Statement By H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni President of Uganda as the Co-Chair of the Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda at the U.N. (25.09.2015)

Museveni UN 25092015 P1

At UN Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda

New York 25 September, 2015

Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government,
Your Excellency Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark and co-chair of the Summit,
Mr. Secretary-General,
President of the General Assembly,
Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to co-chair this important Summit as we gather as a community of nations to adopt a new development agenda that will guide our development efforts for the next 15 years.

This historic Summit is the culmination of months of tireless efforts and unprecedented commitment by Member States and stakeholders to formulate a universal, inclusive and transformative development agenda.

I would like to pay tribute to H.E. Sam Kutesa for his leadership and accomplishments as President of the 69th Session of the General Assembly and thank all of you for supporting Uganda in that responsibility.
I also congratulate and convey appreciation to the President of the 70th Session, H.E. Mogens Lykketoft and the Secretary-General, H.E. Ban Ki-moon for their leadership.
Today heralds the dawn of a new era in our collective efforts towards eradicating poverty, improving livelihoods of people everywhere, transforming economies and protecting our planet.

Together, we are sending a powerful message to people in every village, every city and every nation worldwide ─ that we are committed to taking bold steps to change their lives, for the better.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which we will adopt today, is ambitious in its scope and breadth. In the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development are addressed in an integrated way. The agenda also carries forward the unfinished business of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Over the last fifteen years, we have attained significant achievements through implementing the MDGs. Globally, more than one billion people have been lifted from extreme poverty and improvements have been made in access to education, health, water and sanitation, advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.

In Uganda, we have been able to reduce the percentage of people living in extreme poverty from 56% in 2000 to 19% currently. We have also attained universal primary education, promoted gender equality and empowerment of women and continue to reduce child and maternal mortality. From our experience, it has been clear that to sustainably achieve the MDGs we must have socio-economic transformation.

It is, therefore, refreshing that in the successor framework, the SDGs, key drivers of economic growth, have been duly prioritized. These include infrastructure development especially energy, transport and ICT; industrialization and value-addition; human resource development; improving market access and greater participation of the private sector.

While the SDGs will be universally applicable, we also recognize national circumstances, different levels of development and the needs of countries in special situations, particularly the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and African countries.

Taking urgent action to combat climate change and its severe impacts is also prioritised in the new agenda. We should redouble efforts towards reaching an ambitious legally-binding agreement on climate change in Paris in December that promotes the achievement of sustainable development, while protecting the planet.

The new agenda also rightly underscores the important linkages between development, peace and security and human rights. We have to intensify efforts to combat transnational crime, terrorism and the rise of radicalization and violent extremism around the world.

We should reject pseudo ─ ideologies that manipulate identity (by promoting sectarianism of religion and communities) and eclipse the legitimate interests of peoples through investment and trade. Where identity issues are legitimate, they should be expeditiously handled.

Museveni UN 25092015 P2

Excellencies,

We should all be proud of what has been accomplished so far as we usher in this new development agenda. However, the critical next step will be to ensure its successful implementation on the ground.

In this context, integrating the SDGs into our respective national and regional development plans, mobilizing adequate financial resources, technology development and transfer as well as capacity building will be critical.

We have to ensure full implementation of the comprehensive framework for financing sustainable development, which we adopted in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda to support achievement of the goals and targets of Agenda 2030.
One of the major challenges many developing countries continue to face is accessing affordable long-term financing for critical infrastructure projects.

In this regard, it will be vital to promptly establish and operationalize the proposed new forum to bridge the infrastructure gap and complement existing initiatives and multilateral mechanisms to facilitate access to long-term financing at concessional and affordable rates.

The efforts of developing countries to improve domestic resource mobilization, boost economic growth and address major challenges such as unemployment should be supported by development partners as well as international financial institutions and regional development banks. We also need to do more to promote Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), support entrepreneurship especially for women and youth and enhance the contribution of the private sector and other stakeholders to sustainable development. Through prioritization, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) themselves can also contribute to their own infrastructure development.

In order to build effective, inclusive and accountable institutions at all levels, we have to ensure that the voices of developing countries and regions are heard and that they are treated as equal partners in multilateral decision-making. At the international level, we need urgent reform of the United Nations ─ particularly the Security Council ─ and other multilateral institutions to reflect the current geo-political realities.

We need a renewed global partnership for development in which all the commitments made, including on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), trade and investment are fulfilled.

While the Agenda represents the collective aspirations of all peoples, its success will hinge on its ability to reduce inequalities and improve the lives of the most vulnerable among us, including women, children, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

After months of intense negotiations and steadfast commitment, we have before us an Agenda that represents our best opportunity to transform our world.

