Category: Daily Monitor

The yellow mangoes of June hang from trees across northern Uganda like lanterns in the sky.

Ripe, sweet and abundant, they signal a season many children eagerly await. But this year, the fruit has become an unexpected source of tragedy, with hospitals reporting a growing number of injuries linked to falls from mango trees.

In Omiri Parish, Iceme Sub-county in Oyam District, seven-year-old Fibi lies on a hospital bed, her future uncertain after a fall that has left her struggling to speak coherently.

On June 10, her parents left home to attend a funeral in a neighbouring village. Fibi, a Primary Two pupil at Omiri Primary School, walked home with friends after classes ended.

Along the way stood a mango tree heavy with ripe fruit.

‘Today I will climb where no child has ever reached,’ Fibi reportedly told her friends as she stared at the golden mangoes hanging high above.

According to her mother, hunger pushed the child up the tree.

‘She picked two mangoes and ate them quickly. Then she stretched higher for another one. The branch gave way and she fell,’ she recalled.

Fibi’s nine-year-old sister carried her to a nearby clinic for first aid before neighbours alerted the family.

She was later referred from Aboke Health Centre IV to Lira Regional Referral Hospital, where she remains admitted in the female surgical ward.

Her mother says the child was unconscious for three days.

‘Since June 13, she talks, but not in ways anyone can understand,’ she said.

When this reporter visited the ward on Sunday, Fibi occasionally muttered disconnected words.

‘Kella ogwal ogwal,’ she whispered, asking for a frog.

Her case is one of several reported during this year’s mango season.

At Aboke Health Centre IV, another patient was recovering after falling from a mango tree while allegedly attempting to harvest fruits from a neighbour’s compound. Medical examinations reportedly revealed multiple fractures around his waist.

In Aleka Sub-county, Oyam District, LC1 chairman Baker Okech said his son, a Primary Four pupil, broke both arms after falling from a mango tree in May.

Hospital records suggest such incidents are becoming increasingly common.

Officials at Lira Regional Referral Hospital say at least three children were admitted between June 13 and June 14 alone after falling from mango trees.

For many families, the incidents highlight the difficult realities facing rural communities, where children often climb trees to satisfy hunger, collect fruits for sale, or simply seek adventure.

Doctors warn that falls from tall trees can result in severe head injuries, fractures, spinal damage and, in some cases, permanent disability.

Community leaders are now urging parents and guardians to take preventive measures, including harvesting fruits using sticks or pruning trees to make fruits more accessible without climbing.

Health workers are also calling for increased awareness among children about the dangers associated with scaling tall trees.

‘The mangoes are sweet, but the risks are real,’ one health worker said.

Back at Lira Regional Referral Hospital, Fibi’s mother keeps a quiet vigil by her daughter’s bedside, holding her hand and hoping for recovery.

Outside, mango trees remain heavy with fruit.

Inside the ward, however, the season carries a different meaning.

For families affected by these accidents, the lesson is painfully clear: no mango is worth a broken body or a shattered future.

Maj Gen (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire, the former minister of Internal Affairs, didn’t mince his words about the leadership of the Uganda Police Force as he handed over office to the new minister last week.

As Prof Ephraim Kamuntu officially took the reins from Gen Otafiire as minister of Internal Affairs, the latter lamented that during his tenure, some police leaders turned a deaf ear to his instructions and instead went their own way.

‘All was well until [Maj Gen Geoffrey] Katsigazi left. You remember we were doing well until this regime came in. Some of them were not listening. Their problem was not listening. You tell them, don’t do this [they do the contrary],’ Gen Otafiire said last week. Maj Gen Katsigazi had served as Deputy Inspector General of Police and later as Acting Inspector General of Police before President Museveni appointed Mr Abas Byakagaba as IGP and Mr James Ocaya as his deputy.

Barely a day after leaving the ministry, Gen Otafiire took to his X platform, posting: ‘Hon Professor @KamuntuProf, I forgot to tell you, please don’t tolerate any form of extrajudicial killings, especially by a few rogue officers in the Crime Intelligence Directorate.’

When the Daily Monitor sought Mr Byakagaba’s reaction to his former supervisor’s remarks, he kept his cards close to his chest.

‘I have no comment. I can’t comment,’ IGP Byakagaba said yesterday. Maj Gen Damulira, the director of Crime Intelligence, too, brushed off the statement.

‘It is politics and blackmail,’ Gen Damulira said on Saturday. Initially, Gen Otafiire got along well with Mr Byakagaba at first, and even said publicly that he was so proactive compared with the former IGP Martins Ochola.

But by the time Gen Otafiire left the ministry, he wasn’t seeing eye-to-eye with Mr Byakagaba and some of the police directors, including Gen Damulira. Mr Byakagaba skipped the handover meeting at the Internal Affairs Ministry headquarters last week, sending his deputy, Mr Ocaya, in his stead. Police directors also gave the event a wide berth. After the 2021 General Election, Gen Otafiire and Gen Damulira had worked hand in glove, with Gen Otafiire commending him for investigations into cases involving National Unity Platform supporters.

In December 2022, during the Police Council at Police Headquarters in Naguru, Gen Otafiire sang the praises of Maj Gen Damulira for chasing down NUP’s claims about tortured supporters.

‘I have discovered that some of the people who were taken for a demonstration were boda boda accident victims. People took to Nairobi boda boda accident victims and claimed that they were victims of torture,’ Maj Gen Otafiire said.

‘This is criminal, and those people who did that should be brought to book. This is not politics. It has gone beyond the boundary of politics. It has become criminal. This is treason,’ he added.

Security sources said the duo’s friendship hit the rocks after Gen Otafiire and Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, now Chief of Defence Forces, locked horns over the latter succeeding his father, Mr Yoweri Museveni, as president of Uganda.

‘When the exchange was so intense, both were invited by Gen Salim Saleh for a ceasefire. Unfortunately, Gen Muhoozi went with Maj Gen Damulira, who is supervised by Gen Otafiire. From that day, their relationship turned sour around 2024,’ a source said.

Gen Otafiire often accused personnel from the Directorate of Crime Intelligence of playing fast and loose with the law by torturing suspects and carrying out illegal arrests.

In earlier interviews with this publication, Maj Gen Damulira didn’t sweep such allegations under the rug.

