Kenya's Rotich wins Lake Biwa Marathon, Uganda's Mutai 11th

Mutai and Kiprotich at Beijing 2015. FILE PHOTO

#LakeBiwaMarathon (Japan) results via @JRNLive 

1. Lucas Rotich (Kenya) - 2:09:11

2. Hisanori Kitajima (Japan) - 2:09:16 - PB

3. Alphonce Felix Simbu (Tanzania) - 2:09:19 - PB

4. Suehiro Ishikawa (Japan) - 2:09:25

5. Takuya Fukatsu (Japan) - 2:09:31 - PB

6. Fumihiro Maruyama (Japan) - 2:09:39 - debut

7. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:11:53

8. Kentaro Nakamoto (Japan) - 2:12:06

9. Hiroto Inoue (Japan) - 2:12:56 - debut

10. Soji Ikeda (Japan) - 2:13:27

11. Munyo Solomon Mutai (Uganda) - 2:14:57

12. Takayuki Matsumiya (Japan) - 2:14:58

13. Hideaki Tamura (Japan) - 2:15:00

14. Kiyokatsu Hasegawa (Japan) - 2:15:42

15. Dishon Karukuwa Maina (Kenya) - 2:15:42

Kenya's Lucas Rotich has won the 71st Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in Japan in 2:09:10, beating a strong entry of Japanese runners seeking Olympic places.

Uganda's Munyo Solomon Mutai, seeking to cement his place on the Team-Uganda Olympic team, managed 11th in 2:14:57, four minutes outside his best time. Bronze medalist at the World Championships last year, Mutai's best time is 2:10:42.

The Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon held in Otsu, Shiga, is one of the prominent Japanese marathon races of the year. It is a male only competition and has IAAF Gold Label status. It is the final qualifying race for Japanese men hoping to make the Olympic team.

Mutai at last year's World Championships

Background

Uganda will enter a strong team of four runners in the Rio Olympics Marathon event due to the consistently good performance of the country’s long distance runners led by Stephen Kiprotich. Up to six  runners are in contention, and only those with the best times will join Kiprotich.

With a slot for defending Olympic champion Kiprotich guaranteed, four other Ugandans have already in the past year beaten the qualifying mark of 2:19:00, leaving the Uganda Athletics Federation with a headache to pick the best three. Moses Kipsiro is also reportedly seeking one of the places.

The other Ugandan track and field athletes who have so far hit the qualifying mark for the Olympics are Adero Nyakesi in the women’s marathon, Joshua Cheptegei and Tim Toroitich in the 10,000m, Phillip Kipyeko in the 5,000m and Ronald Musagala in the 1500.

Uganda's track and field team at the last Olympics in London was the biggest (11 out of 15), and Etuchet said it is likely to be bigger this time due to the stiff competition in long distance races.

Kiprotich's gold in London 2012, was the first Olympic medal since Davis Kamoga’s bronze in 1992 and one of only two gold Uganda has won at the games. The first gold was by Akii Bua in 1972, one of only 7 medals Uganda has won at Olympics track and field.

The elite field in Japan today had:
Tadese Tola (ETH) 2:04:49
Shumi Dechasa (BRN) 2:06:43
Lucas Rotich (KEN) 2:07:17
Henryk Szost (POL) 2:07:39
Kazuhiro Maeda (JPN) 2:08:00
Yuki Kawauchi (JPN) 2:08:14
Kentaro Nakamoto (JPN) 2:08:35
Ryo Yamamoto (JPN) 2:08:44
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (MGL) 2:08:50
Shura Kitata (ETH) 2:08:53
Masanori Sakai (JPN) 2:09:10
Suehiro Ishikawa (JPN) 2:09:10
Tomoya Adachi (JPN) 2:09:59
Munyo Solomon Mutai (UGA) 2:10:42
Alphonce Felix Simbu (TAN) 2:12:01

OTHER ATHLETICS STORIES
*Kiprotich 4th, Kenyans beaten in Tokyo Marathon

UPDF: Kulayigye, Koreta in as army picks representatives to parliament

Picked for 10th Parliament - Kulayigye (top), Asiimwe and Koreta

The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) has picked representatives to the Uganda parliament at polls overseen by the Electoral Commission's Badru Kiggundu. Commander In Chief Yoweri Kaguta Museveni attended.

