{UAH} NRM achievements on women empowerment revealed by H.E the President

SPEECH BY

H.E. YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI

ON THE OCCASION TO MARK INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

THEME: IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MEN AND BOYS FOR EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN AND
GIRLS IN UGANDA.

KUMI DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT

8TH MARCH, 2014.





Leaders of the Government and the Party,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

I salute you all on this International Women's Day. I thank you for
turning up in large numbers to the celebrations to commemorate the
International Women's Day. I am particularly pleased that we adopted
a guiding theme that is in line with Vision 2040 and the eight
objectives of the National Development Plan. All these can only be
achieved with strong partnerships between women and men at all levels.

Our National Vision Statement is "A Transformed Ugandan Society from a
Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years". To
achieve the aspirations as stated in this Vision, we need to have the
right attitudes and mind-sets, particularly towards work, improving
our

competitiveness and collective participation in its implementation.
Implementing Vision 2040 will not be merely by words but by actions at
the level of every individual and every homestead.

Our major constraints which hinder our development are mainly gender
inequalities, negative attitudes towards work, mindsets, cultural
practices and perceptions. These must be addressed in order to
achieve sustainable and equitable development. This can only be
addressed through partnerships at different levels between men and
women, boys and girls as well as partnerships between various sectors
and actors in the development process.
In order to ensure wealth creation and prosperity for all as
envisioned in the NRM ideology, building partnerships is a matter of
urgency and of utmost importance. To take one

example, partnerships in small business development between men and
women is a foundation for community empowerment to enhance marketing
and competitiveness.
Uganda's population currently estimated at 36.6 million is
predominantly rural, with only 15% living in the urban areas. Women
constitute 51.2% of the population with a sex ratio of 95 males per
100 females. This implies that if development is to be fair, women's
contributions in social, political and economic spheres should not
only be solicited, but should be deliberately promoted for equitable
and sustainable development.

Over the years, the NRM Government has put in place mechanisms for
ensuring that women are at the centre of socio-economic
transformation. The constitutional provisions for equality and non
discrimination, the Affirmative Action policy, decentralization policy
and all related strategies are proof of this. The Constitution of the

Republic of Uganda, Articles 32, 33 and 180 guarantee equality between
men and women which is a good starting point for building partnerships
for development purposes.
The results of our efforts are very outstanding for all to see, and
this is in almost all the sectors. For example;

* Women's participation in decision making has improved during
National Resistance Movement regime. Uganda's current 9th Parliament
comprises 375 members with 129 (34.4%) women Members of Parliament
(MPs) - an increase from the 31% in the 8th Parliament and from 2% in
the Independence Parliament of 1962. Uganda has a fair share of
female representation at cabinet level. There is an increase in the
number of women in the cabinet, from 16 (25%) in the last cabinet to
23 (28%).

* In the health sector, government has put in place the infrastructure
and systems to deliver health services to all. The minimum health
care package takes care


of maternal needs and the health infrastructure reaches all levels.
As a result of the improved health care infrastructure and system, 95%
of mothers receive antenatal care from a skilled provider,

58% of births are assisted by a skilled provider while 54% of children
are immunized.

* In the Education sector, the UPE and USE programmes as well as the
Affirmative Action Policy of 1.5 points are incentives for households
to send their children, particularly girl children, to school and this
has led to increased enrolment of girl children. As a result of UPE
and USE programmes, the literacy levels of women have increased from
56% in 2006 to 64% in 2011. In 1986, the women literacy level was
37.7%.

* Through education, training and advocacy, the number of female
teachers has increased in schools and this increase has had a strong
positive impact on girls' education through attendance and completion.


The presence of women in schools also impacts positively on girls'
retention in school and on their achievement. A female role model can
support and encourage girls to successfully complete their studies
and maybe even continue studying to become teachers, themselves.

* At the school policy level, women teachers act as advocates for
girls, representing their perspectives and needs and promoting more
girl-friendly learning. Thus women teachers play key roles in
educating and socializing children beyond gender stereotypes and so
are crucial agents of change.
* In the Land Act and Mortgage Act, we have protected women's land
rights as owners and users. As a result of these good laws, currently,
four in ten (40%) of women own a house and /or land, mostly jointly
with a husband.
* In the energy sector, the proportion of households with access to
electricity has increased. Since 2006,

access in urban areas has increased from 42% to 55% while in rural
areas; the proportion of households with access to electricity has
increased from less than 3% to 5%. This has improved the standard of
life for
rural women particularly since it helps them save time spent on
domestic chores for more productive work.
* Increased telecommunication coverage has helped women to
communicate, make money through ownership of telephone booths and also
market their produce. Between 2006 and 2011, the percentage of rural
households owning mobile phones increased more than fivefold, from 10%
to 53%. In the urban areas, the growth of 64% was registered in the
same period. The introduction of mobile money services has further
improved businesses through availing financial services more
efficiently.
* The NRM government has put major focus on infrastructure
development. In addition to main tarmac roads that connect different
districts, focus

has also been put on murram roads which enable women to access local
markets, hospitals and schools.
* In the agricultural sector, we are in the process of restructuring
NAADS in order to ensure that women benefit.