He admitted that illegal actions like torture and arrests existed among some of his personnel but insisted they were the handiwork of individuals who, once unmasked, were brought to heel. A senior police officer told this publication that Gen Otafiire, as chairperson of the Police Authority – the highest police organ – had no bone to pick with Mr Byakagaba himself, but clashed with many directors, especially those seated on the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC). ‘I doubt that they would even talk to each other on the phone. For more than a year, Gen Otafiire didn’t call any meeting with the police. Not even one for the preparation plan for the General Elections,’ a source said.

The source chalked up the frosty relationship between Gen Otafiire and the police leadership to a mixed bag of issues; land wrangles, irregular promotions, divided loyalties, and contested tenders. Months after Gen Otafiire had been appointed Minister of Internal Affairs in 2021, he declared that top of his to do list was improving the welfare and housing of the police and other agencies under his wing. Gen Otafiire championed a public private procurement project to build 69,000 housing units for personnel in the police, prisons, and immigration services. In February 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs threw its weight behind Edicomsa International, a Spanish company, to spearhead accommodation development for the three institutions. Police, then under Mr Ochola’s leadership, raised eyebrows and protested the deal, doubting the company’s very existence.

The brass feared the police might end up losing their land to private investors in the bargain. That was the red flag that prompted the finance ministry to sound the alarm, questioning Edicomsa International’s proposals since the firm hadn’t laid its cards on the table about costs, construction sites, or repayment plans. The Solicitor General also slammed the brakes on direct procurement, insisting instead on competitive bidding for private investors. The finance ministry directed the formation of a technical committee, as required by procurement rules.

The committee was tasked with nailing down land ownership, house designs, and repayment modalities. During the 2022 Police Council at Naguru Headquarters, Gen Otafiire accused the committee of dragging its feet and failing to clear the air on queries raised by the finance ministry. He gave the police Under Secretary, Mr Aggrey Wunyi, and his colleagues 90 days to tie up loose ends on the accommodation project or face the axe. Mr Ochola’s leadership, together with Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MFPED) officials, kept throwing spanners in the works until they were sure the government wouldn’t lose its land. Gen Otafiire was far from pleased with these developments.

Accommodation standoff

In November 2023, during the pass out of police and immigration officers at Police Training School in Kabalye, Masindi District, he tore into officials from the MFPED for dragging their heels on the accommodation projects. ‘Let me take this opportunity to accuse the Ministry of Finance that if it wasn’t for their bureaucratic methods of handling things, we would have gone far. The housing situation for these three institutions is pathetic,’ Maj Gen Otafiire told President Museveni. ‘So, Your Excellency, I would like you to fire the officers in the Ministry of Finance to finish the PPP (Public Private Partnership) project thing. You know when I talk, they think I am small, and I am a troublemaker. But I will not keep quiet,’ he said. When Mr Ochola’s term ended and he bowed out of the police in March 2024, the acting IGP, Maj Gen Katsigazi, put the housing project back on the table.

Two months later, Mr Byakagaba was appointed IGP. Gen Otafiire painted Mr Byakagaba as forward-thinking, unlike Mr Ochola, who often hid behind the letter of the law to dodge his directives. Once Mr Byakagaba settled into the hot seat, he began to question Otafiire’s marching orders. The two locked horns after the Ministry of Internal Affairs allowed private developers to carve out part of the Criminal Investigations Directorate’s land in Kibuli. Although the minister had green lit the takeover, Mr Byakagaba dug in his heels, insisting the land belonged to the police. A source said the matter snowballed all the way to the president, who stepped in and slammed the door on the investors. Gen Otafiire then wrote to the parties, confirming that the land was police property.

In September 2024, CID Director Tom Magambo told President Museveni during his visit to CID headquarters at Kibuli, that he was ready to nab the ‘mafias’ trying to steal police land. Mr Magambo added that Gen Otafiire had settled the land issue, affirming it was police-owned. The thorny issue of promotions also drove a wedge between Gen Otafiire and the police leadership. While handing over office last week, Gen Otafiire lamented that the police brass had let him down in his bid to elevate officers. ‘Like the promotions. How many times have I called for promotions? I want to promote this number. And they would say ‘we aren’t ready.’ My friend,’ Gen Otafiire said. A police source involved in the process confirmed they had shelved the promotion lists after uncovering massive irregularities in June 2023. ‘The police sent a list of officers recommended to be promoted to the chairman of the Police Authority.

But when the promotion list came out, it had over 300 names of officers who hadn’t been recommended for promotion. Undeserving officers got promotions while their seniors were not,’ the source said. At least 1,638 police officers were promoted, including seven senior commissioners, 17 commissioners, and several other senior officers. The source revealed that the promotion list was riddled with deserters, deceased officers, and individuals with criminal records, a recipe for embarrassment that left the police red faced. ‘There is a lady who deserted the police and fled to Canada. She was on the promotion list. She laughed at us on her social media platforms,’ a source said. The senior officer noted that the fiasco forced them to tread carefully when sending promotion lists to the chairman of the Police Authority. Since the 2023 debacle, only a handful of police officers have managed to climb the ladder.

Another bone of contention that set the police leadership at loggerheads with their immediate supervisor was the CCTV camera maintenance deal, which the Internal Affairs Ministry awarded to a private company, Dealan Associates Limited. According to sources, despite the minister’s insistence that the company be paid, the police did not. The company was contracted to provide services worth Shs26b. The standoff escalated, prompting the parties to seek President Museveni’s intervention. Mr Museveni ordered parallel investigations by the Internal Security Organisation and the State House Anti Corruption Unit.

In his May 26, 2026 letter to the head of public service, Mr Museveni directed that the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lt Gen Joseph Musanyufu, and the Police Under Secretary, Mr Aggrey Wunyi, be sent on forced leave for six months while the Anti Corruption Unit got to the bottom of the matter. As Gen Otafiire signed off, he told the police leadership that he wasn’t done with them.

‘And don’t think I have left the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are from Fronasa (the Front for National Salvation, a rebel group that was led by Mr Museveni in the 1970s). I told you. You people play around… You people work for promotion. For us, work for what we believe. That is why we put our lives on the line to ensure that we improve the lives of the people. So, professor, he will help you. I am comfortable with him (DIGP Ocaya),’ Gen Otafiire said.

Christopher Okello Onyum, who was sentenced to death for the murder of four toddlers at a daycare centre in Ggaba has appealed both his conviction and sentence, arguing that the trial court failed to properly evaluate the evidence and wrongly rejected his insanity defence.

Onyum has filed a notice of appeal before the Court of Appeal challenging the April 30 judgment of the High Court, which convicted him of murdering four children at a daycare centre in Ggaba.

