NEW TOURIST TRAIL OPENED ON THE RWENZORI MOUNTAINS

In an effort to make the Rwenzori Mountains one of the best tourist destinations in Uganda, Uganda Wildlife Authority has blessed the opening of a new tourist trail to make it easy to access the scenery and the peaks.

The trail was opened officially in the central Rwenzori Mountains National Park in Kasese district with the first batch of tourists guided into the Mountain ranges on Friday.

Five Belgian nationals and one Dutch were the first tourists to trek through the new trail on a bright Friday morning.

Rwenzori Ranges Guides and Escorts Association (RRGEA), experts in mountain climbing on Rwenzori led the expedition of the five foreign tourists.

The first tourist to embark on trekking the new trail included Nina Van De Winkel, Karolien Geusews, Sofie Geusens, Thijs de Haas and Marlies Molemaers.

The coordinator RRGEA Mr. Bernard Masereka told journalists at his office in Kasese town that the association was committed to providing expert guiding to clients in the Rwenzori.
He said that RRGEA guides would provide adequate nature interpretation to clients which he said was lacking to some service providers on the
mountain.
‘’We would like to see that the tourists we guide become our market agents depending on the way we have handled them, it is true nature interpretation is challenge to many guides but ensure persistent
capacity building of our staff,” Mr. Masereka said.

Mr. Masereka He urged all stakeholders in the tourism sector to market the tourist’s attractions in Uganda so as to develop the tourism sector in the country.

The senior warden in-charge Rwenzori Mountains National Park (RMNP) Mr. Fredrick Kiiza, said that UWA was looking at opening more routes on the mountain.

Mr. Kiiza said that the management of the park was creating more routes to provide opportunity to nature lovers who may wish to visit Rwenzori for a short period without reaching the peaks.
He said that Rwenzori was a beautiful unique mountain that has not fully been explored.

Mr. Kiiza however noted that there has not been adequate marketing of Rwenzori attractions, adding that the only attraction that has been marketed are the glaciers and peaks but the national park is blessed with various animal, bird and tree species that have not been marketed in the tourism market.

He said that tourists’ numbers to the Rwenzori have not reached admirable figures compared to other parks in the country.

One of the tourists Nina Van de Winkel said “we expect to get excited when we find out about the beauty of the Rwenzori up there. Hope we enjoy our trekking because this is what most of the people would like to enjoy in their holidays”.

Kasese girl braves labour pains to sit PLE exams

A primary seven candidate at Kasanga primary school, Bwera sub-county, Kasese District on Monday had to endure labour pains as she sat for Primary Leaving Examinations.

"The pregnant girl developed labour pains in the middle of the first paper – Mathematics – this morning and was rushed to hospital but did not deliver,” the Kasese District Education Officer, George Mayinja, told this newspaper.

He says she later returned and sat for the afternoon Social Studies exam in the same condition.

Mr Mayinja commended the girl for being brave.

He says the district did not face any major challenges on the first day of the examinations, save for the poor roads in the mountainous sub-counties which affected the delivery of examination papers on time.

Kasese Municipality Education Officer, Lawrence Tiruganya, said that about 20 candidates, mostly girls, have missed the examinations due to pregnancy.

However, he said that the parents are to blame in such cases because UNEB rules do not stop pregnant candidates from sitting the examinations.

About 9708 candidates registered for PLE, which started nationwide today, in rural Kasese, while 2503 registered in Kasese Municipality.

editorial@ug.nationmedia.com

NANDALA TO USE PARLIAMENT OFFICE TO RUN FDC ACTIVITIES

The elect Nandala team for the Forum for Democratic Change presidency wants the party’s delegates to choose the leader of Opposition ahead of other candidates so that he uses his parliamentary office to build the party.

Addressing Kasese district FDC national delegates at the Rwenzori the Gardens Hotel in Kasese town on Monday, Mr. William Nzoghu the Busongora North MP said the leader of opposition can easily run affairs of the party.

Mr. Nzoghu was among the Opposition MPs who had accompanied Mr. Nandala Mafabi to converse for votes from Kasese for the November 22, FDC presidential vote.

