Vital questions govt must answer on Budo
About 40 children have died in boarding primary school fires in the last two years alone with the latest being Budo where 20 (8- year-olds) perished. At least 21 fire outbreaks have been reported in both primary and secondary boarding schools in the last six years.
The statistics are shocking given the fact that the government has done little or nothing to stem this destructive trend. It’s equally alarming for a whole Cabinet minister in charge of Education, Ms Namirembe Bitamazire to publicly concede that her ministry doesn’t have capacity to supervise and monitor education and safety standards in both private and government schools throughout the country.
One will then wonder why a ministry with no capacity to enforce standards in the growing number of schools should licence them in the first place. Then you have an awkward policy where primary schools are left to the control of local authorities while secondary schools are under the direct control of the Ministry of Education.
And all this haphazard management of our education institutions is carried out at the time when greed which comes along with commercialisation of education takes centre stage at the peril of innocent lives, property and education standards in the country. Like in the case of Budo, many schools are crammed with pupils/students which ultimately leads to crowded dormitories. You find pupils sleeping on four decker-beds in very poor conditions. Surely!
That’s why some fundamental questions need to be answered by the Ministry of Education leadership and the government in general. Does the ministry have safety standards and regulations for boarding and day-mixed and single primary and secondary schools?
Does the ministry have an inspectorate department that monitors schools to enforce the standards? Should commercialisation of education ( a P.1 pupil at Budo pays a whopping Shs600,000 per term) take priority over safety standards and instilling good values in the youngsters?
International legal instruments and our Constitution call for the special protection of children - to allow them their individual rights to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially - in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.
This is why those responsible for the Budo murder - yes murder, should not escape the rule of law. Right from the top leadership in the Ministry of Education down to the gateman on that fateful Tuesday night – must all be brought to account.
President Yoweri Museveni has called it criminal negligence but to many others - this pure is murder. The elements of a criminal case of murder are clear.
There must be a dead body (we have many bodies at Budo), malice aforethought and the participation of the accused person plus of course the killing must be unlawful. All these elements can easily be established in the Budo tragedy. But then, you have a frustrating police force which is bedeviled with a terrible lack of capacity to carry out conclusive investigations and gather compelling evidence to have a successful prosecution.
Don’t forget that this same police under its department of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for reasons only known to itself, has failed to conclusively investigate many cases including those of some notorious pastors who sodomise teenagers.
The Fire Brigade is just a department in name. With a handful of very slow moving fire engines they normally show up after destruction has already happened.
So what should the Budo parents do under these worrisome circumstance? They can still find a remedy in civil negligence and occupier’s liability.
Government cannot escape under these torts (civil actions ) because of the principle of vicarious liability ( master to servant , principal and agent) relationship.
The writer is a journalist and advocate
msserwanga@gmail.com
About 40 children have died in boarding primary school fires in the last two years alone with the latest being Budo where 20 (8- year-olds) perished. At least 21 fire outbreaks have been reported in both primary and secondary boarding schools in the last six years.
The statistics are shocking given the fact that the government has done little or nothing to stem this destructive trend. It’s equally alarming for a whole Cabinet minister in charge of Education, Ms Namirembe Bitamazire to publicly concede that her ministry doesn’t have capacity to supervise and monitor education and safety standards in both private and government schools throughout the country.
One will then wonder why a ministry with no capacity to enforce standards in the growing number of schools should licence them in the first place. Then you have an awkward policy where primary schools are left to the control of local authorities while secondary schools are under the direct control of the Ministry of Education.
And all this haphazard management of our education institutions is carried out at the time when greed which comes along with commercialisation of education takes centre stage at the peril of innocent lives, property and education standards in the country. Like in the case of Budo, many schools are crammed with pupils/students which ultimately leads to crowded dormitories. You find pupils sleeping on four decker-beds in very poor conditions. Surely!
That’s why some fundamental questions need to be answered by the Ministry of Education leadership and the government in general. Does the ministry have safety standards and regulations for boarding and day-mixed and single primary and secondary schools?
