Uganda: Clarification on the URA Boss’ visit to Parliament (10.01.2017)

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Total to acquire an additional 21.57% interest from Tullow in the Uganda Lake Albert Project (09.01.2017)

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Paris, January 9, 2017Total and Tullow have entered into a package agreement under which Total will acquire an additional 21.57% interest from Tullow in the Uganda Lake Albert oil project. 
Following this transaction, Total will hold a 54.9% interest, strengthening its position in this competitive project and paving the way for a project sanction in the near future.
The overall consideration paid by Total to Tullow will be $900M, representing a reimbursement of a portion of past costs, payable in installments along the development of the project, with an initial payment of $100M at closing.
 “Following the agreement on the Tanzanian export pipeline route, this transaction gives Total a leadership position to move this project efficiently toward FID in the current attractive cost environment, while providing strong alignment and a pragmatic financing scheme for our partner Tullow,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Total Chairman and CEO. “Our increased share in the Lake Albert project will bring significant value to Total and fits with our strategy of acquiring resources for less than 3$/b with upside potential.
Under the terms of the deal, Total will acquire 21.57% out of Tullow’s existing 33.33% stake in all of the Lake Albert project licenses EA1, EA1A, EA2 and EA3A. Total, which is already operator of licenses EA1 and EA1A, will in addition take over operatorship from Tullow of license EA2, enabling significant efficiency gains and synergies.
Closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory and government approvals and to partner pre-emption rights.
Total in Uganda:
Total has been present in Uganda since 1955 in Marketing and Services with today over 150 service stations across the country and an overall market share of 24%. It is present in Upstream oil since 2011 after acquiring from Tullow a 33.33% interest in the licenses EA1, EA1-A, EA2, and EA3 covering the Lake Albert Oil discoveries. Total is then approved by the Government of Uganda to operate oil exploration and production activities in licenses EA1 and EA1-A
In April 2016, the Government of Uganda decided to export the Lake Albert oil through a pipeline (EACOP) via Tanzania to the port of Tanga. And in August 2016, the production licences for EA1 and EA2 were formally granted. The Uganda Joint Venture is now commencing the FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) phase for the Upstream and the EACOP pipeline.

Opinion: Court Justice Kavuma is a lost soul, as he orders no investigation into the “Presidential Handshake” but Chris Obore says the Parliament motion will go on!

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On the 9th December Court Justice Stephen Kavuma Court Order with Constitutional Application number 07 in the Constitutional Court in Kampala today. What does this order say, that of such importance, this is from the man who during December 2016 was ordering for himself the ability to change his age, so he could work for four more years as Chief Justice. That is length he takes the law into his own and takes decisions.

But earlier in the year during 2016 the Chief Justice Kavuma wrote an Interim Order of 29th April 2016 where he banned the campaign of defiance. So that he is loyalist to the Movement and to the President is clear. There isn’t any indication that is stopping. Because of today the Chief Justice Kavuma ordered this:

“1. An interim order is hereby issued restraining Parliament, any person or authority from investigating, questioning and inquiring into the impugned bonus payments and or staying all proceedings of whatever nature, if any, which may be pending before any forum whatsoever arising from impugned payments, until the main application of No. 06 of 2017 has been determined” (Constitutional Court, 09.01.2017).

We are today seeing a special level of law and understanding of law as the Constitutional Court are banning and ordering the Attorney General John Muwanga who wanted to have an inquiry of the “Presidential Handshake”. The Presidential Handshake that are known in public because of the bonuses and kickbacks given to public servants and others loyal to the Movement. Parts of the ones who we’re parts of the Uganda Revenue Authority and others; which is the URA who won a case against the petroleum drilling companies Tullow Oil and Heritage who has licence to drill in the Lake Albert Basin. Certainly these billions of shillings are questionable as the Court Justice has to do this.

The Constitutional Court is then overriding the Attorney General and the Parliament, the Parliament that has Members of Parliament, who cannot and are not allowed to do their duty to make checks and balances of the use of public funds. This proves that the Government of Uganda doesn’t need accountability or transparency as even the investigations of the Presidential handshake is illegal. But if somebody wants more documents to be leaked; please to do so, we the people and voices for governance can undress these kingpins and the racket called the Movement regime.

