Local News

  • Former minister Bitangaro charged over Shs 1.3bn fraud
    Former Bufumbiro South County MP Sam Bitangaro has been charged by the Anti-Corruption court in Kampala with fraud and conspiracy to defraud Kiboga Twegate Cooperatives Society Limited of more than Shs 1.3 billion. Bitangaro appeared before chief magistrate Joan Aciro, who charged him with fraudulent procurement of a land title, causing financial loss, and conspiracy to defraud. According to the prosecution, Bitangaro, along with lawyer John Francis Onyango Owor, Stella Kakuba, and civil servant William Tumwine, engaged in a scheme in May 2014 to fraudulently obtain funds from the cooperative. Bitangaro allegedly presented property in Singo Block 308 plot 122 […]
  • Mixed reaction as former LRA commander is sentenced to 40 years
    A Ugandan court sentenced former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Thomas Kwoyelo to 40 years in prison last Friday. In August, the Ugandan International Crimes Division found Kwoyelo guilty on 44 charges, including murder, pillaging, inhumane acts and gender-based violence such as rape. Lawyers for Kwoyelo, 50, said he is going to appeal the sentence. Francis Okello Oloya, a psychologist and head of a comfort dog project in Gulu for LRA war survivors, was blinded by a bomb blast at the age of 12 during Uganda’s war against the rebels. He told VOA that he welcomes the court process but […]
  • Kidnapped Indian chef rescued from Tanzania
    Kumesh Menaria, an Indian chef who allegedly went missing two months ago and was later smuggled to Tanzania, has been reunited with his family. Menaria, who had worked as a chef in Switzerland since 2007, reportedly went missing following a dispute with his employer. He was allegedly flown to Uganda and held incommunicado at a factory, PRO Industries in Luwero before being smuggled across the border to Tanzania. According to Joseph Obwona, the acting director of Interpol Uganda, Menaria’s son, Mukesh Kumar Menaria, reported the disappearance after losing contact with his father, prompting Swiss authorities to reach out to Interpol. Upon […]
  • Ministry of Works officials arrested over forging PSV licences
    Two employees of the ministry of Works and Transport Goretti Naigaga and Francis Ofwono, have been arrested on allegations of forgery and fraud regarding passenger service vehicle (PSV) licenses. Last Friday, over 40 taxi drivers stormed the office of the Mbale City resident city commissioner (RCC), protesting the impoundment of their vehicles at various traffic police checkpoints. The drivers, including Simon Wamono and Silaji Wandulu, stated they had followed all procedures to obtain their PSV licenses at the ministry of Works offices and paid the necessary fees at UTB bank. Deputy RCC of Industrial City Division, Hamuza Banja, revealed that an […]
  • Museveni defends dissolving Uganda Coffee Development Authority
    President Yoweri Museveni has vigorously defended his government’s decision to collapse the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), downplaying the role it has played over the years in coffee development. In a nine-page response to the opposition against rationalizing UCDA, Museveni said Operation Wealth Creation (OWC0 which is under his brother Gen Salim Saleh and himself has done in a few years more than what UCDA was created to improve coffee productivity and marketability.  “If UCDA and NAADS were successful, why were 68% of the homesteads still outside the money economy by 2013? OWC did much more work than NAADS and […]