REMARKS BY HON MATIA KASHAIJJA MINISTER OF STATE FOR PLANNING DURING THE 2012 UGANDA RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT AWARDS

The Rt Hon Prime Minister

Members of Parliament

Heads of Diplomatic Missions

Business Leaders/Investors

Officials of Public Opinions and Uganda Investment Authority

The Organising Committee of the 2012 URI AWARDS

Ladies and Gentlement,

The theme of this High Level Conference is very Clear-Responsible Investment as a tool for attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals and the Uganda National Development Plan- This theme and conference is timely and now is the time for the Investors both local and foreign to work towards achieving the set goals and targets of the National Development Plan. As you may be aware The theme of the five-year plan is growth, employment and social-economic transformation. Under the plan, investment priorities will include physical infrastructure development, education, skills development, health, water and sanitation.
We also give priority to agriculture, industry and promotion of science, technology and innovations.

As you well know, the NRM Government is promoting private sector as an engine of social-economic transformation of Uganda into a modern industrial nation. It is the private sector including many small scale farming households that is responsible for the majority of productive investment in Uganda. In general the motivation for investment is expected to be commercial, and government will therefore seek to ensure that incentives in the economy encourage the kinds of investments that will generate pro-poor growth.

The concept of Responsible Business or Investment is an important concept that is being promoted by both governments and international agencies around the world including the United Nations which in 2000 launched the United Nations Global Compact as the largest private sector initiative to promote responsible investment through upholding the 10 Universal principles of the United Nations. I want to encourage the Award Winners today to continue to promote and uphold the same principles, and iam calling upon all the Investments in Uganda to uphold the nationally and internationally defined principles, best practices and standards.

I therefore ask the Investors to do business responsibily by upholding International Best Practices and Standards such as;

1.      Corporate Social Responsibility/Community engagement

2.      Respect for Internationally proclaimed human rights of employees

3.      Elimination of discrimination in respect of occupation and employment

4.      Working against all forms of corruption including bribery and extortion

5.      Upholding freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining

6.      Promotion of greater environmental responsibility, etc.

7.      Pay taxes

8.      Use of appropriate and friendly environmental Technologies

9.      Production of quality goods and services,etc

The above principles and Standards are clearly defined in various International treaties and conventions such as; the United Nations Millennium Declaration, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Kyoto Protocol, The 10 Universal Principles of the United Nations Global Compact,UN Convention Against Corruption,Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,etc.

I want to congratulate you all the Winners of the 2012 Uganda Responsible Investment Awards upon this achievement.

I want to thank Public Opinions for initiating the Uganda Responsible Investment Awards-You deserve support and we shall support you.

I thank you,

Hon Matia Kashaija

MINISTER OF STATE FOR PLANNING

YOUNG EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYERS

Government Must adopt a new approach to measuring Youth in Poverty in Uganda

The Government of Uganda has continued to rely on household surveys to determine who is living in poverty amongst the youth but this also continue to perpetuate the bias against youth. Household surveys usually focus on easily enumerated households identified by a dwelling and a family. As you well know  in our Banana Republic Uganda, Young people are likely to be underrepresented in such settings if they have left the parental home and are in precarious circumstances, which often includes residence in temporary lodgings, slums or even being without any accommodation at all.

Collecting data on young people who are poor using the dynamic perspective on poverty is a more complex task than applying the methodology required for recording poverty from a static perspective. It involves obtaining details about income generated over time for particular age groups, the subjective perceptions of those affected, and the significance of the findings. While there are reports that poverty amongst the youth is declining, I category disagree to this belief and informed conception, poverty levels amongst the youth is galloping and if strategic interventions are not adopted the most productive generation will be a waste, the next generation of 35-60 years will be a generation of old beggars on the streets and the nation will be in a shadow of fear and hatred. You cannot measure youth development and wealth on the political representation in parliament or local councils. This is misleading-Even the youth in leadership have been sidelined in policy formulation, planning and implementation. Infact the so called youth representation has turned to be a mere representation of those representatives and their families. For Example, of what benefits have the youth of Uganda registered with youth representation in the Parliament of Uganda. We need more than representation as far as poverty reduction and wealth creation amongst the young people is concerned.

I believe that the dynamic view of poverty requires going beyond aggregate cross-sectional data, focusing on the collection of information about individuals’ or specific groups’ experiences of poverty over time.

Cluster data collection, longitudinal data, even if only from small but representative sample surveys, are likely to yield better information about the economic needs and prospects of individuals and groups at risk of poverty than the large-scale and expensive household surveys. Micro-level data will provide better insights into what forms of assistance are likely to be effective. Data collection from a dynamic perspective on poverty needs to start with the identification of separate potential crisis events in a person’s life cycle—such as being born, completing a minimum level of education, obtaining a good job, losing a job, bearing children, and dying—and developing a risk profile for those most likely to experience difficulties.

It is high time government and its development partners study and adopt a new and better strategy of measuring poverty levels and wealth growth amongst the youth in Uganda.

Luzindana Adam Buyinza

National Coordinator

Uganda National Union of Young Employees and Employers (UNUYE)

Tel:+256 712 936 206,Email:buyinzaladam@gmail.com

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO)

UNESCO

THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS