News
From first woman finance boss to riots
Uganda police disperse youths at the height of the Kampala riots. Over 25 people died in the riots and about 80 sustained injuries. Property, including Natete Police Station, was destroyed in the riots. Photo/FILE
The year kicked off with President Yoweri Museveni announcing the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle that came with big surprises.
The big new comers in the mid February changes included the First Lady Janet Museveni, as State Minister for Karamoja besides being MP of Ruhama, Ntungamo district.
Syda Bbumba became Uganda’s first woman Finance Minister. Museveni’s brother Gen Salim Saleh was dropped from the state ministry of micro-finance.
The fire that gutted Nakivubo Park Yard Market in Central Kampala in February brought to light the readiness of the Uganda Police Fire Brigade to avert fire emergencies in the country that claimed 41 lives last year alone.
The Fire Brigade is reported to have arrived one hour later after the fire broke out, yet its headquarters are in the backyard of the market place.
There were no deaths reported in the fire that burnt goods worth millions of shillings.
The police chief attributed the fire-fighters’ delay to the poor planning in the country that has led to unnecessary congestion in the capital city.
Early in the year GTV, a pay television service collapsed leaving 70,000 subscribers stranded with their decoders.
There was great expectation that with entry of GTV the monopoly of MultiChoice would be broken. Football fans were the most disappointed.
The leading mobile phone service provider MTN launched its money transfer service dubbed Mobile Money followed by Zain with Zap.
Ugandan got connected to Seacom and the East African Marines System (Teams) fiber optic cables, hence the improvement of the current connectivity speed to the Internet.
After three days of riots that engulfed Kampala and other areas in the central region in early September about 600 suspects were arrested and 26 charged with terrorism.
The riots broke out after the police stopped the Buganda Katikkiro, J.B. Walusimbi, from visiting Kayunga in preparation for Kabaka Ronald Mutebi’s visit to mark the annual youth day.
Over 25 people died in the riots and about 80 sustained injuries.
Property, including Natete Police Station, was destroyed in the riots.
