Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has refuted allegations that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni survived a Coup when he was away in Rwanda attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Early this week, Lt. Gen. Peter Elwelu, the Deputy Commander of UPDF, through a radio call, put the entire army on Standby Class One, the highest order given to the army before the war.

Lt. Gen. Elwelu issued the order when the Commander in Chief (CiC) President Museveni and Gen. Wilson Mbadi, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) were out of the country.

This created anxiety among netizens with some speculating that the big man survived a coup while he was away.

However, in a phone conversation with theGrapevine, Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye, the UPDF spokesperson rubbished the allegations.

“It is not true, the order was given to give us time to clean our house. If it was a coup, we would have declared a curfew but you people are still moving even deep at night, enjoying night discos and drinking your beer, there was no coup please tell the people to calm down,” Kulayigye said.

He explained that the order still stands because it’s intended purpose is still on.

He divulged that they are also trying to examine how the army’s equipment are kept, how soldiers are stationed. He emphasised that the country is on high alert and the army will remain on Standby Class One for now.

“You people, you don’t know what is going on in our region. Do you know what is expected to come out of Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where people are fighting? Our army should be on standby to protect our sovereignty,” he explained.

This week, land forces commander Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba warned of a coming battle.

In one of his tweets, Muhoozi warned, “In the coming battle, let the people of Uganda and Rwanda support me… like I have fought for them. Let us deal with the traitors once and for all!”

The First Son added, ““Those who try to come between my father and me will learn a very bitter lesson. Where were they when we were refugees? Tutawona wale Mungu anapenda!”

Celebrated investigative journalist, Timothy Kalyegira opined that there is a sharp division in the army over the behaviour of certain commanders.

“I don’t know if we should worry, but what I can tell you is that inside the army, the mood/morale is like what it was in UNLA around early 1984. Not yet an all-out crisis, but certainly no longer the familiar, calm normal. You can quote me on that,” Kalyegira said.

Sources inside the army revealed that because of the divisionism, it is the reason why president Museveni has summoned the army’s top command today for an emergency meeting at Irenga Barracks in Western  Uganda.

I met with the UPDF Service Chiefs at 401 Brigade Headquarters in Irenga, Ntungamo District. pic.twitter.com/yXaEFooib2

— Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) June 26, 2022

Sources disclosed that the big man is still camped in Western Uganda and he is expected to return to Kampala on Monday morning.

Sources further disclosed that the president is expected to tell the army top leadership that he is going to continue moving in all army barracks around the country.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

Kololo based Medipal International Hospital Kampala is in trouble over harassing, discriminating and failing to pay a female medical doctor.

On 22nd June, 2022, Dr. Asiimwe Kemigisha petitioned the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Labour Office accusing the management of the Medipal of discriminating her, maligning and mistreating her.

Kemigisha filed her complaint through her lawyers of Bluebell Legal Advocates.
She particularly singled out Dr. Adnan Khan, the Hospital’s Medical Director, as the second respondent and the hospital management as the first respondent.
According to the documents seen by the mighty Grapevine, Dr. Kemigisha claims that Dr. Khan, a Pakistan native has bias against women and it is the reason why she has been discriminated against.

She said that at one point, he castigated her simply for hugging male colleagues while running up the stairs. Dr. Kemigisha explained in her complaint that she sensed insincerity and foul play when none of the male Colleagues she hugged were tasked to explain.

“The male colleagues I hugged were never apprehended which flagged early signs of discrimination and bias against women by the 2nd Respondent (Dr. Khan).

“ I requested for a fair hearing and asked for the warning letter together with the evidence related thereto from the 1st Respondent’s Human Resource Manager but shockingly, she informed me that the same could not be availed,” Kemigisha’s statement reads.

She revealed to Court that in November 2019, she commenced employment at the facility as a Medical Officer.

However, she was never given a formal contract of Employment.
In February 2022, she was promoted to Senior House Officer (SHO.). This did not go well with Dr. Adnan who refused to acknowledge her promotion to date.

