11-year-old boy takes care of family

 

A 11-year-old boy Sunday Dradriga should be at school, but is not because he has to perform the roles of parenthood.
His mother and two siblings are blind. His father is not man enough to take care of the family. This leaves Dradriga the only responsible member of the family to take care of the home daily.
“I am now the second head of this home because my mother is blind and my father cannot afford all the basic necessities. I cannot go to school because I fear that my other siblings will stay hungry,” he said. Adding I have to wake up at 7am to fetch water, bathe the children and then start cooking. And this is only if there is something to cook. It is a huge daily task.”

At their home in Olevu Village, Odupi Sub-county, Arua District, Dradriga sorts out vegetables which the blind mother Ms HellenTiko, 41, picks from the compound to feed the family.
“Even when our third born goes to school, he cannot see what the teacher has written on the black board. I don’t have uniform and our father cannot even afford scholastic materials. This is the life we live,” laments the 11-year-old.

A visit to the home of the 62-year-old Marino Ocitia, rocked in poverty reveals a very bleak future for the family.
Eating meat or fish is unheard of for the rest of the year except during Christmas or Easter. The family feeds on boiled vegetables and beans everyday.
Clothing for mother, father and children is a luxury and their dwelling is a shanty mud and wattle grass-thatched hut. There is no toilet and the family has to wait until nightfall to hide behind the hut for a bath.

The children bathe in the open compound or at a nearby stream. The hut was thatched 20 years ago and its leaky roof makes it an undesirable shelter for mankind.
The family only received some new clothes from good Samaritans who were carrying out research in the area for their organisation.
Speaking to Daily Monitor at his home on Tuesday, Mr Marino said the family was in need of urgent medical care.
He said he could not afford taking his blind children and wife for eye checkup in Arua Town for lack of money. 

Two MPs lose seats over bribery

Two independent MPs representing Persons with Disabilities from northern and western regions have been kicked out of Parliament over bribery. 
The Court of Appeal yesterday ordered fresh elections in their respective constituencies. 
The two bring the number of MPs who have lost seats to six, according to Electoral Commission spokesperson, Mr Jotham Taremwa. 
Led by Justice Remmy Kasule, the court ruled that Mr William Wilson Nokrach for northern region and his western region colleague, Mr Hood Katuramu, participated in bribery of voters during the 2011 parliamentary elections. “We have scrutinised the record, evidence, submissions and judgment of the High Court. Our findings are that had the learned trial judge properly scrutinised the evidence before him, he would have probably arrived at different conclusions. This however was not the case,” Assistant registrar of the court Mr Didas Muhumuza read the judgement on behalf of the justices of the Court of Appeal. 
“…..What cuts across all the testimonies of all the witnesses is that they stated that the candidates dished out money and gifts to voters. We find that the 2 respondent (Mr Nokrach) did offer to voters money via mobile phone transfers with the intention of influencing them to vote for him,” he stated. The justices also faulted the trial judge Albert Rugadya Atwoki that he erred in law, particularly when he found that the Mr Norkrach possessed academic qualifications to stand as a MP whereas not.

Dozens Drown Off Libya As Aid Groups Denounce Tripoli's Coast Guard

ROME — 

More than 30 migrants, mostly toddlers, drowned on Wednesday when about 200 people without life jackets fell from a boat into the sea off the Libyan coast before they could be hauled into waiting rescue boats.

Rescue group MOAS, which operates in the Mediterranean, said its staff was pulling bodies out of the water. "Most are toddlers," co-founder Chris Catrambone said on Twitter.

A total of 34 dead bodies were found in the water, and around 1,800 people rescued from four rubber dinghies and six wooden boats, the coast guard said later in a statement.

British and Spanish navy ships, aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF), three merchant ships and a tug boat joined MOAS and the Italian Coast Guard and Navy to carry out the rescues.

The ill-fated boat probably tipped because of a combination of weather conditions and the fact the migrants suddenly crowded to one side, sending just under half of the 500 on board into the water, the coast guard said.

VJ Junior to be charged over WhatsApp post

Famous movie translator Marysmats Matovu alias VJ Junior and his colleague are to appear in court today on charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication arising from suspected provocative posts they made against members of a WhatsApp group.
This is the first time in Uganda the police have charged a person for a comment made in a WhatsApp group.

WhatsApp groups have been considered to be some of the most private applications of social media.
VJ Junior, who is also the LC3 councillor for Bwaise II in Kawempe Division, and Mr Geoffrey Bbosa, who have been in detention since Tuesday, are alleged to have harassed members of Uganda Film Council in a WhatsApp group. The duo was arrested by the Minister of Ethics and Integrity, Fr Simon Lokodo.
The spokesman of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mr Vicent Ssekate, said the two offences have already been sanctioned by the Resident State Attorney against the two suspects and others still at large.
“They will be taken to court tomorrow [today] on the same charges. We are also looking for other suspects who made similar posts on the same WhatsApp group against members of the Uganda Film Producers Association,” Mr Ssekate said yesterday.
The WhatsApp exchange stemmed from a disagreement over who should lead the film industry in Uganda.

VJ Junior and his colleague lead an association, which has rivalry with the Uganda Film Producers Association on how much they should be charged for the production and distribution of films.
According to Mr Ssekate, the suspects posted photographs of members of Uganda Film Producers Association calling them pigs and uttering obscene words.
When arresting the duo, Fr Lokodo first told them that they were producing and circulating pornographic materials on CDs, flash disks and other devices across the country, an allegation they denied.
However, when they reached CID headquarters, they learnt that member of Uganda Film Producers Association had opened a case of threatening violence.
Mr Ssekate said when the detectives looked at the case, they found out that the offences fall under the Computer Misuse Act 2010. 

