
Zimbabwe: Public Order and Security (Temporary Prohibition of Public Demonstrations in the Central Business Districts of the Harare Central Police District) Order, 2016 (01.09.2016)






Today is a weird news day, the news from Uganda are scattered and shows the ability of nobility from Ugandan Government isn’t there. The impunity from Uganda Police Force continues as the loyal men to IGP Kayihura doesn’t cares about the law. While President Museveni drops a few coins, while his MPs ask for millions shillings worth of cars themselves; and there over 400 MPs so the amount of money used on the cars are huge. At the same time the news of Danish Tax Payers have built most of the Courts, the NRM steady progress is in the hands of foreigners and not in the hands of the allocations done by Ugandan Parliament. If so, then they would have contributed some cash for the cement that constructed these buildings. And so it goes on!
Just as Dr. Kizza Besigye goes to Court to be allowed to leave for United Kingdom for his meetings with Ugandan Diaspora, FDC P10 and others who support his cause abroad. The former District Police Commander Aaron Buguma showed his disgrace for Law and Order with not joining his own court trial as his own boss Inspectorate General of Police (IGP) Edward Kale Kayihura the other day. So the law is different it seems depending on who it is served upon, especially the ones who supposed to guard it can run away from their brutal behavior against citizens.

While the riches of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the walking budget, showed his mercy at the Bwebajja Fruit Sellers SACCO got Ush.100m and also giving away tools. This came today as Court Justice Bart Katureebe said this in Parliament: “Danida built almost all the courts in Uganda, but why isn’t gov’t not taking interest in this. You have courts sharing offices with bars”. That means the Danish Tax Payers monies built the Courts of Uganda, not used the extended revenue made Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) or the generate tax that President Museveni so proudly speaks of. EU spokesman Kristian Schmidt: “Praise for Denmark by Chief Justice: “Danida built almost all the courts in Uganda”.
Members of Parliament procurement of cars:
“Each of the 427 MPs will receive UGX150m by October to buy new car to travel to their constituencies, according to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga. Parliament will have to process a supplementary budget amounting to at least UGX64bn to finance the MPs car grant. This comes after Parliamentary Commission rejected proposal by finance ministry to finance MPs car grant in shifts with priority given to newly elected MPs” (WBS TV Uganda, 17.08.2016).

If the greed of the Members of Parliament wasn’t big enough their road safety fears are extended as the men and woman have discussed building a fly-over to make sure they are well. While the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) need to do this instead of securing better roads so there is less accidents and incidents to secure road safety. The road projects are most likely to be fulfill are the ones where foreign donors dolce out money or grants through bilateral and multinational organizations as International Monetary Funds or World Bank instead of through the ordinary budget of the allocated funds in the fiscal year. So that the MPs have the balls to order fresh from the factory SUVs and ask for fly-over to secure their working place is disgusting.
Another issue today: “Appearing before the parliamentary committee on ICT, minister of ICT and National Guidance Frank Tumwebaze admitted that the NRM government has finally given up trying to control the internet especially social media usage in Uganda. Tumwebaze said “every time government tried to block social media, within a few minutes, Ugandans were already back on after invoking VPNs “(virtual private networks)” (The Observer, 18.08.2016). So the VPN shows the sanctions for national security doesn’t work… so the reality is that the Ugandan Government are beaten by technology and their own public will to do what they do. The only danger this is to the Ugandan Government is that the NRM cannot be only source of information and where the intelligence they are gaining. Therefore the Opposition will have a place to share information without fear online and on social media even if the Ruling Regime bans it or tries to shut it down.
I should have commented on the closure of Greenhill Academy for being World Bank and Mark Zukerberg (Facebook Founder) donated school for having books with explicit content; while the reports that most UPE schools lacks books or equipment. So the ironic side of the closure is amazing and foolery from the state. But wanting to take control of private institution is not strange in the context of micro-management style of the present day NRM.
There are always more, this my little update on today’s Movement news and the Parliament of Uganda. This has been hazardous… this has been special and would not be the last. Because this government cannot help themselves and we who follows now it! Peace.
“Today we managed to have lunch with Mr Dave Emberton, one of Zimbabwe’s icon Newsreaders and ZBC personalities. Yesterday a very unfortunate incident took placein one of our stores, so here is a short video with more information and how we can all chip in to help Dave at this tough time. #SPARThereForYou” (SPAR Zimbabwe, 2016)
Message of Consern from This galg:
“Yesterday we saw David Emberton in cuffs, humilated! He put a sad FACE to the huge tragedy facing our Senior Citizen in ZImbabwe. Dave should be enjoying his pension, like all our other hard working Grand Parents who are left destitute! To see a big celebrity News readers of the 80’s and 90’s in Zimbabwe reduced to stealing is heartbreaking! There are MANY MANY Senior Citizens in Zimbabwe suffering UNECESSARILY like David. HARSH reality. #ThisFlag” (#ThisFlag, 2016).

