President Museveni has said that working towards eliminating social backwardness responsible for underdevelopment such as subsistence farming, would help the country achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In a speech read for him by the Vice President, Jessica Alupo, at the second Uganda annual SDG conference held at Kampala Serena Hotel on Thursday, Mr Museveni said that although Uganda remains on course to achieve all the SDGs in partnership with its development partners, the backward nature of society is still a challenge.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the 17 SDG with their 169 targets were adopted by United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Some of the goals include; ending poverty, ensuring zero poverty, good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic development, reduced inequality, climate action, peace and justice.
“Uganda, like many African countries has been struggling with the backward nature of society. This backwardness was on accounts of preserving rudimentary mode of production. We can’t achieve SDGs if society remains backward,” he said.
“That is why the NRM government is promoting social economic transformation which aims at triggering change from mainly peasant to middle class skilled society. If a society doesn’t evolve from the low mode of social organisations, it can’t develop and prosper,” Mr Museveni added.
Ms Alupo urged all stakeholders to create awareness and demystify the myths that surround some of the government development initiatives to make them a success.
The VP revealed that some members of society had shunned the Parish Development Model (PDM) due to false information that their land would be grabbed in case they failed to pay back the money.
Ms Susan Ngongi, the UN Resident Coordinator revealed that only 12 percent of the 169 targets of SDGs are on course and that 30 percent of them have neither made any progress nor regressed.
Ms Ngongi called for more local resource mobilisation to facilitate implementations of SDGs including promoting peace and security and climate change.
She noted that the recent killing and abduction of school children in Kasese District by a suspected terrorist group is an indication that insecurity has far reaching effects on development and that peace and security are critical.
Dr Albert Byamugisha, the head of Uganda National Sustainable Development Goals Secretariat said the needs and aspirations of every Ugandan including women, children, girls, minority ethnic groups, people living with disabilities and the urban poor must be met so that no one is left behind.
Dr Byamugisha said that although poverty levels in Uganda had reduced from 56.4 percent in the 1990s to the cure to 20.3 percent, poverty reduction is still low despite, availability of social development programmes such as the Emyooga, Social Assistance Programme for the Elderly and the Parish Development Model.
He noted that about 20 percent of the urban poor living in Kampala and about 39 percent of Ugandans still lack access to adequate food majority of whom live in Acholi and Karamoja sub- regions.
“Three out of 10 people in Uganda don’t consume sufficient amounts of food and although the literacy level stands at 73 percent, the functional competencies for most Ugandans are still below average,” he said.
The deputy executive director of National Planning Authority (NPA) Charles Ojok said government must reduce debt financing of development plans to reduce the debt burden and be able to utilize local resources to implement initiatives intended to realize SDGs.
“We hope that in the next National Development Plan (NDP- IV) government will cut the appetite for debt financing and work with what we have,” he said.
He said NDP IV will focus on projects that continue to have positive impact on Uganda’s development agenda under NDP III.
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