The Presidential Handshake is a questionable act that is not following international standards as the URA proclaimed days after. But on the same day as the Court Justice wanted to silence the Republic and be loyal to Mzee, Chris Obore of the Parliament had this to say:

“The Speaker and the Prime Minister discussed parliament business. When the matter of the now controversial oil bonus payments christened “presidential handshake” came up, the Speaker said the motion prepared by some Members of Parliament would be tabled. She advised the Minister concerned to prepare to provide MPs with explanations” (Chris Obore – ‘Press Release” 09.01.2017).

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So Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and PM Ruhakana Rugunda will not listen to the courts, they will have the Parliamentary Session on the Motion filed, even as the Court Order has been set. The same acts happen on the same day and proves that there is different understand on the laws and orders. As when Chief Justice Kavuma we’re banning defiance the Interim Order we’re hold and kept. But now with the Presidential Handshake, the Parliament will defy this and resist the court order. This is proving the power of the courts and also the mismanagement of Uganda. When these cannot work together and honour each other it proves the obstacles of procedures and protocols.

This shows how the need for transparency and accountability in the republic when the Parliament are not following and secondly not in the loop of the courts. The Parliament is creating the laws and the Courts are supposed to use them to sanctions and regulate society. This proves how President Museveni and his regime has built a fragile and fragmented organizations that following his orders, therefore the Presidential Handshake is now not only a question of the ones who was pocketed and gotten ill-gains from the Uganda Revenue Authority, but now it is a legal question for the MPs even to have an inquiry on the matter.

This story is not over, it will continue to walk and soon run, when it is closed or when it is all unravelled. The Presidential Handshake is not over, we’re just waiting for Museveni to shake somebody else hands and give a few more heavy envelopes. Peace.

Opinion: Ugandan Government rising debt levels, brings fear of higher inflation, devalued currency and defaulting on the debt!

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Well, an election year and campaigning as a tyrant and dictator cost, the fortunes splashed on fellow peers and citizens to buy goodwill costs. The price usually happens after the splash funds on villages and on buses. The estimated exhaust of funds and State House can strain the economy. Therefore after elections in the past there been rising food-prices, more expensive oil and gas and other needed imported goods for the average citizen.

This is happening as the donor-community doesn’t have the same faith in the Movement or the President that been there since 1986. His longevity is now hurting him, as his tricks of trade isn’t building steady progress, instead he is using up every single allocation to make sure the loyal servants and movement peers are paid-in-full, even as his own party haven’t paid salaries for months. There are rumours of how the Special Force Command with Maj. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has gotten their salaries received as much there are questions of the government bailouts of the friends and business-mates of Gen. Salim Selah.

Still, the economic problems continue to arise, the ill-minded would say there hope of wealth, but the lack of transparency, misused funds as the Uganda Revenue Authority – Oil Money scheme and other’s prove there are lacking accountability for how the government funds are spent. This with the knowledge of the lacking salaries to teachers and even Local Government funds that are spent without concern of showing where it got spent; all these activities doesn’t give confidence and trust between the stakeholders and citizens.

With all of this in mind the revelation that the growing debt are now eating too much of government spending, as the arising splashing of funds to civil servants are happening; the reports from Bank of Uganda (BoU) isn’t a beautiful fairy-tale, instead it is doom.

“In its state-of-the-economy report for December 2016, BOU said: “There are also perceptions in the market that Uganda may not be able to service its rising debt levels.” (…) “The central bank said external debt has grown rapidly and, on a commitment basis, is now estimated at $10.7bn as at end of October 2016. BOU said: “A lump up [in] infrastructure investment has contributed to a rise in our debt portfolio in recent years.” (…) “Uganda’s public debt burden has risen by 12.7 per cent to 38.6 per cent of GDP in 2016/17 from 25.9 per cent of GDP in 2012/13. BOU says it is projected to continue rising towards 45 per cent of GDP by 2020” (Mwesigwa, 2017).