This here is the outtakes of a report that we’re released now recently showing the wished aspects of the EEA Grants who are most donations from the Norwegian state. The Norwegian State has had through the EEA and EFTA had a company called COWI too look through the donor-funding and the interviewing of the ones getting the allocated funds.
With this in mind are surely other who have been commenting on the matter as the Report dropped in June 2016, I just got it today. So is it right? This is my take on it and here are the quotes that are significant to me and the process and overlook of the use of funds.
How much money at stake:
“The allocation of funds is channelled through 150 programmes within 32 programme areas in 16 beneficiary countries. For the period 2009-14, approximately 1.8 billion EUR were set aside under the grants. During the same period, the Norway Grants supported 61 programmes in the 13 EU Member States that joined in 2004, 2007 and 20133 respectively, and the EEA Grants supported 86 programmes in those countries as well as in Greece, Spain and Portugal. The allocation of funds to the countries is based on population size and GDP per capita” (EFTA, P:17, 2016).
The Aim:
“The aim of the mid-term evaluation is to assess to what extent and in which way the EEA/Norway Grants contribute to strengthening bilateral relations between donor and beneficiary states” (EFTA, P:18, 2016).
The Norwegian OAG report in 2013:
“The OAG found that bilateral efforts were not sufficiently planned and communicated at the starting phase of the 2009-14 funding period and that e.g. the key guidance documents were finalised too late” (…) “The audit expects that bilateral relations in the 2009-14 funding period will be better safeguarded than during the previous period given the fact that the current 23 Norwegian DPPs have entered into donor programme partnerships with programme operators in the beneficiary states” (EFTA, P:34-35, 2016).
Joint Research Projects:
“Possibly due to the fact that in the research field, international funding is available for joint research projects from for example the large EU programmes Horizon, etc. This kind of funding is not available to other sectors. The benefits in terms of developing international and EU networks and learning about international initiatives in research are very clear. The EEA and Norway Grants support these processes by being an important contributor and often facilitating a first international cooperation for both parties. However, the evaluation also shows that such networks and cooperation cannot always continue after the expiration of the external funding” (EFTA, P:49, 2016).
Implementation of Norway Grants:
“A number of countries have decided to use the same system for implementation of the EEA and Norway Grants as they use for the EU structural funds. Programme and project stakeholders find that the structural funds system is too bureaucratic and that the financial rules are too cumbersome. The national system for implementation of structural funds and related procedures may not be very relevant to a partner/bilateral relation focused programme, especially when this programme includes a donor project partner, who has a hard time complying with the checks and balances of EU Member State structural fund programmes. Programmes in the Research and Scholarship sector regret the decision not to use ERASMUS+ procedures” (EFTA, P:56, 2016).
Allocation to the projects:
“99.3% of the total funds have been allocated to the five focus countries, and 42.9% of total programme funds have been incurred to date. The share of incurred funds varies across the five countries from 35.6% in Romania to 56.4% in Estonia” (EFTA, P: 63, 2016).

