This is Monday’s ChimpReports Morning Intelligence Briefing on major news developments making headlines in the region. For tips, please email us on info@chimpreports.com.
Museveni Fears Assassination
Just a few weeks before President Museveni ordered the arrest of police high ranking officers, intelligence organs had warned him of the possibility of an assassination.
Museveni late last year personally directed a CMI-led security team to arrest, interrogate and incarcerate several police officers including Special Operations boss, Nickson Agasirwe and Noel Aguma.
Several other cops in the Police Flying Squad were arrested.
The military went ahead to pick Abdallah Kittata, the leader of the infamous and brutal Boda Boda 2010 militia.
Officials told ChimpReports Morning Intelligence Briefing that Museveni had obtained reports that unless he took action against criminals in police and Boda Boda 2010 fraternity, they would go for him.
“We reached an extent where Boda Boda thugs would disguise as supporters and ambush the president on his way to and from Entebbe, asking him to address their concerns,” said an official who preferred anonymity to speak freely.
“They wanted to make this practice a routine after which they would carry out their mischievous plans. We told the President he was falling in a trap and we had to act fast,” the source added.
Interestingly, when security forces searched Boda Boda 2010 premises, some guns were recovered.
It emerged that these guns were handed to Boda Boda leaders by police commanders.
“Unless we are convinced they were not up to any mischief, Boda Boda 2010 commanders will not leave jail. They need to defend themselves in court by explaining how they got the guns and what they meant for,” a security official added.
An analyst who spoke to us said Kittata and Agasirwe were poorly educated and dangerous. “When you give uneducated people a lot of power and guns, they don’t behave any different from Idi Amin. That’s why they were involved in acts of torture and murder. You couldn’t rule out the possibility of taking out the president.”
Sources said police usually pick information on the president’s movements as they provide security along the routes he uses to and from office or during upcountry tours.
Museveni recently sacked security Minister Henry Tumukunde and IGP Gen Kale Kayihura.
The move came against the backdrop of intense infighting and lack of cohesion among security organs.
Kenyatta Mourns Father of Television Personality Kanze Dena
President Uhuru Kenyatta has mourned Mr Harry Kitao Stephens, a community mobilizer who played a key in role supporting the education of children from disadvantaged families.
The late Mr Stephens was father to Kanze Dena, anchor of the “Nipashe” news programme on Citizen TV, and brother-in-law to Taveta Member of Parliament Naomi Shaban.
In a condolence message, President Kenyatta said Mr Stephens will be remembered for his focus and zeal to improve his family, the community and the nation.
“It is with grief and a deep sense of loss that I learnt of the death of Mr Stephens and I convey my deep sympathies and heartfelt condolences to his family, relatives and friends,” President Kenyatta said.
Mr Stephen was at the forefront in community initiatives that ensured the education of children in Kibra (Nairobi County), Kisauni (Mombasa county) and Taveta (Taita Taveta County) was smooth.
“At this moment of sorrow and grief, my thoughts and prayers are with the family, relatives and friends of Mr Stephens. It is my prayer that the Almighty God will give you all the strength to bear the loss,” President Kenyatta said.
President Kenyatta said the inspirational life of Mr Stephens will remain a great legacy to his family, community and the nation which he served with commitment and dedication.
Museveni to Call Special Security Meeting Over Lango
President Museveni has assured the people of Lango Sub-Region in Northern Uganda that some pockets of insecurity reports that he has heard in the area will be dealt with by the NRM government.
He said that since the National Resistance Movement (NRM) had been able to deal with people Ojuku, Kony, Lakwena and cattle rustlers that peddled insecurity the current situation will also be dealt with after conducting a regional security meeting.
The President made the remarks at a Thanksgiving Ceremony of Hon. Paul Amoru Omiat, Dokolo North Member of Parliament held at Adwoki Technical Institute in Dokolo district on Sunday.
“I am going to call a special security meeting for Lango sub-region following the report of the LC5 chairman that insecurity is creeping back,” said Museveni.
Cases of gun-related violence and killings have been reported in recent weeks in the area.
The President was happy to note that infrastructural and personal developments in the region have taken root. He, therefore, encouraged the people of the area to keep up the efforts.
“People are beginning to improve their homes. From the air, I could see over 30% of the houses were mabati roofed and from my way in Bata, some even had solar panels. Everybody needs to join the effort,” he stressed.
He said that the fact there were now 9 secondary schools in Dokolo, 6 of which were government and 73 primary schools, 61 of which were government schools, was a sign of good progress .
Mr. Museveni disclosed that he would soon start up a Presidential Demonstration farm in Baralege just as he had done in Kawumu in Luweero district, with the aim of teaching the people of Lango how to profit from farming using the four acre production model.
“I encourage all of you to Invest in fish farming. I get Shs.64 million from four fish ponds at my farm in Kawumu in half an acre. If we don’t utilize our resources, we are denying God’s commandment of establishing dominion over nature,” he remarked.