Six new names emerged at the end of the election yesterday. They are Lt.Gen Koreta, Maj Gen Pecos Kutesa, Col Felix Kulayigye, Col Tukirwa, Lt.Col Flavia Byekwaso and Captain Asiimwe. 

The full list for the 10th parliament
1. Gen. Katumba 
2. Gen. Tumwine 
3. Lt.Gen Koreta
4. Maj Gen Pecos
5. Brig Oula
6. Col Kulayigye
7. Col Takirwa.
8. Lt Col. Flavia Byekwaso
9. Capt Asiimwe
10.Capt Lakot 

THE ELECTIONS IN PICTURES

The army elections in PICTURES: 

All photographs via Mugisha Richard @mugirich 

The representatives for the UPDF in the 9th parliament

1. Gen Aronda Nyakairima (RIP)
2. Lieutenant General Charles Angina
3. Brig. Phinehas Manoni Katirima
4. Gen Katumba Wamala
5. Capt Lakot Susan
6. Gen Elly Tumwine
7. Maj Sarah Mpabwa
8. Maj Gen Oketta Julius Facki
9. Brigadier Innocent Felix Oula
10. Maj. Gen. Jim Owesigyire.


The 9th Parliament of Uganda comprised of:

238 Constituency Representatives
112 District Woman Representatives
10 Uganda People's Defence Forces Representatives
5 Representatives of the Youth
5 Representatives of Persons with Disabilities
5 Representatives of Workers
13 Ex-officio Members

Candidates in the elections for the 10th parliament

Road Safety levels in East African Community alarming

AUDIO: Launch of the World Road Safety Report 2015 

Road Safety levels in East Africa are alarming. Rwanda and Tanzania have some of the highest road fatality rates in the world, drink driving, little or no helmet use by cyclists and weak legislation make the region an area of concern – as is much of Africa.

According to the most recent year data available (2013) from the World Health Organisation released late last year,  there are 27.4 traffic deaths per 100,000 people every year in Uganda.  In Kenya it is at 29.1, Rwanda 32.1 and Tanzania 32.9. 

In the Developed World Germany has only 4.3 deaths per 100,000 people while the United States and United Kingdom had 10.6 and 2.9 respectively. 

The global rates altogether are worrying, with the statistic of 1.25 million deaths from road accidents putting it well higher than deaths from malaria, which are at about 460,000. Road traffic injuries are actually leading cause of death in the world among young people, aged 15 to 29 years – the  larger percentage being pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists (Boda Bodas in Uganda).

The fatality rate on Libya’s roads was 73.4 per 100,000 people, way ahead of Thailand at 36.2 in second place.

Between 20 and 50 million more people also suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury. The report adds that 90% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries, even though these countries have approximately half of the world's vehicles..

A Uganda Police annual traffic report for 2013, while comparing statistics with the previous year, states that “generally there was a 6% decrease in the total number of persons killed in 2013. However the number of motor cyclists and pedal cyclists who died in 2013 increased by 12.3% and 3.2% respectively from that of 2012.” 

The Uganda Report stated that “pedestrians and passengers continue to be the most vulnerable category of road users constituting 40.2% and 26.6 % respectively of the total number of persons killed in 2012. 1,181 pedestrians (40.2%), 781 passengers (26.6 %), 224 pedal cyclists (7.6%), 641 motor cyclists (21.8 %) and 110 drivers (3.7%) were killed in road accidents in 2013.”


Bloomberg  supporting worldwide Road Safety effort

Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety has dedicated $250 million over 12 years to implement interventions. They are partners with World Health Organization on this.

Five countries were last year selected to receive technical support to review and strengthen road safety legislation include China, India, Philippines, Thailand and Tanzania.