Court records show Okello is seeking to overturn the decision of Justice Alice Komuhangi Khaukha, who found him guilty of the murders of Eteku Gideon, Keisha Agenorwoth Otim, Sseruyange Ignatius and Odeke Ryan.

In his memorandum of appeal dated June 12, Okello argues that the trial judge failed to properly assess the evidence before reaching a guilty verdict.

“That the Learned Judge erred in law and fact when she failed to properly evaluate the evidence before her thereby arriving at a wrong conclusion and occasioned a miscarriage of justice,” the appeal states.

He also challenges the court’s rejection of his claim that he was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the killings.

“That the Learned trial Judge erred in law and fact by not properly evaluating the medical evidence regarding the mental status of the Appellant thereby arriving at a wrong decision,” the appeal adds.

Okello further argues that the death sentence imposed on him was excessive and should be set aside or reduced.

The appellant is asking the Court of Appeal to quash the convictions, set aside the sentence and order his release.

The case stems from the killing of four children at a daycare centre in Ggaba on April 2, 2026, an incident that shocked the country.

While sentencing him, Justice Komuhangi described the murders as falling within the “rarest of rare” category deserving the maximum penalty.

The judge rejected the insanity defence, ruling that medical evidence presented before court did not support claims that Okello was mentally ill when the offences were committed.

“The accused was very sane in April when committing these offences. Therefore, his defence of insanity won’t help him,” she ruled.

In imposing sentence, the court cited the vulnerability of the victims, the circumstances of the attack and what it described as the convict’s lack of remorse.

Justice Komuhangi also stated that she believed the killings were linked to ritual sacrifice, saying she could find no other explanation for the attack on children in a place expected to provide safety and care.

The death sentence was welcomed by relatives of the victims and residents who attended the mobile court session in Ggaba, with some applauding the ruling.

The Court of Appeal is expected to fix a hearing date for the appeal.

The tears came before the words. A father stood outside a hospital room in Kampala, trying to make peace with whatever was coming next.

Inside, doctors were running tests on his baby daughter after sedating her. Inside was uncertainty. Outside was prayer.

‘I told God, whatever results come out, I love my baby girl,’ recalls Joshua Lubwama, the URA midfielder and community psychologist.

The diagnosis

Then the results came. His daughter, who was approaching her first birthday, had been diagnosed with a hearing impairment.

They arrived home with their baby girl, still recovering from the sedation, and a sheet of results.

Lubwama, 28, remembers reading it over and over again. What hit him hardest was the confirmation that his daughter could not hear.

‘I remember shouting at home and saying, ‘God, this is not what I prayed for.”

Four years later, Lubwama can finally tell that story publicly. He shares it now during a conversation on The Game of Life podcast. Until then, it had remained largely within the family.

Not as a victim. Not as a man seeking sympathy. But as a father who has travelled from fear to acceptance, from silence to understanding, and from heartbreak to hope.

The journey to that moment had already been long. Long before he became a midfielder with URA, Lubwama was the small boy nobody thought could play football.

He laughs about it now, recalling how a teacher looked at his slight frame and wondered whether a ball would knock him over. Yet it was that doubt that fuelled him.

‘I started kicking that ball to disprove somebody,’ he recalls. Football took him places.

From Luweero to youth tournaments in Kenya. From Masaza Cup football with Bulemeezi and Gomba to the Uganda Premier League with Bul, Wakiso Giants and eventually URA.

The psychologist

Along the way he acquired another identity. While many footballers dream only of the next contract, Lubwama pursued a degree in Community Psychology.

The inspiration came from his mother, who repeatedly told him he had a gift for listening to people and helping them through problems.

At university he ignored more conventional options and followed what he believed was a calling.

Today, teammates jokingly refer to him as ‘mental health’. The nickname is not entirely misplaced.

Players have approached him with problems they could not share publicly.

One spoke of losing a loved one and reaching a point where life no longer felt worth living.

Another struggled after being denied money he was contractually entitled to.

Lubwama listened. He referred them to professionals. He helped where he could.

The first test

Yet for all the support he offered others, he found himself struggling when life confronted him personally.

The first major test came during his time at Bul. A collision in a friendly match left him with a fractured shinbone. The injury sidelined him for more than a year.

At one point he watched football from the sidelines on crutches, fighting tears as other players enjoyed the game he loved.

‘I would see my tears just dropping off my eyes,’ he says. The emotional pain deepened when he saw his mother cry after he returned home injured.

For a while he wondered whether football had abandoned him. Instead, football gave him another chance. He rebuilt his career at Wakiso Giants and later moved to URA.

The daughter, the news

Life stabilised. He married Gloria Alice Namugga, a nurse he had met through her sister while still in school.

They welcomed a daughter they named Janelle Blessing. Then came the diagnosis.

Like many parents, Lubwama and his wife first noticed small signs.

Their daughter was not responding to sounds. She was not saying the words they expected to hear. Family members urged patience. Children develop differently, they were told.

But the concern remained. A visit to specialists led to more tests and eventually the hospital appointment neither parent will ever forget.

What followed was one of the loneliest periods of Lubwama’s life.

His wife cried. He tried to be strong. He reported for training. He said nothing.

‘I felt it wasn’t the best time for the coach to understand what I was going through,’ he says.

His performances suffered. People noticed his form had dipped. Few knew why. ‘I wasn’t opening up to anybody.’

Many questions, few answers

The irony was impossible to ignore. Here was a community psychologist encouraging others to speak, yet unable to speak himself.

Here was a man advocating for mental wellness while privately carrying one of the heaviest burdens of his life.

He remembers worrying about everything. Would his daughter go to school? Would she achieve her dreams? Would she live a normal life?

Could she become the doctor he had always hoped she would be?

Some people offered encouragement. Others offered doubt.

But Lubwama made a decision. ‘I told myself I’m not leaving my wife. I love her and we love our baby girl.’

It became the foundation upon which everything else was built.

‘First deaf doctor’

The family explored hearing aids. They considered cochlear implants. They sought medical opinions. They learned sign language. Most importantly, they embraced their daughter exactly as she was.

Today, the fear that once consumed him has given way to perspective.

His daughter is four years old. She is cheerful. Loving. Curious.

And her father speaks about her with unmistakable pride. ‘Trust me, she’s a loving girl. She’s a caring girl.’

Then comes the line that captures the transformation of the man sitting across the table.

‘By the grace of God, she’s turning out to be a doctor. If there is no deaf doctor, my baby girl is going to be the first deaf doctor.’

In fact, what should give Lubwama encouragement is that there are already precedents.

