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Tag: Uganda

Nigeria Gears Up for 2025 U-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifiers

By Milcah Tanimu

Nigeria’s women U-19 cricket team, the Junior Female Yellow Greens, are intensifying their preparations for the 2025 U-19 T20 World Cup Qualifiers following recent changes in the tournament structure. The qualifiers, now set to take place in Kigali, Rwanda, have been rescheduled, granting the team additional time to prepare.

Originally, the tournament was structured into two groups of seven teams each. However, the late inclusion of Zimbabwe necessitated the formation of a new division, leading to a reorganization of the tournament. The Junior Female Yellow Greens have been placed in Division 1 of the Africa Qualifiers, which commenced on August 21, 2024. This division includes strong teams such as Nigeria, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

Division 2, featuring Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone, is being played in a round-robin format. The top two teams from Division 2 will advance to join the teams in Division 1 for the final qualifiers.

The Division 1 qualifiers are scheduled to run from September 23 to 29, 2024, in Kigali. The winner of this division will secure Africa’s second spot in the U-19 T20 World Cup, set to be held from January 8 to February 2, 2025, in Malaysia. The World Cup will also feature South Africa, New Zealand, and Samoa in Group C.

The Junior Female Yellow Greens have been training diligently at the Nigeria Cricket Federation’s High Performance Centre in Benin City, Edo State. They are expected to move to Lagos for final preparations before heading to Rwanda for the qualifiers.

August 23, 2024
“70-Year-Old Ugandan Woman Gives Birth to Twins After Successful IVF Treatment”

By Milcah Tanimu

Safina Namukwaya, a 70-year-old woman in Uganda, has delivered a set of twins—a boy and a girl—after undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. The historic caesarean delivery took place at the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Kampala, Uganda. IVF is a technique that assists individuals with fertility issues in conceiving. Namukwaya, who faced challenges during the pregnancy, including desertion by the children’s father, expressed joy at having the twins after enduring years of stigma and ridicule for being childless. The hospital shared the news on its Facebook page, celebrating the “strength and resilience of the human spirit.” Namukwaya is now recognized as the oldest woman in Africa to give birth.

November 30, 2023
US Takes Stand Against Uganda’s Anti-LGBTQ Law With Visa Restrictions

The United States has imposed visa restrictions on Ugandan government officials over an anti-LGBTQ law, passed by the country’s parliament, that has been condemned by many countries and the United Nations.

Recall that the law, which was enacted in May, carries the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” an offence that includes transmitting HIV through gay sex.

The law also imposes a life sentence for same-sex intercourse and a 20-year sentence for the promotion of homosexuality.

Firms including media and non-governmental organizations that knowingly promote LGBTQ activity will also incur harsh fines, the law says.

The law drew immediate rebukes from the Western and put some of the billions of dollars in foreign aid the country receives each year in jeopardy.

After the law was passed, U.S. President Joe Biden threatened aid cuts and other sanctions, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month the government would consider visa restrictions against Ugandan officials.

On Friday, June 16, the State Department released a statement saying it had given visa restrictions but did not mention any names or even the number of officials that would be hit with the visa restriction.

The statement said the U.S. would hold accountable those who are responsible for abusing human rights in Uganda, “including those of LGBTQI+ persons.”

The State Department also updated its Uganda travel guidance for U.S. citizens to highlight the risk that LGBTQI+ persons could be prosecuted and subjected to life imprisonment or the death penalty based on provisions in the law, it said.

“The United States strongly supports the Ugandan people and remains committed to advancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Uganda and globally,” the State Department said.

Homosexuality was already illegal in the East African country, and homosexuals faced ostracism and regular harassment by security forces, the Us department added.

June 17, 2023
Uganda Confirms six more cases of Ebola Including one Death

The World Health Organization has announced that six new cases of Ebola have been found in Uganda, just after the country reported its first fatality from the highly contagious virus since 2019.

The cases confirmed on Thursday September 22, include a 24-year-old man who died this week after he developed a high fever, diarrhoea and abdominal pain, in addition to vomiting blood. After initially being treated for malaria, he was diagnosed as having contracted the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus.

Seven other deaths are being investigated as suspected cases of a strain for which the authorities do not yet have a vaccine, officials said.