One Slovakian project – Project title: Pro Monumenta:
” The project entitled Pro Monumenta is a cooperation between Pamiatkový úrad SR (The Monuments Board of the Slovak Republic), who is the project controller and Riksantikvaren (The Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Environment). The two institutions first established contact back in 2010 based on a Slovak initiative financed by the Ministry of Culture” (…) “The project was implemented from 1 January 2014 and was scheduled to terminate on 30 March 2016. The main goal of Pro Monumenta in Slovakia is to establish and equip three mobile teams with the capacity to identify and repair easy-to-mend defects at historic monuments, which have led or may lead to deterioration (including basic roof repairs, repairs to chimneys, rainwater drains, fixing of lightning conductors). Major damage identified in the project is documented in a monument technical report, which is stored electronically in a common database” (…) “In this case, the Norwegian partner mainly learns from Slovak experiences and approaches to the implementation of such activities. However, the Norwegian partner also supports the project through its human and technical expertise, such as through an expert from Nasjonele Fervardung, who is expected to arrive to Slovakia to conduct workshops for team members on monument conservation and repairs within a given area” (…) “The project is a clear example of the great contextual and bilateral potential of the programme, if properly implemented. According to the assessment by the project coordinators the project impacts are visible both in Slovakia and Norway (establishment of the formal programmes in the project area) and as Mr. Reznik summarized: “The project significantly improved bilateral co-operation between Norwegian and Slovak experts in the area – especially because it focused on an area of the common interest” (EFTA, P: 67, 2016).
How it is in Latvia and Estonia:
“One explanation for this may be found in Latvia, where some stakeholders indicated that since the bilateral objective is included in the MoU, cooperation is therefore embedded at programme level in most programmes. Since most programmes, particularly in Latvia and Estonia, also have a DPP, the programmes automatically focus on the bilateral relations. This may indicate a tendency for the bilateral aspect to become somewhat formalistic, along the lines of ‘we have a DPP therefore our programme adheres to the bilateral objective’, rather than it being a matter of content and mutual results” (…) “In Estonia, for instance, one indicator has been used in half of the programmes, namely the mandatory indicator “Number of project partnership agreements in the beneficiary public sector”. In more than 30% of the Estonian programmes, no indicator has been used, including the two other mandatory indicators “Number of project partnership agreements in beneficiary civil society” and “…in the beneficiary private sector”. These two indicators have both been used in only 10% of the programmes in 2016. Most programmes are required to make use of at least one of the three obligatory indicators, yet if adding together the top three lines of Table 5-6 for each country, it can be seen that some shares do not sum to 100%. This may be explained by the fact that there are programmes that do not require partnerships, and in some programmes it has not been possible to find relevant partners” (EFTA, P: 69-70, 2016).
Overall Conclusion:
“The overall conclusion on the efficiency of EEA and Norway Grants is that a number of dedicated tools to develop bilateral relations at programme and project level have been introduced. Most of these tools directly support the work of the programmes and projects towards developing bilateral partnership relations, shared results, knowledge and understanding and wider effects. DPPs, bilateral funds and donor project partners all support this goal. The main issue for DPPs and donor project partners is securing the availability of a sufficient number of partners to meet the demand. The main hindering factor identified across the programmes and projects is the administrative procedures (complicated, slow and time consuming) in the beneficiary countries and the fact that the systems used by the beneficiary states are very different systems. Another significant factor identified is the time frame of projects, which due to a late start-up of programmes, can have a very short implementation period” (EFTA, P: 117, 2016).
Clarify the reporting of the projects:
“It is recommended that more instruction be given on the expected contents of reporting on the bilateral objective to avoid the current wide variations in reporting practice and style and the non-informative focus on bilateral activities. It is also recommended that the programme reports include the bilateral indicators selected for the programme. It is suggested that the example of one of the focus countries (Estonia) is adopted. In Estonia, the bilateral indicators are annexed to the report, complete with a justification/explanation of why they were chosen” (EFTA, P: 121, 2016).
Recommendation for bilateral projects:
“It is recommended that focus be directed towards the predefined projects under the bilateral national funds. As mentioned above, the predefined projects provide an interesting opportunity for strategic level cooperation. It is unclear whether the calls” at national level for smaller cooperation projects provide added value. Therefore, it is recommended that such calls be differentiated, either in terms of topic or timing, from the bilateral funds at programme level in order to for them to serve a real function (demand/meet a need)” (EFTA P: 121-122, 2016).
Recommendation for bilateral projects II:
“It is also recommended to standardise implementation systems and rules so that every programme does not have to ‘reinvent the wheel’ (and spend a lot of time doing this). Especially DPPs working on the same programme type in several beneficiary countries could benefit from similar/aligned rules of implementation” (EFTA, P: 122, 2016).
Recommendation for bilateral projects III:
“Particularly, data relevant to monitoring and assessment of the bilateral objective (results) are difficult to extract from some of the reports. Hence, the evaluator recommends that reporting requirements be standardised and clearly communicated to all relevant stakeholders (i.e. what content is required under which headings)” (EFTA, P: 122, 2016).