Highlights on the 2015/16 budget (New Vision Graphic)
Highlights on the 2015/16 budget (New Vision Graphic)

That the Movement and the NRM are not able to service their debt, is an indication and will also create a problem with the banks and multi-national financial institutions that has offered these loans to help the government with the day-to-day operations of a sufficient government, as well as offering loans to promising infrastructure projects. These all are now in danger of defaulting loans. These levels are estimated to become 45% of the income of the Republic, which is not the sign of riches; more of poverty and mismanagement. The Executive that has been leading the nations for the decades have seen the signs of the wall, but instead of telling the truth; he has promised industrial revolution and amazing progress that would be bigger than when the United Kingdom found out how to earn money on the Steam-Engine. The same kind of promises to become a middle income nation, when your debt burden is arising as rapidly as it is doing now.

This should be worrying as the Movement has revealed and gotten released plans for own total production and releasing own notes, that could also increase possibilities of devaluing the currency, this with growing debt can create a hyper-inflation that only his fellow comrade has been able to create in Zimbabwe. That is the worst case scenario if the bank-notes production gets out of bond to sort of make quick fortunes for the Movement.

The Movement has all their days used any kind of acts to get monies for themselves and hide it away, only when gotten public they needed to have inquiries and detain the ones that not kingpins, but the low-level employees that doesn’t hurt the leadership. Therefore the concern of not a fiscal well-thought monetary policy, as the Movement are more settled on building projects without having to have giant loans from Multi-National Monetary lenders like IMF; AfDB and others. These loans has to be paid back and also with interest. As the Government bonds has also lost their track compared to the need of sufficient funding. These institutional defaults and as well with the lack of clear conscience of the use of funds, shows the Movement has to step up their game if they don’t want their currency and their budget to lack funds for the coming budget year.

The growing loans will also stop the amount of absorbed funds in the republic goes down as the government has to use bigger parts of the resources on loans, as the extended collected funds from URA might have grown, but they are not collecting enough to keep up with the debt. If so they wouldn’t have defaulted and probably would have paid their interest and debt rate as promised when they we’re accepting taking on the debt.

Time for the Movement and their regime to charge, change patterns, their eating as much as they can, but they will leave the next one with a huge bill of no-confidence, while their short-term riches will be spoiled and devalued as the coming depressing economic stability will not give the market and the currency the needed trust as it should has a tool for exchange values between two parties. Peace.

Reference:

Mwesigwa, Alon – ‘CENTRAL BANK WARNS ABOUT RISING DEBT’ (06.01.2017) link: http://www.observer.ug/business/50631-central-bank-warns-about-rising-debt

Joint Statement on the Passage of Humanitarian Assistance through Sudan to South Sudan (06.01.2017)

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The MoU will be extended for another six months, from 1 January to 30 June 2017.

KHARTOUM, Sudan, January 6, 2017 – The Joint Technical Committee (JTC) on Passage of Humanitarian Assistance from Sudan to South Sudan – comprised of representatives of the Governments of South Sudan, Sudan and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) – is pleased to announce the extension of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will allow for the continued movement of food assistance through Sudan to South Sudan.

The MoU will be extended for another six months, from 1 January to 30 June 2017.  The JTC is confident that an extension of the MoU will further contribute to ongoing efforts to prevent hunger among the food-insecure and conflict-affected people in South Sudan, particularly those living in the border state of Upper Nile.

First signed in 2014, the MoU has enabled WFP Sudan to deliver 54,420 metric tons of emergency and nutrition assistance to over 200,000 South Sudanese in Upper Nile state. From January to November 2016, WFP transported 28,626 metric tons of emergency food assistance using 26 convoys through the Sudan corridor.

With this six-month extension, WFP will be able to deliver food to more than 50,000 South Sudanese in food-insecure areas of South Sudan. A portion of the food will be purchased locally in Sudan, supporting Sudanese farmers.

The JTC also commends the close coordination and collaboration between the governments of Sudan and South Sudan at all levels. This has enabled the JTC to set up mechanisms that minimized delays and reduce the time needed to obtain customs clearance.

Opinion: A “Presidential Handshake” from Mzee is apparently a thing!

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“When men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken.”

