STREET CHILDREN, THIEVES?

Unknown thieves who were cruising in a red car on Sunday night looted fifteen computers from Stitching Pearl of Africa computer cafe located at hotel Pearl Afrique junction says, Ocen Emmy who also took advantage of the situation.

18 years old Emmy Ocen who is born to Michael Okello – a worker at a grinding Mill and Grace Laker a saloon attendant is a street boy in Gulu town who comes from Kirombe and was present when the thieves were looting.

He confessed to have taken advantage of the same situation and grabbed for himself a Hoofer and a Power Shot Digital camera from the same café after the thieves had picked what they needed most.

George Alligage the spoke person for Gulu business community urged fellow business men to solicit some money for to help provide prompt security in time of need since the security persons are not so reliable where pace is required.

Similarly a month ago 70 plastic chairs, two lap tops, 500,000 shillings were stolen by street kids from Northern Institute of Business Studies and several other metallic stools sold to scrap dealers as scraps.

PAY CHILDREN’S SCHOOL FEES

Proprietors of nursery Schools in Bar Dege Division Gulu Municipality have cried out that the biggest challenge affecting their operation is debts accumulation by some parents.

Speaking from the division board room on Tuesday, Lagoro Rose Lam the director of Our Lady of good Counsel Nursery and primary schools Kabedopong expressed her disappointments with some parents who deliberately accumulate a lot of debts and later transfer their children to another school

She advised parents to avoid such habit as in future it may bring bad luck to their children such as failure to get job or being chase from one job to another.

In his response secretary for Education and Health Bar Dege division council Hon Ocen Michael said, schools must not accepts pupils on transfer without recommendation letter from their former schools adding that such vices are worst in secondary schools.

The meeting was called by Bar Dege Division to discuss dates for inspecting schools to find out adherence to minimum standard Requirements needed to open up an Early Childhood Development centre as per guideline from ministry of Education and Sport

CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTING NORTHERN UGANDA

The usually sunny and dry January in Northern Uganda especially Gulu district seems to be a rainy season for the past two days.

A surprising rainfall last night ravaged laid bricks in Layibi and Pece divisions in Gulu District worth millions of shillings.
Eric Otim a resident of Pece Pawel, and is one of the people who laid bricks in this dry season said the rain forced him into a thirty minutes work of covering his bricks when it started at 1:00 Am in the night.

At Corner Layibi next to Baptist Church, rain swept away people’s vegetables and sugar cane plantations besides devastating thousands of bricks just laid yesterday into soil, says Betty a resident of corner Layibi.

Similarly the rain has left Moroto road next to Map International into a pool and in a sorrowful state, inconveniencing and forcing most pedestrians and even bodaboda riders into using deserted walk ways or “panyas.”

BEER SALES DECLINED

I am happy that Ugandans are beginning to make use of their lives but not wasting away over drinking forgetting about productive work and taking care of their families.The way people compete drinking beer and spending all they earn then suffer at the end of the day, domestic and economic violence coming in, children’s rights being abused.Alcohol abuse has had a great (negative) impact on the lives many of Ugandans who unfortunately think they are enjoying by absconding other responsibilities.Invest elsewhere to get more taxes from what improves rather than retards productivity of Ugandans.

HOTEL WOMAN

There she comes
Pata pata every morning.
In those peeping pricking shoes
Rags clinging or hugging
on the skeleton body,
Thirty thousands is enough
for her to work
Morning till late
till forever
She can die for all i care
but do all i want
sickly or not, come to her
or i will cut your pay

Give me your sweat
I shall give you my slap,
Don’t ask for pay yet
Don’t you eat as you work
I shall pay you when i want
Or i will cut your pay.

Hotel woman,
Or slave woman
i shall drill all your sweat
like drilling oil,
drilling every mineral from the young to the old.
Unfortunate are the girls
Who throng at my door,
Hoping to have a welcome
To their fates
But woe to she
Who seeks comfort
In the den of the lion.

BOUNCING, JOLLY GIRL

Push!!!
There she comes.
You have a bouncing baby girl

My mind all rumbles
What shall she be?
What will she like?
Who will she like?
What shall i give her in life to come?

Tears of joy
Run down my chicks
Endlessly like a flooded river
Over flowing its banks
To gallop the surrounding
With the same joy.

