Brit producer of gay play in Uganda held in jail

The British producer of a play about being gay in Uganda is in jail pending his trial on charges that he had the work performed without official authorization. David Cecil appeared in court Thursday charged with ‘‘disobeying lawful orders’’ from the Uganda Media Council, which says he staged ‘‘The River and the Mountain’’ in Uganda’s capital last month despite orders to the contrary. Cecil’s lawyer, Francis Onyango, said his client was not released on bail because his passport, wanted by the magistrate, had been confiscated by the police.

Cecil told The Associated Press that the play, whose main character is a gay businessman who finally gets killed by his own employees, was performed eight times at little-known theaters in Kampala last month. The play, a first for Uganda, was praised by gay rights activists who said it was ‘‘revolutionary’’ in the way it provoked an examination of common thinking about gays. But the play failed to make it to Uganda’s national theater, where producers rejected the script.

Homosexuals are highly stigmatized in Uganda, where in 2010 a lawmaker with the ruling party introduced a bill proposing the death penalty for what he called ‘‘aggravated homosexuality.’’ The bill, which is now in committee, has been condemned by some world leaders. The bill’s author says he still believes it will be passed one day.

Cecil, who faces two years in jail if convicted, said he was singled out for legal action because he had become the play’s ‘‘public face,’’ the man who printed posters and sent out invitations. The play was written by a British student of poetry named Beau Hopkins, who has not been targeted by the police.

The play took a tragicomic view of the condition of gays in Uganda, and its playwright and producers said that was the best way to look at things. The play’s main character is a young businessman who loses friends and then gets murdered after revealing he’s gay, the victim of machete-wielding colleagues stunned that ‘‘a good man’’ can be gay. The gay character’s mother stages an epic but losing battle to ‘‘cure’’ him of his homosexuality, taking him to everyone from a Christian pastor to a private dancer. Cecil said at the play’s premiere in Kampala that he did not believe the drama was ‘‘a magic pill’’ against raging homophobia in the East African country.

New Species of Monkey Identified In Africa

A new species of monkey called the lesula (scientific name Cercopithecus lomamiensis), has been identified in Africa. The discovery came about when John and Terese Hart from Yale University first saw a young female lesula being kept at the home of an elementary school director in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2007.

The lesula looks similar to the owl-faced monkey, but genetic testing confirmed that it is a distinct species. "This was a totally unexpected find, and we knew we had something unusual and possibly unknown when we first saw the animal. But it was not until we had the genetic and morphological analyses of our collaborating team that we knew we really had a new species," the Harts told the Guardian.

Since then, other wild lesula have been spotted in a remote central area of the DRC. These monkeys live in small groups of one to five and feed on fruits, flower buds and vegetation. Their habitat is limited to roughly 16,834 square kilometres of lowland rainforest (6,500 square miles) and is sparsely populated, but researchers warn that the monkeys are vulnerable to extinction because of hunters looking for bush meat.

Man and the Wild Animals Live in Harmony in a Natural Setting

Mervyn Hugh Cowie born from Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi in 1909 to Johannesburg’s chief magistrate where he lived before shifting to Kenya and lived in a hut on a farm in a place called Kiambu situated in the north-west of Nairobi. Mervyn studied law and accountancy at Oxford University and at one time he had an experience through which he learnt that actually man and beast can live in harmony.

On one of his trips in Nairobi National Park, while by passing a lioness, he had an accident off his bike while at this lioness lay there watching him, he was seriously injured and he could not move forth with that heavy bleeding from the cut he sustained on his leg. While still there lying on the ground, lioness curiously moved closer to him where he was pinned under his bike’s metals but stopped at a few feet away from where he was lying.

He was no way of defending himself and therefore could only look at it waiting what it was to do next but to his surprise, the lioness sat down and they both looked at each other for some minutes as he prayed to God that the smell of petrol is much more powerful than the smell of his own blood otherwise it would attack him if it smelt blood. After some time, the lioness walked away.

Following this incident, Cowie said he managed to grow up at a faster rate. He was able to understand that man and beast have got to respect each so they can live in harmony, they do not have to keep killing each other.  To do this, man has got to act first by learning  how to control and get rid of his desire to kill the animals and beast also the animals should be got a secure place where they can live with protection from those who wish to harm them, they will learn to respect humans eventually.

During the last months of 1945, the government established national parks and then appointed trustees among which Cowie was appointed executive director and in December 1946, the Nairobi National Park was established and followed by the establishment of the Tsavo National Park, Aberdare and Mount Kenya Parks, Amboseli and many more like the Serengeti in Tanzania. According the reports, Cowie is said to be the brain behind the protection and conservation of Kenya’s wildlife as well as the wilderness areas and his idea is till respected till to date.

Tanzania Plans on Having the Hunting Blocks

The current Tanzanian Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism has no kind words for lawmakers who are currently planning on reversing the allocation of hunting blocks which left the bulk of foreign firms in the cold. He said while closing up the ministry’s budget estimates about one week ago in Dodoma that there won’t any thing like shifting of these blocks like the MPs especially because their allocation was done following the laws.

Kagasheki also in response to the Shadow Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Peter Msigwa, who had earlier said in his speech that Kagasheki has no choice but to revisit the allocation of the hunting blocks which awarded local firms 85% of the stake. Msigwa had said that if Kagasheki is opposing the ideas of having the hunting blocks relocated and yet it is the very same reason why his predecessor had been sacked, then he too should resign so said Msigwa.

Msigwa during the press conference held just after Kagasheki’s budget encouraged all the local firms allocated hunting blocks that have got no potential since they lacked capital, equipment and technical know-how. The professional hunting business is not so easy because it is such an expensive venture which needs a lot of investment which many foreign firms sideline in the exercise just like in the past years according to Rev. Msigwa.

There have been several arguments regarding the hunting blocks but this is something that has got to addressed among all the responsible parties following the available laws in the country.

Rwanda Air to Exhibit Rwanda as the Best Leisure Destination Around

The Rwanda air together with Rwanda’s High Commission in South Africa exhibited Rwanda as one of the best business and tourism destination in the East African region. This was during the function prearranged by the Serena Hotel Group in Sandton, Johannesburg. This occasion under the theme “Airline and Country”  with over 200 travel industry personnel  who attended the ceremony coming from different hotel chains, travel agencies, airlines and car rental companies and they  tasted Rwanda’s leading coffee brands like the Amaraba as well as the Kinunu coffee.

The event was intended to display Rwanda air’s potential to the travel industry as one of the most reliable airline in East Africa for both tourism and business travel with convenient flights from Johannesburg using Kigali  which is the base to many other destinations. Soon enough, Rwanda air will be taking delivery of two new CRJ-900 aircraft from the Canadian manufacturer Bombardier which will be an addition on the number of fleet and therefore securing more routes and more frequent flights to its already available network.

Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of Rwanda air stated that this kind of development signifies more destinations and much more convenience for the travelers who should expect the best services ever.