Ten cities were also identified to have proven road safety interventions implemented. They are Accra, Ghana; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Bandung, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Bogota, Colombia; Fortaleza, Brazil; Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; Mumbai, India; Sao Paolo, Brazil; and Shanghai, China.

RELATED STORIES

Uganda's stats - World Road Safety Report (click here)

Africa has the world's deadliest roads: Why this could actually be a design problem—and how every trip cheats death




BELOW different graphics illustrating the state of Road Safety in the World.

VIDEO: Museveni served with the presidential election petition

President Museveni was yesterday afternoon served with the presidential election petition by Amama Mbabazi's lawyers Davis Akampurira and Severino Twinobusingye.

The President acknowledged receipt of the petition, and said he and his team will respond in 3 days. Preliminary hearing of the petition at the Supreme Court starts on Monday.

*******

March 1, 2016

Amama Mbabazi's lawyers on March 1, 2016 filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the results of the 2016 Uganda Presidential Elections.

They urged the Honourable Court declares:-
(a) That Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was not validly elected as President.
(b) That the election be annulled.
• The Petitioner be awarded costs of this Petition.
• The Petition is accompanied by the Petitioner’s Affidavit together with other Affidavits sworn by deponents whose names appear in a list attached hereto and marked “A” and more affidavits to be filed later.

STORY: Museveni win challenged in court (click here)

A Coram of Supreme Court judges

THE FULL PETITION

1. Your petitioner Amama Mbabazi is a person who was a candidate at the above mentioned Presidential Election and is an aggrieved candidate within the meaning of the Presidential Election Act.

2. And your petitioner states that the election was held on the 18th day of February 2016 when Abed Bwanika, Amama Mbabazi, Baryamureeba Venansius, Benon Buta Biraaro, Kizza Besigye Kifefe, Mabirizi Joseph, Maureen Faith Kyalya Waluube and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni were candidates and the Electoral Commission has returned Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as the validly elected President by its Declaration dated 20th February 2016.

3. And your petitioner contends that the following offences and illegal practices were committed in connection with the said Presidential election that:

(a) (i) Contrary to Section 64 (1) and (4) of the Presidential Elections Act hereinafter referred to as “the Act” the 1st Respondent [Mr Museveni] and his agents with his knowledge and consent or approval gave a bribe of hoes to the voters of West Nile with intent that they should vote the 1st Respondent and to refrain from voting the petitioner and other presidential candidates.

(ii) Contrary to Section 64 (1) and (4) of the Presidential Elections Act between mid-2015 and 16th and 18th of February 2016 the 1st Respondent through his agents and with the knowledge and consent or approval gave a bribe of Ushs250,000 (Uganda Shillings) to voters in every village throughout Uganda on two occasions with intent that they should vote the 1st Respondent and to refrain from voting the petitioner and other candidates

(b) Contrary to S.69 (1) (a) and (b) of the Act the 1st Respondent made reckless statements while referring to the petitioner and candidate Kizza Besigye that he was not prepared to hand over power to wolves, “emishega” and that the followers-cum-suppor­ters of the petitioner and Kizza Besigye were “mad”.

(c) Contrary to Section 26 (b) of the Act the 1st Respondent organized, under the Uganda Police, a political partisan militia, the so-called “crime preventers” under the superintendence of the Inspector General of Police General Kale Kayihura, a paramilitary force –cum-militia to use force and violence against persons suspected of not supporting candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni thereby causing a breach of peace, disharmony and disturbance of public tranquility and induce others to vote against their conscience in order to gain unfair advantage for candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

(c) Contrary to Sections 24 (5) (a) (i) (ii) (b) (c) (d) and 7 of the Act the 1st Respondent on several occasions threatened to arrest your petitioner and candidate Kizza Besigye and used derogatory and reckless language when he stated that your Petitioner and his supporters had touched “the anus of a leopard” and would see what would happen to them and this had the effect of scaring voters to vote the 1st Respondent for their own safety.