We have heard the voices of people spanning the globe; from eager children asking for access to a quality education to young women seeking better maternal health; from rural villagers whose farmlands have been ravaged by droughts to the coastal fishermen on Small Island States who fear their entire existence will soon be swallowed up by rising sea levels.

We continue to witness the influx of refugees and migrants into Europe from Africa and the Middle East, which is partly caused by conflict and lack of economic opportunities.

These voices may speak many language and dialects, but in the end their message is the same ─ please help us to live happier, more prosperous lives, while also protecting the planet for our children and grandchildren.

After adoption of this Agenda, it is incumbent upon us all to take the development aspirations laid out in this document and turn them into reality on the ground; for our people, our communities and our nations. This agenda will create global prosperity different from the past arrangements of prosperity for some through parasitism and misery and under-development for others.

I thank you for your attention.

Uganda – TDA is to be TBD!

TDA Logo

Today was the day the result of the Flag-Bearer for the coalition of the oppisisiton parties in Uganda. The Presidential Candidate of the TDA is supposed to go against the big shot, His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his NRM party. The machine that also controls the Parliament and the Electoral Commission of the country!

So the candidate that is running against the machine and manufacture of the modern Uganda has to be strong. Have to viable, have a moral code and some integrity to pass on the marshes to corruptness in a political landscape where the parties and fellow politicians has been bought or brought into shambles. If you don’t follow the codes of ethics of the man with a vision you can be played out and lose your career in a hot minute. If you don’t follow his words and the main cronies of the nation then your left behind. If you try to be independent and thinking in the NRM party then you’re pushed to the side and clipped your wings. If the Mzee fears that you have ambitions to take his slot, then he will leave you behind as he has done to Hon. Gilbert Bukenya and Hon. Amama Mbabazi.

Four Men standing up for being the Joint Presidential Candidate in the TDA: 

So we are here today when many has followed this Ifs in different equations and with various formulas that ends in the result of losing out on their place in the ruling party. An makes you lost in the opposition. Certain people has gone out after finding the words of the Mzee to be going back on the principals they fought for their freedom in the Bush. This is the likes of certain FDC historical’s and the famous Flag-Bearer of the FDC Dr. Kizza Besigye. Who have been a pawn and a man who has gone for title and grand position election after election and lost after rigging and harassment!

The second man who also wants to be the Flag-Bearer in the TDA is Hon. Amama Mbabazi who has gone from being a loyalist to the Mzee and recently fallen from grace. Even tried in the preliminaries to go head to head and be the Presidential Candidate in the NRM. He sure lost that one to Mzee, not surprisingly; only one man’s vision can rule the NRM! So that the Mababazi is a runner for it was after signing the deal to be a part of the TDA only 12 days ago and independent candidate through the Go-Forward Ticket in the hierarchy of the coalition.

The third ones was Gilbert Bukenya as another former loyalist in the NRM regime that fallen from grace, but didn’t have the strength and support from others in the coalition therefore hasn’t been issue of his place. Still it proves that the fallen ones have a place and their knowledge can be used in a coalition to defeat the NRM and Mzee.

Last candidate was Norbert Mao who has had a viable position up North and been long in the politics. But still hasn’t the whole nation behind him. Especially with his bickering back and from acting as opposition candidate to speaking like he was a part of Mzee’s team. So that the parties didn’t see him as serious flag-bearer in the coalition wasn’t really a newsflash!

The other parties didn’t send their front men or woman to being Presidential Candidate. Like the CP, PPP, UPC and JEMA. That is Olara Otunnu of the UPC, Jaberi Bidandi Ssali of the PPP, Ken Lukyamuzi of the CP and Asuman Basalirwa of the JEEMA. Leaders who could easily gone forward and also filled the nomination form and justly so.

TDA Adress

So that it’s natural and would be worrying wouldn’t be issues between Amama Mbabazi of the Go-Forward Ticket and Dr. Kizza Besigye of the FDC Ticket. The issues will be on who is most fit. Then that the parties also vote differently on who they believe is most fit as the Press Statement from TDA told today. That certain parties went for the People’s President and the other went for the Go-Forward Ticket. It’s natural that people choose differently. Even if there is only one man with a vision – the Mzee! But he is not really the issue the here, only that the candidate as Flag-bearer has to beat the Mzee. Therefore the coalition can’t be fragmented and weaken since the approach as single units against the NRM ruling party hasn’t been fruitful before. Therefore this is the time to stay stronger together then weaken alone. Especially since that hasn’t worked before.