Benjamin Disraeli

Well, President Museveni is like himself, always. He doesn’t stutter or change codes overnight; he just continues the steady progress towards abomination of civil society and state institution, which seem more like his goal than actually making procedures and clear ways of actions for his civil servants. Why do I make this statement?

Well, Uganda Revenue Authority won a Markie case against the Oil Drilling Company Tullow/Heritage Oil who has rights to drill oil from the Lake Albert Basins and therefore is sanctioned and has to pay tax on their services and salaries to the Republic of Uganda. Something that is straight forward, but isn’t since the licence agreements and the drilling operations are kept in the dark of the society and citizens, cannot double check the agreement between them or the Memorandum of Understanding to comprehend the details that their operations on Ugandan soil entails.

Still, the recent revelations of cash bonanza and personal relief from the Consolidation Fund of the URA staff and former government employees show to the extent a President offering a token of appreciation for their work on winning the case and getting taxes back to the Republic for the foreign drilling company operation. So on the 25th January 2015 the URA wrote specifically to the Office of the President discussing the possibility of a reward. By November 2015, there arrived a letter where their Parliament could Post-Audit the Budgets to add the UGX6bn from the Consolidation Fund, this was a letter received by the Auditor General John Muwanga by the 2nd November 2016. So that today after the released letter of the bonuses we’re released online during the last 48 hours or so. The URA had to explain the matter of confidence between the President Museveni and their civil servants.

The Presidential Handshake that is so powerful to pay former staff and former government employees, even close knitted URA staffers who worked on the case, even Allen Kagina of UNRA got a decent slash fund from the pay-outs.

Prof Joe Oloka Onyango said in October 2016 this about the State House:

“In early 1980s, when this country was under the leadership of Godfrey Binaisa Lukongwa, State House was like a market place. Today, State House has been converted into an ATM” (Wesaka & Adengo, 2016).

Certainly the knowledge of these arrangements from the Revenue Authority wasn’t known, but a broke State House after an elections, says it all; together with the acts like an open-air bazar where all RDC and DPC got new fresh cars. Together with chiefs and others got good gifts. These together with the NRM Village Programme where they poured out dozens of shillings to each district and village as the ballots we’re soon getting dropped. This behind the scenes acts of URA we’re unknown.

So a “Presidential Handshake” that shows how little value accountability and transparency as the taxes that are back-paid are given as rewards, not paying for fixing schools, paying salaries of teachers and lectures, are not used for tarmac or other public needs. The monies are used to buy loyalty and given to silence them from turning against the President.

These acts counter the progression and even fair use of public funds, it’s a theft, a heist of grand proportions, in a way where the liabilities and righteous earned tax-funds can end up in the close knitted elite and staffers of URA instead of being used for the development of the Republic. This is maladministration and mismanagement of the Consolidation Fund and of the earnings made on the payback of the Tax to the Republic.

Certainly a handshake is now enough to get kickbacks from the Mzee, he is certainly an ATM where the stocks of loyalty get rewards and paid. Doesn’t matter how and about accountability, because it is only the citizens who loose, not the President himself! Peace.

Reference:

Wesaka, Anthony & Adengo, Jonathan – ‘State House turning into ATM, says Mak don’ (11.10.2016) link: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/State-House—ATM–Mak-don-/688334-3411968-1155d8t/index.html

URA given a “Presidential Handshake” to dole out UGX6.bn on staff (05.01.2017)

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The Letter: 

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Second letter:

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Transactions:

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Hon. Beti Kamya letter: “Re: Payment of Emulations for Lord Mayor” (02.01.2017)

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“Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago will not be paid his salary arrears worth UGX560m or any other related benefits between November 2013 to May 2016. In a letter signed by Minister for Kampala Beti Kamya, Erias Lukwago‘s emoluments can only be ‘addressed after Court of Appeal and Supreme Court have conclusively determined whether he was lawfully impeached from office or not'” (NBS TV Uganda, 03.01.2017).

South Sudan: Extreme levels of Food Insecurity expected across South Sudan in 2017 (December 2016)

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SPLM-IO: On the Allegations of detention of Tanzanian Citizen (02.01.2017)

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