I now want to address myself to the vice of Violence against women and
girls. Violence against women, disempowers women but also
impoverishes families. I have always wanted the perpetrators who
rape women and defile young girls not to get bail and I am glad that
the NRM caucus is supporting me on this. What we need now are strong
partnerships at community level to enforce these laws in order to have
peace at family level.

I am now calling upon men to partner with women in order to increase
access to the available government services. We need to build
partnerships to enhance access and utilization of the available health
services. Both access and

utilization of health services is a sensitive matter at family level
where dialogue, consensus and partnerships are
crucial. To take one example, the effectiveness of reproductive
health services including family planning , as well as HIV/AIDS
prevention and care services require consent of a couple.

In the education sector, I am calling upon all parents to ensure that
the work done at family level is shared between boy and girl children.
This is done in the traditional families. Boys dig in the garden,
look after cattle and goats while the girls care for siblings, fetch
water and firewood as well as cooking. With cattle keepers, the girls
deal with milk - churning milk (okuchunda), kwitira (perfuming the
milk pots) etc, etc. The traditional home in the areas I know well
actually fairly distribute the work between boys and girls. The
discrimination comes with school completion. When a choice is to be
made as to who

should continue with education or not, it is the girl who is normally
the victim. This must stop.

The key to prosperity is participating in the four economic sectors:
commercial agriculture, industry, services and Information
communication technology (ICT).

This is apart from the public service where the women are active already.
Any training - formal or informal - that does not lead to a woman
joining one of these five is a waste of time. How will she live? How
will she support her family? Modern needs are money and food needs.
All focus must be on these 5: commercial agriculture, industry,
services, ICT or public service. If there is a sixth one, you should
let me know.

In order to attain a transformed Ugandan society from a peasant to a
modern and prosperous country as stated in the vision, we need to
enhance socio-economic empowerment and reduce household poverty. To
achieve this, we need to promote partnerships between women and men
through mobilizing them to participate in government programmes at all
levels. Mobilizers should encourage women to participate and engage
in income generating activities in their communities and mentoring
programmes should be established for knowledge sharing and skills
development.

I am challenging all leaders to seriously consider the role of men in
achieving gender equality. To this end, it is important to note that
gender equality does not mean women ruling over men, but it rather
guarantees a level playing field absent of all forms of discrimination
that prevail against women.

Although this is Women's Day, I would like to use this occasion to
brief the country about the Identity Card Project. We have for long
needed a reliable and easily traceable identity card that is also
difficult to forge (counterfeit). We are about to achieve that
through acquiring a computerized identity card which has got one's
picture, bio-data (name, height, etc) and a thumb-print (ekinkumu).
All this information will be linked with the smaller computers central
memory, which will be linked with the smaller computers at the
Sub-County or the mobile ones. This system is very crucial for an
accurate voters register (including that of NRM), stopping debt
defaulters from taking loans from multiple banks, stopping ghost
Public Servants (civil servants, soldiers, policemen etc), handling
pensions (no ghosts), stopping crime (finger prints will be easily
traceable), tax collection (all tax payers and their businesses will
be stored in the computer) etc, etc. It will be easy to record people
who are: (born, those who die), know the foreigners and distinguish
them from

the citizens, population statistics for easy planning purposes etc,
etc. I am glad the different departments which were not harmonized
are now engaged in a common effort to computerize and capture the
identities of Ugandan. These are: Uganda Bureau of Statistics; Uganda
Registration Services Bureau; the Electoral Commission; the
Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration; and the National
Information Technology Authority. Previously, all these were working
at cross-purposes. I am glad they are now working together to produce
an accurate, non-counterfeitable record of the Ugandans identity.
Gen. Aronda has assured me that by April, 15th 2014, their teams will
be in the Parishes recording people's identities. Support them. As
far as Women are concerned, with this computerization it will be
easier to trace rapists by identifying their DNA from the semen they
would have left in the victim, not to mention finger-prints.

I extend my best wishes to you all for a happy Women's Day, and call
upon all women and men of Uganda to work together in partnership in
order to address the challenge of poverty and move into a transformed
and prosperous era.

FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY


H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda

8th March, 2014.