Two other candidates Maj.Gen. Mugisha Muntu and Mr. Geoffrey Ekanya have also been in Kasese campaign to replace retiring Dr. Kizza Besigye.

Mr. Nzoghu said that the NRM has managed to run its day to day activities because Secretary General Amama Mbabazi is using machinery and budget for his office as Prime Minister to run the party administration.

Mr. Nzoghu said that is the reason president Yoweri Museveni has always not listened to MPs calling for Mbabazi to relinquish the ruling party’s administration on the expense of being prime minister.

“Amama Mbabazi has been using resources of the Office of Prime Minister to do NRM administration that is why president Museveni has not listened to those calling for his resignation on one post. So, Hon. Nandala will also use his office to run FDC party because his budget is meant for activities across the country.” Mr. Nzoghu said.

Mr. Nzoghu who is also the shadow minister said Mr. Mafabi can also use the budget and machinery in the office of the leader of Opposition to run the day to day activities of FDC because he is free to use government cars to tour the whole country.

Mr. Nandala Mafabi told Kasese delegates that when elected into party leadership, he will mobilize and form grass root structures as a winning platform for state power in 2016.

Mr. Mafabi said that FDC top leaders have not been focusing on the grass root structures and polling station management the reason they have seen elections rigged by the NRM in most parts of the country.

He also attacked the FDC delegates for failing to condemn messages on their phones recently “purportedly” indicating that Mr. Nandala Mafabi has sent them each airtime worth 100000shs.

“People have been saying Nandala is bad during the campaigns but many of you sat quiet and did not come out to condemn the messages purportedly from me that I sent you airtime. This is also bad because I am an experienced leader who cannot bribe voters for a vote even when they have my sounding CV”. Mr. Mafabi said.

The leader of the Vote Nandala team Gen. Rubaramira Ruranga said asked delegates to task the rest of the candidates in the race to also avail documented Curriculum Vitae and manifestos for scrutiny before the ballots are cast on November 22.

The chairman of FDC in Kasese district Mr. Saulo Maate asked the contenders for the top job not to divide the party when the elections are concluded.

SECURITY GUARD STEALS 140M FROM BACKLEYS BANK IN KASESE

A security guard attached to Saracen Company has this afternoon fled away with about one hundred forty million shillings after seizing it from a coffee dealer at gunpoint in Barclays Bank in Kasese municipality.

The OC CID Kasese central Police Godwin Tugumye confirmed the incident saying forty million shillings from the guard who had taken one hundred eighty million shillings from the coffee trader.

He identified the guard as Lawrence Tumwesigwa that was providing security at the bank.

He said that two suspects have been arrested to help in investigations as police mounted a hunt for the guard who had escaped on a motorcycle boda boda.

He declined to disclose the identities of the two suspects in police custody and the coffee dealer for investigative reasons.

According to the Tugumye, the thug dropped forty million shillings, which a another guard at the Post Bank, a few meters from Barclays bank recovered and handed over to Barclays bank.

Eyewitnesses said that as the guard thug fled, started splashing some of the looted money to the people who were chasing after him on foot and on boda boda motorcycles.

The thug reportedly grabbed some of the money at one of the counters, stormed out of the bank and fled towards Nyakasanga, a Kasese town suburb.

MUSEVENI CLEARS BAMBA CULTURAL LEADER.

President Yoweri Museveni has cleared Maj. Martin Kamya to resign from the army and be crowned as cultural leader of the Bamba in Bundibugyo District.

Mr Museveni last week met members of the Obudhingya Bwa Bwamba (OBB) cultural institution and Bundibugyo Elders Development Association (BEDA) at State House, Entebbe.

Mr Swizen Kyomuhendo, the spokesperson of OBB said on Monday that President Museveni told members that he has no objection to Maj. Kamya being installed as the Bamba cultural leader.

Mr Tamale Mirundi, the President’s press secretary confirmed the meeting between his boss and members of OBB members. He however, did not divulge what was discussed in the meeting.
In August, during a council of BEDA, Maj. Kamya was elected as the cultural leader of the Bamba. Maj. Kamya is the eldest son of the late Jeremiah Kawamara, one of the founders of the Rwenzururu movement.

