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U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Prosper Africa initiative is partnering with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and the nations of Africa.  This partnership ensures businesses are equipped with the technical and financial tools they need to enter into new trading and investment relationships in Africa and the United States.  

 USAID will provide technical assistance and advisory services to prospective businesses through its Trade and Investment Hubs, and will connect UBA with African Diaspora business groups working across the United States.  The MOU enables UBA, the only sub-Saharan African bank licensed to operate in the United States, to expand access its reach and extend financing to American companies in the United States looking to do business with African nations.

 Recognizing tremendous growth opportunities, USAID and UBA are collaborating to advance Prosper Africa’s goal of substantially increasing two-way trade between Africa and the United States. By working together, they will extend financing and technical assistance to businesses that will strengthen the American economy, grow African economies, and create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

 The two institutions entered into this agreement as part of the opening ceremony of the Tunisia Prosper Africa Conference, co-organized by the U.S. Embassy in Tunis and the American Chamber of Commerce of Tunisia. The event facilitated U.S. and African business-to-business connections and featured remarks by key representatives from the U.S. Government and the U.S. and African private sector.

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The top management of the Judiciary headed by Chief Justice Bart Katureebe approved the proposal to reduce salaries with minor amendments of judicial officers and also lay off workers deemed weak and redundant as acknowledged by their supervisors.

The decision was made to manage a shortfall of shs 600 million, a wage bill for staff on local contracts which accumulated beyond the institution’s budget provision.

As a result of this decision, the affected workers have since rushed to social media influencers to cry foul and also malign the Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana as having powers to determine salaries at the Judiciary.

However, this website landed on minutes drafted by a taskforce of five highly skilled officials within the judiciary and later approved by the top administrators in relation to streamlining the financial position of the institution.

Late last year, it was established that the wage requirement for staff on local contracts was more than the budget provision by over shs 600 million because the funds meant for other activities were being used contrary, to the law.

The decision to constitute the panel of five experts was hinged on the fact that some contracts of staff were already running, fortunately expiring in the middle of the Financial Year therefore this problem would be solved by rationalizing contract renewals due at the end of December 2019.

It was anticipated that this would be achieved by not renewing contracts of officers who had various weaknesses as raised in the reports from their supervisors, and those who were deemed redundant as reported by seine courts.

The five experts on the taskforce include:

Maureen Kasande, the Undersecretary/Chairperson

Justice Boniface Wamala, Judge of the High Court/ member

Ayebare Tumwebaze, assistant registrar/ member

Mrs Tummwine Apophia, Principal HRO/ secretary

Sulaiman Hirome, principal assistant secretary/ member

Opolot Simon Peter, principal economist/ member

The Task Force was tasked to review the applications for contract renewal and recommend those who were suitable for re-appointment with the view of;

Recommending only those who had satisfactory recommendations from their supervisors, ensuring that we fit within the wage bill and the establishment structure, harmonizing contract staff salaries with those on permanent and pensionable terms and the Task force submitted its report and some of the recommendations related to this subject matter include the following:

Contracts of all Office Attendants and Process Servers not to be renewed except for special cases.

This was based on the fact that redundancies were reported by various offices in this category.

Besides there is a good number of officers in this category on permanent and pensionable terms.

Renewal of contracts for Research Officers who are not attached to any Justice/Judge to be pended.

Officers whose positions were not vacant on the structure not to be renewed. These included; one Communications Officer and three Clerks of Works

Officers who did not meet the minimum requirements for the jobs and did not qualify for any other available positions not to be renewed. These included: Three Copy Typists and Ten Court Clerks.

Despite the above recommendations which were hoped to reduce the Wage Bill, on analysis, it was established that there is still a shortfall of over UGX 400m.

It was therefore decided that since contract renewals can have new terms, the salaries be reduced to enable us fit within the budget.

However, with the reduced salaries the judiciary still has a shortfall of about UGX 70m.

Solomon Muyita, the Judiciary spokesperson earlier weighed in on the taskforce’s decisions saying:

“It’s no secret the Judiciary engages some staff on short-term Local Temporary Contracts every year and performance reviews are conducted upon expiry of the contracts for purposes of weeding out those that fall short of the job requirements.