Around the world, deaf men and women are practising medicine. In the United States, Dr Philip Zazove became one of the first deaf physicians to be licensed, going on to build a distinguished career in family medicine and medical research.

In Britain, consultant neurologist Dr Helen Grote has also shown that deafness need not be a barrier to a career in medicine.

For Lubwama, this is now less about precedent and more about possibility. Four years after a diagnosis that once left him shattered, he now sees a future filled not with limitations, but opportunities.

His statement is not of a defeated father. It is the statement of a father who has learned that dreams sometimes change shape but never lose value.

Speak up, love more

Perhaps that is why Lubwama’s final message feels earned. He asks athletes to speak up. He asks society to listen. He asks families to support rather than judge.

And he asks parents facing similar circumstances to love their children fully.

‘It’s not a curse,’ he says. ‘Love that child. Learn the language they understand. They need you, and you also need them.’

For years, Lubwama helped others find the courage to talk. Now, finally, he has found the strength to do the same.

JOSHUA LUBWAMA – PROFILE

Professional footballer and midfielder for URA

28 years old

Holds a degree in Community Psychology

Formerly played for Bul and Wakiso Giants

Represented Uganda at the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations

Played Masaza Cup football for Bulemeezi and Gomba

Suffered a career-threatening leg fracture during his time at Bul before returning to top-flight football

Mental health advocate and community speaker

Married to Gloria Alice Namugga, a nurse

Father to Janelle Blessing Lubwama

Passionate about athlete welfare, mental health awareness and life-after-sport preparation

The electricity sub-sector is facing mounting financial stress, with the Ministry of Finance warning that financially distressed power utilities could require government intervention.

The warning is contained in the Ministry of Finance’s Contingent Liabilities Annual Report 2024/25, which identifies the energy sector as the single largest source of risk within the state-owned enterprise portfolio.

The report specifically flags Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL) and Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) among the country’s highest-risk state enterprises and warns that continued financial deterioration among electricity utilities could ultimately force government intervention.

The assessment is reinforced by findings in the Auditor General’s report released earlier in the year, which shows that key electricity companies are struggling with underutilised infrastructure, weak cash flows, mounting liabilities, and operational inefficiencies.

Dominating the debt burden

The scale of the risk is reflected in the concentration of debt and liabilities within the electricity sector, with the report showing that UEGCL, UETCL, and UEDCL together carry liabilities amounting to about Shs11.41 trillion, making the electricity subsector by far the biggest source of financial exposure among state-owned enterprises.

The report shows that total liabilities across all state-owned enterprises stood at Shs13.56 trillion in the 2024/25 financial year, which means that the three utility companies account for 84 percent of the entire liability stock.

UEGCL carries liabilities of about Shs6.83 trillion, UETCL Shs3.98 trillion, while UEDCL holds roughly Shs597b.

The concentration means that financial distress within the electricity sector poses a disproportionate threat to public finances and makes power utilities the largest source of financial risk facing government’s revenues.

UETCL: Vulnerable enterprise

Among the most alarming cases is UETCL, which is responsible for transmitting electricity across the country.

Ministry of Finance identifies UETCL as one of the most financially vulnerable state enterprises, with the Contingent Liabilities Annual Report showing that the company had a current ratio of just 0.31, meaning it had only 31 cents in short-term assets for every shilling of short-term obligations.

Its leverage ratio stood at 1.08, indicating that liabilities exceeded assets, while its debt-service coverage ratio turned sharply negative because operating cash flows were insufficient to meet debt obligations.

The report warns that such weaknesses increase the likelihood that government could eventually be called upon to support the utility.

The findings are supported by the Auditor General’s report, which in January reported that UETCL’s financial performance deteriorated sharply, moving from a profit of Shs82.25b in the 2023/24 financial year to a loss of 293.1b in the 2024/25 financial year.

The Auditor General also reported that UETCL was burdened by Shs1.48 trillion in outstanding receivables, while significant portions of its transmission infrastructure remained underutilised or incomplete.

Impact of Karuma on UEGCL

The financial strain is also evident at UEGCL, the government-owned power producer responsible for Karuma, Isimba, and other generation assets.

UEGCL reported a profit of Shs25.02b in the 2024/25 financial year, falling sharply from Shs54.28b in the previous year.

The decline was largely linked to the underutilisation of the 600MW Karuma Hydropower Plant, which, according to findings of the Auditor General, generated only 808.27 GWh, equivalent to about 30 percent of available capacity, and realised only Shs148.16b against projected earnings of Shs316.42b.

At the same time, UEGCL’s receivables increased from Shs118.66b to Shs156.91b, largely because UETCL had failed to settle power purchase obligations amounting to Shs108.94b.

Thus, the Ministry of Finance in its Contingent Liabilities Annual Report notes that these challenges have translated into serious financial vulnerability, classifying UEGCL among the country’s highest-risk entities and describing it as ‘extremely illiquid and highly leveraged.’

The report shows that UEGCL had a current ratio of just 0.05, a debt-service coverage ratio of 0.75, and a leverage ratio of 1.45, which means that liabilities significantly exceeded assets.

It also notes that the company relies heavily on government on-lent debt, warning that companies in such positions pose a growing risk to public finances because failure to meet obligations may require government support.

UEDCL in the troubled mix

The Ministry of Finance’s report also places UEDCL among the electricity companies contributing to growing fiscal risks.

While the report focuses more on UEGCL and UETCL, it also identifies UEDCL as one of the state-owned enterprises that recorded losses during the 2024/25 financial year, warning that continued deficits in critical utilities could jeopardise service delivery.

The Contingent Liabilities Annual Report indicates that UEDCL carries approximately Shs597.3b in non-debt liabilities, including deferred tax obligations, trade payables, deferred income, and capital grant obligations, which put it in a distressed financial position.

This is partly blamed on the dramatic expansion of UEDCL’s asset base, which grew from Shs113b to Shs2 trillion, while its customer base and revenues rose from 166,000 to 2.2 million and Shs111b to Shs661b, respectively.

The report suggests that while UEDCL inherited a much larger business, it also inherited significant financial and operational pressures.

Growing risk of power disruptions

The financial pressures, by extension, risk efficient power supply, which the Auditor General had earlier identified as a challenge not only to the electricity sub-sector, but to the entire country.

The Auditor General has previously reported persistent grid interruptions due to line faults, vandalism, transformer failures, equipment breakdowns, and weaknesses in transmission systems.

