Manchester City yesterday pipped Liverpool to be crowned the 2018/2019 English Premier League champions following a hotly contested race between the two teams.

City beat Brighton 4-1 at Amex Stadium to seal the title which meant that Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Wolves at Anfield was in vain. The hot campaign saw City seal the title with 98 points beating Liverpool by one point who finished with 97 points.

Pep Guardiola’s men won the title for a second consecutive season after one of the most heated races in the history of the competition saw them go toe to toe with Liverpool throughout the campaign.

The heated race saw Manchester City win all their last 14 games in a row to be crowned champions, the second-longest in the history of the Premier League.

Liverpool’s miss on Sunday means that the Merseyside club will have to wait for their first Premier League title that they have been hunting for since it was initiated in the 1992/93 season.

Manchester City’s triumph on Sunday saw them clinching their fourth Premier League title, one more than Arsenal (3) and just one less than Chelsea (5) while Manchester United are the most successful club in the competetion with 13 titles. Leicester City and Blackburn Rovers have one Premier League title each.

Liverpool will be left disappointed for missing out on their much-needed Premier League title which was theirs to lose for a couple of months before they gave up a seven-point lead and allowed Manchester City to catch up with them.

Chelsea (72 points) and Tottenham (71 points) clinched the last two positions for champions league football after finishing third and fourth respectively.

Arsenal finished the campaign in the fifth position with 70 points and they were left regretting losing the last three games in a row before the final day which all but ended their chances of finishing in the top four. Three consecutive losses against Crystal Palace, Wolves and Leicester City saw Unai Emery’s men surrender the third and fourth positions to Chelsea and Tottenham.

The gunners will be hoping for triumph in their Europa League final against their London rivals Chelsea as their last chance to secure champions league football next season, otherwise, a loss will see them condemned to Europa League once again for a third consecutive season.

The Europa League final that features the two English giants will be played on 29th May in Azerbaijan capital Baku.

Manchester United had a season to forget after finishing 6th with 66 points and this means that there will be no champions league football next season. United’s dismal season will see new coach and former player Ole Gunnar Solsjaer head into a tough summer campaign to find players who can fill all the loopholes that have been exhibited by the club this season.

The other end of the table saw Huddersfield, Fulham and Cardiff City being relegated to Championship while making way for the newly promoted Norwich City, Sheffield United who will be joined by another club after the playoffs to join the Premier League.

Liverpool’s success at continental level that saw them eliminate Spanish giants Barcelona dramatically last week to book their place in the final where they will face fellow English opponents Tottenham will act as a good consolation for their Premier League disappointment.

A win in the final on 1st June at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid will see Liverpool lift their 6th Champions League trophy while it will be the first for Tottenham if they beat their fellow English rivals.

The General court-martial led by Lt Gen Andrew Gutti has convicted the leader of “Boda-Boda 2010” Abdallah Kitatta of multiple offences including unlawful possession of firearms.

Court has also convicted Ngoobi Sowali of unlawful possession of firearms

Meanwhile, the same court has acquitted seven others that have been remanded together with Kitatta of offences of unlawful possession of firearms and military supplies.

The acquitted include Joel Kibirige, Matia Senfuka, Hassan Sebatta, John Sebandeke, Hussein Mugema, Amon Twinomujuni, and Fred Bwanika.

Lt Gen Gutti adjourned the case for tomorrow 14th May when he will deliver the sentence

Kitatta together with his co-accused have been on remand for 16 months since they were arrested at the start of 2018.

The lawyer who represented Kitatta and Ngoobi, Mr. Shaban Sanya defended his clients by pointing out several factors before the court-martial to be considered before handing them the final sentence. They included the following;

That Kitatta has not been involved in any likely case before and this was the first of such offences he has been convicted

That convicts have got families and other people they take care of and therefore their lives would be miserable if the convicts are given a long sentence

That Kitatta has for a long time been suffering from diabetes which would worsen his health condition if sentenced in prison

That Kitatta has been a loyal member of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), the ruling party which he serves as its chairman in Lubaga division and in the process serving his country.

That Ngobi Sewali had a clean record as a policeman and served with discipline before he was arrested and remanded, something court should consider.

That the convicts have learned a lot during the time they have spent on remand of about 16 months and they are ready to change

That the pistol which Kitatta was found with, was given to him by police officials and besides, it was found that it had not fired any bullet by the time he was arrested

That the convicts have exhibited a high level of discipline during their time on remand which should be considered by the court

That Kitatta was not guided well by the police authorities on how to handle the firearms given to him

The lawyer asked the court to consider all the above factors and be lenient when handing the sentence to the convicts

The two leading opposition political figures in Uganda, Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine and former presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye have agreed to join forces towards the 2021 presidential elections in order to oust president Yoweri Museveni.

Both Bobi Wine and Dr. Kiiza Besigye signed a joint statement on May 6 during their meeting in which they indicated that they have concluded discussions on key issues including joining their political forces together against Mr. Museveni who has been in power since 1986.