Does the ministry have an inspectorate department that monitors schools to enforce the standards? Should commercialisation of education ( a P.1 pupil at Budo pays a whopping Shs600,000 per term) take priority over safety standards and instilling good values in the youngsters?
International legal instruments and our Constitution call for the special protection of children - to allow them their individual rights to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially - in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.
This is why those responsible for the Budo murder - yes murder, should not escape the rule of law. Right from the top leadership in the Ministry of Education down to the gateman on that fateful Tuesday night – must all be brought to account.
President Yoweri Museveni has called it criminal negligence but to many others - this pure is murder. The elements of a criminal case of murder are clear.
There must be a dead body (we have many bodies at Budo), malice aforethought and the participation of the accused person plus of course the killing must be unlawful. All these elements can easily be established in the Budo tragedy. But then, you have a frustrating police force which is bedeviled with a terrible lack of capacity to carry out conclusive investigations and gather compelling evidence to have a successful prosecution.
Don’t forget that this same police under its department of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for reasons only known to itself, has failed to conclusively investigate many cases including those of some notorious pastors who sodomise teenagers.
The Fire Brigade is just a department in name. With a handful of very slow moving fire engines they normally show up after destruction has already happened.
So what should the Budo parents do under these worrisome circumstance? They can still find a remedy in civil negligence and occupier’s liability.
Government cannot escape under these torts (civil actions ) because of the principle of vicarious liability ( master to servant , principal and agent) relationship.
The writer is a journalist and advocate
msserwanga@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
THESE CHILD MOLESTERS BELONG TO THE GALLOWS
These child molesters belong to the gallows
Last week Daily Monitor’s new M2 section carried a sad story about a 9-year- old girl Jan ( not real name for respect of her privacy) who was robbed of her childhood by a ‘trusted’ uncle who defiled her several times during a short holiday. Now, this is the kind of horrendous crimes committed against children that should send the offending culprits to the gallows.
With so many call/ street girls and pimps in town and with many women looking for men for all sorts of things from marriage to being the ‘father of my children’ and just having pure; how do we still have in our society pedophiles (beastly men ) who abuse children/toddlers who are too young to make sound judgments on their own?
And child molesters are not only in Uganda . They are all over the world. A 58-year-old grandfather was recently deported from Australia to UK when he demonstrated no remorse after sexually assaulting more than a dozen young girls.
These pedophiles are so sadistic that they even videotape their criminal acts and post them on the World Wide Web (WWW) for everyone to see!
Just last week, another prominent pastor in Kampala was exposed by the media for sending explicitly sexual and obscene e-mails to his step daughter.
This shameless pastor falls in the category of men and women who go out on intimate dates but later develop feelings for their partners’ children.
This wanton behaviour is not only about being lustful, it’s criminal under the charge of incest-- a serious offence in the criminal penal code which attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on conviction.
But life imprisonment sentences are not good enough for people who sexually assault babies. Such convicts should face the guillotine and the law needs to be amended in this respect.
Our society is so sick that you have people who have made it a habit to litter used condoms even when a pit latrine is just next door. Unsuspecting children pick and playfully blow these used condoms mistaking them for balloons and in the process get infected with all manner of diseases.
And because our society is largely indifferent and inhibited; children are not told that when a man whether their uncle(s) or brother(s) or stranger(s) for that matter touches their private parts or kisses them on the lips, they should report him to their father, mother or aunt or teacher.
This is of course not to forget that some parents especially fathers too have abused their own children (daughters). A good number of them are serving jail terms in the ‘university of understanding’- Luzira.
But given the HIV/Aids pandemic that is still eating deep into the fabric of our society, this is just about the time when parents should open up to their children .
At the age when a child enrolls for primary one, he or she should be told and warned about the bad things to look out for and try to avoid. For the babies– well, mothers just have to be vigilant. Some people have argued that child defilers are in most cases mentally demented. This is the more reason why such people should not be allowed to lurk around. They should be locked up or face the death penalty.
