https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-06-15/ugandas-opposition-figure-denied-bail-for-leading-inflation-protests A Uganda veteran opposition figure and long time opponent of aging leader Yoweri Museveni was remanded to prison on Wednesday after he was charged with offences for leading protests against soaring consumer prices. Kizza Besigye, 66, was detained on Tuesday as he led a protest against in downtown Kampala, the capital, only days after he was freed from jail, where he had spent nearly two weeks on similar charges. On Tuesday, he was charged with "incitement to violence" for his alleged role in galvanising protests against high prices, which authorities say were held without permission. Chaos erupted in court when his supporters shouted "shame on you" at the magistrate, who declined pleas from Besigye's lawyers to release their client on bail. https://www.theafricareport.com/204525/uganda-who-is-who-in-muhoozis-powerful-network/ April and the first week of May were revealing as friends of Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a son of Uganda president Yoweri Museveni organised several splendorous parties across the country in honour of his 48th birthday. He is the commander of land forces, the largest section of the Uganda army and a senior presidential advisor on special operations. https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/other/uganda-increases-defence-budget-on-dr-congo-war/ar-AAYuISj In the budget speech read to Uganda’s Parliament seated at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds on Tuesday, June 14, Finance minister Matia Kasaija announced an allocation of Ush3.9 trillion ($1.02 billion) to security, saying boosting the defence budget would be “the bedrock of socio-economic transformation in the next financial year.”“Peace, security and stability, as well as rule of law, must remain key government priorities,” Mr Kasaija said.Although there has not been any severe war within Uganda apart from pockets of insecurity caused by cattle rustlers in the Karamoja region, Uganda has been allocating a sizeable amount of money every year to the sector.This time, Mr Kasaija said the money allocated was to strengthen the operations in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. However, he did not specify how much was going into the mission.“The UPDF (Uganda People’s Defence Force) will also continue with the pacification of the eastern DR Congo in line with the agreement with the Government of DR Congo,” he said.“Sustaining peace, security and stability, as well as macro-economic stability, are key foundations for economic recovery, growth and socio-economic transformation,” Mr Kasaija said.Uganda army launched operations against the Allied Democratic Forces rebels, blamed for terrorist activities in Uganda and mass murders in DRC for over two decades, in eastern DR Congo in November 2021. In collaboration with the Congolese army, the UPDF has announced major war successes and requested an expansion of the force for an operation which the army spokesperson says will last as long as the threat is still there.Commodity pricesThe Finance minister said the government intends to cushion vulnerable Ugandans against the skyrocketing commodity prices in the country by supporting farmers to grow more fast-maturing food and oil seeds for domestic supply, non-interference in the market over prices, support alternative fuel supplies, especially on Lake Victoria to avoid supply disruptions, as well as using fiscal policies to mitigate the impact of the rising commodity prices.He announced the construction of additional fuel storage infrastructure and the expedition of the process in the oil production. Uganda has one fuel reservoir in Jinja, 80km east of the capital Kampala, with a capacity of 30 million litres for a country that consumes about six million litres daily.“Government cannot influence price levels whose changes are driven by external shocks outside its control. We will, therefore, not be applying measures which can lead to long-term and painful distortions in the economy,” the minister said.Economic growthThe economy is struggling with a public debt burden of over Ush73.5 trillion ($19 billion), inflation of more than six percent, increasing prices of fuel and essential commodities such as food, cooking oil, soap, sugar, bread and a projected revenue shortfall of Ush939 billion ($250 million) in the financial year ending June 30, 2022. Mr Kasaija, however, hopes to turn the economy around.He said commercial agriculture, industrialisation, expanding and broadening services, digital transformation and market access, implementation of the Parish Development Model, and promotion of agro-industrialisation will be the magic to transform the economy to have each of the 44 million people earn an income of at least Ush3.7 million ($1,000).Museveni’s takeSpeaking after the budget presentation, President Yoweri Museveni said there was no need to worry about the economic trends, saying it would be worrying if the country lacked food.“As long as Uganda is producing food, there is no problem we cannot solve,” he said before adding that issues of erratic rains and prolonged droughts will be solved by irrigation.He said the problem of high fuel prices would be solved once the country gets an efficient transport system for fuel, such as railway and water transport, adding that after the final investment decision agreement signed months back, the country will soon produce its own fuel. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/uganda-says-exploration-results-show-it-has-31-mln-tonnes-of-gold-ore Uganda on Wednesday said recent exploration surveys have shown it has gold ore deposits of about 31 million tonnes and it wants to attract big investors to develop the sector hitherto dominated by small wildcat miners. Over the last two years aerial exploration was done across the country followed by geophysical and geochemical surveys and analyses, Solomon Muyita, spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, told Reuters. Muyita said an estimated 320,158 tonnes of refined gold could be extracted from the 31 million tonnes of ore. Most of the deposits were discovered in Karamoja, a parched sprawling area in the country's northeastern corner on the border with Kenya. Large reserves were also found in eastern, central and western areas of the East African country. Muyita said Wagagai, a Chinese company, had set up a mine in Busia in eastern Uganda and was expected to start production this year. Wagagai had invested $200 million, he said, and its mine will have a refining unit. President Yoweri Museveni's government has been seeking to ramp up investment in mining to develop resources like copper, iron ore, gold, cobalt and phosphates. Parliament early this year enacted a new mining law that, once signed by the president, will pave way for the creation of a state mining company. The company will compulsorily acquire a 15% stake in every mining operation and investors will be required to sign a production-sharing agreement with the government. Previously investors were given mining production licenses on a first-come, first-served basis.