This here proves that actually the monies that going to the Projects are well-used, but those estimates are issued and checked in the same ways, not specifically different between the Educational or other more industrial collaboration between the Donor-Nations and the representatives.
The COWI report are clear on the levels of ability to use the funds, but have questions of finding clear partners for the projects as the allocation of funds is not an issue. That is mostly put on the spot and paid to the partner program either by the direct from Norwegian grants or by the EEA grants that are fuelled by most of the Norwegian donations. Therefore the monies to the nations and projects are arriving.
The indication of the efficiencies and the learning of the projects are different from what type of Norwegian organization is behind the collaborate effort, as much as the donor nation and the projects are proof of the development and goals of the projects that are funded this way. So they are properly examined and not like with this report they are settled with the same systems and with no consideration of the extent or the actual field they we’re prospecting. So the numbers and the proof of results are questionable. Even if the funds are used and the certain results are visible in certain cultural and historical aspects; we can still question the validity of the results be one-fits all like socks when we talking learning-projects, refurbishing old artefacts and even bilateral corporation one set subject.
The indication of that each separate project under the funding have been using lot of time to find ways of implementing the collaborative effort and finding Norwegian partners for the projects funding through the grants; also how they are supposed to work to fulfil the degrees of plans that have to be there to be able to get funding through the EEA and Norwegian Grants. Also the question under how the outsider COWI struggled with understanding and getting the capacity to see the value of some of the results in some reports from the projects as they we’re all written in different ways and different lengths. Show’s the capacity of streamlining the production of reports and the evaluation of the funding through the bilateral projects as the methods of explaining is and can be hard get the data that is needed to tell the story of the projects. Therefore the methods of reporting need to change and maybe even be in one standard, so the EEA, the bilateral partners and the donors can show their success and value for money. Something that the citizens for both the organizations getting the funds and also the donors who needs to prove that the money is not wasted abroad… something that is key reason for the report to show the progress of the grants in the first place. Peace.
Reference:
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Financial Mechanism Office (FMO) – ‘Mid-term evaluation of the support to strengthened bilateral relations under the EEA and Norway Grants FINAL REPORT’ (June 2016) link: https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/17c16170595b473ab59c7edc5c0208a7/2016-evaluering-bilaterale-relasjoner.pdf

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 10, 2016 – “Violence in the Oromia and Amhara regions of Ethiopia, including reports of killings of protesters as well as of members of the security forces, is deeply worrying. We express our condolences to all those affected. Everyone must refrain from the use of force as further violence can only be an obstacle to peaceful solutions.
The Federal Ethiopian constitution offers mechanisms which should be used by all sides to address the grievances behind the recent protests through constructive dialogue and engagement, without delay.”

We live in a day and age where the content of information is accessible at any time of the day on all kind of formats. It isn’t only pamphlets, posters, newspapers and books. But there are blogs like this; it is digital videos, cable-TV, social-media and all the other ways of gaining information with or without membership pay-walls for the content. In that world of constant ability to gain this, it can either feed the hunger for knowledge or become tiring for the people as the constant newsflashes and breaking news can make your mind boggle and wonder what is really important. Therefore before I continue let see a main definitions of Indifference!
Definitions of the Word:
“lack of interest in or concern about something: an indifferent attitude or feeling” (…)” 1: the quality, state, or fact of being indifferent
2a archaic : lack of difference or distinction between two or more things b : absence of compulsion to or toward one thing or another” (Meriam Webster Dictionary).
As I tried to explain brief in this time and day, we’re all access to information and ability to download reports, getting brief headlines and watching reports on TV or tablets the clarity of what is important can sometimes not sink in. As we check the normal suspects for the commentary or the capability to get news and become reasonable updated on the matters at hand. Though there are stories lost and we can’t know what happens at every corner of the world, than we are stuck between all screens and behind every tweet dropped every hour of the day. We’ll live in a forever groundhog day and wish that we had comic talent of Bill Murray instead of trying to get up to date with current news.