It’s equally wrong for judicial officers to advise aggrieved families to settle defilement cases out of court. Reported cases where judicial officers have failed to dispose of defilement charges must be investigated and the errant officers punished. Otherwise people will lose trust in our justice system.
The laws have to be enforced to the letter to accord children special protection to enable them develop physically, morally and socially in conditions of freedom and dignity.
The writer is a journalist and advocates
msserwanga@gmail.com
Last week Daily Monitor’s new M2 section carried a sad story about a 9-year- old girl Jan ( not real name for respect of her privacy) who was robbed of her childhood by a ‘trusted’ uncle who defiled her several times during a short holiday. Now, this is the kind of horrendous crimes committed against children that should send the offending culprits to the gallows.
With so many call/ street girls and pimps in town and with many women looking for men for all sorts of things from marriage to being the ‘father of my children’ and just having pure; how do we still have in our society pedophiles (beastly men ) who abuse children/toddlers who are too young to make sound judgments on their own?
And child molesters are not only in Uganda . They are all over the world. A 58-year-old grandfather was recently deported from Australia to UK when he demonstrated no remorse after sexually assaulting more than a dozen young girls.
These pedophiles are so sadistic that they even videotape their criminal acts and post them on the World Wide Web (WWW) for everyone to see!
Just last week, another prominent pastor in Kampala was exposed by the media for sending explicitly sexual and obscene e-mails to his step daughter.
This shameless pastor falls in the category of men and women who go out on intimate dates but later develop feelings for their partners’ children.
This wanton behaviour is not only about being lustful, it’s criminal under the charge of incest-- a serious offence in the criminal penal code which attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on conviction.
But life imprisonment sentences are not good enough for people who sexually assault babies. Such convicts should face the guillotine and the law needs to be amended in this respect.
Our society is so sick that you have people who have made it a habit to litter used condoms even when a pit latrine is just next door. Unsuspecting children pick and playfully blow these used condoms mistaking them for balloons and in the process get infected with all manner of diseases.
And because our society is largely indifferent and inhibited; children are not told that when a man whether their uncle(s) or brother(s) or stranger(s) for that matter touches their private parts or kisses them on the lips, they should report him to their father, mother or aunt or teacher.
This is of course not to forget that some parents especially fathers too have abused their own children (daughters). A good number of them are serving jail terms in the ‘university of understanding’- Luzira.
But given the HIV/Aids pandemic that is still eating deep into the fabric of our society, this is just about the time when parents should open up to their children .
At the age when a child enrolls for primary one, he or she should be told and warned about the bad things to look out for and try to avoid. For the babies– well, mothers just have to be vigilant. Some people have argued that child defilers are in most cases mentally demented. This is the more reason why such people should not be allowed to lurk around. They should be locked up or face the death penalty.
It’s equally wrong for judicial officers to advise aggrieved families to settle defilement cases out of court. Reported cases where judicial officers have failed to dispose of defilement charges must be investigated and the errant officers punished. Otherwise people will lose trust in our justice system.
The laws have to be enforced to the letter to accord children special protection to enable them develop physically, morally and socially in conditions of freedom and dignity.
The writer is a journalist and advocates
msserwanga@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
WHY KILL THE COUNTRY's TOURISM FOR LIMESTONE?
It’s hardly three months since pastoralists who had illegally settled in Queen Elizabeth National Park were evicted. Now the national treasure is faced with yet another real threat- limestone extraction.
Everyone should be worried that Queen Elizabeth once teaming with unique wildlife is increasingly being targeted for illegal activities.
Already, large swatches of pasture for animals are destroyed by bush fires set off by suspected arsonists and now you have a privately owned company poised to have the park as its mining ground. Environmentalists have vowed to sue government, Kasese district local authorities and management of Hima Cement Factory which has acquired a permit to extract limestone in the park. This is because mining will greatly affect wildlife population and jeopardise the tourism industry.
The managers and owners of Hima are adamant because to them extraction of limestone in the national park will sustain cement production at the Kasese-based factory. Hima management has projected that 25 years of limestone mining in the park will save the country a lot of money for cement imports.