Abdou Salam Gueye, regional emergency director with the WHO Regional Office for Africa said in a statement;

“So far, seven cases, including one death, have been confirmed to have contracted the Sudan ebolavirus.

“Forty-three contacts have been identified and 10 people suspected to have caught the virus are receiving treatment at the regional referral hospital in Mubende.

“Our experts are already on the ground working with Uganda’s experienced Ebola control teams to reinforce surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, and preventive measures.”

Ugandan authorities have not yet found the source of the outbreak, or “patient zero” – the key first case.

But they were able to pinpoint the epicentre of the outbreak, which is the central Ugandan district of Mubende, whose main town lies along a highway into the capital, Kampala. That travel link and several crowded artisanal gold mines there are concerning, Bbosa told the World Health Organization.

Ebola, which is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials, manifests as a deadly haemorrhagic fever. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.

Uganda last reported an outbreak of the Ebola Sudan strain in 2012.

September 23, 2022
China takes over Ugandan airport, seizes country’s assets over $207million loan deal

Chinese lenders, the Export-Import Bank of China, also known as Exim Bank, has taken over the Ugandan Entebbe International Airport and other assets in the country over the failure of the Ugandan government to repay a loan.

This came despite reports that President Yoweri Museveni had sent a delegation to Beijing for a renegotiation with the Chinese government over toxic clauses that exposed the East African country.

The Museveni-led Ugandan government had on Tuesday, 17 November 2015, signed an agreement with Exim Bank to borrow $207 million at two per cent upon disbursement.

The loan had a maturity period of 20 years including a seven-year grace period, but it had now appeared that the transaction signed with the Chinese lenders practically means Uganda “surrendered” its most prominent and only international airport.

The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) revealed some provisions in the Financing Agreement with China that exposed Entebbe International Airport and other Ugandan assets to be attached and taken over by Chinese lenders upon negotiation in Beijing.

Uganda, however, sought to renegotiate the deal but the latest visits and pleas to alter the original terms with Chinese authorities were declined.

According to the Daily Monitor, the Ugandan government waived international immunity in the agreement it signed to secure the loans, exposing Entebbe International Airport to take over without international protection.

In desperation, Uganda in March 2021 sent a delegation to Beijing hoping to renegotiate the toxic clauses of the deal but the officials came back empty-handed as China would not allow the terms of the original deal to be varied.

Last week, Uganda’s Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, apologised to parliament for the “mishandling of the $207 million loan” from the China Exim Bank to expand Entebbe International Airport.

Progress of works at the airport, built in 1972, has reached 75.2 per cent, with two runways having reached overall completion of 100 per cent.

Entebbe International Airport is Uganda’s only international airport and handles over 1.9 million passengers per year. Its seizure by China would greatly dent the legacy of the 77-year-old Museveni, who came to power on the back of an armed uprising in 1986, and expose him to election defeat.

November 26, 2021
BREAKING: Uganda’s incumbent President wins sixth term

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has won a sixth term in office with 58.6 percent of the vote, in an election disputed by his main rival Bobi Wine who trailed with 34.8 percent, the electoral commission announced on Saturday.

“The electoral commission declares Yoweri Museveni… elected President of the Republic of Uganda,” said election commission chairman Justice Simon Mugenyi Byabakama.

Details later…

January 16, 2021
BREAKING: Uganda shuts down social media ahead of election

Uganda’s communications regulator, UCC on Tuesday ordered internet service providers to shut down social media and messaging applications as the country prepares to take to the polls on Thursday.

In a letter, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) executive director Irene Sewankambo ordered telecommunications companies to “immediately suspend any access and use” of social media and online messaging platforms.

Reports say the order was retaliation for Facebook deleting pro-government accounts for seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of the election.

The list of banned social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Signal and Viber

Some of these were already offline on Tuesday.

UCC spokesman Ibrahim Bbosa said: “I am not aware of a directive to switch off internet or social media platforms.”

“There has been slow connectivity on the platforms which can be partly due to heavy traffic as a result of the forthcoming elections”.

January 12, 2021
Facebook Shuts Uganda Government Officials Accounts Ahead Of Election

Facebook has shut a slew of accounts belonging to Ugandan government officials accused of seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of elections Thursday, the internet giant told AFP on Monday.

The East African nation is holding presidential and parliamentary elections after a tense and bloody campaign, with President Yoweri Museveni, 76, facing a stiff challenge from the pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, 38.

