Forum for Women in Democracy Uganda

For ordinary folks, quality education is becoming more and more elusive, if they attend public school under free education programme, politicians have drummed hard in their ears what a privilege it is, those that detest the quality there have had to find private schooling. But even those that have chosen private schools soon find that the proprietors are way too powerful to be pushed around presenting education as an opportunity and not a right, the result has been a general decline in quality, power Parents Teachers Associations (PTA’s) that often discuss only fees increament and not quality and better conditions. The price tag on any improvements making other discussions even the harder.  But some communities in northern and western Uganda are reading through the long term corrosive effect of a bad education and absence of supervision and a strong voice to demand better—forming themselves into inspectors where government has...

Several MPs yesterday joined civil society in backing Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s rejection of a proposed law which would severely undermine their role in the budgeting process. Ms Kadaga indicated at a morning workshop that the government’s proposed Public Finance Bill, 2012, currently before the parliamentary Finance Committee, would weaken Parliament’s role in the budget process if passed in its present form. The Bill seeks to repeal the Budget Act 2003 and the Public Finance and Accountability Act 2003. It also establishes the Petroleum Fund and legislates for the collection and deposit of revenues into, and the withdrawal of revenues from, the Petroleum Holding Account.  At the half-day workshop for MPs and civil society, Ms Kadaga said: “I note that the Bill in its current form is complex, with potential for conflicts amongst its provisions and with the Constitution. Where these conflicts render the Bill defective, appropriate recommendations should be mad...

A mother at Lapainat Health Centre III lies on the floor as she waits to be attended to. Midwives now use mobile phone light to help mothers deliver. In Summary Finding options. With most of the health facilities lacking adequate personnel and the required medical equipment, most affected people -- the peasants -- decided to take control of their development affairs. The experience she goes through is beyond her imagination. Just in her early 20s, Vistine Kemigisha is already dealing with situations that even an experienced midwife would not wish to face. “I remember a day when I assisted a woman to deliver in a facility that didn’t have any equipment. Not even light. Yet it was late in the night,” Kemigisha, a young midwife in Kabale District, told the Saturday Monitor. “This woman was brought to the health centre by a group of six young men, who had each carried her in turns on their shoulders.”In her attempt to help th...