As a result, these challenges forced government to incur Shs26.94b on generated but unused electricity in the 2024/25 financial year due to the non-existence of transmission infrastructure, which the Auditor General said had meant that major transformers at substations in Namanve, Mutundwe, Lugazi, Owen Falls, and Agago remained idle for periods ranging from eight months to more than three years.

This resulted in a decline in transmission capacity utilisation, which fell to 43.4 percent, while the system reserve margin, a key safeguard against blackouts, dropped from 32.2 percent to 12.83 percent.

Rising exposure

The Ministry of Finance, therefore, warns that deterioration in electricity-sector finances poses greater risks to both government revenues and economic stability.

It notes that while total revenues across state enterprises rose from Shs3.06 trillion to Shs4.03 trillion, combined net income swung from a Shs212.9b profit to a Shs325.8b loss, with the proportion of loss-making entities rising from 22 to 33 percent.

The report warns that rising losses, weakening liquidity, growing liabilities, and poor debt-servicing capacity could ultimately force government to intervene in some cases.

When British nurse and zoologist Sandra Gray first arrived in Uganda in 2004, she came seeking a glimpse of the endangered mountain gorillas roaming the misty slopes of the Virunga Mountains.

Instead, she found herself captivated by another primate, the elusive golden monkey.

More than two decades later, Gray is still in southwestern Uganda, where she has transformed from tourist to conservationist, earning the local nickname ‘Kachima’ – golden monkey – after becoming the first zoologist to conduct extensive research on the species in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

‘My work first began in the mountains of Mgahinga researching golden monkeys. For the love of these creatures, people nicknamed me Kachima, which I am proud of,’ Gray said.

But after years spent studying wildlife in the forests bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, another ecosystem caught her attention – Lake Mutanda.

Nestled beneath the volcanic peaks of the Virunga range in Kisoro District, the lake was once renowned for its abundant birdlife, thriving fisheries and extensive wetlands.

What Gray encountered, however, was a fragile ecosystem under pressure.

The crested cranes that once frequented the lake had largely disappeared. Wetlands were shrinking under the weight of human encroachment, deforestation, agricultural runoff and illegal fishing.

Alarmed by the decline, Gray founded the Wetland Life Conservation Initiative (WLCI), a community-based conservation enterprise aimed at restoring Lake Mutanda’s wetlands while creating alternative livelihoods for surrounding communities.

Rather than separating conservation from development, WLCI seeks to combine both.

‘Our vision is to protect this lake sustainably for both people and wildlife while giving surrounding communities alternative livelihoods,’ Gray said on June 12, 2026.

She added: ‘This place is sitting on gold because of its birdlife and eco-tourism potential. We know the nesting sites, the otter habitats and the critical zones. These areas must remain protected and undisturbed.’

The initiative works with local leaders, environmental agencies and residents to restore degraded wetlands and promote eco-tourism as a source of income.

Gray has documented 223 bird species around the lake, alongside otters, amphibians, reptiles and diverse plant species, including two distinct papyrus varieties.

She believes the area’s biodiversity could support a thriving tourism industry if properly protected.

Recognising that conservation efforts often fail when communities see no economic benefit, WLCI is training residents and plans to establish a professional tour-guiding programme targeting unemployed youth.

The initiative also focuses heavily on environmental education.

Through storytelling novels distributed in local schools, children are introduced to conservation themes while developing literacy skills.

Alex Mushime, director of Amazing Primary School, said the programme has helped inspire a new generation of environmental stewards.

‘Sandra’s storytelling novels have deeply connected our learners to the natural world. These engaging narratives inspire a strong sense of stewardship. A new generation of young conservation leaders is emerging around Lake Mutanda,’ he said.

Government agencies have also joined the effort. Kisoro District Environment Officer Judith Muja said cooperation between WLCI and local authorities has strengthened enforcement of environmental regulations.

‘Our joint effort with Sandra is significantly improving compliance. We are stopping illegal structures and destructive shoreline farming. No one can build without National Environment Management Authority approval,’ she said.

Lake Mutanda’s fisheries, once a key source of food and income, have also suffered significant decline.

District Fisheries Officer Augustine Byaruhanga said years of illegal fishing and destructive practices had severely damaged fish stocks.

‘Lake Mutanda previously boasted a high output of large, flavorful fish,’ he said.

Authorities now plan to work with WLCI to conduct sensitisation campaigns aimed at promoting sustainable fishing practices and protecting aquatic habitats.

The effort has not been without challenges. Nyakinama Sub-county GISO Kassim Ibrahim said some illegal fishers have resisted conservation interventions.

‘Some individuals at Lake Mutanda, especially illegal fishers, are hostile,’ he said, pledging security support for conservation teams where necessary.

Despite the resistance, local leaders say attitudes are slowly changing. Nyakinama LC3 Chairperson Bigira Charles Kamuhanda described Gray as ‘a moving encyclopedia with rich knowledge about nature’ whose work is helping residents understand the long-term value of conservation.

For Gray, the mission extends beyond protecting a single lake.

‘We are all part of the natural world,’ she said, adding: ‘If the flora and fauna are not healthy, we cannot be healthy. Wetlands elsewhere have been destroyed, leading to floods and hardship. Here, we can show a different path.’

As Uganda grapples with balancing environmental protection and economic development, conservationists say the experiment unfolding at Lake Mutanda offers a model that could be replicated elsewhere; one where protecting nature is not a barrier to prosperity but a foundation for it.

The National Theatre has long been regarded as the spiritual home of Ugandan comedy. From the legendary skits of Fun Factory to countless stand-up showcases, its walls have witnessed the evolution of the craft. On Friday night, Don Andre earned his place in that history. Born Andrew Odongo, the comedian first announced himself with Unemployed But Funny in 2024, a special built around the realities of hustling through promotional jobs and surviving Kampala’s economic pressures. Two years later, Don Andre returned to the same stage a more confident performer, sharper writer and arguably one of the key figures behind Uganda’s emerging stand-up ecosystem through the Funny Bunny and Laughing Marabou comedy clubs.

If Unemployed But Funny was about survival, The American Dream was about aspiration, or more accurately, the humorous misconceptions many Ugandans carry about life abroad. Andre’s America is not the land of instant riches. Instead, it is a place where even poverty appears luxurious. One of the night’s strongest routines revolved around his fascination with what he described as ‘a better version of being broke’. Drawing from American films and television, he painted images of struggling Americans waking up in homes with giant televisions, refrigerators stocked with canned beer, and leftover fast food from famous chains. The joke landed because it tapped into a familiar Ugandan fantasy: that even hardship in the West somehow looks more comfortable than success back home. From there, Andre expanded the premise into an absurdly funny meditation on wanting to die in America simply because funerals in Hollywood movies look more organised.

