WHAT IS GOING WRONG ON THIS CONTINENT OF AFRICANS: 

The Court in Kampala, Uganda has ordered specialised medical treatment for the long serving prison Members of Parliament.

Such mistreatment  and suffering does augurs ill, for the love of modern Pan-Africanism!

 

 

By The World Media

 

Muhammad Ssegirinya (L) with Allan Ssewanyana at the last court appearence.

 

Masaka High court has ordered prison authorities to provide specialised treatment to Makindye West MP Allan Ssewanyana so as to enable him to recover faster such that he stands trial.

Resident judge Lawrence Tweyanze issued the orders today Tuesday during the hearing of the second bail application by Ssewanyana and his Kawempe North counterpart, Muhammad Ssegirinya, who are battling terrorism charges.

The legislators applied for bail through their lawyers led by Erias Lukwago on the grounds of ill health, saying they can't access the required medical attention while in prison. Lukwago told court that their clients, especially Ssewayana is currently bedridden because of ill health and could not attend court in person because he is currently admitted at Mulago National Referral hospital.

He revealed that they are afraid that Ssewanyana’s medical condition is gradually deteriorating and that he may even not live to stand trial. Caleb Alaka, another defense counsel told the court it is in the interest of justice that the accused persons receive the required treatment such that they stand trial.

In his ruling, Tweyanze directed the prison authorities to ensure the accused persons receive specialized medical attention pending the hearing of their bail application.

"The lord mayor informed court about the status and condition of both Allan and Ssegirinya. Now, we told court we came to hear a bail application, court told us that it was only ready for mention. They called us for purposes of mentioning the application but not to hear it and they were going to give directives. Although court was bent on fixing this matter for hearing from day today but because the state was not ready, court now had no option but to hear the application...Because of insistence on the health situation, court said in the meantime, it ordered for specialised treatment but the good news is at least we're not going to be having a hearing which is going to be prejudicial. We're going to have the bail application. And I want to assure you if all goes we do not see reason why these people should not be out. It is a decision of court but we're optimistic," said Alaka.

Richard Birivumbuka, the Masaka principal resident state attorney who is the main prosecutor in the matter, asked the judge to halt the main trial for murder in Masaka to allow them first to proceed with the terror charges before the International Crimes Division in Kampala. According to the state, it will be logistically exhausting for the state and the defense to be subjected to back-and-forth movements between Kampala and Masaka if the trials are conducted concurrently.

He informed the court that the International Crimes Division of the High court in Kampala has already fixed the hearing of the matter beginning next month February 20 and prayed that they first conclude the trial before they can handle the murder charges in Masaka court. In his response, Lukwago lashed out at the state for opposing their earlier prayers to merge the case files such that they can be heard jointly.   

Notably, following their arrest in September 2021, Ssegirinya, Ssewanyana, and five others were committed to the High court for trial in November 2021 for murder, attempted murder, aiding and abetting terrorism arising from the wave of machete killings that marred Masaka and Lwengo districts between March and June 2021 where more than 20 people lost lives.

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Good that modern Africans over human rights are blaming each other nowadays other than blaming colonial governance that seems to have disappeared from this continent 40 years ago. One wonders what sort of African professional judges are these that continue to imprison human beings left, right and center because of their different political beliefs? In actual sense of the history of this poor African country, political murders, prosecution and imprisonment have been on going in this country since the beginning of independence of this country when these two prisoners were not even born! It is only God knows how it is going to be like in 100 years of Uganda's independence!   

 

WHAT IS GOING WRONG ON THIS CONTINENT OF OURS:

Thousand of Ethiopian citizens have got together in their capital to try and support their elected Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed:

Many of them have come out to denounce the agressive nature of the United States of American Imperialism that is all over the continent of Africa:

 

Written by VOA

 

Tens of thousands of Ethiopians rallied in Addis Ababa on Sunday in support of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government as federal troops fight rebellious forces who are threatening to march on the city.

 

Some demonstrators denounced the United States, which is among the foreign powers that have called for a cease-fire as a yearlong war that has killed thousands of people intensified amid rebel advances last weekend.

The United States, the UN Security Council, the African Union, and Kenya and Uganda have called in recent days for a cease-fire. Abiy's government has pledged to keep fighting. On Friday, the government said it had a responsibility to secure the country, and urged its international partners to stand with Ethiopia's democracy.

Some of those gathered in Meskel Square in central Addis Ababa draped themselves in the national flag. Many singled out the United States for criticism.

US President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday accused Ethiopia of "gross violations" of human rights and said it planned to remove the country from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade agreement.

"Shame on you USA," read one demonstrator's placard, while another said the United States should stop "sucking Ethiopia's blood."

Other demonstrators expressed anger at the US call for the government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to begin talks.

The conflict in the north of the country started a year ago when forces loyal to the TPLF seized military bases in the Tigray region. In response, Abiy sent troops, who initially drove the TPLF out of the regional capital, Mekelle, but have faced a sharp reversal since June this year.

"Why does the US government not negotiate with terrorists like al-Shabab?" said 37-year-old Tigist Lemma, referring to an al-Qaeda linked militant group in Somalia. "They want to destroy our country like they did to Afghanistan. They will never succeed, we are Ethiopians."

Speaking at the rally, Addis Ababa mayor Adanech Abebe invoked Ethiopia's history of resisting colonial power to justify the war. The conflict has killed thousands of people, forced more than 2 million from their homes and left 400,000 people in Tigray facing famine.

On Sunday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and the AU's special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo, landed in Mekelle, one humanitarian source in Ethiopia and one person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

A spokesperson for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ethiopia did not respond to a request for comment, and UN officials in New York were not immediately reachable. AU spokesperson Ebba Kalondo did not respond to a request for comment.

"I can confirm only that they are both here and we are having discussions," TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told Reuters.

Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to a request for comment on the officials' visit.

'No youth' to front lines

During the Addis Ababa rally, there was one call for restraint, from popular musician Tariku Gankisi, whose songs call for unity of all Ethiopians.

"Let no youth go to the front lines to fight, let the elders go holding the fresh grass and ask for reconciliation," Tariku told the crowd, before his microphone was switched off, it was unclear by whom. Fresh grass is a symbol of peace in the country.

A state of emergency declared by the government last Tuesday allows it to order citizens of military age to undergo training and accept military duties.

Reuters has not been able to confirm independently the extent of the TPLF advance. The TPLF and their allies told Reuters last week they were 325 km (200 miles) from the capital. The government accuses the group of exaggerating its gains.

The government has also complained about foreign media coverage of the conflict and some people at the rally held signs denouncing "fake news" in Ethiopia.

Billene Seyoum, Abiy's spokesperson, said in a Twitter post late on Saturday: "Orchestrated media propaganda against Ethiopia is escalating ... Despite it all Ethiopia will overcome!"

 

For Uganda and its finance it is very bad indeed as this poor country strives to encourage many African countries to join the larger union of East Africa for the sake of mainly trade and greater profits.

 

This is the misery of the African international city of Kampala as discussed by the Mayor of Kampala himself.
 

For a long serving Central government that lacks credibility, and has so much debts to pay due to its high expenditures, the only largest city in the country, is badly starved of money to develop it.