(d) Contrary to Sections 24 (5) (a) (i) (ii) (b) (c) + (d) and 7 of the Act the 1st Respondent on various occasions threatened that if the voters elected your petitioner or anybody else, Uganda would go back to war and this had the effect of influencing the voters to vote the 1st Respondent so as to maintain the status quo.

(e) That the above illegal practices and offences were committed by the 1st Respondent personally or and his agents and supporters with his knowledge and consent or approval through the Police, some elements of the Military, Special Forces and the organs of the State attached to his office under his command as the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Chairman of the National Defence Council and High Command and Chairman of the National Resistance Movement.

4. Your petitioner says that on … September 2015, contrary to S.3 (1) (2) of the Act, under the directive of the 1st Respondent, the Inspector General of Police General Kale Kayihura and his officers prevented your petitioner, as an aspirant from conducting consultations with voters in preparation for his nomination as a presidential candidate.

5. Under the directive of the 1st Respondent some officers under the command of General Kale Kayihura of the Uganda Police Force applied force and arrested your petitioner along Jinja Road in Njeru Town Council near the Owen Falls Dam Bridge and publicly humiliated him and later detained him at Kira Road Police Station thereby giving unfair advantage to the 1st Respondent who on the other hand was criss-crossing the country undeterred under the guise of “wealth creation” (sic) when he was in effect campaigning.

6. Contrary to Section 3 of the Act when your petitioner was subsequently allowed to go, he was hounded and trailed by some members of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, the Uganda Police, a motley crew of all the state security agencies and the so-called Crime Preventers (sic) who would go as advance teams or would go at the time of the consultations to dissuade voters and members of the public from attending the Petitioner’s meetings and actually dispersed the petitioner’s meetings in diverse places in eastern Uganda, instilled fear and harassed all who attended the said meetings, and arrested all those who carried your petitioner’s manifestos, posters and other campaign materials thereby frustrating his efforts and giving unfair advantage to candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

7. Contrary to Sections 9 and 10 of the Act:
(a) The 1st Respondent was nominated by the 2nd Respondent (Electoral Commission) illegally on the 3rd day of November 2015 when the 1st Respondent had not yet been sponsored by the National Resistance Movement on whose ticket he purportedly contested.

(b) The 2nd Respondent acted improperly when it extended the deadline to give the 1st Respondent more time instead of declaring the 1st Respondent’s nomination papers null and void under S.11 of the Act after the deadline had passed and after all other candidates had submitted their respective documents thereby giving the 1st Respondent unfair advantage.

8. Contrary to Section 12 (i) (e) of the Election Commission Act, the 2nd Respondent failed to accord equal treatment to your petitioner when it failed to prevail upon authorities and agencies of government such as the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and the New Vision Publishing Corporation through their electronic and print media to render equal coverage to him to enable him present his programmes but they offered preferential treatment to the 1st Respondent.

9. Contrary to Section 26 of the Act, the 1st Respondent directed a one [retired] Major General to fly the 1st Respondent’s helicopter fully decorated with the 1st Respondent’s campaign posters and party colours to land at Boma Ground Fort Portal and instilled fear and uncertainty and in effect interfering with the scheduled electioneering activities of your petitioner culminating in the disruption of your petitioner’s rally.

10. Contrary to Section 27 of the Act, the 1st Respondent made use of government resources which are not ordinarily attached to and utilized by the President without proper authorization by law thereby having unfair advantage over your Petitioner.

11. Contrary to Section 28(a) (b) (c) of the Act on 18th February 2016 officials of the 2nd Respondent delivered to many polling stations the voting materials late and at many polling stations voting did not commence until 2:00 pm and in some places at 4:00pm and yet others at 8:30pm and ended after 1:00am in other places.

12. Contrary to the provisions of Sections 33 and 48 (4) and (5) of the Act on the polling day during the polling exercise the Petitioner’s polling agents were chased away from the Polling Stations in many districts of Uganda and as a result the Petitioner’s interests at those polling stations could not be safeguarded.

13. Contrary to Section 30 (2) and (5) of the Act, the 2nd Respondent and its agents/servants allowed voting before the official polling time and allowed people to vote beyond the polling time by people who were neither present at polling stations nor in the line of voters at the official hour of closing.