He contrasted manicured cemeteries, polished tombstones and mourners dressed in black suits with the often chaotic realities of local funerals where relatives are already debating inheritance before the deceased has been buried. It was observational comedy at its finest, built on exaggeration but rooted in truths the audience instantly recognised. Another standout segment centred on pregnancy scares and the often-overlooked dilemma of disposing of used condoms. Andre turned what could have been a crude premise into an exercise in relatable paranoia, imagining people carrying used protection in their pockets because they fear being judged when throwing it away. The routine escalated into increasingly ridiculous scenarios, earning some of the loudest laughs of the evening. Equally effective was his recurring material about asking for lifts. It is a uniquely Ugandan social experience, filled with unwritten rules and awkward etiquette.

Andre mined the subject repeatedly and so did the other comedians of the night; the difference between getting a lift from a rich man and a poor man, how one should not start conversation when they have been offered a lift. The theme appeared often enough that buying a car eventually emerged as part of his own version of the American Dream. His fascination with American reality television also provided fertile ground for comedy. Whether discussing cheating scandals, paternity court dramas or space rescue missions, Andre displayed a knack for taking familiar television tropes and applying a Ugandan lens to them. What stood out most throughout the nearly two-hour showcase was the freshness of the material. There was little reliance on recycled internet humour or predictable political jokes. Instead, Andre leaned heavily on observation, storytelling and everyday experiences.

The punchlines felt timely and his references contemporary, without alienating audiences who may not consume the same media. Andre’s delivery has also matured considerably. His comedy is highly conversational, often feeling like an animated discussion rather than a performance. He regularly singled out audience members with a glance or a pointed finger, momentarily casting them into the situations he was describing and making the room feel part of the joke. Just as effective as his patience, he trusted punchlines enough to let them breathe before doubling down with a follow-up observation. While he occasionally drew from his ethnic background for context and perspective, he avoided making identity the primary trope of his act, instead using it sparingly to enrich stories that remained universally relatable.

The evening was also strengthened by a carefully selected supporting cast. Comedians Daniel Omara, Jack Rothomio, Sundiata and Hillary Okello each brought distinct styles and delivery techniques that kept the energy high between segments. Their performances turned the special into something resembling a celebration of Ugandan stand-up itself. The glue holding everything together was host Uncle Mark, who delivered mini-performances between acts and ensured there was never a lull in momentum. If there was a defining takeaway from The American Dream, it was that Don Andre is no longer simply a promising comedian. He is now a headliner capable of filling one of Uganda’s most important performance spaces with original material and keeping audiences engaged throughout.

Uganda’s unfinished buildings are monuments to a familiar financial mistake.

Drive through almost any town, and you will notice concrete frames frozen mid-construction, scaffolding gathering rust, and construction sites abandoned behind locked gates.

Short-term bank loans were deployed against investments that needed decades to generate returns. Eventually, the repayment schedule arrived before the cash flows did.

Pension capital is the financing that should have been doing this work all along. It is patient, long-dated, and structurally suited to assets that take decades to mature.

The question Uganda has not yet answered is why it has taken this long to make that connection.

Borrowed comfort

Uganda’s retirement savings industry managed approximately Shs35 trillion ($9.2b) in assets under management as of the 2025/26 financial year, a figure industry players expect to double within five years as formal sector employment expands and contribution rates hold.

The country’s pension and retirement benefits industry covers approximately 4.06 million workers, according to data from the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), accounting for roughly 16 percent to 18 percent of the country’s total working-age population, which is north of 20 million.

The remaining 84 percent largely consist of agricultural and informal sector workers who operate outside the formal social security system.

This shortfall is attributed to the fact that the traditional pension system was exclusively designed for formal, salaried employment.

Traditional schemes such as National Social Security Fund (NSSF) require fixed monthly contributions, a structure that excludes workers with irregular or seasonal incomes.

To address this gap, government, through URBRA, is rolling out the Uganda Long-Term National Savings Scheme, which combines micro-pensions, micro-insurance, and digital savings tools for informal workers.

It will materially accelerate the growth of assets under management beyond what the formal sector alone can deliver, with assets under management projected to double within five years.

At $9.2b, pension assets now represent roughly 15 percent of Uganda’s gross Domestic product (GDP), a ratio that, while still below Kenya’s pension depth, places Uganda ahead of Tanzania, Rwanda, and Ethiopia in absolute terms.

Pension funds in Uganda allocate as much as 70 to 80 percent of their assets to government securities.

The attraction is not difficult to understand. Sovereign bonds are liquid, familiar, and at present yield of around 17 percent, generously remunerative. It is also, increasingly, a path leading toward a cliff.

‘Government assets are best understood, but that doesn’t mean it remains the only product for allocation,’ notes Ivan Wangolo, an Investment Manager with Pearl Capital Partners, who was speaking at a forum organised by CFA Society East Africa last month, one of a series of preparatory sessions ahead of the Alternative Investments Conference 2026, scheduled for next month.

The conference brings together financial and property leaders to interrogate trends reshaping institutional investment across the region, and the question of where Uganda’s pension capital goes next sits at the centre of that conversation.

The problem, as Wangolo and others see it, is that the industry has mistaken familiarity for strategy.

The irony

Uganda wants to grow its economy tenfold, from roughly $60b today to $500b within 15 years. Oil commercialisation, long delayed but still anticipated, is expected to accelerate the course.

Infrastructure investment, demographic expansion, and rising tax revenues are all cited as catalysts. It is an ambitious programme. It is also, for pension fund managers who have not thought carefully about second-order effects, a threat.

A government that grows richer has less need to borrow. A government that generates oil revenues, expands its tax base, and develops alternative financing instruments does not need to offer 17 percent to attract domestic savings.

Allan Lwetabe, the Deposit Protection Fund director of investments, says the course of the bond market is likely to change with a ’25-year bond today that is at 17 percent likely to be at 12 percent 10 years from today.’

Oil production is expected to begin generating material fiscal revenues within the next three to five years. As those revenues flow, government’s dependence on domestic borrowing will ease, and the premium it must offer to attract pension capital will fall with it.

A Fund calibrated to deliver 15 percent returns to beneficiaries on the back of 17 percent sovereign yields will find that arithmetic brutally altered when those yields compress.

In essence, pension funds are helping to finance the development that will make their favourite investment obsolete.