But what is more annoying about this whole saga, is the fact that the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) whose primary objective is to protect the country’s environment, has also fallen prey to baits of industrialists and issued a certificate of approval albeit with funny conditions.
Funny, because according to Nema, Hima factory can go ahead and carry out mining activities in Queen Elizabeth as long as they ‘mitigate’ any undesirable environmental impacts.
It obvious that limestone extraction will greatly impact on the park’s wildlife. Dr Chris Bakuneta, an influential member of the Uganda Wildlife Society has already warned that the proposed mining activities will change the general animal behaviour. Some animals like the giant elephants could become agitated and violent while others will just go in flight- in search of safe a environment/sanctuary, say in the jungles of DR Congo.
Now, compare the money the country will gain on cement imports, which Hima claims will be saved by tampering with the ecosystem in Queen Elizabeth, to the estimated $80m that was generated by our tourism industry after 600,000 tourists visited the country last year.
For a poor economy like ours and given the facts highlighted above what’s the justification for the government’s decision to encroach on a tourism gem if it’s not for selfish interests, utter greed and the rampant corruption in public service?
The rate at which our natural resources are being destroyed is not something to be trifled with. The manner in which our leaders dole out national assets to private investors is disgusting. Already huge sums of money are being spent by the international community to encourage the sustainable use of our national resources. The World Bank, through its Protected Areas Management and Sustainable Use (PAMSU) project which began in 1999-2009 is one example.
Why then should the Ugandan taxpayer and our donor friends spend so much money on improving the country’s ability to attract tourists when the government is pulling down such noble efforts?
According to the provisions of the Uganda Wildlife Act, the purpose of a national wildlife area such as Queen Elizabeth National Park, is to preserve populations of rare, endemic and endangered species of wild plants and animals and to generate economic benefits from wildlife conservation for the people of Uganda.
No where in the law is commercial mining allowed in a national park unless when degazetted by parliament for such purposes. Therefore, Hima’s advances to ‘defile’ Queen Elizabeth park must be resisted.
The writer is a journalist and Advocate
msserwanga@gmail.com
Everyone should be worried that Queen Elizabeth once teaming with unique wildlife is increasingly being targeted for illegal activities.
Already, large swatches of pasture for animals are destroyed by bush fires set off by suspected arsonists and now you have a privately owned company poised to have the park as its mining ground. Environmentalists have vowed to sue government, Kasese district local authorities and management of Hima Cement Factory which has acquired a permit to extract limestone in the park. This is because mining will greatly affect wildlife population and jeopardise the tourism industry.
The managers and owners of Hima are adamant because to them extraction of limestone in the national park will sustain cement production at the Kasese-based factory. Hima management has projected that 25 years of limestone mining in the park will save the country a lot of money for cement imports.
But what is more annoying about this whole saga, is the fact that the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) whose primary objective is to protect the country’s environment, has also fallen prey to baits of industrialists and issued a certificate of approval albeit with funny conditions.
Funny, because according to Nema, Hima factory can go ahead and carry out mining activities in Queen Elizabeth as long as they ‘mitigate’ any undesirable environmental impacts.
It obvious that limestone extraction will greatly impact on the park’s wildlife. Dr Chris Bakuneta, an influential member of the Uganda Wildlife Society has already warned that the proposed mining activities will change the general animal behaviour. Some animals like the giant elephants could become agitated and violent while others will just go in flight- in search of safe a environment/sanctuary, say in the jungles of DR Congo.
Now, compare the money the country will gain on cement imports, which Hima claims will be saved by tampering with the ecosystem in Queen Elizabeth, to the estimated $80m that was generated by our tourism industry after 600,000 tourists visited the country last year.
For a poor economy like ours and given the facts highlighted above what’s the justification for the government’s decision to encroach on a tourism gem if it’s not for selfish interests, utter greed and the rampant corruption in public service?