Unfortunately, the promotion was not in writing but it is buttressed by the switch in her log-ins and the duty rota. Dr. Kemigisha said that she attempted to seek Dr. Khan’s audience to find a lasting solution but he was dismissive.

“I approached the 2nd Respondent (Dr. Khan) in his office for a discussion about the issue but he shrugged it off and angrily shouted at me” she said.

She emphasised that despite the non-stop harassment, she acted professionally and executed her duties as assigned on the duty rota.
But that the persecution from Dr. Khan was relentless.

“The harassment and discrimination from the 2nd Respondent didn’t stop after my promotion as Senior House Officer because circumstantial evidence shows that the 2nd Respondent refused to acknowledge my promotion and made sure that I neither gets a written contract nor payment for my services as SHO and yet my peers had written contracts and have at all material times received payment,” she added in her statement.

She claims that after being promoted, she was not paid until when she requested for a conflict resolution meeting. Dr. Kemigisha asserts that whenever she would seek clarification from the HR manager about her pay, the response was that Dr. Khan was still processing her documents.

She laments that her incessant troubles compelled her to professionally opt for a conflict resolution meeting with Dr. Khan on 29th April 2022 as a first step towards conflict management. Subsequently, Dr Khan convened a meeting on 13th May 2022.

The attendees were Dr. Khan, Dr. Kemigisha, Dr. Lisa Numusiima (Supervisor Medical Officer), Dr. Richard Lukandwa (Medical Director), Ms. Hussein Alishba (the HR manager) and a gentleman who identified himself as Henry, a lawyer for the hospital.

She explains that in the meeting, the hospital lawyer stated that he was a neutral party who heads the facility’s harassment committee. But she later discovered that his name is Henry Nyegenye, an advocate attached to the law firm of Arcadia Advocates, which represents the facility.

Dr. Kemigisha notes that during the meeting, blame was placed on different departments, mainly the HR department for not having formalised her SHO contract.

She notes that Dr Khan, who is the facility’s accounting officer, vehemently feigned ignorance of the anomalies. Dr. Kemigisha adds that the Respondents insisted that her promotion to SHO was never a promotion, and that it was not within the facility’s employment structure. The Respondents termed her relationship with the facility as a consultancy engagement.

She says that she never received any written communication for the terms before transitioning into the SHO role and that it is not her duty to presume her terms of engagement.

She explains that in any case, she should have availed the terms of the engagement instead of forcing her to resign from employment. Dr. Kemigisha says several futile maneuvers were made to persuade her to retract the letter containing her grievances of harassment by Dr. Khan.

She claims that she was even rebuked for requesting for a direct conflict resolution meeting with Dr. Khan instead of following a harassment policy by the hospital which has never been disclosed to her.

Dr. Kemigisha believes that Dr. Khan’s action of inviting a lawyer to the conflict resolution meeting without giving her notice to invite her own lawyer and having the lawyer interrogating her in the said meeting in itself was harassment.

She claims Nyegenye has since then played an integral role in covering up the harassment on behalf of the Respondents.

Dr. Kemigisha says in due course, she will provide a transcript of the audio recording of the conflict resolution meeting. She states that on 17th May 2022, the HR Manager Alishba asked her to write a letter clarifying her harassment claims so that the SHO contract could be processed. She says she declined to do so because it was wrong since the two were mutually exclusive.

She says more misery was piled on her, and in an email sent by Dr. Lukandwa on 25th May, she was inform that since she had not subjected herself to a formal recruitment process to transition to SHO, she could no longer execute the duties of SHO.

She noted that subsequently, she was struck off the SHO duty rota. She said that the hospital’s lawyers asked her to resign from her position of Medical Officer, to enable formalisation of her promotion to SHO.
She declined to do so, as she believed it was irregular.

On 10th June 2022, another meeting was held at the hospital’s office, which was attended by Dr. Kemigisha’s lawyer, Mr. Isaac Ssali Mugerwa.
However, the Respondents were adamant, and claimed they were unable to pay her salary arrears because they were gripped with financial strife.
The petition further reveals that Nyegenye made a phone call to Dr. Kemigisha’s lawyer, and conceded that she had pertinent grievances.

