The price of petrol hit a sh3, 000 mark as fuel shortages continued to worsen across the country. The high fuel prices were again attributed to inefficiency at both Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports and the high exchange rate of the US dollar against the Ugandan Shilling.

Fuel dealers explained that the fuel shortage had affected the entire region, further pointing at structural limitations and inefficiency in the fuel transfer from vessels to tankers as another cause of the fuel shortage.

Entebbe crash plane pilot had no license

Details emerged from an investigation report by a probe committee headed by Col. Chris Mudoola, that the navigator of a Russian llyushin plane that plunged into Lake Victoria last year, used a forged license and that the aircraft engines were beyond their service life.

The plane, operated by South African Aerolift and chartered by Dynacorp International, an American company was destined for Mogadishu with supplies for African Union peacekeeping mission. It claimed lives of eleven people including two Ugandans on March 9 2009.

Pope Donates to Bududa Victims

Pope Benedict XVI donated sh62m [$30,000] through Apostolic Nuncio, Paul Tschang In-Nam, to help victims of the landslide that buried three villages and displaced hundreds in Bududa district earlier this month. The Pope's donation was delivered with a sympathetic message to the people of Bududa.

Local Catholic Church cleric, Archbishop of Kampala Archdiocese, Cyprian Lwanga (Pictured) while speaking during Palm Sunday mass at Rubaga Cathedral said that the donation was part of the Pope's efforts to help the less privileged during the lent period.

State House defends sale of old Jet

State House comptroller Richard Muhinda in defense of state house argued that if the sale of the presidential jet was to be delayed, Government would have incurred more losses. Mr Muhinda said that the Gulfstream IV, procured in 2000, needed an engine overhaul and reconfiguration, estimated at $2.4m [sh5b].

It was revealed that the Government had incurred huge expenses since the jet was due for mandatory engine overhaul in April 2010 and that the sale of the old jet at $10m [sh20b] in the form it was, was a good deal for Government.

No way out for VP Bukenya on PAC

Legislators defended their legal mandate to question the Vice President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya over possible abuse of Chogm funds. The MPs also accused cabinet of conspiring to obstruct justice and accountability.

PAC chairman Nandala Mafabi contended that Prof.Bukenya was not immune and therefore had to face the music of his actions just like his predecessor Dr. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe who faced PAC on January 12, 1999 where she gave evidence on matters of abuse of public funds.

Former Iraq premier wins polls

Iraq Ex-premier Lyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats in the 325-member Council of Representatives, two more than Incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law Allience. Coalition talks took centre stage since neither Iraqiya nor State of Law clinched an overall parliamentary majority.

Maliki, the closest loser refused to accept the results from the March 7 poll, insisting figures released by the election commission remained "preliminary".

Mulago Hospital cleaners down tools

240 Mulago Hospital cleaners employed by Safi Cleaners went on strike sending staff and patients into panic as garbage piled up and the stench became intolerable. The cleaners claimed that they had not been paid for two months, yet the company's contract at the hospital was soon expiring.

Safi Cleaners demanded four months in arrears from Mulago Hospital thus the hospital's Director, Dr Edward Ddumba's request to the striking cleaners to pick their tools fell on deaf ears.
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