OCTOBER 9 - Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote’s 1962 Uganda Independence Speech 

*****

At the turning-point in the history of Uganda, I hope that all our friends will join with me in bestowing upon the new, independent Uganda our prayers and hopes for peace, prosperity and a growing strength in her now role in international affairs. Uganda has many friends, both within her borders and outside. With the goodwill of all who wish to see her prosper, Uganda will go forward from strength to strength.

Let us pause for a moment and look back along the path we have traveled. In the days before this part of the African continent was known to the western world, we became known as a group of peoples who welcomed the traveler, the missionary and the explorer. As the years passed, we reaped the benefit of this friendly nature of ours.

The technical progress of the last half-century has transformed our country in countless ways. But, fortunately, we have continued to keep our own customs and culture. It is up to us now, more than ever, in shaping our new country, to achieve a consolidation, in which neither the rapid progress of recent years, nor the age-old customs of our forefathers, are lost or diminished, but rather fused into a new national characteristic in which the best is preserved, while the worst may be thrown away.

National unity

What other aims have we, today, on looking forward? One of our first needs must be national unity. The narrow ambitions of a tribe, a sect, or a party must be subordinated to the greater needs of one complete Uganda. In our Government of these past months, we have striven to put the interests of Uganda before all else, and we shall continue to do so.

But on attaining independence, this Government has new responsibilities to bear, heavier than those which any previous government in Uganda has borne, and we are conscious of the care and statesmanship with which we must move in taking our first steps in foreign affairs. In the Commonwealth and in the United Nations we shall be among friendly states, both from other parts of Africa and from elsewhere. But the regard in which a nation is held in the eyes of the world depends upon the successful operation of a complex machinery.

We have paid attention to the design of that machinery. First, we require political stability. My Government will seek to maintain that stability, by the strict maintenance of law and order, by retaining the confidence of the voters, and by upholding the freedom of the individual. Secondly, we require to safeguard the economy. This we will do by diversifying and improving our agriculture, providing incentives to industry, and creating conditions which encourage foreign investment.

Thirdly, we will press forward with social services within realistic bounds and not as dictated by idealism. Fourthly, we need an efficient civil service to operate the Government. Uganda is well provided with well-qualified African officers and we shall continue to ensure that these are attracted into government service by the offer of the right terms, so that a balanced Africanisation programme shall continue.

I conclude by emphasising that there is a place in the Uganda of today for all who have her interests at heart, whatever their tribe, race or creed. Let all of us, who wish to see Uganda prosper, join together today in resolving to build a great and united nation.

TODAY IN HISTORY - May 10

 

The military commission that took over power a day after President
Binaisa fired Oyite Ojok

TODAY IN HISTORY

#May10 #InHISTORY

1569 May 10, John of Avila (b.1500), Spanish minister and writer, died. He became the patron saint of Spain's diocesan clergy and was considered one of the greatest preachers of his time. He was canonized in 1970. In 2012 Pope Benedict XVI named him as a “doctor” of the Catholic church.

1772 May 10, British Parliament passed the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the colonies.

1773 May 10, To keep the troubled East India Company afloat, Parliament passed the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the American colonies.

1933 May 10, The Nazis staged massive public book burnings at Opernplatz in Berlin, Germany. Some 40,000 people watched or took part. In the great Nazi book-burning frenzy Freud’s work went up in flames, with the declaration: "Down with the soul-devouring exaggeration of instinctive life, up with the nobility of the human soul!" Also burned were books by "unGerman" writers such as: Marx, Brecht, Bloch, Hemingway, Heinrich Mann and Erich Maria Remarque, author of All Quiet on the Western Front.

1940 May 10, Winston Churchill succeeds Neville Chamberlain as British Prime Minister

1940 May 10, World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.

1980 May 10, Events leading to the deposing of President Binaisa by the Military Commission of the UNLF began May 10 after he dropped Brig. Oyite Ojok from the post of army Chief of Staff, and made him ambassador to Algeria. He has earlier also shifted ministers Muwanga and Museveni to less powerful posts. The six-member military commission headed by Paulo Muwanga took control of the government on May 12, 1980. The coup was staged, not by the NCC as many believed, but by the UNLF's Military Commission, whose members are ; Paulo Muwanga (Chairman), Brig. Ojok, Brig. 'Tito' Okello (UNLA Commander), Yoweri Museveni, Col. Maruru and Col. Omaria .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Binaisa

1994 May 10, Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first black Prime Minister of South Africa. His party earmarked $4 billion to be spent over ten years to help correct the land imbalance largely due to the forced abandonment by blacks between 1950-80 when about 3.5 million blacks were forcibly trucked off to ethnic territories, often abandoning land, houses and cattle. It was later declared that crimes committed under apartheid up to this time would be considered for pardon under an amnesty act.http://www.nydailynews.com/.../mandela-president-south...