“We took note that we are on the same mission to free Uganda from dictatorship and oppression. We agreed that despite belonging to different formations/ fronts, we must work together as partners on the same mission,” read part of the statement.

While addressing the media at Fairway Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday, Mukono Municipality MP and Spokesperson of Dr. Besigye’s “People’s Government” Betty Nambooze and Mr. Joel Ssenyonyi, the Spokesperson of People Power under Bobi Wine said that the two movements will carry out joint activities in order to defeat Mr. Museveni.

Mr. Ssenyonyi was quoted saying “The two groups have different activities and we shall continue to work on them but once in a while, we shall hold joint activities”.

Ms. Nambooze said the issue of fielding one candidate as opposition in the 2021 presidential election has been shelved in order to first concentrate on getting back their freedoms taken away by Museveni and his NRM government.

“As we have always stated, our main aim is to oust Museveni even before 2021. However, if the struggle takes us till then, then we shall choose one person from amongst us to go in one force. For now, we are fighting for the freedom Mr. Museveni has denied us. That is why we are not tackling the question as of now,” said Ms. Nambooze.

On Tuesday Bobi Wine said that they have been having several meetings with a number of political parties including the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), the newly formed Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), the DP bloc and lastly with the People’s Government.

The announcement of the joint effort by the two opposition leaders will come as a relief to the supporters of the two camps who have been at loggerheads with each other over the strategy to be used as we head into presidential election in 2021.

Supporters of pressure group “People Power” under Bobi Wine and other opposition political parties have been accusing Dr. Kizza Besigye of having hidden ambitions for failing to come together with other opposition leaders to negotiate the question of a joint candidate.

On the other hand, supporters from Dr. Besigye’s camp have also been accusing Bobi Wine of leading people without a clear strategy compared to Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) that has got supports and representatives almost in all parts of the country.

As the opposition parties are trying to devise means on how to take over power in 2021, the ruling NRM party under president Museveni has already endorsed him as the party’s flag bearer in the 2021 presidential election.

The removal of the age-limit clause from the constitution by parliament in 2017 allowed president Museveni to seek re-election when his current term expires in 2021. Article 102 (b) of the constitution was preventing anyone above 75 years and below 35 to stand for the presidency before it was scrapped out. President Museveni, currently 74, will be 76 in 2021.

English football giants Liverpool made one of the greatest comebacks in football history after beating Spanish giants Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield winning 4-3 on aggregate to Champions League final for a second consecutive season.

Liverpool came into the game with pressure to overturn a 3-goal deficit against Barcelona and the absence of key players like Mohammad Salah and Roberto Fermino made the much-needed comeback almost look impossible.

But the story started to change early in the game when Belgian striker Divock Origi gave Liverpool an early lead after tapping in the ball when the Barcelona goalkeeper failed to deal with Jordan Henderson’s shot.

The first half ended when Liverpool were still leading 1-0 thanks to the collective teamwork of Liverpool players that denied Lionel Messi and his teammates penetration into their defence to find an equalizer.

Liverpool started the second half on high with substitute Giorginio Wijnaldum who replaced the injured Andrew Roberson at half time converting Trent Alexander Arnold’s cross to put Liverpool 2-0 up.

Liverpool scored their second and third goal in a space of 122 seconds to go level on goal aggregate after Wijnaldum jumped high to head home Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross scoring his second goal of the night and a very crucial one for Liverpool.

Liverpool’s comeback story was completed 11 minutes from time following some intelligent action from Alexander Arnold caught Barcelona defenders off guard to pass a cheeky corner to Divock Origi to tap home the fourth goal which but all sealed the Reds place in the final.

Amazing stats

The incredible comeback saw Liverpool becoming the fourth team in the history of the competition to overturn a 3+ goal deficit from the first leg to progress in knockouts.

Tuesday progress means that Liverpool will be playing in a second consecutive champions league final and this time they will be hoping to triumph having lost last year 3-1 to Real Madrid. Liverpool will face either Ajax or Tottenham in the final that will be played on June 1st in Madrid.

Liverpool will be playing their ninth European Cup/Champions League final with only Real Madrid (16) and Bayern Munich (10) playing more.

Barcelona frustration?

Tuesday’s loss to Liverpool saw Barcelona repeat the same fate like last year when they were knocked out by AS Roma beating them 3-0 having led the first leg 4-1 from Nou Camp.

Since 2015, when the Catalan giants last reached the final, they have been knocked out 3 times out of four semifinal ties.

Tuesday’s loss saw Barcelona suffer their heaviest defeat against an English side in all European competitions.

No Salah no problem

Very few people gave Liverpool a chance to advance past Barcelona given their heavy defeat in the first leg in Spain. The injuries that ruled out Mohammad Salah and Roberto Fermino in this return leg just erased even the little hope of any progress in people’s minds.

