ENSURING EVERY COIN COUNT: RWECO FINANCE STAFF GETING ON HNADS SKILLS

Governance and Accountability has a cost attached in form of training and equipping staff with the right tools and skills. While, its easy to fault other systems, at RWECO we have walked the talk by retooling and equipping Finance Officers with the current accounting packages. A seasoned Finance Consultant with background in  Law and Finance Officer of Rwenzori Anti-Corruption Coalition (RAC), Mr. Dan Katorogo accepted to share his knowledge and skills with the 5 RWECO Finance Officers from: KALI, GHFRD, RIDE AFRICA, RICNET & KGR. It was hands on training in Financial discipline, budget compliance and application of accounting soft ware.

Mr. Dan ( standing right in checked shirt) giving instructions on the next step

RWECO finance officers following the instructions to enter the figures in quick books and generating reports

RWECO

Rwenzururu starts peace, reconciliation campaign in Rwenzori

As a first step, The Rwenzururu cultural leader Charles Wesley Mumbere  convened a regional meeting of political and cultural leaders from the districts of Bundibugyo, Ntoroko and Kasese at Rwenzori Base Camp Inn, Bugoye sub-county, Kasese district on Friday April 29, 2016.

Rwenzururu king, Charles Wesely Mumbere addresses the leaders from Bundibugyo Ntoroko and Kasese on April 29, 2016. Photos/ John Thawite

Rwenzururu king, Charles Wesely Mumbere addresses the leaders from Bundibugyo Ntoroko and Kasese in Bugoye Sub County. Photos/ John Thawite

The king has embarked on a drive aimed at restoring peace and reconciliation in the conflict-torn Rwenzori sub-region. The move is part of the implementation of the Royal Peace Communiqué that committed him and the Bamba cultural leader, Lt. Col. Martin Kamya to prevail over their subjects and stop them from being lured into criminal acts by enemies of peace. The April 14th communiqué that was signed at the Mountains of the Moon Hotel in Fort-portal Municipality was brokered by government represented by Flight Capt. George Michael Mukula on behalf of government.

Addressing the meeting, attended by over 200 elected and cultural leaders, the Rwenzururu king asked them to join him in mobilising the communities for peace, unity, stability, reconstruction, social, cultural and economic development. He blamed the endless impasse in the Rwenzori sub-region on poor politics of discrimination. “Misinformation and negative reporting are another problem that could have escalated post- election violence,” he said, explaining that some politicians had resorted to spreading false information about the Rwenzururu to destroy it.

Ntroroko District Chair Person, Mr. Kwamanywa

The king cited and rubbished allegations that his kingdom struck a deal with a presidential candidate to curve off part of western Uganda and eastern DR Congo to create a state called Yiira for the Bakonzo of Uganda and their kinsmen in eastern Congo called the Banande.

Mumbere surprised his audience when he revealed that the detractors of his kingdom had even gone as far as designing and printing a currency labeled “Bank of the Republic of the Yiira State.” “The perpetrators have even designed a website where the currency and others things of the so-called Yiira Republic can be vied,” Mumbere said, asking his subjects to ignore it as mere propaganda meant to tarnish the name of the institution before government.“You must defend your kingdom because there are selfish people who are working towards antagonizing it with central government and destroying it,” Mumbere said in a two-hour address to the leaders.

He emphasized the need for the people to revamp the practice of intermarriages among the different ethnic groups in the Rwenzori sub-region as one of the strategies for peaceful co-existence in the region. Noting that there is a lot of “unfinished business,” Mumbere challenged newly elected political leaders in the region to follow up on the unfulfilled pledges by the government.    He urged them to find out why Kasese Airfield has never been upgraded to international standards and why government has never released the report on the July 5th, 2014 Rwenzori attacks.

THE PRICE OF PEACE IS PEACE- PEACE IN UGANDA IS PEACE IN THE RWENZORI REGION

The price of peace is peace!! The Rwenzori region has been in the news following the post- election violence episodes that have left both citizens and government ask who is responsible for master minding the attacks. I will use this space to write about the need for peace and its relationship to development work.