The NRM has the machine and power. That should be reason to stay united and prove the Mzee that they have an edge. Alone they will be disfranchised and played out. Some can be bought and run to show off so it seems as the country has a multi-party elections and democracy. The elections has been well-rigged and Electoral Commission has placed loyal men of the regime, with the same in courts that has verified the results in the past and given rulings in favor of the ruling party and the Mzee. While the world and nations accepting the rulings and not pressuring the regime to change ways.

With this in mind and with the knowledge both men has Dr. Kizza Besigye and Amama Mbabazi has together with the supposable strength of the opposition parties and the protocol of the TDA to prove guidance and integrity to the Presidential Election in Uganda this coming 2016 that the world has never seen before. That can they do if they have the courage and vitality take the pressure and malice from the NRM regime for a few more months. If so that person should step up and try. Not that there is great chances of succeeding as it looks today, but the opposition has to give it hard nudge in the right direction. As they want to show the citizens and public in Uganda that they want to rule for real as a coalition willing to change and rebuild. Make structures for more free and fair society not only for the cronies and nepotistic Movement Men that want to follow the words and monies from the Mzee. That is not an easy act to change when so many are eating of that plate, even if it is breadcrumbs their better than nothing. But they would be proud if they learned how to fish and catch it themselves and may be even earn enough to actual buy the bread fair and square.

dana-mcclintock-quote-those-are-tbd-to-be-determined

So that the TDA who has been for too long TBD: To Be Determined! Time to determine the place and actions as simple as the Joint Candidate for the TDA! And have a man who can rein this coalition and honor the codes and protocol, with diligence and fight through the coming election which will be full of struggles and not easy ride. If the run-up and months of preliminary meetings has proven anything, then this will be more arrests, more loss of personnel, some more people vanished, preventive arrests, teargassed meetings, sieged town where the oppositions has meetings and so on!

Please all men of TDA take a minute be wise. You all know you go up against and has tasted the bitter taste of being opposition against the NRM regime who will use all the tricks in the world to regain their rule and therefore the opposition got to show heart and prove that there are noble men in the land. Please show that and be different then Mzee who only cares for his coffers and his vision, and has forgotten the words he stood for long time ago. Which is a reason why so many people has deflected from the NRM and from Mzee. Peace.

Press Release: A quarter of a million homes now on M-KOPA in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda (23.09.2015)

M-Kopa

23rd September 2015 Nairobi, Kenya… M-KOPA Solar, the world’s leading ‘pay-as-you-go’ energy provider to off grid homes, proudly announced reaching 250,000 homes across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania today.

Alex Kivuva Nduati became M-KOPA’s 250,000th customer when he purchased an M-KOPA III solar home system at the M-KOPA Shop in Athi River: “I am so excited to take home a solar system that will give me much more value than kerosene, and with M-KOPA’s daily payment plan it is affordable for me,’ said Alex. “I purchased this system for my rural home where there is no access to electricity. M-KOPA will save me a lot of money to use for school fees for my two children and in my business.”

Jesse Moore, Managing Director and Co-Founder, M-KOPA Solar, says, “Last September we celebrated 100,000 customers, and a year later we are already at a quarter-million. With hundreds of great customers like Alex coming on board every day, we are helping East Africa leapfrog over the grid to enjoy cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable solar power.”

Kenya is emerging as a hotspot for off-grid solar power.  A 2014 study by M-KOPA Solar and InterMedia shows that 14% of the surveyed population use solar as their primary lighting and charging source. M-KOPA is one of the fastest growing power providers in the region, connecting solar to over 500 new homes each day. The battery-powered 8W home system has three lights, a phone-charging facility and a chargeable radio.

The savings generated by using off grid solar over kerosene are substantial for individual households and the broader East African economy. Each M-KOPA Solar home is calculated to save US$750, compared to using kerosene over a four-year period. This means that the combined projected savings by the 250,000 households using M-KOPA Solar is US$187 Million.

Nairobi-headquartered, M-KOPA Solar now has a network of over 1,500 direct sales agents and 100 customer service centres across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Press Release: “ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies”, the ENIGIE Group intiative supporting sustainable energy access continues its work with its 13th investment, in support of PEG Ghana (22.09.2015)

Engie 220915 P1Engie 220915 P2

Press Release: AfricInvest to exit its invesment in Alios Finance S.A. (21.09.2015)

Africenvest 210915

2016/082/AFR: World Bank Approves a Social Safety Net Project for Madagascar (17.09.2015)

sn-2015-info1

More than 162,500 vulnerable people are targeted 

WASHINGTON, September 17, 2015 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a US$40 million credit for a social safety net project in Madagascar.

“This operation will support the government in increasing the access of extremely poor households to safety net services and in laying the foundations for a social protection system,” said Andrea Vermehren, Lead Social Protection Specialist at the World Bank.

