 |
| Joseph CEO URAA & Dr.Nhongo CEO APSP |
The
Uganda Platform for Social Protection met the Parliamentary Forum on Social
Protection at Parliament on Friday, 17th August, 2012 with the aim of lobbying government
to allocate more funds for the ongoing Social Protection Programmes, especially
the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE). The meeting; chaired by
Hon. Flavia Kabahende; was attended by 15 Members of Parliament and 32
representatives of Civil Society Organisations. In his brief remarks, Dr
Tavengwa Nhongo, the Executive Director of the APSP, congratulated Uganda for
winning the gold medal in the marathon during the London Olympics and thanked
the Parliamentary Forum for agreeing to meet the CSO’s and for listening to
their concerns. He said that Social Protection was a right as enshrined in all
international and continental declarations, conventions and charters that
include the Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the African Charter on Human
and People’s Rights. He mentioned that the Social Protection discourse was
talking place in nearly 40 countries of Africa but countries were at different
levels of implementation of programmes.
Commending
the Ugandans for the great strides it has taken in implementing the programmes
in the different districts. He noted that the implementation of programmes on
SP and the provision of government funding was a matter of political will.
Every government can afford to put in place some Social Protection programmes
for their citizens. He gave examples of Lesotho, Zambia, Kenya and Rwanda where
governments were making strides in setting up programmes for their people. He
noted that Lesotho, for instance, implemented their programme against the
advice of the international donors in 2004 but is still managing it up to now.
Alfred Nuamanya, the Chairman of the Uganda Platform for Social Protection,
outlined the concerns of Ugandan CSO’s which were contained in the statement
that had been issued in the print and electronic media. All the
Parliamentarians present agreed that Social Protection was important and that
the government should make urgent steps to implement programmes. They were
going to lobby their colleagues, Ministers and His Excellency, the President to
seek ways in which funding for the ongoing SAGE can be secured and then push
for the rolling out of the SAGE nationally.
 |
| Uganda MPS & CSO REPs |