‘It is unlikely that government will continue to borrow and pay the levels of interest they are currently paying. That is not sustainable for the development of the country,’ Wangolo notes.

As oil revenues materialise and fiscal capacity strengthens, he argues, the pressure on pension funds to find alternative allocations will shift.

Looking across the border

The solution, or at least a version of it, exists elsewhere on the continent, and Uganda’s investment professionals are paying attention.

Edward Wachira, chief executive officer of Genghis Capital in Nairobi, explains that in Kenya, purpose-built student accommodation, constructed to hotel standards and marketed to the swelling ranks of university enrollees, has been generating returns approaching 25 percent, attracting institutional capital from US investors who see the demographic tailwind clearly.

In South Africa, specialist retirement living real estate has become a high-performing asset class.

Pension-backed commercial development in Botswana and Zambia has demonstrated that long-term capital, matched to long-term assets, can outperform government bond market on a risk-adjusted basis, provided the structuring is done properly.

‘Investors who understand the sector are more often than not better placed to invest in that sector,’ Wachira says. ‘The failure mode in real estate is not typically the asset, but the mismatch between capital and expertise.’

Pension funds, having spent decades learning the language of sovereign debt, are now being asked to become fluent in warehousing yields, student housing demand curves, and the economics of healthcare infrastructure.

That is not impossible. It is, however, a genuine undertaking, not a portfolio reallocation form to be filed and forgotten.

The opportunity, Wachira argues, lies in segments that fall outside that habitual line of sight, like student accommodation, agro-storage, warehousing, education facilities, where supernormal returns persist precisely because most institutional investors haven’t looked yet.

The mismatch in the mortar

The deeper argument is one of capital duration. Property developers have, for years, attempted to build 25-year assets using three-year commercial bank loans.

‘We are seeing many projects stalling in the middle, after the second floor, because the bank says, ‘pay me this year’. And you don’t have the money. The building is not complete,’ Lwetabe notes.

Pension funds, by design, carry no such urgency. A contributor enrolled today at 25 will draw savings in 2065. The investment horizon is, thus, matched to the assets that Uganda most needs to build.

‘By the time the person is leaving the pension fund,’ Lwetabe argues, ‘that project is done, and the returns are there’.

‘The natural capital for real estate is institutional and long-term. What Uganda has instead been doing is the financial equivalent of planting a forest with money borrowed by the week.’

Susan Khainza, a chartered financial analyst, cuts to the heart of the tension, arguing that pension funds operate under strict asset allocation rules, and real estate breaks nearly every one of the constraints that matter. It is illiquid, slow to return capital, and fixed in place. You cannot move it when circumstances turn against you.

The liquidity problem alone is disqualifying at scale. A fund like NSSF now faces shorter withdrawal horizons than ever, partly because early withdrawal is permitted. Pour too much of the fund into real estate, and you court a crisis the moment members arrive in numbers wanting their money back.

Pooling funds with multilateral partners partly solves this. It reduces the pension fund’s direct exposure and keeps the portfolio within legal allocation limits. But it does not solve the deeper problem, which is the nature of real estate itself.

Some have tried. Real Estate Investment Trusts were designed to liquidize the illiquid, to let investors trade in and out of property-backed assets like shares.

But Khainza is unconvinced: ‘You’re trying to change the nature of the investment. It’s long-term, and it’s not liquid. Even if you convert it into a REIT, the success of your investment is still based on the illiquid real estate underneath.’

The argument here is that you are committed, permanently, to one place and all the uncertainty that place carries forward. It is this tension, between the structural promise of real estate and the structural constraints of pension capital, that has drawn URBRA into the conversation.

‘The only unfortunate thing is that it’s coming now, and it was needed yesterday,’ says Martin Nsubuga, the URBRA chief executive officer.

URBRA’s own regulations already permit pension schemes to allocate up to 50 percent of their portfolios into real estate.

That ceiling has existed for years, yet actual allocations across the industry sit at approximately $411m (Shs1.6 trillion), accounting for roughly 7 percent to 7.2 percent of the sector’s total investments.

The allocation is less than a quarter of what URBRA has allowed.

In a dramatic escalation of political tensions in Uganda, armed security operatives on Monday morning raided the Wakaliga home of prominent human rights lawyer and former Kampala Lord Mayor, Advocate Erias Lukwago, violently arresting him just hours after he revealed difficulties in serving court process to the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

The high-profile arrest has sent shockwaves through the country’s political landscape, drawing fierce and unified condemnation from across the opposition divide. Critics have roundly described the incident as a state-sponsored abduction aimed at intimidating legal professionals and disrupting the legal defense of veteran opposition leader, Dr Kizza Besigye.

The operation, which unfolded at approximately 10am, occurred shortly after Lukwago had concluded a press briefing at his residence. According to his wife, Nalongo Zawedde Lubwama Lukwago, security personnel wearing uniforms belonging to the elite Special Forces Command (SFC) scaled the perimeter wall to gain entry into the compound.

“I heard someone knocking on the door and thought it was one of our children,” a visibly shaken Ms Lukwago told journalists. “When I opened, I saw men in military uniform entering. They searched everywhere for him. He was in the bedroom where they picked him from. They were so many.”

Ms Lukwago further alleged that a plainclothes operative, suspected to be the commander of the unit, assaulted her when she attempted to intercede.

“One of them grabbed my arm and twisted it, then kicked my legs, causing me to fall to the ground. They pinned me down,” she recounted, drawing parallels between the current political environment and Uganda’s darkest historical eras. “We used to just read about such violent acts committed during Idi Amin’s regime in the newspapers, but I think this is Amin’s regime regenerated through violence. If he had committed any crime, why couldn’t they just ask him to report to the police instead of coming home to break our doors and walls?”

Mr Lukwago’s arrest comes on the heels of intense legal maneuvering surrounding Dr Besigye, who is currently facing treason-related charges in a civilian court following his high-profile repatriation from Nairobi, Kenya, on November 2024.

Lukwago is a core member of the legal team representing the four-time presidential candidate.

Just hours before his arrest, Lukwago informed the press that his team was actively struggling to serve Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba with a human rights enforcement lawsuit filed by Besigye. The suit stems from allegations that Gen Muhoozi made explicit death threats against the jailed opposition leader.

“We are required to serve him, but where to find him is still a struggle. His office where he sits is not known,” Lukwago had stated earlier on Monday morning. “Muhoozi’s handlers tried to tell us to serve the Attorney General, but we told them this is a case against Gen Muhoozi as a person for issuing death threats and saying he had already identified a tree on which to hang Dr Besigye.”

