From first woman finance boss to riots

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.

The long awaited 21 kilometre Northern Bypass meant to decongest Kampala city was opened in October.

Work on the EU-sponsored project that started in 2005 and was meant to be done within a year saw its costs rise to Ushs100 billion ($50.1 million) from Ushs87 billion (43.6 million).

The Uganda National Road Authority said the additional cost incurred from delays would be paid by all parties involved. The road’s life span is estimated to be 15 years.

Single opposition candidate

The Forum of Democratic Change, Uganda People’s Congress, Conservative Party, Justice Forum formed the Inter Party Cooperation in preparations for the 2011 general elections.

They have agreed to field one candidate.

The Electoral Commission also announced that over 1,000 new polling stations will be created for the forthcoming general elections.

It projects that close to 13 million voters up from about 10.4 million that voted in 2006.

Towards the end of year a Member of Parliament, David Bahati, introduced a private member’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill that was eventually passed.

The Bill has generated a lot of criticism from countries and organisations that promote human rights and democracy.

The Bahati bill wants to impose a life sentence on homosexuality and the death penalty on aggravated homosexuality.

In sports, Uganda won back-to-back the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup after beating Rwanda 2-0 in a thrilling final on December 12 in Nairobi.

The victory at Nyayo National Stadium was Uganda’s 11th title in 15 final appearances since the inception of the tournament in 1973.

Uganda returned home with the top cash prize of $30,000. Rwanda won $20,000 while third-placed Zanzibar was awared $10,000.

Aggravated homosexuality is defined as sex with a minor or a disabled person, where the offender is HIV-positive, a parent or a person in authority over the victim, or where drugs are used to overpower the victim.

Under the proposed bill, promotion of homosexuality attracts a prison sentence of up to seven years, while anybody failing to report the offence within 24 hours risks imprisonment for up to three years.