By Nassiwa Hanifah
A special fund to cater for women raising families in refugee camps should be created, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has said.
Speaking
during the 14th session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation Conference (PUOIC) in Rabat, Morocco, Kadaga said the funds
will come in handy to save women battling difficulties in refugee camps.
“Motherhood
in refugee camps is a devastating experience; single mothers in conflict areas
are faced with the difficult task of raising families because the fathers are
either dead or active combatants,” said Kadaga.
“Let
us create a special fund and ensure that we eliminate their suffering and make
life better for them,” she added.
The
conference, which attracted speakers from OIC Parliaments, discussed conflicts
in the Middle East and North Africa, and centered on how to bring an end to
wars, death and suffering in those troubled areas.
Kadaga
said the best solution lies in ensuring opportunities are created at home for
youths dying in the conflicts, as well as those taking dangerous journeys to
flee the wars.
Describing
the Mediterranean as the “graveyard of troubled young people from our countries
who have been denied opportunities”, Kadaga said there is need for
introspection to address the causes of those conflicts, which create refugees.
Uganda
has been hailed for being receptive to refugees, amidst growing populist, far
right movements in Europe and some parts of South America, which triumph on the
anti-immigrant card.
In
2017, a Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees was held on the sidelines of the
28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa. It raised funds to support Uganda’s
refugee hosting activities.
Based
in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the PUOIC is the second largest international
organization after the United Nations.
It
has 57 member states and was founded in 1969 to, among others, “safeguard
and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international
peace and harmony”.
Speaker
meets Qatar counterpart
On
the sidelines of the PUOIC, Kadaga held talks with the Speaker of the Shura
Council of Qatar, Ahmed Abdullah bin Zaid, where the two agreed to closer
engagements in future.
Kadaga
welcomed Qatar’s support to African countries, saying with more opportunities,
the continent stands to register progress and accelerate its journey to
self-dependence.
“Africans
never want to leave their countries; it is only pressures like unemployment,
conflict…opportunities are what the African people are looking for,” she said.
Uganda’s
Ambassador to Morocco, Mr John Alintuma Nsambu was part of the meeting.
Kadaga
is leading a delegation comprising MPs Latif Sebaggala (IND, Kawempe North),
Sarah Nakawunde(NRM, Mpigi), and Zaitun Driwaru (IND, Yumbe).
Others
are Ogama Alli Ismail (NRM, Lower Madi County), Abbas Agaba (NRM, Kitagwenda)
and the Clerk to Parliament, Jane Kibirige.