In a notice today, Ministry of Energy and Mineral development said companies intending to apply for the licenses now have six months window up to September 30, 2020 to prepare and submit their bits. The earlier deadline was March 31, 2020.
Harriet Kasirye, the Absa Uganda head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, said “We’re in the process of finalizing logistics in line with the president’s directive issued last night. The operations position for the rest of the lockdown period will follow shortly.”
He added that “It is not correct to disconnect water or electricity on account of non-payment during this time of shutdown or to seize properties on account of the non-payment of loans.”
According to Dr Fred Muhumuza, an economist, at least 43 per cent (18m) of Ugandans are vulnerable and because of the lockdown, it means a huge fraction of these will easily fall back into poverty. This estimate is above government’s own official estimate that puts the figure of those likely to fall into poverty because of Covid-19 at only 780,000 people as per the Ministry of Finance estimates.
Ssempijja told reporters on Saturday in Kampala that it was already a planting season and farmers should observe ministry of health guidelines to avoid spread of covid-19 but still go to gardens.
Mugume will carryout duties that were being done by Dr Louis Kasekende, whose contract expired in January and was not renewed. Mugume who has been working as the executive director for research, previously headed the modeling division between 2007 and 2010. He holds a PhD from Oxford University, UK, and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Botswana.
At Mubende Hospital, a total of 35 medical interns (including Doctors, Nurses and Pharmacists have been affected by lack of transport means. The interns body says they stay far from the hospital and have been unable to report to their duty stations due to the ban of public transport.
In the communique last night, the leaders said “we consider that consolidating Africa's health defense is a key for the resilience of global health.” This means part of that money pledged will be spent in poorer countries to strengthen capacity to deal with the virus.
According to the ministry, the shutdown takes effect immediately and offices such as Face Technologies where Ugandans go to process driving permits will not be open starting today
Initial projections were based on data limited to February and expectations that East Asia would bear the brunt of the immediate economic impact - but with the virus spreading worldwide and with many countries in lockdown mode, a far greater shock on supply and demand looks inevitable, it said.
In the financial results, published on Thursday, Stanbic said the money it lent to customers grew to 2.9 trillion Shillings in 2019 from 2.5 trillion Shillings, a year before - a growth of 14 per cent. Outgoing Chief Executive Patrick Mweheire described the results as a “great performance.
IDA countries are those whose people earn low incomes per year. Uganda is among these countries. The two institutions’ call is directed at the G20 – the 20 most industrialised countries – that are bilateral lenders to the poor countries. China is the biggest lender here.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the country’s statistics agency, has suspended all field activities and sent home all the staff below the principal level.
The Speaker of Parliament has questioned the decision by Ministry of Finance to contract an audit firm, Ernest & Young at 2 billion shillings to audit Uganda traders who supplied South Sudan.
Companies, whose accounting year ends in September, and are unable to file corporation tax returns by March 31, 2020 will have a two-month extension to May, 2020. The penalties for late submission will not apply or will be refunded if the companies are able to submit on or before May 31, 2020, URA said in a statement.
Dr. Samuel Opio, the Secretary, Pharmaceutical Society of Uganda, says the sale of substandard hand sanitisers will impact negatively on the country’s preventive methods against the corona virus pandemic, saying there is need for government to do something to address the situation.
“Due to the increasing threat of the CORONA virus in Uganda, effective Wednesday March 25th 2020 to April 9th 2020, the Economic Policy Research Centre Staff members will continue working online from their homes,” said EPRC management.