The rate at which our natural resources are being destroyed is not something to be trifled with. The manner in which our leaders dole out national assets to private investors is disgusting. Already huge sums of money are being spent by the international community to encourage the sustainable use of our national resources. The World Bank, through its Protected Areas Management and Sustainable Use (PAMSU) project which began in 1999-2009 is one example.
Why then should the Ugandan taxpayer and our donor friends spend so much money on improving the country’s ability to attract tourists when the government is pulling down such noble efforts?
According to the provisions of the Uganda Wildlife Act, the purpose of a national wildlife area such as Queen Elizabeth National Park, is to preserve populations of rare, endemic and endangered species of wild plants and animals and to generate economic benefits from wildlife conservation for the people of Uganda.
No where in the law is commercial mining allowed in a national park unless when degazetted by parliament for such purposes. Therefore, Hima’s advances to ‘defile’ Queen Elizabeth park must be resisted.
The writer is a journalist and Advocate
msserwanga@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
WHY THIEVES IN GOVT ARE NOT AFRAID OF PRISON
Why thieves in govt are not afraid of prison
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAW: Moses Sserwanga
One of President Yoweri Museveni’s flamboyant and trusted senior army officers General James Kazini is in the coolers at Luzira Prison after he was last week convicted by a military tribunal for creating ghost soldiers in the army and pocketing Shs60m as a result.
For all his shortcomings, Kazini is one of the few senior military officers, who to a great extent, respects media freedoms. I happen to have covered the Allied Democratic Forces, (ADF) rebellion in the Rwenzori region in the mid 90s and Afande Kazini was very helpful; always offering protection and ensuring that journalists got first-hand information and told the story as they saw it.
That said though, there is no denying that the ghost soldiers scandal went to the root of the very strength of the national army, the UPDF, where many artificial brigades, some consisting of one commander and a handful of his escorts compromised national security.
The scandal could also partly explain why the army performed so poorly at the peak of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in northern Uganda where commanders were more interested in stealing public funds than protecting the thousands of people that lost their lives at the hands of Kony’s gangsters.
But let’s put Gen. Kazini’s conviction and subsequent sentence to three years in jail in perspective. The General was convicted for causing financial loss of Shs60m, a sum that can be considered to be pocket change since conservative estimates indicate that the country/taxpayers could have lost well up to Shs15b in the ghost soldiers scam in a period of three years.
In fact impeccable sources say that Kazini is just a small fish in the pond. Many other senior and junior officers who served under his command benefited more from the scam and are filthy rich to the extent that they can no longer serve the army and the country diligently.
This is where the issue of selective justice takes centre stage. Why do we have so many public officials plundering the country and continuing to enjoy their loot with no one in authority raising the red flag? It’s clear the corrupt don’t ‘eat’ alone -they share their loot in orgainised rackets that at times receive state protection.
That’s why corruption is so widespread and appears to be institutionalised. The thieves in government are no longer afraid of spending months, years and even decades in prison as long as their investments appreciate in value. They are sure that after serving their terms in Luzira they will bounce back and continue life as usual.
The legal regime that has been put in place to fight corruption, a vice that threatens our very existence, is quite elaborate but lacks one element and that’s restitution. The law as it should be, punishes the thieving bureaucrats but is not adequate to allow for recovery of the stolen money and property.
Elsewhere in the world, this lacuna (gap) in the law has had to be bridged for the anti-corruption movement to realise real progress and register tangible results. This is the reason why our anti-graft laws need to be amended to deal with all manners of tricks employed by our leaders to steal public funds while the majority of the people languish in dire poverty.
Even a primary school pupil knows that no smart thief in government will, say, bank Shs15b on their personal counts in a local bank. They will instead transfer the stolen funds to banks in the big foreign capitals. In such a situation the efficacy of the law should allow authorities to track money stacked in foreign accounts operated by our corrupt politicians and have it returned to finance public services like the failing health system and public transport sector.
It’s also obvious that your typical public servant will want to invest his/her ill-gotten riches by buying a mansion in Kololo or land in Nyabushozi (some actually buy entire villages/sub-counties). But these chaps are clever too.
