Uganda@50

6th April to 12th March 2015

FOWODE E-NEWS

 

FOWODE E-NEWS, P.O BOX 7176, Kampala Uganda | Plot 15 Vubya Close, Ntinda Nakawa Rd. Email: fowode@fowode.org Web: www.fowode.org.

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Women Losing Again! : Agriculture, Education and Health get Raw Deal-Budgets Allocations for FY 2015/16

Reduced.

 

• Women Losing Again! : Agriculture, Education and Health get Raw Deal-Budgets Allocations for FY 2015/16 Reduced.

• 2026 PEOPLE HAVE BENEFITED FROM CIVIC EDUCATION IN LUWERO DISTRICT AHEAD OF 2016  

 

Fowode is commined to continue empowering women and men so that they can influence th e communities in which they live in

The National Budget Framework Paper for the financial year 2015/16 was released on Wednesday 25th March 2015 as per Section 9(v) of the Public Finance and Management Act 2015 but women have lost out from the new budget proposals!!

Women as key stakeholders in the agriculture sector and contributors to the socio-economic transformation note this concern that one of the key reasons this country has suffered a slow pace of socio-economic transformation is the neglect of the agriculture sector, an engine of growth.

Key to note is that the sector is the most important source of employment and income with 65.5% of the working population engaged in agriculture, forestry and fishing and is a main source of income for rural households in Uganda.

It is also the main occupation of women in rural areas. Nationwide, 72% of all employed women and 90% of all rural women work in agriculture. Only 53% of rural men are engaged in the sector (Action Aid 2013).

Through its contribution to the total Gross Domestic Product [GDP] has been fluctuating since 2001/02, the sector continues to dominate the Ugandan economy contributing approximately 23.2% of Uganda’s GDP. This demonstrates the importance of the sector to the poor people especially rural women. Between 2006/07 and 2012/13, government spending on agriculture declined by 15 per cent.

It is now more worrying that government is proposing to further cut the allocation to the agriculture sector in the 2015/16 financial year. According to the National Budget Framework Paper for 2015/16, government proposes to cut the agriculture budget from Shs473.7 billion in FY 2014/15 to Shs417 billion in FY 2015/16. Over time, government has reduced commitment to increase spending in agriculture as approved budget allocations to the sector are more or less stagnant and actual spending is declining. On a sadder note the education budget has reduced from Shs2 trillion in 2014/15 to Shs1.9 trillion in 2015/16 and health budget from Shs1.2 trillion to Shs963.7 billion.

It is ironic to note that allowances of district councilors and deputy speakers at district and municipal level have been doubled in the proposed expenditure figures set out in the 2015/16 National Budget. These allowances are to increase from UGX 100,000 to UGX 250,000 per month.

District and municipal deputy speakers allowances will also go up from Shs200, 000 per month to Shs400,000. These proposed increments in pay for political functionaries will require a total of Shs5.15 billion if approved. With critical sectors’ budgets like health, education and agriculture budgets continuously being cut, and evidence of luxurious spending on allowances for politicians, one can’t stop wondering where government’s priorities actually are? Such government spending is ridiculous we can conclude such evidence of luxurious spending and sidelining critical sectors that are key to women and the girl child is just aimed at advancing politics ambitions while sidelining service delivery for the poor citizens of this country!!

Women Losing Again! : Agriculture, Education and Health get Raw Deal-Budgets Allocations for FY 2015/16 Reduced.

 

Agriculture is the main occupation of women in rural areas. Nationwide, 72% of all employed women and 90% of all rural women work in agriculture.  

As 2016 fast approaches, FOWODE is equipping the citizens of Uganda with civic knowledge. In Luwero district, 2026 people comprising 1357 females and 669 males have benefited from civic education village meetings in five sub-counties in Luwero district. During civic education conducted in Butuntumula sub-county to Basooka kwavula group one participant one Kiziito Micheal a resident of Kasaala Village committed himself to mobilize and sensitize other fellow colleagues in communities about wealth creation especially the benefits of cooperative societies and how it is formed. He has mobilized and sensitized 30 community members including 7 males and 23 females and convinced them to start village saving group called Hope Saving Group comprising of 13 farmers and 17 business people and is now doing well. After one cycle they intend to register as a cooperative society to create more wealth for themselves/communities.

So far, over 2.5m have been saved and members are now borrowing to boost their business and gardens, purchasing household assets and paying school fees. Welfare fund is put aside and November they intend to purchase tents and chairs for hiring to generate more incomes for group sustainability.

Mr. Kizito Micheal committing himself to sensitize other community members about wealth creation during civic education.

Hope saving group members balancing books of accounts so far over 2.5million has been saved in Kasaala Village due to FOWODE civic education knowledge.

Notably, citizens now have knowledge on citizen’s rights, roles and responsibilities this was witnessed when Kazibwe Mary of Akutwala ekiro group in Butuntumula sub-county a beneficiary of civic education managed to talk to over 100 Caritas farmers group during their exhibition day for agricultural products in Kasaala Parish, about free and fair elections, how to protect our votes during elections and not be deceived by money or items like soap and sugar since elections are social contracts between the voter and Politicians. She thanked FOWODE for bringing civic education village meetings and requested communities to always come for such meetings and respond positively.

2026 PEOPLE HAVE BENEFITED FROM CIVIC EDUCATION IN LUWERO DISTRICT AHEAD OF 2016    

House girls breaking up marriages - Orombi

Former Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Henry Luke Orombi has partly blamed the increasing marriage break-ups on housegirls. He said working women look down upon their husbands and are too lazy to attend to them leaving husbands at the mercy of housemaids who attend to them, soothe them and eventually take over. He added that workingwomen have failed to properly apportion time to their families and work leading to collapse of their families.

See more: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Housegirls-breaking-up-marriages---Orombi/-/688334/2678934/-/2ds73l/-/index.html

Stop parading suspects before the media, Judge warns police

A High Court judge has warned police against parading suspects before the press, arguing that this contravenes the presumption of innocence and exposes the government to the risk of compensation in damages. Speaking at the launch of pre-detention guidelines by the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and African Policing Civilian Forum in Kampala on Friday, Justice David Wangutusi, the head of the Commercial Court, said no amount of crime, including terrorism, warrants police to parade suspects before the media since Article 28 of the Constitution presumes every man innocent till proven guilty or they plead so.

See more: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Stop-parading-suspects-before-the-media--Judge-warns-police/-/688334/2413692/-/qg9aag/-/index.html

Worst and best MPs exposed

More than half of the 386 MPs in the 9th Parliament have not efficiently represented their electorate or made a meaningful contribution on the floor of Parliament. An investigation by Daily Monitor has revealed that of the 200 MPs with questionable performance, nearly 50 of them - the worst performers; either sat in Parliament for six months without saying anything; or continuously missed House sittings (without the Speaker’s written permission or whatever they said didn’t add value to the debate.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Worst-and-best-MPs-exposed/-/688334/2683696/-/s9pq43/-/index.html

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