The fear is with the level of information, the different formats and the ability of entertainment and tabloid news. The simplistic and breaking is taking over for the hardcore policy discussions as the direct terror threats and artists dismissals seems more important than the issues of trading and health care policies. The indifference towards the reasons behind the migrations and the reasons for the crisis in Syria for instance are lost in the battle against terror. The devastating idea for why Tunisia, Libya and other states who was has been under fire since the Arab spring have been lost in tales of Clinton and British death, instead of the iconic and important support to build state institutions for the citizens. In countries that before this we’re built around grand dictators like Ben Ali and Gaddafi. Therefore the indifference to the solutions and the real deal behind the fragile state is worrying.
The worrying indifference to the abysmal understanding of the financial structure of Greece and Italy, as the banks of Italy are in limbo; while the state sales and economic liberation while drowning a debt-burden Greece in more greasy debt as they trying to cope with the level of migrations. We should ask ourselves if the European Union forgot counting people or building swimming-pools for the new rich investor elites that got ability to buy state-resources and key installations like Piraeus port harbor for few cents on the dollar. Therefore the indifference for the swallowing the pride and the reactions this might have for the Greek state.

The indifference for rigging elections and supporting peacekeeping armies on the African continent, while the UN Peacekeepers in C.A.R. are using their power to rape and destroy, not only generate peace, as the UN Mission in Western Sahara is more a luxurious club for diplomates than generating mediation and justice for the people under siege from Morocco. But the world is silent. That the DRC are planning to exile more opposition or even detain them before the General Election for a third term for President Kabila and nobody flick their eyes. While the opposition is under siege in Rwanda, but President Kagame is hailed for the economic recovery as the totalitarian leader are oppressive and using forces in the Kivu’s to still steal resources from the Congo. The world doesn’t care or tries to forget. While the Burundi are still in crisis as the third term of President Nkurunziza is bloody, friends and foes of the President vanish and assassinated, while the Inclusive Dialogue by EAC and AU under former Tanzanian President Mpaka are at a standstill. So the state of affairs is far from beautiful. The indifference to matters is staggering as the knowledge of these actions shouldn’t be forgotten.
I wonder if I feel alone on it, like so many didn’t notice the skirmishes and the recent battles from the militias in Beni, in Democratic Republic of Congo. If it was just the Congolese diaspora who wore the yellow color clothes on Sunday’s to remember the dead and spread awareness of the continuing warfare in the region. As the world have forgotten the violence and want to be rest assure that the cobalt and other resources need in the smartphones are exported to factories far away.
The ignorance and indifference are so big as the cable-news and grand media-houses focus on the click-bait and easy journalism instead of digging deep and having questions to the matters. Only following the money, the money always says how the ethical principles a man or woman has; as a person will only spend money on the things and people that they care about. That is a forgotten one, at one point of time with the PanamaPapers, the big media-houses followed it, but when the leaks when silent the interest dwindled as quickly as the importance of Blackburn in British football, which division are they now in?

We can question if the world really want to care, as the violence, the single handily gun-men going on shooting spree and the endless bloodshed is sad to read about and would make your hard. The continuation of news on the freedom fighters or guerrilla of Niger Delta Avengers would be less interesting as long as they’re a giant force in Boko Haram that are steadily doing abductions, kidnaps and killings in Cameroon and Nigeria.
We can’t be able to be refreshed and know about all issues worldwide, but at least not care more about Pokemon Go, Donald Trump’s latest racist tweet or a Stephen Colbert skit. They might a moment of joy and laugh, but with the possible knowledge of destruction, lose forces and able information, we as people shouldn’t let this just go on without questioning the powers to be.
Because as long as the public is kept in the shadow and not knowing, the people will not be able to see what the government or civil society is doing. That gives leeway to do whatever. So with this in mind the people should be interested and question, wonder and check the resources and ability to gain information on the matters. Either if it by Youtube, library or on the newsstand; the government have it easier with ignorant public sphere and indifference to matters both domestic and international, as they don’t have to take a stand and change policy as long as the people doesn’t act upon the issue. Therefore the knowledge and questioning the businesses, government and NGO’s happens when the citizen’s acts upon what we know. Indifference is only earning the government and the ones that already are in power, the danger for them is if we already knows and can anticipate their moves. Because if so, then they can’t away with thieving, lying and deceit of public will. Indifference of this gives way and is a gift to political sphere. Peace.
Reference:
Meriam Webster – ‘Indifference’ link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indifference