In the academia and contemporary world, we all talk of peace and development, that has been witnessed in the Rwenzori Region, as we drew near the Easter Season, Kasese district usually celebrates such periods with the world read tourists are usually spotted in the district and that means money has exchanged hands right from the farmer of yellow bananas, dodo, tomatoes, mangoes, name it  to the Hotel operator, and equally entry to the national parks leaves a mark to the people neighboring the protected areas. Government gives back 20% of the gate collections to the communities, but all sectors lost at the height of the attacks as tourists both local and international cancelled their travel plans to the troubled region.

Some scholars argue that out of conflict we forge development, i will argue that its at a cost of loss of lives and property. People are tone apart even fearing their own shadows, conflicts in all its forms is bad; talk of inter state conflict or intra conflicts- the Rwenzori region presents a mix of inter tribal and intra tribal conflicts and print media have reported 40 lives lost. Where are  the children and women at that stage? we see hundreds of women and children in Bundibugyo district struggling for a living yet they have a right to live in a peaceful environment, where is development when thousands of coffee trees, banana plants and cocoa trees are cut down as anger boils to highest level.

As we journey through this hard times, the religious leaders have held ecumenical prayers to preach peace, the cultural leaders are calling on their subjects to live in peaceful co-existence, development practitioners are arguing government to assure them of peace since we need each other to existence as human beings, we need to identify ourselves as Ugandans. The price of Peace is Peace - peace will bread development, conflict will tear away development.

This piece of work is part of the work in progress about the Rwenzori region conflicts
Jimmy B. Odyek
Policy Analysts

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do:-Rumi

After finishing my university in science in Information Technology at Uganda Martyrs University in May 2015 I took my Internship at RWECO in order to match knowledge and practise of application o IT.   The five month internship period was very interesting with satisfying experience and a best place of its kind in practicing my IT knowledge and getting hands on skills. 

 

Miss Babra Masika Arinaitwe during one o her IT training sessions

At RWECO  I was place at the Kasese district E-society resource centre. Waking up every morning to the thought of sharing knowledge and learning something new is exquisite especially when it involves hands on. During my time at RWECO I learnt more about networking, computer maintenance, soft and hard ware. Like my supervisor normally say, being an Information Technology (IT) specialist is like being a medical doctor, you can’t say you know it all and very perfect because each day is a new learning experience since we face different computer related challenges.

RWECO (Rwenzori Consortium for Civic Competence) is a consortium of four organisations namely: KALI, Good Hope for Rural Development- Kiburara and RICNET, RIDE-AFRICA. RWECO and all the four member organisations were accredited by the electoral commission to observe the presidential and parliamentary elections on 18^th February, 2016 and the local government elections that followed. RWECO applied ICT tools to report on the election observations that were done by telephone SMS and the online platform. Where both short term and long term observers reported post-election violence through SMS to 0788929022 and plotted on http://hrcp.or.ug/main. The on line platform also allows reports of any human rights abuse and conflicts in Rwenzori regions.

THE ACTIVITIES PARTICIPATED IN.

On 11^th march 2016 I participated in a one day training workshop on ICT-enabled access to information and government accountability by Kasese District Local Government (KDLG) in partnership with Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and South Africa (CIPESA) at Verina Gardens hotel Kasese municipality  

During the training we had different facilitators presenting on issues like; how KDLG promotes access to information, access to information law in Uganda, how ICT is used for citizen participation elsewhere in Uganda.

The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable but the power of many working together is better: - Gloria Macapagal

I participated in group work where different questions were discussed in a participatory manner and thereafter presentations were made to the rest of the participants.  Thus: presentations were very impeccable

On 18^th March 2016 I participated in a field visit to Kakindo women’s group in Maliba sub county Kasese district with one of the donors of RWECO from the East African children’s Fund. The field trip was led   the coordinator RWECO Mr Baluku Jimmy Odyek with some staff members from RWECO, RIDE Africa, Guide radio. While in maliba we visited Kakindo women’s group demonstration gardens and Nkaiga Primary school.

At Kakindo women’s group we were welcomed and briefed about their activities and objectives which include, but not limited to: creating public awareness on HIV/AIDS through drama and radio talk shows, practising kitchen gardening, involvement in savings and credit scheme and sensitisation against domestic violence.   They conducted a neighbouring  assembly presided over by a speaker where different stake holders in the community like the LC1, police, parents, and other members of the community participated by addressing issues about causes of violence against children at household and community level, how to prevent it and where to report forms of violence against children.

