The Minister for the Presidency, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda yesterday met the UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda Ms. Susan Ngongi Namondo who paid a courtesy call on her in her office in Kampala.
The Minister thanked the UN Coordinator for finding time to call on her off her very busy schedule and congratulated her upon her appointment in Uganda as the Resident Coordinator for the United Nations.
“This is a very important and special role you play and on behalf of the Uganda Government, I wish to appreciate you for the excellent work you are doing but especially for the support you provide to the people of Uganda,” Hon. Babalanda said.
Hon. Babalanda thanked the UN Coordinator for supporting the priority sectors of government and reiterated government’s commitment in ensuring that the support provided by the UN agencies is put to full use and it meets its intended purpose.
“I am aware of the support you are giving in the different sectors including under refugees, health, governance, security, social development and others. Your support especially in the priority areas of government such your campaign and commitments to stabilize the East Africa Great Lakes Region and others like promotion of human rights, support to immunization programs as well as support to the refugee program are highly appreciated,” she said.
Hon. Babalanda also thanked the United Nations for maintaining neutrality in matters of States and applauded them for not taking sides and not interfering in the internal affairs of countries.
“This is important for promotion of peace and unity in those countries,” she noted.
The Minister however, called upon the UN agencies to double their support to the key sectors of the economy to ensure that Uganda is completely stable and its economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and now the EBOLA invasion.
On her part, the Resident Coordinator Ms. Namondo thanked the Minister for warmly receiving her and expressed her organization’s commitment to working with the presidency to support the Uganda Government.
“The UN family is comprised of 29 agencies who signed a cooperation framework with the government of Uganda. We need to find the best way of how these agencies can be coordinated around government priority areas and the presidency as a key leader in matters of policy is crucial in this coordination,” she said.
Ms. Namondo explained that she was interested in knowing how the President’s office works and how the UN can be able to support the mutually agreed on areas. She however cautioned that development partners are concerned about transparency when it comes to use of resources.
The Senior Presidential Advisor on Research in the RDC Secretariat; Dr. Dan Ssekiboobo Isabirye who attended the meeting expressed the need for a national platform for communication of research and innovations findings.
“Many important research and innovations results in the country are not effectively communicated and there is no much learning from them because of the lack of a centralized research and innovations communication framework,”he said.
The UN Coordinator promised to study these proposals.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
