The Leader of the Opposition Parliament (LOP), Hon. Mathias Mpuuga has called on African and Asian legislatures to address the political governance issues in their respective countries if the two continents are to improve their citizen’s quality of life.
Mpuuga made the remarks on Thursday at a dinner he hosted on behalf of the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among at the close of a three-day African and Asian Parliamentarians meeting on population and development.
The meeting attracted participants from the legislatures of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Others came from the Parliaments of Ghana, Bahrain, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Japan.
“There are three major threats that leaders must address without fear of contradiction; the first is governance because it all begins with leaders. By governance, I mean political governance,” Mpuuga said.
“I know when politicians meet, they become a bit feeble and scared of discussing the intricacies of politics because we don’t have uniformity given the different political backgrounds and political terrain [yet] when you filter the individual countries challenges, it all begins from political challenges,” he added.
The Nyendo-Mukungwe lawmaker further urged the parliamentarians to focus on the emerging insecurities in their countries, and think of alternatives to address the concerns of mankind.
“You can’t talk about humanity and population and negate a key component of health because it is life that directs everything. In times like this when humanity is under threat, leaders must rise in unison to address the emerging challenges, and convincingly debate them and offer plausible solutions,” Hon. Mpuuga said.
The meeting was convened as a follow up to the commitments leaders made during the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) which was held in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2019. This was at a time when the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Cairo conference at which 179 governments adopted the ICPD programme of action on reproductive health and the empowerment of women and gender equality as pillars of sustainable development.
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