Prime
Museveni raps EOC on peace, security in Uganda
Museveni receives the Annual report on the State of Equal Opportunity in Uganda FY2022-2023. PHOTO | PPU
What you need to know:
- The President urged the commission to focus more on ensuring peace and security in the country, saying that it is the best way to protect the marginalised groups in Uganda.
President Yoweri Museveni has commended the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) for coming up with a good report on the state of equal opportunities in Uganda for the previous two financial years.
The president extended his appreciation to the commission’s delegation led by the commission’s chairperson, Ms Safia Nalule at State House, Entebbe on Tuesday. In the same meeting, the President urged the commission to focus more on ensuring peace and security in the country, saying that it is the best way to protect the marginalised groups in Uganda.
“I commended the Equal Opportunities Commission for coming up with a good report which was presented to me at State House, Entebbe. I however urged them to emphasize the aspects which are crucial [such as] ensuring peace and security in the country,” President Museveni said, according to a statement shared by the Presidential Press Unit.
“If you have security, you have mass basic education then you have mass medical services. The next important aspect is wealth creation because prosperity depending on government money only is not sustainable, so it is good that all families in Uganda engage in wealth creation. I think part of your mandate is to wake up people. The problem here is just sleeping, people should wake up,” he added.
He further commended the commission for highlighting the continued money extortion in government schools, something he said to be compromising the main purpose of universal education.
“You should understand the mass support for the population and there are two areas: health in terms of immunization and basic education. So, I like your idea about complaining against the continued charging of fees in government schools because that is the best way to create equality by enabling everyone to go to school whether they have money or not as well as to get immunized and healthcare,” the President said.
On behalf of the commission, Ms Nalule expressed gratitude to President Museveni for appointing them to head the Equal Opportunities Commission.
“We pledge our support to contribute to the agenda of transforming Uganda from backwardness to modernity,” she noted.
The Equal Opportunities Commission is a statutory body mandated to eliminate discrimination and inequalities against any individual or group of persons on the grounds of sex, age, race, colour, ethnic origin, tribe, birth, creed or religion, health status, social or economic standing, political opinion or disability, and take affirmative action in favour of groups marginalised on the basis of gender, age, disability or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom for the purpose of redressing imbalances which exist against them, and to provide for other related matters.
The EOC report that was released at the start of this month stirred debate among the general public following its revelations on the inequalities in the allocation of government jobs. Among others, the report revealed that the Western region takes up to 47 per cent of the government jobs at the level of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), leaving the other 3 regions to share the remaining 53 per cent.
