These happenings and decisions shaped 2018

The year

2018 saw a number of decisions and events that left a land mark impact on the

country and the Nile Post looks at them.

Kayihura sacking, charging in army

court

On the night

of March 4, the unexpected happened when President Museveni who is also the

commander in chief sacked then Inspector General of Police, Gen.Kale Kayihura

and replaced him with his then deputy Martin Okoth Ochola.

This brought to an end, the 12 year

tenure of Kayihura, a self-confessed ruling NRM party cadre who had also been the

longest serving police chief.

The subsequent

happenings indicated a growing rift between Kayihura and his boss when the

former was eventually arrested from his country home

at Katebe village, Kashagama sub-county Lyantonde district and detained

at Makindye military barracks where he spent close to three months before being

arraigned in the General Court Martial.

Appearing

before the army court, the former police chief was charged with aiding and abetting

the kidnapping and subsequent repatriation of Rwandan exile and refugees and

Ugandan citizens to Rwanda between 2012 and 2016.

He was also accused of failing to protect war

material when he issued arms to unauthorised persons including Boda Boda 2010

members led by Abdallah Kitatta.

He was later released on bail.

Army

arrests senior police officers

Following Kayihura’s arrest and subsequent incarceration,

a number of his cronies cum senior police officers were also arrested and

detained at Makindye military barracks by the army.

Among those arrested

and detained by the army included   the former cyber-crime head

Richard Ndaboine, former crime intelligence director Col Ndahura Atwooki, the

former Flying Squad commander Herbert Muhangi, former Professional Standards

Unit Commander Good Mwesigwa and Lt Col Peter Musherure, the former deputy

police director of crime intelligence among others.

These have up to now

never been arraigned in court to be charged of any offence but the army is

tightlipped about their fate.

Boda Boda 2010’s Kitatta

Early in 2018, the fate

of notorious group, Boda Boda 2010 led by one Abdalla Kitatta was sealed.

On January 22, Kitatta

together with other members of his Boda Boda 2010 group were arrested by the

army before being detained at Makindye military barracks.

Meanwhile, the following

days saw the army raiding several Boda Boda 2010 offices around Kampala and

arrested more group members and seizing a number of the property found in their

offices.

The last stroke in the

group’s back was the invasion of their offices by other groups of boda boda

riders before setting them ablaze.

Kitatta was later

charged together with 12 other Boda boda 2010 members of charges related

to unlawful possession of arms, ammunitions and military equipment including

caps and uniforms.

Suzan Magara murder

On February 7, little

known Suzan Magara, 28, a cashier for Bwendo Dairy Farm in Hoima was

kidnapped in Mengo as she left work to drive home in Lungujja by unknown

assailants and kept for over three weeks.

Efforts by security agencies

together with her family to trace her whereabouts proved futile and despite giving

them a shs700 million ransom, the kidnappers later killed Magara before the

body was found dumped in a bush along the Entebbe- Kampala expressway.

A number of people were

later arrested before being slapped with kidnap and murder charges by the

Buganda Chief Magistrates Court.

Following Magara’s kidnap,

there were a number of subsequent kidnaps and murders in various parts of the

country targeting especially women.

Arua chaos

On August 13 as the

Arua Municipality by-election campaigns to replace slain MP Col.Ibrahim Abiriga

were being concluded, something unusual happened.

The presidential convoy

was allegedly pelted with stones by independent candidate Kassiano Wadri’s

supporters prompting the arrest of a number of people including Bobi Wine,

Wadri, Paul Mwiru, Gerald Karuhanga , Francis Zzaake and many others.

The following days saw

photos depicting the arrested people especially Bobi Wine and Zzaake badly tortured

during the arrest.

Meanwhile, various

parts of the country led by Kampala and Mityana erupted into riots that saw the

army move in to quell them.

The chaos saw a number

of people arrested whereas others were injured as security tried to calm the

situation in various parts of the country.

Muntu quits FDC

On September 25, former

Forum for Democratic Change president Maj.Gen.Mugisha Muntu announced he was

leaving the party he had partly founded.

“We have resolved to

leave the party. As already explained, we do not do so in anger or animosity

towards the current leadership, but in careful consideration of the national

cause of liberating our country. The current party leadership needs to be given

the opportunity to pursue their agenda untethered by the constant worry of

sabotage or suspicion,”Muntu said in a statement.

He later announced he

would form what he termed as the ‘New Formation’ that he said would rally

Ugandans to cause regime change in the country.

Age Limit ruling

In July, the

Constitutional Court sitting in Mbale delivered its ruling on the age limit petition

in which it upheld the amendment of article 102(b) to lift the minimum and

maximum age limit from the constitution.

Parliament had the

previous year passed the controversial age limit bill to lift the cap on the

presidential and district chairperson age limit from the constitution after a

total of 317 MPs voted in favour of the motion whereas 97 were against it.

A group of five people

including; the Uganda Law Society (ULS), lawyer Male Kiwanuka Mabirizi, six

opposition MPs led by the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Winnie Kiiza,

Prosper Businge, Dr. Abed Bwanika and Jonathan Abaine Buregyeya would later petition

the Constitutional Court challenging the passing of the age limit bill into law

saying it contravened the constitution.

In a 4:1 judgment, the

judges of the Constitutional Court said the age limit amendment was passed in

compliance with the constitution.

“Court declares removal

of age limit for president and LC5 are valid and passed,” ruled the Deputy

Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny- Dollo.

Mobile money tax

In May, the

Ugandan parliament approved the Excise Duty Bill that approved government’s

proposed 1% tax on mobile money transactions.

The percentage

was later reduced from one to 0.5 but the move to pass the bill attracted a lot

of backlash from members of the public with many condemning it for being

introduced to put several transaction agents out of

business because  customers  would abandon the popular and convenient

payment method.

The number of mobile money transactions

later reduced as people feared to pay extra charges or their money being

deducted in the name of taxes.

Social Media tax

In the same month, parliament also passed

the Excise Duty Bill that approved government’s proposal to levy a shs200 per

day for the use of social media platforms including facebook, whats app and

twitter among others.

A

group of Ugandans led by one Daniel Opio would later sue the Uganda

Communications Commission (UCC) accusing it of unfairly giving an enabling

environment for Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to collect the social media tax and

the Attorney General (AG) seeking answers as to why government does not offer

free internet services to its citizens.

Meanwhile,

passing of the bill forced a number of Ugandans to resort to Virtual Private

Network (VPN), a technology that creates a safe and encrypted connection over a

less secure network, such as the internet.

Ban old vehicles

Parliament in May also 

passed the Traffic and Road Safety (Amendment) Bill, 2018 that among

others effected a ban on the importation of vehicles that are 15 years old or

more from their date of manufacture.

The bill

that came into effect on July 1

meant that anyone who imports a vehicle which is 15 years old or more from the

date of manufacture pays an environmental levy for the vehicle charged by

Uganda Revenue Authority before being cleared to enter the country.

Passing of the bill also saw the increase in the registration

fees for vehicle entering the country whereas an environment fee was introduced

on vehicles which are five years old but do not exceed eight years from the

date of manufacture.

Passing of

the bill meant that the cost of importing and finally buying of vehicles,

especially the second hand ones which are most sought for by Ugandans had

increased.