Documents seen by the mighty Grapevine show that on 13th June 2022, Nyegenye communicated to Mr. Mugerwa and reiterated the Hospital’s position that the Complainant should provide both an Application letter for the SHO appointment and a resignation letter as MO so that the Respondents could process the transition from M.O to SHO.

Dr. Kemigisha says the incessant persecution, compelled her to write a letter dated 15th June 2022, informing the Respondents that she had been constructively dismissed from her employment.
She emphasised that interestingly on 16th June 2022, after the Respondents had achieved their objective of terminating her, they remitted her two months salary as medical officer on her account.

Dr. Kemigisha notes that on 20th day June 2022, the Respondents sent an email, asking her to apply for the position of SHO in which she had already served for over 4 months.
“As a result of the aforementioned wrongful, discriminative actions of the Respondents, I have suffered unemployment, psychological stress and strain, financial constraints for which I shall seek recompose in general, aggravated and punitive damages” she prayed to Court.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

Parents of 14-year-old Jonah Luyinda are in tears, pondering on what to do next to save their son who is slowly sliding to his grave after being vaccinated.

Luyinda, a student of St. Martin Secondary School, Jjanya, Mpigi is suffering from multiple organ failure after allegedly being vaccinated against Covid-19 and he is currently fighting for his dear life at Kiruddu Hospital.

In an exclusiuve interview with theGrapevine, Luyinda’s parents and relatives narrated what happened to their son.

Luyinda’s mother Nalwadda Tendo narrated that it all started when they got a call from a friend who studies with Jonah at St. Martin that his health was worsening.

Jonah’s mother recounted, “In march this year, when students went back to school, we got a call from Luyinda’s female friend that he was in bad health. She told us that Jonah had high fever and was vomiting profusely. The friend however told us that he was receiving treatment from the school.

“I thought that it is this normal fever that students always get at school and on hearing that he was receiving medication, I was comfortable that he will be fine.

“But still, I called the deputy headteacher Mr. Mulimira. He assured me that my son was in perfect health and was in class attending his lessons.”

Nalwadda added that a few days later, a friend of hers who has students in the same school told her that she had taken some school requirements for her children, but while there, her children told her that Jonah’s health was worring and that he needed to be taken out of school for further medical attention.

“I was very scared because I had not yet received any official communication from the school about my son’s health. I kept calling Mr. Mulimira’s number but he was not picking.

“Surprisingly, two day later, Mr. Mulimira called me and told me that Jonah’s health was worsening and because the school could no longer handle him, they had written a later permitting him to leave school to seek better medical care.

“Mr. Mulimira told me that he had instructed Jonah’s female friend, who knew where his family stays (in Buloba) to accompany him home since he barely walked.”

With tears rolling down her cheeks, Nalwadda told theGrapevine that, “When I looked at my son’s condition, I almost collapsed. His stomach had swollen to the extent that you could think he was pregnant, his legs, arms and face were also swollen.”

“I quickly organised some money and we drove Jonah to  Kitebi Health Centre III.

“By just looking at my son, the doctor quickly told me that it seems he has a kidney problem. He gave us a prescription of drugs for Jonah to take and we paid Sh.50,000.”

A camera shy Nalwadda could not contain her tears, she told Jonah’s elder brother to continue the discussion with us.

Jonah’s brother Nsubuga Jasper

THE BATTLE TO SAVE JONAH

Janah’s brother Nsubuga Jasper, who we also found at Kiruddu helping their mother told us that on the night of March 17^th  2022, Jonah’s condition worsened.

“They called me from home that my young brother was going to die. I ran like a mad man to Buloba. When I reached home, I found him in bad shape, vomiting blood. He also could not breath well. We quickly drove him to Kiruddu hospital.

“It was late in the night at around 2:00am. When we reached Kiruddu, the security people at the gate refused to open for us saying that it was late and all the doctors had left,” he narrated.

Nsubuga added, “I turned the car and we drove to Rubaga hospital. By this time, Jonah had stopped breathing. The doctors rushed him to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

“They used an Automated External Defibrillators (AED) device to attempt to get his heart to return to its normal pumping rhythm. Meanwhile we were all praying to God to give him a second chance. God heard our prayers and Jonah breathed again.