Mr. Museveni promised the people of one part of Dokolo that Government would extend electricity to their area. He congratulated Dokolo North MP, Paul Amoru and other NRM leaders in the area for winning the 2016 elections despite the strong challenges that they faced.
President Museveni commended the good work that the MP is doing in the constituency and promised to send to Dokolo District 20,000 hoes to help farmers with their production activities.
He also contributed Shs. 20 million to Dokolo Youth Yellow Brigade Group SACCO. President Museveni received converts from the UPC and FDC Parties.
Earlier, President Museveni inspected Bata Secondary School laboratories in Okwalongen Sub-County. The school has 586 students who the President assured that Government will undertake the construction of the main classroom block, equip sciences and ICT laboratories.
Apart from inspecting the banana plantation of Mr. Ogwal Fred, he also visited Our Lady of Fatima, Agwata and donated 200 roofing iron sheets to the church structure that is currently being constructed and further pledged materials for the church ceiling.
Kagame Roots for Solar Energy at India Summit
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has pointed out that solar power is the answer to climate change.
“The sunniest countries on Earth should not lack for energy. The fact that they do is an unacceptable irony,” said Kagame.
“It is therefore fitting that more than half of countries that have signed and ratified the International Solar Alliance treaty are African. We are not just protecting the environment; we are protecting people and their well-being,” he emphasised.
President Kagame is in New Delhi where he is attending the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Founding Summit.
Co-hosted by India and France, ISA is a treaty-based international inter-governmental alliance of 121 solar resource rich countries collaborating to achieve speed, scale and skills for deploying available solar technologies.
Although Rwanda is endowed with a number of natural resources, including hydro, solar, and methane gas to power, and has plans to generate 563 megawatts (MW) of electric power from these sources, it currently only has a paltry 209 MW of installed generation capacity to serve a population of more than 11.5 million people.
The majority of its existing capacity comes from hydropower (approximately 59%) and thermal generation (approximately 40%).
Based on current data, Rwanda’s national electrification rate has reached 31% (3% off-grid, 28% on-grid). Over seven million people still lack access to electricity.
Despite high resource potential and opportunities for cross-border export, Rwanda’s power sector faces significant challenges, including a constrained transmission system. The annual consumption of electricity per capita is among the lowest in Africa, with approximately half of consumers using an average of less than 20 kWh per month.
On January 1, 2017 Rwanda introduced cost cutting measures for poor households by cutting the tariff for the first 15kWh consumed per month by 50%.
It also reduced industrial tariffs to bring make them competitive with regional rates and brought in a time-of-use tariff for industrial customers in order to shift load to off-peak periods.
Addressing the Summit in India, Kagame added that solar power will not address all of Africa’s energy needs.
“What is important is that we continue to work together through this new institution and beyond, to put our collective resources and knowledge at the disposal of our planet’s future,” President Kagame said.
The one-day Summit gathers around 20 Heads of State and Governments, as well as senior representatives from Africa and island states.
President Kagame also held meetings with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Emmanuel Macron of France, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea and UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim on the sidelines of the International Solar Alliance Founding Conference.
DRC CONFLICT: UN Upbeat Ahead of Major Donor Conference
The United Nations migration agency is hoping that the upcoming donor pledging conference for the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will generate more financial support to cope with a spike in the number of people displaced by violence.
“Some funding has come in but not nearly enough to meet the critical needs of millions in the DRC,” said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the African country, noting that the 13 April conference is an opportunity to generate more financial pledges to “avert unnecessary deaths and suffering.”
Since the last quarter of 2017, violence carried out by armed groups in the DRC has caused a spike in the number of the displaced, to more than 4.5 million. Due to lack of funding and access, a majority have yet to be reached with aid.
In the Beni Territory of North-Kivu, attacks by armed groups displaced more than 2,200 people from their homes in the first week of February alone.
This is in addition to the 1,500 people who were displaced at the end of January. As of mid-February, more than 12,000 displaced people were sheltering in that locality.
Some funding has come in but not nearly enough to meet the critical needs of millions in the DRC.
IOM says their most basic needs like food and shelter are not being met because no humanitarian actors have yet to reach the areas where displaced people are arriving.
In the Djugu Territory, just south of North-Kivu, inter-ethnic violence between Hema and Lendu groups is flaring up, with 28,634 people fleeing burning villages and for fear of their lives to Bunia, Ituri’s provincial capital, in the last couple of weeks.
In the greater Kasai region, previously considered calm, intercommunal and land-related conflicts have been escalating since 2016.
During the worst days of 2017, the region had a population of about 1.3 million internally displaced people. Today, the region hosts 896,000 internally displaced people.
The security situation has improved in some areas over the past months, prompting some internally displaced people to return to their places of origin. But those returning to burned down villages are in urgent need of humanitarian support.
Since its release, only $4.7 million has been given towards IOM’s $75 million appeal for 2018, the agency said.
The pledging conference will be held in Geneva, hosted by the UN, the European Commission and the Netherlands.