Acknowledgement
- The Rt. Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
- Hon. Minister of Finance Planning and Economic Development.
- The Hon. Minister of Gender, Labour & Social Development.
- The Representative, UNDP.
- The Representative, UN Women.
- The Representative of Office of the High Commission for Human Rights.
- Head of DFID Uganda.
- The UNHCR Representative in Uganda.
- My colleagues from the Equal Opportunities Commission.
- The Honourable Members of Parliament Present.
- Representatives of MDAs.
- The Civil Society Organizations.
- The Media Fraternity.
- Distinguished Guests.
- Ladies and Gentlemen.
Welcome
- Political insecurity more especially when certain groups of people are excluded from the development process. The EOC is expected to check for inclusiveness in all development frameworks
- Efforts dedicated towards poverty alleviation will not realise desired targets. The Poor will get poorer and the rich will get richer.
- The tax base of the country will remain constrained due to the fact that the vulnerable population constitutes the majority and their exclusion from development programs renders them economically inactive
- Exclusion breeds unbalanced growth and development with certain locations or regions dominating others.
- Loss of trust from government by the People
- The purchasing power may also remain low due to the fact that incomes will be in the hands of a few people.
- Unemployment will increase due to the limited opportunities that will be created by the few individuals.
- Crime rate will increase as disadvantaged citizens will resort to survival for the fittest using rudimentary and constitutional ways of making ends meet.
- Government would end up incurring huge expenditures on social protection programs and social services due to high poverty levels and inability of the populace to afford basic needs.
EOC Assessment findings
Health Sector
- The Commission noted that the Health Sector Budget for the FY 2018/2019 has been reduced by 136.64 billion i.e. from 1.85 trillion to 1.714 amidst the health challenges being faced by the country most of which relate to gender and equity i.e. maternal mortality, drug stock outs, low staffing, lack of equipment, Lack of housing for health workers, Limited Infrastructure Development (59 Districts do not have general Hospitals, 29 Constituencies do not have Health Centre IVs, 93 sub counties do not have any Government Health Facilities and 225 only have a HC II); among others. Government allocation for health as percentage of the total Government budget has been averaged at about 8% from 2010/11 to 2016/17, which is 1.8 percentage points below the Health Sector Development Plan (HSDP) target of 9.8%. These are also still far below the 15% threshold of the Abuja Declaration (2001) hence constrain efforts to equitable health service delivery.
- During the assessment, the Commission also noted that UBTS planned to reduce on the units of blood collected for transfusion was due to inadequate funding. In the FY 2015/2016, Uganda Blood Transfusion Services targeted 266,400 units of blood and 280,145 in the FY 2016/2017. On the contrary, in the FY 2018/2019, the targeted units of blood to be collected (240,000) were reduced. It’s important to note that on several occasions various hospitals have experienced blood shortage whose effect mainly affects the vulnerable.
- As you are aware, government through the Ministry of Health has made commitment to focus on Health Centre III and ensure they provide effective and efficient services to our people. However, there is need for a clear plan on how these HC IIIs are going to be equitably up graded.
Education
Best education has turned out to be for those in better economic class. Economic status should not be a requirement to access the best education. We desire to see even the poor, PWDs, and Orphans, learners in hard to reach areas, Islands among others also accessing the best education in their respective locations. Such commitments in the sector BFP were not satisfactory.
- Analysis of the PLE, UCE and UACE UNEB results over the years reveals that all the worst performing sub regions are located in the Eastern Region and these are; Elgon, Busoga, Teso and Bukedi. These are followed by West-Nile, Lango and Acholi sub Regions. In addition, the Eastern Region contributes 73% (22) of the 30 poor performing districts of which 6 of the districts are in Busoga (Iganga, Luuka, Bugiri, Kaliro, Mayuge and Buyende). However, during the assessment, the Commission noted that there was no explicit commitment by the Ministry to address the above performance inequalities.
- Secondary school enrollment rate has remained below 35% over the years. Limited access to secondary schools is among the concerns. The sector highlighted no funding for construction of secondary schools in sub counties without any government secondary school to improve access to secondary education.There is also a crisis of science teachers with reference made to the Commission’s audits more especially in the rural schools and hard to reach areas which compromises equal learning opportunities. The sector highlighted this gap as a non-funded priority.
- Other concerns where the sector’s commitments were lacking included; school drop outs, low completion rates, girl child pregnancy, and sexual violence against girl children by teachers among others.
Social Development;
- According to the 2014 National Population and Housing Census, a total of 1,064,780 older persons (males 487,020 and females 577,760) were in the age group of 65 and above (as well as 60 and above for the case of Karamoja sub-region) most of whom ought to benefit from the programme. The 2018/2019 sector BFP only targets 153,704 (14%) of the eligible beneficiaries.
- Inadequacy of resource allocation is a serious discrimination problem for almost all the programs being implemented by the social development sector.
Works and Transport
Under the works and transport sector, the Commission wishes to bring to your notice the following concerns;