The economic and political crises in Madagascar coupled with the country’s recurrent exposure to natural disasters have had adverse effects on food security and human development. The enrollment rate for children between 6 to 10 years old dropped sharply from 80 percent to 75 percent between 2005 and 2010, and over 40 percent of Malagasy children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world. “In response to this situation, the Government’s General Policy (Politique Générale de L’Etat) has made it a priority to develop the social protection sector” reminded Onitiana Realy, the Minister of Population, Social Protection, and Promotion of Women.

This three-year project will focus on five regions selected jointly by the Malagasy Government, the National Nutrition Office and the Intervention Fund for Development (FID), based on data related to the poverty level, malnutrition rates, school attendance rates, food security, productive potential and complementary programs/interventions. Following this process, the project will be implemented in Atsinanana, Atsimo Andrefana, Haute Matsiatra, Vatovavy Fitovinany and Vakinankaratra. It will target 32,500 extremely poor households, thus reaching more than 162,500 individuals, with an overall equal participation of men and women.

The Social Safety Net Project will help establish a systematic and programmatic approach to social protection, focusing on investing in the human capital and productive assets of Madagascar’s extreme poor in addition to supporting the government’s leadership capacity.

“This project is in support of the Malagasy Government’s goal to promote inclusive growth by giving work opportunities to the poorest families and helping them in sending their children to school. The World Bank shares this goal which is at the core of its mission to eradicate extreme poverty and is proud to help the poorest gain livelihood and dignity”said Coralie Gevers, World Bank Country Manager for Madagascar.

Parliament to Pay Tribute to Gen. Aronda Nyakairima on the 17th September 2015 (with PM Hon. Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda statement)

Uganda Parliament Museveni

The Parliament of Uganda will, on Thursday, 17th September 2015 hold a special sitting to pay tribute to the late Hon. Gen. Aronda Nyakairima who passed away over the weekend. Hon. Gen. Nyakairima, UPDF MP and Minister of Internal Affairs died in transit to Dubai, while he was returning from an official trip to South Korea on Saturday 12th September, 2015. The Clerk to Parliament has communicated that the body of the Late Hon. Gen. Nyakairima will be brought to Parliament and lay in State for viewing by Members of Parliament and public after which a special sitting will be held at 2.00 p.m. in his honour. An overnight vigil will be held at his residence in Buziga. On Friday 18th September, the body of the Late Hon. Gen. Nyakairima will be taken to Kololo Independence Grounds for a Church Service before being flown to his ancestral home in Rukungiri for burial on Saturday 19th September, 2015. The Late Hon. Nyakairima was in the House between Sept 1 – 3, 2015, when it met to consider the creation of new districts, Supplementary Schedules 1, 2, 3 and the NGO Bill, 2013, which directly fell under his docket and some of which were passed.

CABINET PAYS TRIBUTE TO HON GEN. ARONDA NYAKAIRIMA, MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Cabinet held a special meeting today, Tuesday 15 September 2015, to pay tribute to Hon Gen Aronda Nyakairima, who passed away suddenly on 12 September 2015, and to receive a brief from the Task Force led by Defence Minister, Hon Dr Crispus Kiyonga, on the arrangements so far made for burial.The Cabinet meeting was chaired by The Prime Minister, Rt Hon Dr Ruhakana Rugunda.

Dr Kiyonga informed Cabinet that Government had on Saturday 12 September 2015 dispatched a team of doctors led by the Chief of Medical Services in the UPDF, Dr James Makumbi, together with two family members, namely, Mr Henry Ngabirano and Mrs Jolly Ngabirano, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to work with the authorities there to conduct investigations and to repatriate the body.

Cabinet acknowledged and saluted the significant contribution the late Gen Aronda made to the country’s stability and the unity of the people of Uganda.

Cabinet, however, noted that some elements of society, including some senior leaders in the country were using the tragic passing on of Gen Aronda, to spread falsehoods, negative and sectarian sentiments aimed at inciting and dividing the people of Uganda. Cabinet strongly condemned such acts.

Cabinet approved the burial arrangement plans as follows:
Wednesday, 16th September 2015: Arrival of the body.
Thursday, 17th September 2015: Body lies in State in Parliament for Members to pay tribute to the late Hon Gen Aronda.
Friday, 18th September 2015: Funeral service at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.
Sunday 20th September 2015: Burial in Rukungiri.

Ruhakana Rugunda (Dr)

Prime Minister
15 September 2015

What would the DA do if given the Police Ministry tomorrow?: Bokamoso by Mmusi Maimane

Press Release: Nexans delivers submarine fiber optic cables to West-Africa (07.09.2015)

Nexans