The Chairman of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, Ambassador Mull Katende, has told members of the Pan African parliament that heavy reliance on donor funding was affecting peace efforts on the continent.
Presenting a paper on the status of peace and security in Africa to Pan African Parliament MPs, Katende on Friday urged parliamentarians to make use of the available tools for structural conflict prevention, by ensuring that African governments are more transparent, accountable and responsive to the legitimate demands of the people.
Katende stressed that donor dependence defeats the whole idea of African solutions to African problems, adding that “the decision by the EU to reduce funding for AMISOM troops’ allowances by 20 percent, was having a negative impact on troop morale and instead boosting the resolve of Al Shabaab to continue undermining the AMISOM gains.
In response Ugandan representative, Professor Morris Ogenga Latigo, noted that the challenge that Africa faces is providing leadership for posterity rather than for self, corruption and self-interest.
The fourth ordinary session of the Pan African Parliament is meeting at its headquarters in Midrand, South Africa, from 8th – 19th May 2017.
Meanwhile, Anifa Bangirana Kawooya, the Sembabule Woman Member of Parliament is the new Vice-Chairperson of the Pan African Women Parliamentary Caucus.
She sailed through unopposed in the elections held on Monday during the East African Caucus meeting of the continental legislature in Midrand, South Africa.
Kawooya becomes the second Ugandan legislator to hold a position of leadership in the Pan African Parliament-PAP after the Jacqueline Amongin, who is the incumbent Chairperson of the Committee on Rural Economy, Agriculture and Natural Resources.
In her position as Vice-Chair of the Women Caucus, Kawooya has a task to advocate for women and girl child issues on the continent where Female Genital Mutilation and child marriages are still prevalent.
Her role in the continental body will be to push for legislation that protects women and girls from such harmful cultural practices. According to the recent UNFPA report, over 3 million girls are at risk of FGM in Africa with an average of 2 million underage girls giving birth in Africa every year.
Uganda’s delegation to the Pan African Parliament includes Jacqueline Amongin, Prof. Morris Ogenga-Latigo; Kawooya; Felix Okot Ogong and Babirye Kadogo.
