Uganda: Reshuffle – Museveni Names Janet, Awori, Jeje Ministers

Kampala — President Yoweri Museveni announced the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle late last night, with big surprises.In the shake-up, Museveni dropped ministers Dr. Ezra Suruma for finance, Gen Salim Saleh (micro-finance), Ham Muliira (ICT), Maj. James Kinobe (youth), Dr. Atwooki Kasirivu (lands), Prof. Semakula Kiwanuka (investment) and Kagimu Kiwanuka for economic monitoring.The big new comers are First Lady Janet Museveni who is now state minister for Karamoja, Gen Jeje Odongo bounced back as state minister for defence, replacing Ruth Nankabirwa who takes over from Saleh.

Africa: New Nile Pact Stalled

Kampala — Ten years of negotiations over a new protocol governing shared use of the Nile River are hanging in the balance, with Egypt and Sudan refusing to give up their present power over how much water is used by countries further upstream.The current agreement prohibits countries downstream from using Nile waters beyond an agreed curve, and gives Egypt powers to monitor the flow at key points.”The technocrats had worked out all the paper work for a good protocol but the politicians have thrown a clean piece of cloth in the mud,” says Professor Afuna Aduula, chair of the Nile Basin Discourse Forum, a consortium of civil society organisations looking at issues along the world’s longest river.