They will not register their interests in their names but in those of a distant cousin or second wife or one of their bastards. The law, once again, should be refined to effectively deal with this arrangement/organised criminal syndicates which are used to steal the country’s resources.
The Executive in conjunction with Parliament should urgently amend and strengthen our anti-corruption laws to punish individual thieves, while at the same time endeavour to recover stolen public money and property. The recovered stolen funds should then be put in a national fund to service the public good for the benefit of all.
The writer is a journalist/advocate,
msserwanga@gmail.com
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAW: Moses Sserwanga
One of President Yoweri Museveni’s flamboyant and trusted senior army officers General James Kazini is in the coolers at Luzira Prison after he was last week convicted by a military tribunal for creating ghost soldiers in the army and pocketing Shs60m as a result.
For all his shortcomings, Kazini is one of the few senior military officers, who to a great extent, respects media freedoms. I happen to have covered the Allied Democratic Forces, (ADF) rebellion in the Rwenzori region in the mid 90s and Afande Kazini was very helpful; always offering protection and ensuring that journalists got first-hand information and told the story as they saw it.
That said though, there is no denying that the ghost soldiers scandal went to the root of the very strength of the national army, the UPDF, where many artificial brigades, some consisting of one commander and a handful of his escorts compromised national security.
The scandal could also partly explain why the army performed so poorly at the peak of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency in northern Uganda where commanders were more interested in stealing public funds than protecting the thousands of people that lost their lives at the hands of Kony’s gangsters.
But let’s put Gen. Kazini’s conviction and subsequent sentence to three years in jail in perspective. The General was convicted for causing financial loss of Shs60m, a sum that can be considered to be pocket change since conservative estimates indicate that the country/taxpayers could have lost well up to Shs15b in the ghost soldiers scam in a period of three years.
In fact impeccable sources say that Kazini is just a small fish in the pond. Many other senior and junior officers who served under his command benefited more from the scam and are filthy rich to the extent that they can no longer serve the army and the country diligently.
This is where the issue of selective justice takes centre stage. Why do we have so many public officials plundering the country and continuing to enjoy their loot with no one in authority raising the red flag? It’s clear the corrupt don’t ‘eat’ alone -they share their loot in orgainised rackets that at times receive state protection.
That’s why corruption is so widespread and appears to be institutionalised. The thieves in government are no longer afraid of spending months, years and even decades in prison as long as their investments appreciate in value. They are sure that after serving their terms in Luzira they will bounce back and continue life as usual.
The legal regime that has been put in place to fight corruption, a vice that threatens our very existence, is quite elaborate but lacks one element and that’s restitution. The law as it should be, punishes the thieving bureaucrats but is not adequate to allow for recovery of the stolen money and property.
Elsewhere in the world, this lacuna (gap) in the law has had to be bridged for the anti-corruption movement to realise real progress and register tangible results. This is the reason why our anti-graft laws need to be amended to deal with all manners of tricks employed by our leaders to steal public funds while the majority of the people languish in dire poverty.
Even a primary school pupil knows that no smart thief in government will, say, bank Shs15b on their personal counts in a local bank. They will instead transfer the stolen funds to banks in the big foreign capitals. In such a situation the efficacy of the law should allow authorities to track money stacked in foreign accounts operated by our corrupt politicians and have it returned to finance public services like the failing health system and public transport sector.
It’s also obvious that your typical public servant will want to invest his/her ill-gotten riches by buying a mansion in Kololo or land in Nyabushozi (some actually buy entire villages/sub-counties). But these chaps are clever too.
They will not register their interests in their names but in those of a distant cousin or second wife or one of their bastards. The law, once again, should be refined to effectively deal with this arrangement/organised criminal syndicates which are used to steal the country’s resources.
The Executive in conjunction with Parliament should urgently amend and strengthen our anti-corruption laws to punish individual thieves, while at the same time endeavour to recover stolen public money and property. The recovered stolen funds should then be put in a national fund to service the public good for the benefit of all.
The writer is a journalist/advocate,
msserwanga@gmail.com
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