The legal friction intensified following public statements attributed to Gen Muhoozi on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), where the CDF aggressively doubled down on his hostility toward Besigye and his legal representation.

“Let me say it again! I will HANG Kizza Besigye the first chance I get to do it! He wanted to kill my father and he will not escape the punishment that he richly deserves!” a post from Gen Muhoozi’s account read, explicitly warning Lukwago and other intermediaries against attempting service. “Advise Lukwago to learn from you. He has been fighting me with Besigye for many decades. We are going to finish it now.”

Following the raid, Gen Muhoozi posted an image appearing to depict a blindfolded Lukwago at an undisclosed location, alongside captions claiming the lawyer was under detention learning Kiswahili.

The incident has triggered a wave of outrage from top opposition figures, who view the state’s actions as an overt declaration of lawlessness.

From self-imposed exile, the President of the National Unity Platform (NUP), Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, issued a scathing statement condemning the state’s tactics and calling on citizens to challenge the regime’s actions.

“Just learnt of the violent abduction, this morning, of former Kampala Lord Mayor, Advocate Erias Lukwago, as he prepared to serve Court Summons upon Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba,” Bobi Wine stated. “On Muhoozi’s orders, military men have raided and abducted Lukwago from his home… I call upon all of us to REJECT and RESIST this brazen impunity. UGANDA WILL BE FREE!”

NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya echoed these sentiments, labelling the operation “absurd” and demanding condemnation from “all people of good conscience.”

In Parliament, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, offered a grim but defiant outlook, stating, “It’s always darkest before the dawn. This madness shall end!”

Concurrently, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Vice Chairperson Robert Centenary characterized the raid as a direct assault on both the independence of the judiciary and fundamental constitutional freedoms.

“This is politically motivated because the trial of our founding president, Dr Kizza Besigye, was meant to have commenced last week if the judiciary had not exposed its incompetencies,” Centenary argued, referencing recent procedural delays and state witness-protection disputes in the High Court. “Government may not be comfortable that it is going to be exposed more. Stop intimidating the lawyers. Stop intimidating the suspects. Let the law lead the entire process.”

Legal experts and colleagues of Lukwago have expressed deep concern over the safety of the former Lord Mayor, citing past instances where state detainees were subjected to severe physical abuse.

Speaking to the media, Member of Parliament and prominent defense lawyer Medard Lubega Sseggona noted that while the exact motives remain unconfirmed by formal police communication, the timing strongly points toward political persecution linked to Lukwago’s professional duties.

“We could speculate that it could relate to his professional practice as a lawyer,” Sseggona said, referencing the human rights enforcement case currently pending before the High Court. Commenting on the digital posts allegedly shared by the CDF, Sseggona added, “You remember when he undertook-he promised to send us photographs of Kakwenza under torture, and he delivered on that promise. He might deliver on this as well. So I can only encourage people to remain firm in things they believe in.”

By press time, neither the Uganda Police Force nor the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) had issued an official statement regarding Lukwago’s whereabouts, the legal basis for his detention, or the specific security agency holding him.

President Yoweri Museveni’s proposal to create a Sovereign Fund, in which oil money shall first be pooled before being used to finance infrastructure and other projects has received a strong backing. Mr Museveni, while delivering his 2026/2027 financial year budget speech on Thursday, last week told Members of Parliament (MPs) that the fund would ensure oil money is not put to waste, but rather be utilised very well to benefit the entire population. ‘…We are going to get oil money [where the] government will be getting an extra $1.5 billion (about Shs5.6 trillion) per year as its share. I will discuss with you how to save this money,’ he said. ‘First of all, to create a Sovereign Fund so that the government can earn money because that is how some countries like Norway have used their oil money very well. Instead of using it to buy perfumes, whiskeys, and so on, they put their money somewhere as it gains interest,’ he added.

The World Bank Group defines a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) as a state-owned investment fund where the nation invests its surplus reserves and revenues to grow national wealth and stabilise the economy. Countries normally fund these vehicles using profits from natural resource exports like oil or fiscal surpluses, investing in global stocks, bonds, and real estate. In an exclusive interview published in the Daily Monitor on March 3, 2012, Prof Ezra Suruma who has previously served as the Finance minister for six years, proposed the creation of this Fund which, he said, would curb any corruption-related tendency in the use of oil money. ‘…My view is that we should have modest application of these funds in infrastructure, and the balance – about half of it – should go into a permanent fund similar to what the city of Alaska (in the US) has and Norway,’ he said.

He added, ‘This Fund should be permanent in such a way that only the profits from the Fund are distributed to the people in the form of pensions for the elderly or disadvantaged people according to the agreed formula.’ Prof Suruma, who now serves as the special presidential advisor on Finance and Planning, on Thursday last week lauded Mr Museveni’s move. Reacting to the proposal, he said: ‘This has been my proposal and I am glad that the President is taking it on. The oil money; if it is to benefit the population, must be handled in a manner where we have a Sovereign Fund as has been done in Norway and Alaska.’ He added, ‘We should ensure this Fund is managed properly and every Ugandan benefits in a universal manner, otherwise, it is going to benefit a few people with power.

I recently proposed that we get a referendum on how the profits from the investment made using the Fund can be shared among Ugandans because the goal is to ensure everyone benefits and as well fund key social services.’ The government projects that oil will start flowing next month under the joint venture partners China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), and French oil giant Total Energies. The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) by close of May reported varying completion levels for the key oil infrastructures such as Kingfisher Development Area operated by CNOOC at 80 percent, Tilenga Oil Development Area by Total Energies at 75 percent, and the 1,443km East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which will be operated by the two and regulator UNOC and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) at 87 percent.

At peak production, Tilenga is expected to produce 190,000 barrels of oil per day, while its Kingfisher counterpart will produce 40,000 barrels, and out of these, 60,000 barrels will be refined in the proposed oil refinery and the rest transported in the EACOP from Hoima District to Tanga Port in Tanzania for further exportation. Mr Museveni reiterated that Uganda will be earning $1.5 billion (about Shs5.6 trillion) from this flow, the funds he proposes should first be pooled and invested.

‘…but we need to use some of it (oil money) to do crucial infrastructure, like the railway with Kenya, Tanzania, DR Congo, South Sudan and Rwanda, so that all heavy cargo moves from the road to the railway then the petroleum products from road to people line, leaving only light cargo on the road and economists say it will reduce the cost of transporting cargo,’ he said.