“This month, we removed a network of accounts and pages in Uganda that engaged in CIB (Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour) to target public debate ahead of the election,” Facebook’s head of communication for sub-Saharan Africa, Kezia Anim-Addo, said in an email.

“They used fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate users, re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular that they were.”

Anim-Addo said the network was linked to the ministry of information and communications technology.

“Given the impending election in Uganda, we moved quickly to investigate and take down this network.”

Social media giants have come under increasing scrutiny over the content they allow to spread on their networks.

Twitter, Instagram and Facebook blocked US President Donald Trump over incitement to violence after his supporters stormed the US Capitol last Wednesday, a move his backers see as an assault on free speech.

Museveni’s senior press secretary Don Wanyama, who saw both his Facebook and Instagram account shut down, accused the company of seeking to influence the election.

“Shame on the foreign forces that think they can aid and plant a puppet leadership on Uganda by disabling online accounts of (ruling party) NRM supporters,” he said on Twitter.

“You won’t take away President Kaguta Museveni” he added, using the president’s second name.

Museveni’s online account is still active but many government officials and members of the ruling party have seen their pages taken down, including a well-known blogger and Museveni supporter, a prominent doctor and a senior official in the information ministry.

The president has long accused foreign organisations and elements of backing Wine in a bid to remove his government.

January 11, 2021
Uganda drops charges against Nigerian Musicians Oma Lay, Tems

Ugandan authorities on Tuesday dropped the charges against Nigerian singers, Temilade Openiyi, populalrly known as Tems and Stanley Omah Didia, popularly known as Omah Lay.

A Release Order dated December 15, said the charges against both artists had been withdrawn and therefore, they should be released forthwith “unless held on other charges”.

The fast-rising stars were arrested on Monday after performing at a show and flouting COVID-19 guidelines.

They were arraigned at a court in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.

Read also: ‘Kiddwaya’s father, Terry waya is the new Hushpuppi’ – Nigerian lady alerts

A tweet by the Ugandan Police Force had said they will remain in custody till Wednesday, December 16.

Their arrest was met with outrage, especially on social media, by many fans and Nigerians, who demanded their immediate release.

The situation was also a subject of debate as many believe it was beyond flouting the country’s COVID-19 guidelines – quickly sparking the hashtags #FreeTems, #FreeOmahLay.

Their release came shortly after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, said the Nigerian government was engaging the Ugandan Authorities at the highest level to ensure their release.

A tweet by the Ugandan Police Force had said they will remain in custody till Wednesday, December 16.

Their arrest was met with outrage, especially on social media, by many fans and Nigerians, who demanded their immediate release.

The situation was also a subject of debate as many believe it was beyond flouting the country’s COVID-19 guidelines – quickly sparking the hashtags #FreeTems, #FreeOmahLay.

Their release came shortly after the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, said the Nigerian government was engaging the Ugandan Authorities at the highest level to ensure their release.

The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri- Erewa, also assured Nigerians that all was being done to secure their release after she met with two members of both artistes’ record labels.

“I received Marshall and Valentine, working with @Omah_Lay and Tem’s record label. The good news is that they will soon be back,” she tweeted.(NAN)

December 16, 2020
Omah Lay and Tems arraigned in court for flouting COVID-19 guidelines in Uganda

Nigerian singers, Omah Lay and Tems have been arraigned before the Makindye Division court in Kampala for flouting COVID-19 guidelines in Uganda.

The fast-rising stars were on Sunday December 13, arrested together with their managers for holding an illegal concert at Ddungu resort in Munyonyo where they gathered big crowds, contrary to President Museveni’s directives on the prevention of the spread of Covid-19.

It was gathered that the organizers of the event disguised the show as a lunch and dinner event but it turned out to be a concert with large crowd in attendance.

Omah Lay, Tems, and the others were arrested and charged with doing “acts that are likely to cause the spread of infectious disease, Covid-19,” according to him Assistant Superintendent of Police and Deputy Police Spokesperson, Luk Owoyesigyire, Kampala Metropolitan Police.

Earlier in March, Museveni banned all music concerts, closed down bars, banned fans at all sporting events, and reduced the numbers of people who could attend church services.

Uganda’s Ministry of Health on Sunday reported 461 new confirmed coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases in the country to 27,532.

December 14, 2020