2000 May 10, Pres. Clinton issued an executive order to make drugs for AIDS less expensive in Africa.

2003 May 10, The New York Times announced on its Web site that one of its reporters, Jayson Blair, had "committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud," according to an investigation conducted by the paper.

2005 May 10, A hand grenade which was thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 65 feet (20 metres) from U.S. President George W. Bush while he was giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/19/georgia.usa

2006 May 10, President Vladimir Putin called population declines of hundreds of thousands a year one of Russia's most serious problems and urged parliament to offer financial incentives for families to have more children. He used his state-of-the-nation speech to call for a big increase in military spending to protect Russian interests world-wide. He dismissed US criticism that the Kremlin is curtailing democratic freedoms.

2007 May 10, Nigeria's Senate cleared outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption in the management of a multi-billion-dollar oil fund but indicted his deputy. In Port Harcourt gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped from their vehicles and killed two police officers.

2010 May 10, In Rwanda Bernard Hategekimana (aka Mukingo), the former managing editor of a Rwandan newspaper was sentenced by a gacaca court to life in prison after being convicted for his role in inciting the country's 1994 genocide.

2011 May 10, Microsoft announced an $8.5 billion deal to acquire Skype, an Internet voice and video communications company.

2013 May 10, A contingent of about 100 Tanzanian troops began arriving in eastern Congo, a first step in assembling the new UN intervention brigade. 3,000 soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi were expected in a month or two.

2013 May 10, Newspapers in Liberia printed black front pages after a government official was accused of threatening journalists. The director of the presidential security service reportedly told a journalist: "Be careful, because you have your pens and we have our guns."

Source - wikipedia; http://www.timelines.ws and http://www.historyorb.com

TODAY IN HISTORY - May 9

First direct Presidential elections in Uganda in 1996

 TODAY IN HISTORY

#May9 #InHISTORY

1457 BC - Battle of Megiddo (15thC BC) between Egyptian Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under King of Kadesh. First battle recorded with a reliable account .

1429 May 9, Joan of Arc defeated the besieging English at Orleans.

1754 May 9, The first American newspaper cartoon was published. The illustration in Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, "Join or die.

1899 May 9, A lawn mower was patented.

1936 May 9, Fascist Italy took Addis Abba and annexed Ethiopia as Benito Mussolini celebrated in Rome.

1941 May 9, The German submarine U-110 was captured at sea by the Royal Navy, revealing considerable Enigma material. Enigma was the German machine used to encrypt messages during World War II.

1945 May 9, Soviet citizens celebrated their WW II victory in Europe at Red Square. This became an annual holiday to commemorate the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the war.

1994 May 9, South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first black president. Mandela promised a South Africa for "all its people, black and white." http://www.findingdulcinea.com/.../Nelson-Mandela-Elected...

1995 May 9, Kinshasa, capital of Zaire (later Congo), was placed under quarantine after an outbreak of the Ebola virus.

1996 May 9, President Museveni re-elected with 74 percent of the vote in the first "no Party" elections on May 9, 1996. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoweri_Museveni

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Yoweri Museveni	Independent	4,428,119	74.20
	Paul Ssemogerere	Independent	1,416,139	23.73
	Kibirige Mayanja	Independent	123,290	2.07
Total			5,967,548	100.00
Valid votes			5,967,548	96.82
Invalid/blank votes			196,130	3.18
Total votes			6,163,678	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			8,492,154	72.58
Source: Nohlen et al.

2001 May 9, In Ghana a stampede at a soccer match in Accra killed 126 people. Police had use of tear gas to quell fans which caused panic and the stampede.

2004 May 9, Brenda Fassie (39), South Africa's first black pop star, who gave a voice to disenfranchised blacks at the height of apartheid, died of complications from an asthma attack.

2007 May 9, Chad pledged to work to demobilize hundreds of child soldiers fighting in the ranks of the government army and rebel groups across the conflict-torn central African country.

2009 May 9, In South Africa Jacob Zuma became president, vowing to work to fulfill the dreams of all South Africans after he overcame corruption and sex scandals to reach the nation's highest office.

2011 May 9, In Uganda hundreds of women demonstrated in Kampala over high food prices and brutal tactics employed by police during recent political rallies.

2012 May 9, In CongoDRC the Nord-Kivu governor's office said a 25-ton arms cache has been found on the farm of Bosco Ntaganda, the leader and wanted war criminal of a band of Congolese army mutineers. The farm is located in Masisi," part of Nord-Kivu province, where clashes took place between April 29 and May 4.