One of the members of Kakindo women group explains how they prepare and plant crops in the kitchen garden using ridges.

They also demonstrated how to make local reusable sanitary pads. The main leading cause of school drop outs among the girl child in Maliba Sub County is due to lack of sanitary pads to use during their menstrual periods since most of the people in the sub county are low income earners or peasants and can’t afford a packet of sanitary pad of shillings 3000 per month especially in circumstances where you find parents having like five girls in need of sanitary pads. Kakindo women’s group was taught how to make local reusable sanitary pads by RIDE Africa, and of which sanitary pads are given to the girl child in schools and in the community.  They train some girls in making local reusable sanitary pads for themselves and that has increased the accessibility of sanitary pads among the girl children in the entire community in the area.

The Kakindo women’s group members later took us to some of their demonstration gardens where they prepare nursery beds and kitchen gardening. They were given seeds by RIDE Africa, and each member took a different species of seeds to plant in a nursery bed, and thereafter the seedlings are supplied to other members so that they all plant in their respective kitchen gardens.

We later visited Nkaiga Primary School in the same sub county. The staff members welcomed us and the pupils sung, recited a poem and acted a play about violence against children.

In the afternoon, RWECO staff led by their Coordinator, together with the Executive Director of East African Children’s Fund Mr Fassil Mariam visited Agape of Hope in Nyamwamba division, Kasese Municipality. Agape of Hope main goal is to empower the youth and the young mothers with knowledge and skills in hair dressing, tailoring and hand craft.  Agape of Hope works with schools and community to address issues of youth reproductive health and menstrual hygiene management.

Gratitude to my supervisor Mr Mumbere Samuel Mkamba and the entire staff of RWECO in particular the Coordinator Mr Jimmy Odyek , the E-Society staff, I thank you for the help you have rendered to me during my stay at RWECO.

BABRA MASIKA ARINAITWE

Bsc IT (UMU)

   

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE POST ELECTION ENVIRONMENT IN THE RWENZORI REGION, WESTERN UGANDA

29^th February, 2016

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE POST ELECTION ENVIRONMENT IN THE RWENZORI REGION

RWENZORI CONSORTIUM FOR CIVIC COMPETENCE (RWECO) & the members : KALI, GOOD HOPE FOUNDATION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT, RIDE AFRICA AND RICNET were accredited  as election observers during the Presidential and Parliamentary  on 18^th Feb, 2016 & local council elections on 24^th Feb. 2016. RWECO and her members deployed a team of 150 as short term observers and long term observers in Bundibugyo, Ntoroko, Kabarole, Kyenjojo, Kyegegwa, Kamwenge and Kasese districts of Western Uganda. RWECO also deployed online platform where comments from observers were remitted through  SMS and plotted on  http://hrcp.or.ug/main .  From 17^th Feb, to 28^th Feb, 2016, 164 messages were verified and viewed on the online platform.  We commend the Electoral commission that accredited RWECO and her members during the elections.

However, as Ruwenzori region based observers, we note with concern the post -election violence that ensured during and after the elections on 18^th and 24^th Feb. 2016.   RWECO condemns the post- election violence that were reported  between   18^th  -19^th  Feb, 2016 at Kasese district Electoral Commission tally center at Kasese district Multi-purpose Hall, located in Nyakasanga, Kasese-Fort Portal Road.  RWECO also condemns the post- election violence that was observed and reported in Bundibugyo District between 24^th -27^th Feb, 2016 after the election of district chairpersons and district councilors.  These acts are either driven by personal egos and not accepting the outcome of the elections.  Uganda is a democratic country for which we embrace both national and international standards of election observations and democratic processes for which citizens should welcome the out- come of the electoral process. We wish therefore to state that:

1.       All acts of post- election violence be condemned by all actors and Uganda Police take the necessary steps to ensure that peace prevails  in the region and country at large;

2.       RWECO and her members also appeals to the candidates who lost the elections to use peaceful and lawful means to address their demands not by inciting  violence in the community;

3.       We also appeal to all stakeholders including, Police, state organs, Religious leaders, Cultural leaders and the media to join hands and give the citizens a message of hope that beyond elections, there is a life to live;

4.       Police bring the perpetrators of post- election violence to face the law of the land.

Thank you

Jimmy Baluku Odyek
Coordinator