14. Contrary to Section 31 (8) of the Act, the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants in the course of their duties, allowed commencement of the poll with pre-ticked ballot papers, ballot boxes already stuffed with ballot papers and without first opening the said boxes in full view of all present to ensure that they are devoid of any contents.

15. Contrary to Section 32 of the Act, the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants/the Presiding Officers in the course of their duties and with full knowledge that some people had already voted allowed the same people to vote more than once.

16. Contrary to Art. 61 (1) (e) of the 1995 Constitution and Section 12 (f) and Section 18 of the Electoral Commission Act, the 2nd Respondent failed in its statutory duty of properly compiling and securely maintaining the integrity of the National Voters’ Register and instead illegally retired the duly compiled Voters’ register and purported to create another using data compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

17. Contrary to Section 35 (1) and (2) of the Act, the 2nd Respondent failed to identify voters by their respective voters cards but instead applied an unreliable, slow and suspect biometric identification machines thereby denying legitimate registered voters their right to vote and creating room for persons not duly registered to vote.

18. Contrary to Section 12 (b) and (c) of the Electoral Commission Act 2005, the 2nd Respondent failed to control the distribution and use of ballot boxes and ballot papers resulting in the commission of numerous election offences under Part X of the Act as hereunder:-

(a) Unauthorized persons got possession of ballot papers and other ballot documents relating to the election and used them during the election.

(b) Unauthorized persons and/or officials of the 2nd Respondent used the ballot documents acquired to stuff ballot boxes, tick ballot papers on behalf of the voters, vote more than once and/or doctor figures in the Declaration of Results Forms (DRs) and Tally sheets.

19. Contrary to Section 33 of the Act, the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants the Presiding Officers failed to prevent the Petitioner’s polling agents from being chased away from Polling Stations and as a result the Petitioner’s agents were unable to observe and to monitor the voting process.

20. Contrary to Sections 30 (4) and 35 of the Act, the 2nd Respondent and its agents/servants, the Presiding Officers in the course of their duties allowed people with no Valid Voter’s Cards to vote or denied those who had cards from voting.

21. Contrary to Section 43 of the Act the 2nd Respondent and its agents/servants in the course of their duties allowed people with deadly weapons, to wit soldiers and the so-called Crime Preventers at Polling Stations – a presence which intimidated many voters to vote for the soldiers’ boss and candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni while many of those who disliked being forced to vote for that candidate stayed away and refrained from voting at all.

22. Contrary to Section 48 of the Act the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants in the course of their duties denied the Petitioner’s Polling Agents information concerning the counting and tallying process.

23. Contrary to Section 49 of the Act the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants allowed the voting and carried out the counting and tallying of votes in the forced absence of the Petitioner’s agents whose duty was to safeguard the Petitioner’s interests by observing the voting, counting and tallying process and ascertaining the results.

24. Contrary to Section 12 (1) (e) and (f) of the Electoral Commission Act the 2nd Respondent failed to ensure that the entire Presidential Electoral process was conducted under conditions of freedom and fairness and as a result your Petitioner’s and his agents’ campaigns were interfered with by some elements of the military including the Special Forces and the so-called Crime Preventers under General Kale Kayihura.

25. The Petitioner’s agents and supporters were abducted and some arrested by some elements of the army to prevail upon them to vote for the First Respondent or to refrain from voting contrary to Section 76 (b) of the Act.

26. Contrary to Sections 72 () and (j) and 73 (b) of the Act some of the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants the Presiding Officers/Polling Assistants in the course of their duties ticked ballot papers in the 1st Respondent’s favour and later gave them to voters to put in the ballot boxes and others interfered with ballot boxes and stuffed them with already ticked ballot papers, and failed to prevent “table voting” in some areas such as in Kiruhura District and in most areas of the cattle corridor in Uganda.