There stands your father, sweetie
But fathers,
Oh!
How many have
properly,lovingly
Taken care of their own?
Shall he be by our side now till forever?
Christ!!!
Be he man or father
Direct him to be father
And i shall be mother
From now till forever.

CRIMINAL

Case dismissed,
Reason
Don’t ask
But what happened?
Don’t ask.

A suspect of treason,
For two years
The case is endless
Inadequate evidence
Inadequate case.

Bail is not the case
What is that?
Educate me first
But who were those,
I know not of the witnesses
From my side.

Criminal or no criminal,
Eat what is in your plate.
If you got no cash,
Behind bars.
Wait, help me
My friends, relatives
Bail me out.

Wait till we get money,
When?
Don’t ask.
Suffer locally.

LAVATORY SMELL FORCES COUNCIL OFFICIAL OUT OF OFFICES.

Gulu Municipal Council offices are deserted due to a horrid smell coming from the lavatories.

The offices have been without water for the past three weeks after National Water and Sewerage Corporation disconnected it. The disconnection has forced the workers to stay away from their offices due to the offensive smell emanating from the toilets in the council chambers.

Paul Wakikara, the Corporation Area Manager, says they were forced to cut off water supply to Gulu Municipal Council after their warnings went unheeded to by the Municipal officials.

Wakikara accuses Gulu Municipal Council of persistent disruption of water supply in Gulu town by authorizing the excavation works along pipelines saying they were forced to cut off the water supply after writing four warning letters that went unheeded.

The water official says one time the council cut off water supply to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.

Kelly Komakech, the Gulu Municipal Council Speaker, says the smell from the toilets has forced most workers to stay out of office while those who persevere to be around go back to their homes to ease themselves.

Komakech says they are now considering closing down the entire municipal council offices to avoid the risk of the staff contracting diseases as a result of poor sanitation.

Efforts to a get a comment from John Beyingana, the town clerk was futile as he was out of office and did not answer repeated calls made by the Press to his cell phone.

AYWEE HEALTH CENTRE THREE RECEIVES SUPPORT.

Aywee health center three yesterday received medical equipments from Alfred Okwonga, the local councilor five of Pece division, to boost curative health service delivery.
Okwonga presented the kits yesterday morning to Atto Florence Ocan, a nursing officer at Aywee health and committed to start chasing for what the division and municipal council ought to acquire.
Among other things Okwonga gave to Aywee health center included five boxes of examination gloves and five hundred medical forms.
Okwonga called upon partners to come in and support where they can for better health service delivery to the community.
Florence Atto, the nursing officer who received the health kits appreciated the initiative of supporting the health center which to her was the first support from an individual.
However, besides the good will to support Aywee health center three, the health center is currently struggling with multiple dilemmas among which is few staffs, inadequate sanitary facilities and staff accommodation.

MONEY TALK

My OIL
Our oil
We shall be rich
I shall be rich
Says who?
The money talk
Talking about my oil money in our oil area
That is not for you to spend time on,
Talk about other issues
Development,
Yes, development.

My oil
Our oil
Hey, where is the exact location?
In our village
My village?
Ha, my children
The youth
What qualification
Primary, but was universal
Secondary, universal too
What now,
My oil
Our oil
Hey foreigner
Here we are
Talk to me in my oil village
Your tongue is foreign
Your terms are foreign
Who can make me listen and hear you well
For the words of a foreigner is a word and a twist
In my oil village.

Don’t you see our sons
are unemployed
don’t you see our roads
Schools, hospital, medical care
The governed and the government,
The eye, ear, nose ,mouth
Of this blessed nation
Of my oil village
Told me no nothing
That I could understand

My neighbor whispered in my eyes
I saw with my ears,
My village is now a scramble palace
For the money talk.
My fathers’ fore fathers warned us
They told us that this village is our
The land is our to tilt
In peace not pieces
Without a tear, bloodshed, spears and arrows
But I see doom,
My oil village cries in pain,
For the feet that walk past are
Unclean, Hungry to feast on as many acres
Of what our fore fathers
Treasured
Come my son

My oil,
Our oil seems to be there
Where you see them shielding
with iron logs so tall can touch the sky
But what is that, …
Mama, don’t waste your saliva
Watching is all you have done
The head moves the tail, remember
The tail may move but in vain
Nobody moves
Let’s trade to Jowa’s papyrus chamber
As a local councillor,
Knowledge of such rests at his majestic door
Of our oil village