Information is Power

In a Wednesday 30-11-2022 meeting held at Whitecastle hotel Arua, Politicians and Civil society organizations have expressed their dissatisfaction with how those Government entities entrusted to fight corruption are not doing what is much required of them. Mr Peter Dibele who served as RDC for ten years before he was officially retired in this year’s March-2022 RDC reshuffle, asked IGG and other sister agencies to cross check various ministries that swindle millions of tax payers money but because some of the officials who steal such monies are “Big Fish”, they exclude them in their investigations and the small fishes (Local Government Officials) end up being harassed or arrested over such syndicates. Mr Dibele lamented that, most of these RDCs don’t know or even touch some of those monies they are being raised to investigate and some end up with burnt fingers in execution of the task. WestNile region’s police PRO SP Josephine Angucia who represented the Police in the region and was al...

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formally announced it will no longer authorize electronic equipment from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua, deeming them an "unacceptable" national security threat. All these Chinese telecom and video surveillance companies were previously included in the Covered List as of March 12, 2021. "The FCC is committed to protecting our national security by ensuring that untrustworthy communications equipment is not authorized for use within our borders, and we are continuing that work here," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a Friday order. "These new rules are an important part of our ongoing actions to protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications." Pursuant to the ban, Hytera, Hikvision, and Dahua are required to document the safeguards the firms are putting in place on the sale of their devices for government use and surveillance of critical infrastruct...

  The National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) with mandate of registering all Ugandan citizens has announced the mass ID enrollment and renewal exercise which is set to start in June 2023 and end in August 2024. According to NIRA, the exercise is directed at renewing all cards issued between 2014 and 2015 in keeping with legal provisions in the registration of persons Act 2015 and registering the estimated 17.4 million Ugandans who are not registered in the national identification register. “As of September 2022, the national identification register had 25.9 million Ugandans registered. It is estimated that 17.4 million Ugandans are not registered in the National Identification Register,” the statement read. The renewal and registration exercise according to NIRA will be conducted at the parish level in a bid to extend services near to citizens to enhance effective registration of all Ugandans. NIRA officials have emphasized that enrolling and renewing of ...

Police in Arua district have arrested and detained Emvi Victor 35, on allegations of defiling a 12-year-old girl. The West Nile Region Police Spokesperson Josephine Angucia says the suspect is a resident of Anya village Anzuu parish Vurra Subcounty in Arua district. According to the regional police mouthpiece, the suspect who happens to be a step-father to the 12-year-old victim committed the act on the night of 19th November 2022. ”The victim’s mother left them at home and went for a funeral rite. When the mother returned home the next day on 20th November 2022, she narrated what her step-father did to her at night,” Angucia explained. The victim’s mother first reported to the area LC1 chairman and later proceeded to inform her relatives. It was her relatives who reported to the police of Vurra Police Station. Angucia adds that a case of aggravated defilement was opened, investigations started and the suspect was arrested on 20th November 2022. Further inquiries indicate that ...

Uganda bloggers Association over the weekend received brand new Computers, Internet, Air Conditioner and other accessories from the ministry of information communication Technology. According Isima Tusubira commonly known as Isma Olaxess iculi, they had written to various ministries seeking financial help in order to run the association smoothly. Isma Olaxess is the president  of Uganda bloggers Association which was established two years back. After Receiving the Equipments, Isma Olaxess couldn't hide his happiness and hit his social media platforms to thank the ministry. "On behalf of  Uganda bloggers association, I want to take this opportunity to thank All government entities for there support especially  Ministry of ICT - Uganda, Uganda Communications Commission, Minister Joyce Ssebugwawo, Minister Chris  Baryomunsi and the Speaker of Uganda Parliament Madam Anita Among" - Olaxes Isma. On top of computers, we are reliably informed that bloggers were also offered...

