By Our Staff Writer

Last week, Uganda’s main media houses published a number of important stories that we feel Uganda Correspondent’s weekly readers must not miss.  Read excerpts here.

NRM uses exercise books as ballot papers

Polling stations in Buikwe district have resorted to using exercise books as ballot papers after the official polling materials run out in the ongoing NRM primaries.  Officials in Zinga and Kiyindi said the decision was taken to avoid further delays after voting had been postponed several times.

The officials used yellow exercise books instead of the official registers, which were not found in the voting materials distributed to them.  In some areas, residents had by yesterday afternoon not cast their votes due to the delay in the supply of the voting materials.

Buikwe district chairman Mathias Kigongo said some areas were stopped from voting because it was too late.  “Some villages received their voting materials at 5:00pm.  So not to cause chaos, the district NRM administrative secretary, Abas Lubega, decided to stop the exercise and ordered the ballot papers to be taken to the Police posts until tomorrow morning”, Kigongo said.  At many polling stations, lines were flooded by secondary school students dressed in their uniforms.

UPDF fails to explain 20billion expenditure

The Public Accounts Committee has asked army officials to prove that bills of up to Shs20 billion were not fabricated to steal public funds.  Questions arose after Ministry of Defence officials failed to provide documentary evidence to corroborate claims by the defence permanent sectary Ms Rosette Byengoma that the arrears in question were genuine.

While Ms Byengoma promised to table evidence, the MPs led by PAC Chairman Nandala Mafabi questioned the army after it emerged that the alleged debts were not included in the ministry’s accounts. “We have rejected this Shs20 billion claim because as a committee we don’t have any evidence to prove that the army had any arrears in the year under review [2007/8]”, Mr Mafabi said.

“In fact, the accounts show that although Ministry of Defence was allocated Shs430.7 billion in the budget for 2007/8, only Shs430.4 was spent; leaving a balance of about Shs375 million.  We don’t see any debts”, Mafabi added.

MPs query suspicious 28billion police expenditure

Police have been spending billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money without authority.  An investigation by the Public Accounts Committee has revealed that in one financial year, police spent more than Shs28 billion to procure goods and services whose details were not disclosed to Parliament.

Reviewing the audit report for June 2008, the PAC members ordered Police to account for Shs1.4b in unspent revenue that was supposed to be returned to the Consolidated Fund. “It is unfortunate that it is the police breaking the law.  They spend public money without authority and as a result, we lost billions of shillings in dubious deals disguised as domestic arrears”, PAC Chairman Nandala Mafabi said.

Police officials led by Deputy Inspector General of Police Julius Odwe and Police Accounting Officer Rogers Muhirwa faced a barrage of questions from the MPs who demanded explanation of the alleged financial impropriety at the police.

“The increase in the level of domestic arrears in 2007/8 was as a result of an urgent need for Uganda Police Force to acquire the four interceptor boats and a helicopter for surveillance activities”, Mr Muhirwe said.  The committee has ordered Police to provide documents relating to the expenditure of Shs28b within one week.

LRA man is the first war crimes court defendant

Former Lord’s Resistance Army rebel commander Thomas Kwoyelo was committed to the War Crimes Division of the High Court for trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

The War Crimes Division was created in 2008 after the Juba peace negotiations to try cases involving the LRA as an alternative to the International Criminal Court [ICC] which indicted five top commanders of the rebel group.

Kwoyelo was not one of them but the ICC indictment became a major stumbling block to the peace talks.  Kwoyelo, who is facing 12 counts of unlawful killing, hostage taking, destruction of property, and causing serious injury to people, was sent to the War Crimes Court by Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate Vincent Mugabo.

Kwoyelo becomes the first suspect to be committed to the War Crime Court.  He was captured in Garamba Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo in March 2009.

Donors, EC want new results system for 2011 polls

THE Electoral Commission (EC) and donors are designing a more transparent system of transmitting results from the districts to the national tally centres to ensure that next year’s general elections are free and fair.

EC boss Eng. Badru Kiggundu said the system will enable stakeholders like political party leaders, candidates’ representatives, observers, and the media who will be present at the tally centres to check on-line and get information about the results in a faster way.

Kiggundu made the revelation while presenting a paper on the role of the commission in the country’s democracy at a two-day workshop for political party leaders held at Colline Hotel in Mukono.

NRM Minister sues NRM over election theft

State Minister for Labour Dr. Emmanuel Otaala has sued his party the NRM.  He asked the High Court to stay the announcement of the results for the party’s primary elections for West Budama South constituency.

Otaala has also filed an application for judicial review to compel the NRM to tally votes from five sub-counties in the constituency.  Provisional results had showed that the Minister and incumbent MP for West Budama South had lost to Jacob Oboth.  The returning officer Mr. Mohammed Yawe had stated that Oboth had polled 17,835 votes as opposed to Otaala’s 11,123.