Bodies of Hima cement factory fire lined up for DNA testing

Cement factory fire. Courtesy photo

Kasese, Uganda | Arua City News | The bodies of the fire victims at Hima Cement are lined up for DNA testing at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital-FRRH to identify the victims. On Saturday, fire broke out at the factory killing three people and injuring six others.

The bodies were first taken to Kasese Municipal Health Center III mortuary but medics, relatives and employees couldn’t positively identify them because they were severely burnt. Carol Kezabu, the Hima Cement Factory Public Relations Officer told URN on Monday that they have opted for DNA testing to positively identify the victims.

The bodies were evacuated to Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital-FRRH where DNA testing will be conducted. Kezabu also says that other victims with severe injuries have also been evacuated to Kampala for better management.

“We are still working closely with all families to ensure we establish their right identities,” she said. Kezabu said that the company management spent the better part of Monday in a meeting to discuss the aftermath of the incident including resuming their operations.

On Sunday, the National Building Review Board-NBRB launched investigations into the fire outbreak to establish the exact cause. Flavia Bwire, the Executive Secretary at the National Building Review Board, said they had picked samples from the fire scene to aid their investigations.

ICT ministry seeks UGX70BN for Parish Development Model

  

Chris Baryomunsi appearing before the ICT committee chairedby Moses Magogo.

Kampala, Uganda | Arua City News | The Ministry of Information, Communication, Technology and National Guidance is seeking Shs70.6 billion to implement the Parish Development Model (PDM).

Cabinet approved the implementation of PDM as the delivery strategy for transitioning households out of the subsistence economy with effect from 01 July 2021.

The ICT ministry was charged with the responsibility of spearheading Pillar 5 (Community Data) of PDM which involves setting up the Parish Development Management Information System (PDMIS) to among others validate information on the beneficiaries, evaluate the livelihood and standards of living of people and tracking the progress and performance of the different pillars so as to report real time implementation of the programme.

While presenting the ICT sectoral Budget Framework Paper for 2022/23 before the ICT Committee, the Minister of ICT, Chris Baryomunsi justified the need for Shs70.6 billion saying it would go a long way to build a strong monitoring and evaluation system to measure the success of the programme.

“As we start the Parish Development Model, we have to collect data and information. We need to buy devices, particularly computers, to give parish chiefs and train them and other government leaders on how to collect information and feed it to the central database for monitoring,” Baryomunsi said.

He said that several government projects have failed because of a weak monitoring and evaluation system which makes it difficult to measure the impact of the intervention and ascertain its success.

“We are developing a digital dashboard which is going to be at the central level where at the glance, you can check on the many parishes on what has been done and where there are challenges. So if these parish leaders can feed in this information, then we can monitor at the central level,” he said adding that part of the money will be used to communicate and educate Ugandans on mindset change.

“We need citizens to have a patriotic sense of responsibility, but also most importantly, to have that mindset that makes them aware that they must work hard,” he said.

Muhammed Nsereko remained skeptical about the success of the PDM if the funding gap is not addressed. The Shs70.6 billion for PDM remains among the unfunded priorities.

“How is the ministry going to conduct data analytics when there is such a funding gap on data collection and even procurement of laptops? Won’t this be lip service? The success of this programme must be backed by data,” Nsereko said.

Barnabas Tinkasiimire, Buyaga West County MP urged the Ministry of ICT to race against time and move faster in setting up information systems to capture data and information considering that the programme is scheduled to be fully operational by March this year.

The digital transformation programme for Ministry of ICT and other sector agencies have a financing gap of Shs231.3 billion with Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) requiring Shs51.1 billion to upgrade the signet, while Vision Group requires Shs2.9 billion to revamp defunct vernacular papers as per the presidential directive and ICT Ministry seeks an additional Shs12.1 billion for communication and mindset change.

The State Minister for National Guidance, Godfrey Kabbyanga Baluku beseeched the ICT Committee chaired by Eng. Moses Magogo to consider the sector’s budget shortfalls and avail funds for the same if the Ministry is to fully implement its digital transformation programme.

