📨 Unkind regards.

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Headlines

📨 Unkind regards.

If you sent the new NSSF MD, Mr. Patrick Ayota, an email last week (perhaps to see if you can time travel and access your retirement savings quicker), your email probably didn’t find him well. Richard Byarugaba, the embattled former NSSF MD who was once a spokesperson for retirement readiness, seems to be having trouble accepting his sudden, forced retirement. Byarugaba escalated the fight for his lost job by going after Ayota’s, claiming that Ayota was appointed while holding the position of Deputy MD, making him ineligible for the MD appointment. The court allowed Byarugaba to amend his petition but ordered that Ayota be made a party to the case. Meanwhile, Ayota, in his shiny new precarious seat, has big plans for the Fund, as evidenced at the recent NSSF 11^th Annual Members Meeting, where an interest rate of 10% on member savings for the financial year 2022/23 was declared, which allayed fears resulting from nearly 8 months of scandal.

Ayota has 10 days to respond, as the case was adjourned to October 12^th, 2023.

✊🏾 Pamoja

Uganda, together with Kenya and Tanzania, mounted a successful bid to co-host the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), the continent’s biggest sporting event, in 2027. While this is great news, we’ve been here before—on the brink of CHOGM greatness, only to be plagued by corruption and our patented penchant for mediocrity. Currently, Uganda is likely to struggle with the group project as its only national stadium was de-registered from the Confederation of African Football-approved stadia and has been undergoing renovations as long as Monday—seemingly unending. The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) boss, Moses Magogo reassured Ugandans that the government is committed to pulling its weight and asked Ugandans to stay positive following one of the most hilarious hubbubs on social media in recent memory that ensued after the announcement.

🇰🇪 Kenya

Kenya and the U.S. signed a pact in which the U.S. will give cash, technology, and training support to the Kenyan Defense Forces over the next 5 years. The two countries will also collaborate on peace and security efforts, including the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti. The US has pledged to provide up to $100.3 million and technical assistance for the mission in Haiti, despite legal controversies.

 🇷🇼 Rwanda

President Paul Kagame made changes in his government, replacing Clare Akamanzi as the head of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) with Francis Gatare. Gatare, an economist, plans to focus on advancing public-private partnerships for economic growth. Former Defense Minister Gen. James Kabarebe was appointed as the new State Minister of Foreign Affairs.

🇹🇿 Tanzania

About 5 million quelea birds were culled in Tanzania to stop commercial crops, primarily rice, from becoming an all-you-can-eat bird buffet. Quelea birds are highly destructive and capable of damaging over 50 tons of food crops in a single day.

Other headlines

Ex-ICC official who funded LRA abuses is being investigated.

Mulago to showcase specialized surgeries in free camp.

Aviation Sector scored 72.17% in the ICAO safety audit.

Cabinet accepts UBOS decision to postpone the national census.

NUP makes Shs. 10 million contribution to Mumbere's homecoming fete.

Dott, Odrek firm to get S. Sudan debt billions.

Pearl of Africa Hotel is up for sale over unpaid Shs. 611 billion.

Nile Breweries unveils a new campaign to fight alcohol abuse.

Health Ministry launches guidelines for DNA testing.

URA orders e-receipts for commercial rent payments.

Gov’t officials ordered to start flying Uganda Airlines.

Flooding in Kampala: A climate change crisis.

Mafikizolo to perform at Pilsner’s One Nation cultural festival.

Mabirizi sues Kabaka again over Busuulu.

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🌍️ Africa

Photographer:Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

🇲🇿 Corporate robbery. This story goes better with popcorn, but your breakfast will have to do: Over a decade ago, three Mozambican companies teamed up with Privinvest, a shipping company, and Credit Suisse (now UBS) for a $2 billion loan intended to fund maritime initiatives, including the establishment of a tuna fishing fleet. However,…the only fleet that sailed was the one carrying kickbacks worth $137 million, with $50 million reserved for Credit Suisse bankers to secure more favorable deals on the loans and to enrich Mozambican officials and businessmen.