The District woman MP for Maracha, Hon Driwaru Jennifer has on Saturday 26-11-2022 delivered sports items costing over 4 million Shs to 20 Women sports teams in Maracha District. Speaking during the handover, the Woman MP thanked the sports sector in Maracha District for being United and organized, and pledged to continue supporting them regardless of political circumstances. Hon Jennifer noted that, sports should not only be a venture where people go to have fun or cure stress but it should also be a venture in which people identify and support talents. She said, what she has done is a fulfillment of a pledge she made earlier on after the sports teams in the District presented to her some requests to support them in anyway. The Items. The woman MP, Hon Jennifer bought 20 dozens of sports uniforms, 20 pairs of gloves, 20 balls and 20 pieces of headbands for team captains. The generous woman MP warned people against segregation and divisionism, saying, she is a Woman MP, the Mother of M...

Sunday, November 27, 2022.   By Chris Hart Avoid anyone who cares little about the feelings of others, is easily frustrated, aggressive and never feels guilty about anything Your new squeeze is so lovely you’re wondering whether they might even be ‘the one.’ In fact, it’s impossible to know that for sure, but you can definitely identify the ones who aren’t. And if you quickly eliminate everyone who is bad news, then you’ll have a very happy love life. But how do you figure that out? Well for a start, being in love’s got nothing to do with it! Because you can fall deeply in love with someone who will eventually make your life miserable. So leave all those romantic feelings aside. The things that tell you’re with the wrong person are all thoroughly practical. Start by asking whether you have similar backgrounds, beliefs, lifestyles and looks. There are successful couples who don’t, but they are few and far between. Avoid anyone who’s not making their way in the world. Or is financial...

An analysis of firmware images across devices from Dell, HP, and Lenovo has revealed the presence of outdated versions of the  OpenSSL  cryptographic library, underscoring a supply chain risk. EFI Development Kit, aka  EDK , is an open source implementation of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface ( UEFI ), which functions as an interface between the operating system and the firmware embedded in the device's hardware. The firmware development environment, which is in its second iteration (EDK II), comes with its own cryptographic package called  CryptoPkg  that, in turn, makes use of services from the OpenSSL project. Per firmware security company Binarly, the firmware image associated with Lenovo Thinkpad enterprise devices was found to use three different versions of OpenSSL: 0.9.8zb, 1.0.0a, and 1.0.2j, the last of which was released in 2018. What's more, one of the firmware modules named InfineonTpmUpdateDxe relied on OpenSSL version 0.9.8zb that was shi...

NATIONAL RESISTANCE MOVEMENT'S Director finance and administration @Hajjat Medina Naham Ojale yesterday 24-11-2022 visited Obongi district to attend the party's district leadership conference intended to harmonize and consolidate the party's support in the district. The Director Finance and Administration represented the party's Secretary General Rt Hon Richard Todwong Awany in the conference. The Director Finance and Administration was warmly and cheerfully welcomed and received by FDC defectors who joined the NRM party and promised full support to the party and the government, Members of NRM Yellow brigade, cadres and party members of the district! Also in attendance was the area member of parliament Hon Dr. Bhoka George Didi, the woman member of parliament Hon Zumura Maneno, the LC 5 Chairman Hon Abibu Buga Khemis Awadi who is also the party Chairman in the district, the RDC Buga Matata and other leaders in the district. The Director Finance and Administration handed...

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Interpol on Thursday announced the seizure of $130 million worth of virtual assets in connection with a global crackdown on cyber-enabled financial crimes and money laundering. The international police operation, dubbed HAECHI-III, transpired between June 28 and November 23, 2022, resulting in the arrests of 975 individuals and the closure of more than 1,600 cases. This comprised two fugitives wanted by South Korea for their supposed involvement in a Ponzi scheme to embezzle €28 million from 2,000 victims. Another instance pertained to a call center scam based out of India, wherein a group of criminals impersonated Interpol and Europol officers to trick victims in Austria into transferring funds. The call centers operated from New Delhi and Noida. The illegal activity informed the victims that their "identities were stolen and crime pertaining to narcotics drugs were committed in their names," forcing them to make a money transfer. "In order to clear themselves of this s...

