President Museveni Meets UN Resident Coordinator, Discusses Development Initiatives and Refugee Empowerment
In meeting held on 27th June 2023 between President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and UN Resident Coordinator Ms. Susan Ngongi Namondo at State House in Entebbe. The discussions revolved around upcoming events like the Global Refugee Forum and the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, which Uganda will host with President Museveni as the NAM Chairman.
On 27th June 2023 at State House in Entebbe, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni met with Ms. Susan Ngongi Namondo, the United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator in Uganda, for a consultative discussion. The UNICEF Representative Munir Safieldin, the UNDP Resident Representative Elsie Attafuah, the UNHCR Representative Matthew Crentsil, as well as Sharon Nyambe and Peter Mwamachi, were also part of Ms. Namondo’s team.
The Global Refugee Forum, which will be jointly hosted soon by Uganda and the United Nations, the upcoming Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit, which will be hosted by Uganda and see President Museveni take on the role of NAM Chairman, and other topics were discussed by President Museveni and his guests.
Ms. Namondo expressed her gratitude to President Museveni for the Parish Development Model (PDM) programme, which she claimed will help Ugandans escape poverty. She also gave President Museveni her congratulations on Uganda’s historic selection to host the NAM conference.
PDM is one of the well-thought-out programmes that came to fruition following a number of other government efforts meant to transition the people of Uganda from subsistence agriculture to the money economy, President Museveni told his guests.
However, the President was pleased to see that 61% of Ugandans have now participated in the money economy since the launch of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC).
The remaining 39% must participate in the economy of money and are urged to do so analytically, according to the PDM and Emyooga programmes, he stated.
He continued by saying that in order to achieve the much-desired socioeconomic transition, Uganda currently just needs the trigger variables, such as infrastructure and wealth generation.
President Museveni, on the other hand, advocated for the training of refugees in a variety of skills to ensure their sustainability. He pointed out that because land is such a touchy subject, agriculture would cause problems with the host community.
“I am in favour of self-sustenance. Land is a danger, but crafts like knitting, tailoring, and baking are most suited. After learning skills, people in Uganda have the freedom to migrate to urban regions and start businesses there, the President noted.
Ms. Namondo took advantage of the opportunity to offer President Museveni and the people of Uganda her deepest condolences in the wake of the recent attack by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in Kasese that claimed the lives of over 40 schoolchildren. It was, she admitted, “truly very disturbing.”
The government has the ability to destroy and eradicate the ADF terrorists, President Museveni assured his guests.