With millions missing and Mozambique’s massive public debt exposed like a gaping wound, the IMF suspended its assistance, crushing Mozambique’s economy. But wait, there’s more…Mozambique, which sought restitution worth $1.5 billion, claimed Privinvest and Credit Suisse hoodwinked them and insisted that Credit Suisse bears responsibility for the actions of its bankers, some of whom pleaded guilty in the U.S. in 2019 for their involvement in these deals.

The tale of underwater loans, fishy deals, and bankers caught in a net of guilt concluded with Credit Suisse reaching a last-minute out-of-court settlement with Mozambique.

🇨🇩 New daddy in town. The United Nations Security Council agreed to fund the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This comes as the UN peacekeeping mission, Monusco, is set to withdraw from the DRC by December. The EACRF, currently funded by EAC partner states, comprises more than 4,000 troops from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and South Sudan. The funding from the UN will strengthen the EACRF as Monusco scales down its operations. The DRC is currently facing threats of unrest from numerous armed militias, with over 100 armed groups fueling conflicts in the country.

Other headlines

Somalia piracy, a once unsolvable threat, is now almost gone.

Morocco to host the 2025 AFCON football tournament

Atmis troop contributors endorse Somalia's request to delay the drawdown.

Burkina junta leader, Traore says elections are not important now.

IMF board approves $1.32 billion resilience loan for Morocco.

Nigerian labor unions call indefinite strike.

South African utility Eskom pollutes more to keep lights on.

Eswatini, Africa's sole absolute monarchy, holds parliamentary elections.

Sudan slapped by fresh sanctions as conflict continues.

Salva Kiir meets Putin in Moscow to boost ties.

Tunisia opposition leader begins hunger strike.

🗺️ The rest of the world

​​🇦🇲 The Armenian migration. About 120,000 ethnic Armenians in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan are likely to evacuate due to Azerbaijan's takeover of the region. Tensions have been present since 1923, when the Soviets divided the region, and short but deadly flare-ups this year have weakened Armenia's position. Humanitarian aid has started arriving, though Armenians, who are no strangers to genocides, are concerned about possible ethnic cleansing. (Background)

🎵 RIP Tupac. If you needed another reason to know that closure isn’t always a good thing, the last living suspect in the 1996 drive-by shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur has been indicted on a murder charge in Las Vegas. Duane "Keefe D" Davis was arrested and charged for his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting. Tupac, who sold 75 million records worldwide and got six Grammy nominations, was gunned down 27 years ago in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

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Nn’ebigenderako

Politics and Government

At least 57 killed after suicide bombings in Pakistan

Business and Finance

Netflix ends its FunzVidz DVD service.

Samsung partners with MrBeast to get young people to embrace green text bubbles.

Science and Technology

A pig heart transplanted into a human patient.

ChatGPT just got a lot better.

Google turned 25; here’s an archive of all Google Doodles.

AI developers are hiring poets to improve AI’s creative writing skills.

Sports

Team Europe won the Ryder Cup

‘Significant human error’ costs Liverpool against Spurs

Lifestyle and Entertainment

Usher to headline the 2024 Super Bowl.

Hollywood writers reach a tentative deal with studios, but actors are still on strike.

Golden Globes adds new awards for best blockbuster film and TV stand-up comedy

Dumbledore actor died.

$50M worth of wine up for grabs.

Procrastination corner

Games and Puzzles

From Braingle.

Your challenge is to arrange anagrams of the following four words:
MATS, LOTA, COIL, and NORI, but not necessarily in this order, horizontally (i.e. in rows) such that these anagrams form a 4x4 word grid, with the anagrams of the above words going across horizontally and four words going down vertically.

Answer at the bottom.

Our picks

🍛 The best restaurants in the world via TripAdvisor

🎳 In this game, try not to drop expensive pieces of art (best on desktop).

⛬ UNESCO added 42 new heritage sites.

Games answer

Answer:

LOCI
IRON
MAST
ALTO

Across:
LOCI (anagram of "COIL"),
IRON (anagram of "NORI"),
MAST (anagram of "MATS"),
ALTO (anagram of "LOTA")

Down:
LIMA,
ORAL,
COST,
INTO

Have a good week!

— Too Long; Didn’t Read (TLDR)

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