BEDA then wrote to President Museveni and the leadership of UPDF, requesting them to allow Maj. Kamya resign from the army in order to serve his subjects. Mr Kyomuhenda said Mr Museveni assured the meeting that Maj. Kamya would be cleared to quit the army once the Bamba are ready to crown him king.

According to Mr Kyomuhendo, the cultural institution has embarked on drafting the constitution of the cultural institution, composing the anthem and developing an emblem, which symbols have to be ready before Maj. Kamya’s coronation in February next year.

Rwenzururu Kingdom spokesperson, Mr Patrick Nyamuhungu said that the Bamba are free to elect a cultural leader as long as he does not impose the institution on the Bakonzo, who live in Bundibugyo.

SOURCE. DAILY MONITOR online.

CULTIVATORS CUT 37 HEADS OF CATTLE OVER DEATH OF A BOY.

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About thirty five heads of cattle have been cut in yet a fight that erupted Thursday night between pastoralists and cattle keepers in Kabukero village in Karusandara sub-county Kasese district.

The fight was caused by the death of a 17 year old boy who is alleged to have been murdered by pastoralists in the area after they found him cutting pieces of trees in their grazing land.

Brian Mumbere son of Johnson Byabusa is said to have gone in the grazing land to look for pieces of trees to build his own house.

The Bakonzo cultivators then raided the homes of the pastoralists in retaliation over the boy’s death.

Yesterday the district veteran officer Dr. Godfrey Kalule went to the area to ascertain the extend at which the cattle was cut.

He said that out of the thirty five heads of cattle he managed to come across twenty eight would survive after treatment, one had died and six were recommended for slaughter because they could not heal.

One of the pastoralists who identified himself only as Muharabu said that he had handed over four tails of cattle to police which had since disappeared.

He said that about eight others in addition to those whose tails were cut are still missing and he believed they may have been stolen by cultivators who attacked them yesterday evening.

It’s alleged that more than fifty Bakonzo cultivators attacked the grazing area cutting the cattle they found there after they realized that their colleague had been killed.

One of the survivors of the attack John Tunomujuni said that the attack happened at about 6.00pm.

He said a house belonging to Kagoro Mutawasi was also destroyed after the deceased body was found near his house.

Both cultivators and cattle keepers have claimed ownership of Kabukero grazing land.

Early this year farmers woke up one morning and found all their crops planted in the area had been uprooted

RESIDENTS SUE DISTRICT KASESE OF PROPOSED SPLIT OF KASESE.

Two men calling themselves Concerned Residents of Kasese are intending to sue the district council for not following the right procedure in 2010 when passing a resolution to split the district into three that include Rwenzori, Bwera and Kasese.

Lucas Bwambale Buhaka and Milton Bwambale Bikopo all residents of Kasese Municipality have served the district authorities with a statutory notice of intention to sue through their lawyers of the MMC and Company advocates based in Kampala.

The duo are challenging the district council for discussing and passing a motion moved by the then Chairman LC 5 Rev. Can. Julius Kithaghenda to split the district into three when he was not a secretary on the executive or a councilor as mandated by Law.

Buhaka while addressing a press conference at his home in Nyamwamba Division said that the rules of procedure of does not provide for the district chairman to move a motion other than giving a state of affairs address.

Through their lawyers, Buhaka and Bikopo want court to declare the October 26, 2010 motion and resolution null and void hence asking the council to revoke the decision.

They also want general damages to the people who are opposed to the split basing on the fact that they were not fully consulted before the motion was passed in the district council.

They also want court to grant them the costs of the suit in case the district fails to defend itself beyond reasonable doubt that the right procedure was taken when taking the decision.

At the district headquarters, the notice of intention to sue was received and signed by the Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Wilson Asaba and Clerk to council Godwin Bihanikire on October 4^th and they are yet to respond before a civil suit is registered in High Court.

The proposal to split Kasese district has caused controversy as interest groups that include the Rwenzururu Kingdom, the ethnic minorities and residents opposing the decision of council. END.