“We went through that night and at around midday the next day, the doctor called us in his room and told us that Jonah had water in his lungs that is why he has difficulty in breathing. He recommended that we take him to Kiruddu hospital because they are better equipped to handle his situation.

“However, while we were leaving his office, he asked us whether Jonah received a Covid19 jab. Because it is something we never asked, and Jonah, who could give us the answer was still unconscious, we told him he has never been vaccinated against Covid19.”

Nsubuga disclosed that they used the hospital ambulance and at around 3:00pm, they reached Kiruddu hospital and the doctors took Jonah straight to the ICU of the hospital.

They also carried out multiple tests on him.

“Afterwards, the doctor called us to his office and asked us the same question the Rubaga hospital doctor asked, “did you vaccinate this child against Covid19”?

“We told him we didn’t. He showed us Jonah’s X-ray photos and while explaining to us, he castigated us on why we had allowed our child to take a Covid19 jab. But we kept insisting that he was not vaccinated.

“He explained to us the vaccine had badly affected his two kidneys and because the kidneys and they could no longer cleanse the blood of toxins hence the liver, lungs and heart were also weak.

JONAH TELLS PARENTS HE WAS VACCINATED

Nsubuga told our reporter that they waited for Jonah to regain his cautiousness so that he can tell them whether he was vaccinated.

When he slowly started improving, he told them that the school told everyone to be vaccinated to attend lessons.

He added that they were warned that anyone who refuses to be vaccinated will not attend lessons.

When he was vaccinated, he started feeling unhealthy and so were some of his friends.

However, Jonah explained that his condition deteriorated. Parts of his body started swelling, he got a high fever and his body started itching so much.

Nsubuga said that, “When we called the Deputy headteacher, he told us that Jonah’s matter was forwarded to the school board and he could no longer comment about it. After our discussion, he blocked us and totally cut off communication between us and them.”

He added, “When the new term began, I went to St. Martin Secondary School to talk to the headteacher Mr. Mpagazi Raphael. When I asked him what happened to my brother he refused to answer. I then asked him why they jabbed him without our consent.

“The headteacher told me that it was an order from the District Health Officer (DHO) and the chairperson of the area to vaccinate all students. He divulged these government officials told them that they were also following an order from the President. He also told me that Jonah’s issue was submitted to the school board so he had nothing much to tell me.”

Jonah fighting for his life

JONAH’S CONDITION WORSENING

Nsubuga told theGrapevine that because his young brother is taking many drugs to keep him alive, he keeps loosing memory.

“He can recognise us sometimes but after a while he forgets who we are,” a sad Nsubuga narrated.

He added that Jonah also developed ulcers yet he keeps losing appetite. They fear that they might lose him since they need a lot of money to treat him which they don’t have.

“Doctors have already warned us that he may soon have multiple organ failure because most of his damaged organs are overworking to keep him alive yet he is on strong medication.

“We have so far spent over Shs. 25 million on him, but our fear now is we need a lot more to keep him alive, money that we don’t currently have,” he sniveled.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH SPEAKS OUT

When our reporter talked to Mr. Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Ministry of Health spokesperson, he said that they got to know about Jonah’s predicament in the press.

When they got the information, they quickly sent their health experts to examine him and come up with a report which they will present to the ministry and the country will officially be informed.

On the issue of vaccinating children, Ainebyoona warned that children are not supposed to be vaccinated without the consent of their parents.

“To vaccinate children, we have to get consent from parents because we even do it for adults above 18. We first give them a consent form which they fill for them to be vaccinated,” he said.

On Tuesday this week, the Minister of Health, Jane Ruth Aceng, said that any vaccination involving children will only be carried out with the full permission of parents.

“Nobody should tell you that the Ministry of Health is vaccinating any child,” she said.

She revealed that the ministry is yet to push the idea with the ministry education and is yet to have a whole task force sit down and discuss this issue.

By Omulangira Ddembe Jonah