KAMPALA – The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has rallied support from the Vice President, Edward Ssekandi in ensuring successful implementation of the Busoga Consortium Development Agenda.
The Busoga Consortium was started in 2013 with the aim of alleviating poverty in Busoga through nine pillars of development including education, health, roads and infrastructure and agriculture, among others.
While meeting the Vice President at Hotel Africana, Ms. Kadaga who is the Patron of the Busoga Consortium, asked Mr. Ssekandi to fast-track a resolution establishing Namasagali University.
She noted that Mbarara, Arua and Kabale have developed because of the presence of universities.
“A resolution was taken in 2015 for Namasagali, Rwenzori and Bunyoro universities. The issue of the university is very important in Busoga and we want to enlist your support in the cabinet on that issue so that we can start as quickly as possible,” said Kadaga.
She further asked Ssekandi to support Busoga to secure all the funding to revolutionalise agriculture in the region.
She said that whilst the first batch of the fund has been provided, there is need to ensure continuity of government support.
“We would like to be able to make a difference in the lives of our people who are extremely poor, not by design but by circumstances which I think can be handled,” said Ms. Kadaga.
She also called for support towards the development of the Source of River Nile, noting that it is one of the biggest tourist attraction in Uganda.
“It is a world heritage site but nothing has been done. UNESCO declared it more than six years ago but there is not even a small building and yet tourists visit the place,” Kadaga said.
Mr. Ssekandi expressed commitment towards supporting the implementation of the Busoga consortium agenda, saying that he will provide the much-needed link between the Office of the Prime Minister and the consortium.
“I will support the Speaker of Parliament and the people of Busoga towards the convergence between the Office of the Prime Minister and the consortium for a harmonised agenda,” said VP Ssekandi.
He however, advised the consortium to include environmental conservation among its four priority areas which are; education, agriculture, roads and infrastructure and tourism.
The consortium was started following a successful similar initiative in the greater Masaka.
According to Mr. Ssekandi, if Uganda is to be competitive in the world, it is necessary to create a framework that would enable districts with related historical, social and demographic background to unite into consortium