2012 May 9, Sudan offered African tribesmen in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei its citizenship in an effort to woo them to the north. Abyei's fate was left unresolved when South Sudan split from Sudan. Sudanese armed forces said they have repulsed an attack by Darfur rebels in Gereida (Girayda). 9 soldiers and an unknown number of rebels were reported killed.

2012 May 9, United States President Barack Obama officially states his support for same sex marriage

2013 May 9, Everton Manager David Moyes is announced to become Sir Alex Ferguson's successor at Manchester United (he only lasted 10 months)

Today in history - May 7

 

TODAY IN HISTORY

#May7 #InHISTORY

399BC May 7, Believed to be the day Socrates (b.469BC), Greek philosopher, committed suicide. He had been indicted for rejecting the Gods acknowledged by the State, of bringing in strange deities, and of corrupting the youth.http://www.biography.com/people/socrates-9488126#synopsis

1866 May 7, German premier Otto von Bismarck was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt.

1940 May 7, British PM Neville Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill became PM. Churchill formed a new government and served as the Conservative head of a coalition government with the opposition Labor Party.

1945 May 7, Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, to take effect the following day, ending the European conflict of World War II. After five years, World War II in Europe ended when Colonel General Alfred Jodl, the last chief of staff of the German Army, signed the unconditional surrender at General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters at Rheims, France. Journalist Edward Kennedy (1905-1963) made the news public and was suspended for defying political and military censors.

1952 May 7, The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.

1964 May 7, A disturbed man entered the cockpit of a Pacific Airlines flight and killed pilot Ernie Clark (52). All 44 people aboard the Fairchild F-27A died as the plane crashed in San Ramon, Ca.

1982 May 7, IBM releases PC-DOS version 1.1

1993 May 7, In South Africa, representatives of 23 political parties signed a declaration of intent to hold multiracial elections within a year.

1995 May 7, Jacques Chirac, the conservative mayor of Paris, won France's presidency in his third attempt, defeating Lionel Jospin in a runoff to end 14 years of Socialist rule.

2000 May 7, Pres. Kagame announced that Rwanda was prepared to quickly implement a phased withdrawal from Congo.

2007 May 7, The African Union announced it would send an extra 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia but said dialogue remained the only solution to the bloody conflict in that country.

2007 May 7, Israeli scientists said they found King Herod’s tomb near Jerusalem.

2012 May 7, Vladimir Putin sworn in for third six year term as President of Russia

2012 May 7, Sudan's finance minister told parliament that failure to agree with South Sudan on oil fees has cost the Sudanese economy $2.4 billion dollars. Sudan resumed its aerial bombardment of South Sudan, violating international calls for a cessation of hostilities between the two countries. Attacks over the next 24 hours took place in the states of Upper Nile, Unity and Northern Bahr el Ghazal.

2013 May 7, Scientists said Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) is destroying entire crops of cassava and has spread out of East Africa into the heart of the continent. It is attacking plants as far south as Angola and now threatens to move west into Nigeria, the world's biggest producer of the potato-like root that helps feed 500 million Africans.

2013 May 7, 55 people are killed by a Boko Haram attack in Nigeria

Source - wikipedia; http://www.timelines.ws and http://www.historyorb.com

TODAY IN HISTORY - May 6

 

TODAY IN HISTORY

#May6 #InHISTORY

1527 May 6, German and Spanish troops under Charles V began sacking Rome, bringing about the end of the Renaissance. Libraries were destroyed, Pope Clement VII was captured and thousands were killed. 147 of 189 of the Pope’s Swiss guard were killed.

1733 May 6, 1st international boxing match: Bob Whittaker beat Tito di Carni.

1801 May 6, British Lt. Thomas Cochrane, commander of the 14-gun sloop HMS Speedy, engaged and captured the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo. The climactic battle in Patrick O’Brian’s novel “Master and Commander” is based on the Speedy’s fight with El Gamo. Cochrane was later elected to Parliament, pointed out corruption and was arrested on trumped up charges. After that he served as the first commander of Chile’s navy, then Brazil’s navy and the Greek navy before returning to England.

1835 May 6, The 1st edition of NY Herald was priced at 1 cent. The Herald specialized in crime with an emphasis on murder. James Gordon Bennett was the Scottish-born steward of the Herald.

1919 May 6, Paris Peace Conference disposed of German colonies; German East Africa was assigned to Britain & France, German SW Africa to South Africa.

1954 May 6, Medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, finishing in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister

1978 May 6, On this day at 12:34, the numbers 12345678 represented the time and day: 12:34 5/6/78. The next such sequence will occur in 2078.

1987 May 6, A London building that housed the congress of South African Trade Unions was bombed under orders of the apartheid government of South Africa.

1990 May 6, Former president P.W. Botha quit South Africa's ruling National Party as a protest against the apartheid reform program of his successor F.W. de Klerk.