Shortage Of Vaccine Carriers Slows Polio Vaccination In Arua City

Polio Vaccination Health Care

There has been a drop in Vaccination against Polio worldwide

Arua, Uganda | Arua City News | Arua City Health officials have been forced to extend days for Polio vaccination over a shortage of vaccine carriers. The vaccination campaign targeting children aged below five years kicked off on Saturday in Arua.

However, the campaign has been hampered by inadequate carriers forcing health officials to conduct the campaign in two phases up to Wednesday.

Vaccine carriers are insulated containers where vaccines are kept cold during transportation.

According to Peter Aziku the Deputy Health Officer Arua City, they needed 890 cold boxes but they received 469. Aziku said they have decided to divide the health staff into two with the first one starting vaccination in the areas of Pajulu, Adumi, and Ayivuni all in Ayivu West while the second group of health workers will resume on Monday in the areas of Arua Hill, Oli Division, Oluko Dadamu, Manibe, and Aroi.

The health officials have also involved the cultural, religious, and local council leaders in addition to the VHTs to popularize the vaccination campaign.

Ismail Tuku the Prime Minister of Lugbara Cultural Institution said the government should consider sharing polio vaccines with the Neighboring DRC and South Sudan because of the eminent polio risk in these countries.

At least 270 health workers have been trained to roll out the vaccination against Polio for six days in Arua City.

A trace of the Poliovirus was discovered last year in a lagoon in Entebbe and as a result government through the Ministry of Health decided to roll out mass Vaccination for Children below five years.

Polio Pandemic hit Uganda hard in 1983 and left a trail of physical disability in many children who are now 30 years and above and since then vaccines have been rolled out to eliminate the disease.

A Litre Of Petrol Exceed Sh. 5,000- Government

KAMPALA CITY - The Ugandan government, through it's energy ministry, has said the price of petrol in the country should not exceed sh5,000 per litre.

"The cases of scarcity in districts such as Hoima will be addressed shortly with the ongoing replenishment of stocks," energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa said on Friday, January 14.

This is after reports emerged that a litre of petrol was selling at up to sh10,000, up from sh4,590, while that of diesel shot up as high as sh8,000 in Hoima city.

However, in Kampala, a litre of petrol was selling between sh4,700 and sh5,500.

Nankabirwa noted that Uganda is a net importer of petroleum products in a liberalized downstream petroleum market with an average current daily consumption of 6.5 million litres.

Uganda loads its products through the terminals located in Eldoret, Kisumu, Nairobi and Mombasa and supply is majorly through road transport.

The minister said that supply was normal, with trucks being cleared as usual and drivers were allowed to present negative coronavirus results from Kenya until January 1, 2022, when a directive was issued requiring all truck drivers to undergo testing at Malaba and Busia entry points.

"This resulted in a buildup of a queue of trucks as none were entering the country," Nankabirwa said in a letter.

She explained that following the failure to maintain replenishment of stocks and where trucks had spent 10 days in the queue, the turnaround time was affected and reduced stocks for petroleum products in the country.

"As of January 12, 2022, the ministry of health commenced free COVID-19 testing at the Busia and Malaba borders, and the trucks started moving and reduced stocks movement has started improving," she said.

The minister also noted that with the full reopening of economic activities, there has been an increase in uptake of petroleum products which saw a spike in consumption in the country that affected the 10-day stock levels.

"The very low replenishment based on the truck delays at the borders resulted in some stock out of petrol at some outlets," she stated.

Nankabirwa also said that Uganda's oil market companies have most of their trucks in the traffic between the Kenyan loading points and the borders and once cleared in a few days, supply and prices will return to normal.

"And there is no need for the public to panic," Nankabirwa added.

She urged speculators who are hoarding petroleum products and leading to an unnecessary spike in fuel prices to desist from this bad practice.

"The government (security and other authorities) is doing everything possible to prioritize the handling of petroleum products at the borders to ensure buildup in stock levels in the country," she said.