27. The commission of the herein mentioned offences and illegal practices by the 1st Respondent and instances of non-compliance with the provisions of the law by the 2nd Respondent are proved by electronic evidence, affidavit evidence and several reports of eminent observer teams which shall be relied upon at the hearing.

28. In the result, such non-compliance with the provisions of the Presidential Elections Act 2005 and of the Electoral Commission Act as aforesaid affected the result of the Presidential Election in a substantial manner as hereunder:

(i) The number of actual voters on the Voters’ Roll/Register remained unknown and some people were disfranchised and the number of votes cast during the election at certain Polling Stations exceeded the registered number of registered voters or the ballot papers delivered at the station.

(ii) The identity of some of the voters could not be verified.

(iii) The electoral process regarding the voters’ register was full of serious flaws and some of the voters were denied the chance and sufficient time to correct those flaws.

(iv) No sufficient time was allowed for the Petitioner and his agents and supporters to scrutinize the voters roll/register and take corrective measures regarding the same.

(v) The Petitioner’s Polling Agents were denied the opportunity to safeguard their candidate’s interests at the time of voting, counting and tallying of votes and in the absence illegal voters voted while legitimate voters voted more than once.

(vi) The Petitioner was unduly hindered from freely canvassing support by the presence of some members of the military and so-called crime preventers and militia who intimidated the voters.
(vii) It cannot positively be ascertained that the 1st Respondent obtained more than 50% of valid votes of those entitled to vote.

• Therefore your Petitioner prays that this Honourable Court declares:-
(a) That Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was not validly elected as President.
(b) That the election be annulled.
• The Petitioner be awarded costs of this Petition.
• The Petition is accompanied by the Petitioner’s Affidavit together with other Affidavits sworn by deponents whose names appear in a list attached hereto and marked “A” and more affidavits to be filed later.

LIVE: The 17th East Africa Heads of State Summit

Host Magufuli met veteran East African Museveni yesterday

AND Kagame today.

TODAY: Presidents from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan attended the 17th EAC Heads of State Summit in Arusha, Tanzania

The summit admitted South Sudan as a member of the EAC. The summit theme was - EAC: Advancing market-driven integration. 

Top on the agenda of the summit was consideration of reports by the EAC Council of Ministers on: the negotiations on the admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community; Sustainable Financing Mechanisms for the EAC, and; the EAC Institutional Review.

The e-Passport was launched as well as a one-stop border centre.


JOINT COMMUNIQUÉ: 17TH ORDINARY SUMMIT OF THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY HEADS OF STATE


WATCH VIDEO OF SUMMIT BELOW (via @jumuiya)

jumuiya on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

#17thEACSummit Tweets

KEY FACTS via +State House Uganda 
About the ‪#‎EastAfricanCommunity‬ (‪#‎EAC‬)..
* Is an intergovernmental organisation composed of five countries in the African Great Lakes region in eastern Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. South Sudan and Somalia have applied to join.
* First established 1967; Dissolved 1977; Re-established 7 July 2000.
* Current Chairman: President John Magufuli of Tanzania
* Secretary-General: Amb. Dr Richard Sezibera
* Main Organs: East African Community Secretariat, East AFrica Legislative Assembly, East African Court of Justice
* Area (incl. water): 1.82 million sq. km
* Population: 145.5 million (2015)
* GDP (PPP): US$ 147.5 billion (2015)
* EAC Headquarters: Arusha, Tanzania
* Motto: "One People One Destiny"
* Official languages: Swahili, English
* Website: www.eac.int; www.eac.int/sectors
* Projects/Plans: East African Railway; East AFrican Passport; Political Federation; Monetary Union (East African Shilling, etc

UGANDA: President Museveni's election win challenged in court

The lawyers hand in the petition 

 in Kampala, Uganda

#BREAKING NEWS 5.08pm March 1, 2016  Kampala, Uganda: Candidate Amama Mbabazi's lawyers have just filed a petition at the Supreme Court challenging the 2016 Uganda Election results. 

Earlier, Forum For Democratic Change FDC announced that they have failed to file their petition. They called for a press briefing Wednesday 11am.