Boda boda makes its way to Oxford Advanved Learners Dictionary

Boda boda is among the more than 900 latest words that producers of venerable Oxford English Dictionary have added to the 9th edition of the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary.
Of the said words, 170 were related to technology--and more than a half-dozen to Twitter.

Although Boda bodas, (bicycle and motorcycle taxis) are used without the contingent, the word is specific to East Africa Boda boda pivotal in creating jobs and quick means of transport in hard to reach or congested cities across the country.
The word reportedly originated in Busia, Kenya where bicycle riders would ferry people from outlying areas in the county (formerly district) to the market in Busia town. Most times people would avoid using Matatus (which were and still are the common form of public transport) because they were expensive or very few were available. They would, however, also not agree with bicycle riders on a fare to Busia.

President Trump Meets Pope Francis at Vatican

U.S. President Donald Trump and Pope Francis held a 30-minute meeting at the Vatican on Wednesday, underscoring the emphasis during the first presidential foreign trip on the three Abrahamic (monotheistic) faiths.

The two men, meting for the first time, shook hands. The pope appeared somber. The president grinned.

“It’s a very great honor,” Trump said to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church after they were seated in the pope’s private study.

The pontiff did not respond while reporters were in the room and he did not smile.

After the president’s private meeting with the pope in the Apostolic Palace there was a brief, expanded audience for the other members of the U.S. delegation. It included First Lady Melania Trump, (clad in a black lace tea-length dress and black lace veil), Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner (who are both now official advisors to the president).

That encounter included an exchange of gifts.

"This is a gift for you. These are books from Martin Luther King. I think you will enjoy them," the president told the pope.

The pope gave Trump what he said was a medal by a Roman artist. He said it's an olive which is a symbol of peace.

“We can use peace,” the president replied.

“I signed it personally for you,” the pope told Trump.

“That's so beautiful,” the president replied.

The pope then also gave the president three books on the topics of family, the joy of the gospel and “care of our common home, the environment.”

“Well, I'll be reading them,” Trump promised the pope.

Pope Francis meets with President Donald Trump on the occasion of their private audience, at the Vatican, May 24, 2017.

The mood initially appeared stiff, according to the few reporters allowed to witness the event firsthand. They noted the pontiff was rather stone-faced at the beginning but later during the gift exchange the mood lightened considerably.

The two men had a clash of words last year when Trump, as a presidential candidate, touted his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The first Jesuit pope said anyone who thinks of building walls instead of bridges “is not Christian,” a comment that Trump called “disgraceful.”

The evening before the audience a top Vatican official, Cardinal Peter Turkson, who is from Ghana, took to social media to note that both the president and the pope are reaching out to the Islamic world to exorcise it of religious violence.

“One offers peace of dialogue, the other security of arms,” he said on Twitter, apparently referencing the $110 billion weapons deal the U.S. president concluded with Saudi Arabia days ago.

Minister Tumwebaze apologises for defying parliament's resolution on SIM card registration

 Members of Parliament yesterday castigated minister for ICT and National Guidance, Mr Frank Tumwebaze accusing him of disrespecting Parliament directives and portraying the institution as toothless and less important.
Speaking during Plenary in the wake of a presidential directive to push the SIM card registration deadline to end of August, Buhweju legislator, Francis Mwijukye appealed to Parliament to take action against what he termed as a “blatant disregard of Parliament resolutions” by a minister, who is also a Member of Parliament.
The legislators called for a public apology from Mr Tumwebaze arguing that a strong message needs to be sent to other ministers, especially those who are directed elected to the House, so that Parliament retains its majesty.

“One would understand if an ex office member comes and disparages Parliament but I find it unacceptable that a member voted by the House comes here and disrespects the House. The House should express displeasure about the conduct of the minister and now that he is here it should be his opportune moment to redeem his image,” Lwemiyaga County MP, Theodore Ssekikubo said.
The Leader of Opposition, Winfred Kiiza said, “We want the minister to come up with a public apology for not respecting the resolution of this House and for not consulting the chair of this House.”

In his defence, Mr Tumwebaze referred to claims that he disrespected and belittled the House as “blatant falsehoods” saying that his conscience is clear about what he said.
“I told the journalists that the Speaker has a right to rebuke her members if she demands performance from them. I said that for the times I have not been in the House, I have written to the Speaker and she has allowed me. To insinuate that in my personal capacity I belittled the speaker is false. I did not do that,” he said.
On apologizing for insisting that the deadline will be effected, Mr Tumwebze said he was simply communicating a government position as the information minister.

“I seek guidance from the Speaker and the Prime Minister as the executive. The announcement I made was not a personal decision. It was a decision of cabinet. I take responsibility for communicating a government position. If that angered the House I take responsibility and apologies for that,” he said.
Last week, Parliament passed a resolution to have the deadline for the registration of SIM cards pushed by one year to allow for those who are yet to secure national identity cards to get them.
Contrary to the resolution, Mr Tumwebaze went ahead and announced that the ban will be effected albeit the Parliament resolution. He used the word advisory, in describing Parliament resolution.

The Speaker insisted that Mr Tumwebaze should have communicated to Parliament before heading to address the press at Media Centre.
“Whether you were communicating government position, you were obliged to come to Parliament first. We share a building,” she said, ordering the Rules committee “to listen to the recordings, tell us what was said and then we know what to do with the issue of honourable Tumwebaze.”
Last evening, during an NRM Caucus meeting the president ignored his minister and ordered for a push to August.
The speaker welcomed the order and asked government to, “always read the mood of the public and act in the interest of the people.”