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Kadaga dares IGAD parliamentarians on governance
Speaker Kadaga chats with Hon. Jessica Mbali from Kenya and the Speaker South Sudan Hon. Anthony Lino Makana
The Speaker of Parliament, has implored regional speakers to exploit the opportunity of their positions in agitating for the protection of people from socio-economic exploitation, bad governance and weather vagaries.
Kadaga who was speaking at the opening of the 9th Executive Council Meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union – (IPU-IGAD) also challenged fellow speakers to think about using their traditional tools of legislation, oversight and representation to spearhead and promote the interests of the people.
“We are meeting at a time when South Sudan and Somalia still don’t have peace and security; when climate change is devastating our region; when many women and girls in our region are still subjected to cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and torture under the name of cultural values” she noted.
The two day meeting was hosted at CenturyHotel in Kamuli, with delegates from South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Sudan and Uganda .The objectives of IPU-IGAD include promoting unity and strengthening ties of cooperation among member states; promote peace, security and stability within the sub-region and promote good governance, transparency and rule of law within member states.
“IPU-IGAD possesses the potent, at least from its objectives, to address some of the challenges faced in our region. Let us make it work for the common person in the region, the voiceless, the marginalized, disadvantaged and oppressed,” said Kadaga.
Kadaga said the Meeting was held in Kamuli to give chance to visitors to explore, see, and experience Uganda’s countryside and how local people live and cope with development challenges.“We wanted you to see the roads, dwellings, gardens, markets, hospitals, our rural people and their hospitality unlike hosting visitors in the city,” she said.
The Secretary General of the IPU-IGAD Member States, Amb. Mohamed Adam said the Meeting was testimony of countries’ commitment to the grand goals and visions.“These visions are embodied in economic development, political and social integration. The aspirations of the people of this region can be achieved since they have more in common than the Europeans who achieved the European Union,” said Amb. Mohamed Adam.
He said that there was need to work together to achieve peace in the region so as to combat poverty, environmental degradation, migrations, human trafficking and drugs.
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