FDC, in a tweet, said "One electoral petition from any candidate is sufficient to challenge the 2016 election and Mr. @AmamaMbabazi MP has successfully done so."

Amama Mbabazi

TODAY: Counsels Severino Twinobusingye and Davis Akampurira arrived just after 5pm, closing time for the court, and filed  presidential petition at Supreme Court.  The respondents are Yoweri Museveni, the Attornye General and the Electoral Commission.

According to the Presidential Elections Act, court should decide in 30 days on the validity of the petition challenging the results.

The Electoral Commission ten days ago announced Museveni winner with 60% of the vote. (click here for full story)


Abed Bwanika                            PDP                  89,005          0.90%  
Amama Mbabazi                         Independent     136,519        1.39%  
Baryamureeba Venansius            Independent      52,798         0.54%  
Benon Buta Biraaro                    FPU                   25,600          0.26%  
Kizza Besigye Kifefe                   FDC                   3,508,687     35.61%  
Mabirizi Joseph                          Independent       24,498         0.25%  
Maureen Faith Kyalya Waluube   Independent       42,833          0.43%  
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni             NRM                  5,971,872     60.62%  

OPERATION THUNDERBOLT: Israel's Netanyahu coming to mark 40th anniversary of Raid on Entebbe

Uhuru and Netanyahu in Israel last week.

 The two discussed Raid On Entebbe

Benjamin Netanyahu will this summer be the first Israeli leader to visit Africa in 50 years.

“I received an invitation from the president of Kenya to visit Africa and I intend to do so around the 40th anniversary of the raid on Entebbe. It was a dramatic national event with great personal consequence for me,” he said at the launch of a new Knesset caucus to promote Israel-Africa ties.

Uhuru Kenyatta visited Israel last week and “Operation Entebbe” inevitably got into the conversation. The lone casualty among the Israeli assault team was Netanyahu's brother Yonatan, who headed the operation.

Dubbed "Operation Entebbe", Israeli commandos completed a daring operation to liberate Israeli hostages in Uganda on July 4, 1976. 

According to The Times of Israel @timesofisrael, the Uhuru and Netanyahu last week also signed a joint statement focusing on water and agricultural issues, promoting cooperation and establishing a joint bilateral committee.

“Israel is coming back to Africa. Africa is coming back to Israel. It’s happening in a big way,” the prime minister said Monday in the presence of Israeli lawmakers and several ambassadors from African countries. “It’s happening now because it’s so clear that it’s good for Africa and good for Israel.”

“I look forward to my visit in Africa. If I could, I’d like to visit every one of your countries,” he told the foreign envoys.

Islamic terrorism is the world’s greatest challenge, and it threatens the entire African continent, Netanyahu said. Its nexus is in the Middle East but it is rapidly spreading, he said, adding, “It can be stopped if nations threatened by it make common cause.” Israel is willing to help Africa defeat Islamic terrorism, he vowed.

Photographs from the story of the

 Entebbe raid, including Idi Amin  

“The Jewish state is furthermore ready to assist Africa in the areas of health, science, agriculture, tourism, science and cyber technology, Netanyahu said.  Any country can be brought to its knees without cyber-security, but Israel is now a “world power in cyber-security,” he added.

According to The Times of Israel, also speaking Monday at the launch of a new Israel-Africa caucus, Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein mentioned that ties with the continent have been an Israeli priority since the 1960s.

Ten of the most terrifying plane Hijacks (click here)

“Over the years there were better and worse periods. What we see in the last several years is a revival and renewal of our relations,” he said. “We have a lot to offer and a lot to learn.”

The Ethiopian-born MK Avraham Neguise, who chairs the new caucus, quoted Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl as saying that once he witnessed the Jewish people’s redemption he would like to see the same for Africans.

“The Jewish people and the people of Africa have a sense of sharing a common destiny. Both have suffered from discrimination and foreign rule. In this way both nations are united by a common historical struggle against colonization. This struggle can bring us together,” he said.



VIDIO: The Greatest Hostage Rescue in History