However, the impressive teamwork and the charisma shown by the Liverpool players that coach Jurgen Klopp fielded for the mission made many forget the pair’s absentia in the game.

What next?

After Tuesday’s historic victory at Anfield, Liverpool will return to action this Sunday to play their final game of the season at home against Wolves. Liverpool will be hoping that the results in this match and the one between Manchester City and Burnley go in their favor in order to clinch the title ahead of Manchester City who are a point ahead of the Reds.

On Wednesday Liverpool will learn their opponents in the Champions League final after the second leg of the other semifinal between Ajax and Tottenham. Ajax won the first leg in London 1-0.

Uganda Airlines has announced that they have already acquired seven planned regional routes two weeks after the acquisition of two new Bombardier planes by the carrier.

The seven new regional routes include Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Bujumbura in Burundi, Khartoum in Sudan, Juba in South Sudan, and Mogadishu in Somalia.

Further routes like Johannesburg (South Africa) will start at a later time as announced by the Airline.

According to Uganda Airlines, the first flights are expected to kick off by at least July and the business is expected to be profitable with estimations of between 1.6 million to 2 million passengers per year.

Background

Two weeks back Uganda received two Bombardier planes from Canada as part of the six aircrafts the government ordered for last year in July. The acquisition of the new planes is an effort by the government of Uganda to revive Uganda Airlines, a national carrier that had collapsed in 2001.

The revival of the Uganda Airlines will allow the national carrier to share in the region’s aviation business that has been largely dominated by Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, and RwandAir.

History

Uganda Airlines was founded by former President Idi Amin in 1976 and was in operation until 2001 when it was liquidated by President Museveni as part of his plan to privatize the economy by privatizing troubled state enterprises.

Need for revival?

Earlier last year, the government started pursuing plans to revive the airline after noticing the growth in the region’s aviation business.

The government paid up to Ushs280 billion ($74.8 million) for the two planes acquired so far through a supplementary budget that was approved by parliament shortly before the final purchase.

Uganda Airlines is also planning to launch direct long-haul routes to destinations like China and other Asian countries in a bid to attract more tourists from there.

President Museveni said that the national carrier would help Uganda retain the $400 million spent by Ugandans on international travel each year.
“By starting an airline we are going to reduce on the foreign exchange expenditure. Ugandans will be spending money but spending it on our airline,” said the president.

There have been complaints from Ugandan travelers about high ticket costs attributed to the limited competition in the aviation market dominated majorly by Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.

Journalists in Uganda have joined their counterparts worldwide to celebrate the World Press Freedom Day which is marked on 3rd May each year.

The celebration will include matching of journalists along the streets in the capital Kampala together with other programs. several programs have been arranged by journalist groups in different parts of the country including donation to the needy, community cleaning and sensitization.

The president of UJA, Mr. Kazibwe Bashir Mbazira said that the journalists will use this day to call upon the government to respect press freedom and allow journalists to do their work without interference.

The World Press Freedom Day comes just days after the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC), a body that regulates the operations of all media houses in Uganda had instructed several media houses to suspend some of their workers over alleged breach of minimum broadcasting standards.

A statement published by the Commission on Wednesday this week directed media houses to suspend some producers, head of news and head of programs.

“The Uganda Communications Commission (The Commission) has directed the suspension of Producers, Head of News and Head of Programmes in the following broadcasting stations; Akaboozi FM, BBS TV, Beat FM, Bukedde TV, Capital FM, CBS FM, Kingdom TV, NBS TV, NTV, Pearl FM, Salt FM, Sapientia FM and FM”. Read part of the statement.

It added, “This follows concerns over the nature of content aired on these broadcast stations particularly during live programmes, breaking news, and main news bulletins which do not comply with the minimum broadcasting standards.”

The press freedom in Uganda has for long been a matter of debate with several cases of journalists being beaten, arrested and tortured by security personnel as they try to do their job. Other cases involve the government ordering the closure of several media houses while others have been on several occasions switched off air.

Journalists also view the introduction of the Over The Counter tax (OTT) on all social media users in Uganda as another way the government has suppressed press freedom because it prevents free movement of information.

The 2019 World Press Freedom Index that was compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently shows that Uganda has declined in terms of press freedom since last year. Uganda was ranked number 125 out of 180 countries with an index of 39.42. the report ranks countries in terms of observing press freedom in descending order. Last year Uganda was ranked 117 by the same report.

According to the report, “RSF shows how hatred of journalists as degenerated into violence contributing to an increase in fear. The number of countries recorded as safe, where journalists can work in complete security, continues to decline, while authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media”.

The new report ranks Norway in the first position for a third consecutive year with Finland, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark occupying the first five position in that order. The worst performing countries include Vietnam, China, Eritrea, North Korea, and Turkmenistan ranked as the last five.

The ranked Namibia as the top country in Africa to respect press freedom and number 23 worldwide followed by Ghana and South Africa ranked 27th and 31st worldwide respectively. The worst performing countries in Africa include Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, and Somalia.