The Android banking fraud malware known as SharkBot has reared its head once again on the official Google Play Store, posing as file managers to bypass the app marketplace's restrictions. A majority of the users who downloaded the rogue apps are located in the U.K. and Italy, Romanian cybersecurity company Bitdefender said in an analysis published this week. SharkBot, first discovered towards the end of 2021 by Cleafy, is a recurring mobile threat distributed both on the Google Play Store and other third-party app stores. One of the trojan's primary goals is to initiate money transfers from compromised devices via a technique called "Automatic Transfer System" (ATS), in which a transaction triggered via a banking app is intercepted to swap the payee account with an actor-controlled account in the background. It's also capable of serving a fake login overlay when users attempt to open legitimate banking apps, stealing the credentials in the process. Often, such app...

The regional internal security officer (RISO) for WestNile, Captain Drici David has urged Civilians not to fear Intelligence personnel but they should rather trust them to give information. Capt Draci made the remarks this evening 8pm 24-11-2022 at Beri Cottages hotel during the handover ceremony of two outgoing and incoming DISOs for Arua City and Arua District. The Arua District DISO Mr Elipu Jacob has been transferred to Oraba, as Mr Emmanuel Amaku who was in Oraba has been transferred to Arua District. In Arua City, DISO Mr Muhammad Kaba who is been transferred to Kawempe has been replaced with Lt Nangai Wetaka Muhammed who was also previously deployed in  Kawempe. RISO has pleaded to NGOs, Media and entire public to volunteer to them informations regarding criminal activities that will intend to destabilize our peace ushered in by the Commander-in-Chief HIS Excellence Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. Stay tuned for more news and updates on Regional,  National and International aff...

UNRA executive director Allen Kagina appears before Parliament’s Committee on Finance, Planning and Economic Development flanked by head of corporate strategy Charles Kizito. Photo by Maria Wamala By Michael Odeng and Paul Kiwuuwa Journalists @New Vision The government loses sh342m daily in interest to road contractors who have not been paid for their work, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) executive director, Allen Kagina, has said. “Sh342m is charged daily as interest for nonpayment to contractors, translating into sh10b for every three months. This is a big loss to the government and the taxpayers. It could have been avoided if the finance ministry had paid the released budget for the previous fiscal year,” Kagina said. She made the revelation while appearing before Parliament's finance committee on Tuesday.  Kagina said the debt has accumulated to that magnitude due to the finance ministry’s failure to release budgetary allocations for the previous financial y...

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We have heard that over 6000 boda bodes have been confiscated by the police because the riders did not have either reflector jackets, third-party insurance or crash helmets. Well, by law, any cyclist is supposed to wear protective clothing such as a crash helmet. KCCA also has a duty and powers to put in place measures to ensure that the safety of road users is protected. Therefore, if you know of anyone who rides a motorcycle, remind them that it is a traffic offence to ride without third-party insurance. This insurance helps a car/motorcycle owner to pay for damages they have caused to others with their vehicle or motorcycle. 📷: Daily Monitor Source; BarefootLaw 

Coffee is an important foreign exchange earner for Uganda/Courtesy photo   Uganda’s Coffee exports in October 2022 amounted to 457,244 60-kilo bags worth US$ 67.10 million (Shs251bn), Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has revealed in its October monthly report. According to the report, this comprised 398,592 bags of Robusta valued at US $53.25 million and 58,652 bags of Arabica valued at US$ 13.85 million. This was a decrease of 5.71% in quantity but an increase of 9.82% in value compared to the same month last year. By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last Coffee Year (October 2021), Robusta decreased by 6.47% in quantity but increased by 7.51% in in value. Arabica exports slightly decreased by 0.25% in quantity but increased by 19.75% in value. “The decrease in exports was mainly attributed to lower yields this year that were characterized by drought in most regions. This led to a shorter main harvest season in Central and Eastern region...