municipal councilor representing Nyakasanga II ward Selvest Tumusiime.

However, the motion was referred to the social services committee to discuss the matter and then recommend to council on whether to approve the motion at the next sitting next year.

Mr. Joel Muhindo a relative to one of the victims commended the municipal council for accepting such a motion that is meant to honour the dead adding that they suffered a painful death. END

RWENZURURU FINANCE MINISTER ARRESTED OVER ALLEGED FORGERY OF ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPTS.

The minister of finance for the Rwenzururu Kingdom Thembo Kitsumbire is being detained by police in Fort Portal after being arrested on the orders of the Inspectorate of Government.

Kitsumbire was arrested on Monday afternoon from Kasese town for allegedly forging academic documents for which he holds a diploma in public administration from a yet to be identified institution.

The regional police spokesperson Bakar Bashiru has confirmed the detention of Mr. Kitsumbire but declaimed to give details on the matter.

Bashir said that it is only the IGG regional office that is supposed to comment on the matter because police was only instructed to make the arrest which they did.

While contacting the regional IGG office in Fort portal, an officer who picked the phone call declaimed to give details of the case.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not supposed to speak on behalf of the organ, the officer said details can only be got from the supervisor who was away in Kampala.

This officer however declined to avail the contact details of the regional supervisor.

However, she revealed that the IGG lawyers have been sent for from Kampala and Mr. Kitsumbiri would be produced in court on Wednesday.

Efforts to reach the Rwenzururu Kingdom spokesperson were futile because his phones were switched off but a source close to the accused said the arrest was not connected to his Kingdom portfolio.

Mr. Kitsumbire is also a member of the Kasese District Public Accounts Committee on which he has served for more than five years.

Meanwhile the chairman DPAC Mr. Benjamin Tumusiime denies that the arrest is connected to his appointment and membership to the committee.

Tumusiime says that there is no investigators from IGG who have contacted DPAC questioning Mr. Kitsumbire’s academic papers.

He said DPAC members were holding a meeting to find out mechanisms of following up on the arrest of their colleague. END

OMUSINGA OKAYS KASESE DISTRICT SPLIT

The Omusinga Charles Wesley Mumbere Iremangoma has Okayed the split of Kasese district into three in a guiding letter to the minister of Local Government.

There had been growing concerns among the people who are anti split after the Omusinga’s letter was leaked and posted on the social media last week.

However, the Kingdom spokesperson Patrick Nyamunungu confirmed to Kasese Guide Radio on phone this morning that the Omusinga wrote to the Local Government minister to guide him on how best the district can be split without causing any problems.

Nyamunungu says that in the letter dated October 1^st 2012, the Omusinga guides the government to split the district basing on the vertical boundaries as proposed by the District Council in a resolution of October 201o.

On October 2010 the Kasese district council overwhelmingly resolved to create Rwenzori and Bwera districts out of the greater Kasese but the idea has been met with mixed reactions.

In the letter, the Omusinga cautions government not to make a mistake of creating any district based on the ethnicities adding that it would bring disharmony among the people.

He however advises that on affirmative action, a constituency be created to cater for the interests of the ethnic minorities of being represented in parliament.

However, the general secretary of the Forum for Democratic Change in Kasese district Johnson Kamalha who has been among the leading challengers of the split decline to comment when contacted by Kasese district.

Kamalha said that he will first consult more people before coming out with an official statement from FDC.

END.

THREE YEAR-OLD BOY DIES AFTER EATING KALINGA A POISONOUS CASSAVA SPECIES

A three-old boy in Bukangama village, Kyanzuki parish in Kilembe sub-county in Kasese district died last night after eating poisonous cassava.

Reports from the area indicate that two other children survived death after being treated with local herbs that made them vomit the food they ate.

Their father Julius Kabuthi Muhindo was also affected after eating the food the children had cooked when their mother Rosa Masika was away.

The immediate neighbor Siriro Muhindo says that the children uprooted the cassava species commonly known as Kalinga that is not supposed to be eaten in food form commonly known as Katogo.

Kalinga is a cassava species that is only edible as mingled tapioca after being dried up and grinded into cassava flour.

Muhindo said that the boy passed away at about 4.00 am after the trio and their father developed severe stomachache that led to diarrhea and vomiting.

Muhindo said that Geoffrey Thembo who is being buried today was the second last born of Mr. Kabuthi and wife Masika.

Muhindo reveals that the oldest of the children an eight-year-old girl was in charge of cooking the fateful meal.

The father who is a welder working in Kasese town describes this as an accident because nobody knew that the children could have cooked the poisonous cassava.

The same cassava tubers kill livestock if any animal eat them and residents say if fermented in the river, the aquatic lives also die.

Most of the areas of Kasese have the Kalinga species as the main cassava plant after the other species were eliminated by cassava mosaic a disease that hit the district a decade ago.

The farmers are appealing to the government and other plays in the fight against hunger to find other cassava species that cannot be dangerous to mankind. END