1994 May 6, Nelson Mandela and his ANC finally were confirmed winners in South Africa's first post apartheid election.

1997 May 6, In Zaire Pres. Mobutu Sese Seko left Zaire for a 3-day visit to Gabon. He was not expected to return.

2000 May 6, In Sudan Pres. Omar el-Bashir dismissed Hassan Turabi as the secretary-general of the ruling National Congress Party.

2001 May 6, An anonymous donor pledged $100 million to Johns Hopkins Univ. to develop a vaccine and new drugs for malaria.

2001 May 6, In Syria Pope John Paul II prayed in the Great Umayyad Mosque, the 1st time a pontiff ever visited and prayed in a Muslim house of worship. He called for brotherhood between Christians and Muslims.

2004 May 6, A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on charges they intentionally infected some 393 children with the AIDS virus as part of an experiment to find a cure. 9 Libyan health workers were acquitted. Under Libyan law, death sentences generate an automatic 60-day period for appeal.

2008 May 6, Kenya froze the assets of businessman Felicien Kabuga, the most wanted suspect in Rwanda's genocide, saying it would stop him avoiding capture or helping other fugitives. The US government has offered a $5 million bounty for Kabuga's capture.

2009 May 6, South Africa's parliament has elected Jacob Zuma as the country's president. Zuma won 277 votes in the 400 member National Assembly. Zuma's African National Congress won elections last month with 65.9% of the vote. He is due to be inaugurated on May 9.

2010 May 6, Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan (52) was sworn as president of the oil-rich African nation riven by religious and political divisions, hours after the death of the incumbent Umaru Yar'Adua (58). Jonathan vowed that electoral reform and fighting graft would be top priorities.

2012 May 6, Francois Hollande elected President of France

2014 May 6, Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, releases a 57 minute video boasting about abducting schoolgirls in Nigeria

Source - wikipedia; http://www.timelines.ws and http://www.historyorb.com

Kabushenga reveals role Chandi Jamwa played in success of The New Vision

 

Kabushenga delivers his farewell speech in Kampala on Friday. 
📷 @kamiriam @newvisionwire 

BY LOUIS JADWONG   | Outgoing Vision Group Managing Director and CEO Robert Kabushenga has hailed David Chandi Jamwa as one of the key persons behind the success The New Vision has enjoyed over the years.

Speaking at a farewell luncheon organized for him by the company on Friday,  Kabushenga outlined the roles of up to a dozen persons, who he said had intervened at crucial moments to ensure New Vision weathered the storms since he took over in 2007. 

The challenges he faced included complications of a rights issue on the stock exchange. He said a successful rights issue enabled New Vision to grow into the media giants they are today.

The list of people Kabushenga paid tribute to in government and individually, included President Yoweri Museveni, First Lady Janet Museveni, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Keith Muhakanizi, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, Nassolo Nalinya and Chandi Jamwa. 

“This one will come as a surprise to you, but I must acknowledge him….Chandi Jamwa,” he told friends, staff and board members at his farewell party at the company's Headquarters in Industrial Area.

David Jamwa, the former Managing Director of the National Social Security Fund-NSSF,  is currently serving a 12 year jail term after conviction for abuse of office and causing financial loss by the Anti-Corruption court.

Chandi Jamwa. Former NSSF boss played a key
role in transforming New Vision

“In a rights issue, you need a good price. When we did our rights issue we wanted a certain price to be successful to raise the money we needed, and the biggest strategic investor was NSSF.”

Kabushenga went on, "There were people trying to discount the shares, so they can pick them for a song, and sell as soon as the rights issue was done."

"I picked a phone and called Chandi. He asked me to go to his office at NSSF. He did some calculations, on a white board using a red marker in his office, I remember, then he said... 'we will invest at sh1,500 and we will buy about 20% of the shares'."

VIDEO

   

CLICK HERE TO WATCH FULL VIDEO

After Jamwa's decision,  Kabushega said "I walked out of workers house with so much confidence, by the time I reached the Uganda bookshop, I was walking with a swagger. At that point I knew that this  was a done deal, and indeed that was what happened. We were able to raise the money to do what we did thereafter."

He concluded by saying, "If we hadn’t done the things that we did then, we wouldn’t be here today."

Under Kabushenga's tenure, the Group expanded its portfolio from its primary print holdings to include broadcast and digital media, such as Bukedde TV, TV West, and Urban TV. It also expanded to include radio and TV stations in southwestern, eastern, and northern Uganda. 

Kabushenga took up from founding Managing Director William Pike in 2007.

Senior Presidential Press Secretary Don Wanyama is the new CEO and MD. He promised that "I want to assure you that we are going to make you proud. We are going to go ahead with your vision for this company and develop further. You are going to be our ambassador."