I’m aware that over 400 out of 508 staff who re-applied for their contract renewals at the end of 2019 luckily got renewals on recommendation from an Adhoc- Committee comprising senior Judicial and Administration staff.

The Committee however, recommended the non-renewal of some contracts for various reasons, including under performance or indiscipline, and redundancy. All the affected were individually notified in writing.”

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Bobi Wine with some of Charles Lambert’s Development Channel youth

My dearly beloved brother, Robert Kyagulainyi Ssentamu, my name is Charles N. Lambert and I am a Ugandan based social entrepreneur with proven commitment in Uganda towards job creation, poverty alleviation and increased standard of living for Ugandans and Africans in general. Just like you, I have been fought by all those same forces of darkness which you talk about. I have suffered consequences of doing good, arrested and detained for no single reason till date, scandalized and brutalized for trying to love my fellow Africans in Uganda yet I know the problem is not with President Museveni, hence I shine the light where I should at corrupt, egocentric, arrogant and high minded heads of agencies and ministries.

I am an admirer of your story, your rise from obscurity, your devotion to your talent and your ambitions and belief in your abilities. I also share your positions on various societal ills especially youth idleness and gross unemployment. Right in your proud Ghetto-Kamwokya, I single handedly led a movement that built the largest call center in Africa at your back yard creating 5,000 jobs and this wonderful call center was collapsed through constant orchestrated attacks from various government agencies but you never said a word and 5,000 jobs were lost in your backyard Bobi. I became intricately connected to you from the very minute I invested over 3 billion shillings and countless personal energy and time in your beloved ghetto creating 5,000 first class call center jobs for your people, your community and your kindred.

Inside the world class 5,000 capacity call center which provided jobs for youth in Bobi Wine’s Kamwokya

I am however writing you this open letter as an opportunity to educate all your followers in areas where you might be emotionally misleading people. Bobi, a lot of those words you speak about freedom is such a far cry from the reality on ground in Uganda. Uganda is by far the freest society in all of Africa. There is no place anywhere in the developing world that has the combination of Freedom and Security such as Uganda. It sounds to me that maybe you were born in a wrong era, maybe you should have been born in times of colonial oppression. You crave to fight this oppressor but there is actually none. No one is oppressing Ugandans AT ALL. In fact, if there is anything such as too much freedom, this country is the picture of that. Brother, please shine the light where you should.

You also talk so much about unemployment to the point I begin to wonder if you truly understand how job creation works. The private sector is the number one catalyst for job creation Not the government my dear brother. Lack of jobs simply means lack of production activities by people living in Uganda yet they have power, water, security, road and peace to do anything they want and create jobs. How do we talk about job creation and point all the blames on the wrong person. I am sure you wouldn’t even want to be held responsible for the action of your child in school let alone the inaction of over 40 million people. Brother, please shine the light where you should.

You are a member of parliament; your colleagues are the administrators and custodians of most apparatus of government. Your colleagues are the embezzlers, the corrupt, the looters, the oppressors of the masses YET you have never called them out. You have never set your pressure group to check mate the activities of these your colleagues you see every day but instead you choose to insult, degrade, abuse, and stain the priceless legacy of my hero, my idol, my inspiration, and my father.

A picture displaying Charles Lambert influence on Ugandan youth.

Well, while it is obvious to me that you have only decided to take this direction as a way to score political points and buy sympathy, it is something I am NOT willing to tolerate and I am asking you as a brother to kindly tone down the Rhetoric or you will realize that those who are for Museveni, are more lethal than anything you or those encouraging you can muster. The foundation for you to become anything you may wish is respect and without respect, you don’t deserve to ever be the leader of the thousands of youth I myself lead in Uganda and I will surely be sending them to teach your people the value called Respect.

Please brother, shine the light where you should.

Africa and the entire black race Needs Uganda as created by Museveni (Not the one of 1962 created by the British).

Your brother in every ramification of the word.

Charles N. Lambert

Leader, Africa’s First Economic War.

Chairman, DC