Tuesday, October 24, 2017: Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Uganda, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda has commended UN-Habitat for partnering with Government in identifying key urban issues and areas of support to improve urban development. The Premier made the remarks while meeting a team of officials from UN-Habitat led by the Director of the Regional Office for Africa Naison Mutziwa –Mangiza who paid him a courtesy call at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala on Monday. Dr Rugunda said Africa needs to move from the vicious cycle of poverty, adding that experts should support African Governments to take correct paths by identifying realistic solutions that meet the demands of the ordinary people.
“We want to see real change for the better. We will be happy if we reduce programmes into tangible results which an ordinary person can see,” Rugunda said.
He particularly singled out land reforms which he said must be addressed to improve the conditions of the ordinary people who continue to suffer because of lack of enabling land reforms to protect their interests. The head of the UN-Habitat delegation said the challenges of Uganda which include land management and urban development also affect many countries, adding that Governments must invest well their resources in these areas.
He expressed their commitment to implementing the new urban agenda, an urbanization action blue print for UN- Habitat and its partners in support of the 2030 agenda on sustainable development especially SDG 11, making cities inclusive,safe,resilient and sustainable.
The Minister of State for Housing, Chris Baryomunsi said UN-Habitat has been supporting Uganda on the Land policy.He said Uganda was urbanizing at a rate of 5.2% per annum while the population growth rate stands at 3.2%, coupled with a high rural urban migration. Baryomunsi said establishing the UN-Habitat country office was critical in strengthening the collaboration between Government and UN-Habitat just like other UN Agencies.Other areas of discussion included; water and sanitation as well as slum upgrading.
This year UN-Habitat secured USD 11 million for the participatory upgrading programme to empower African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers.
Note: This article was published on the portal of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda here
