The Speaker of
Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has endorsed a proposal for the review of Uganda’s
procurement laws so as to ensure that 30 percent of all government contracts
are reserved for women.
She said deliberate
action should be taken to reduce disproportionate engagement of women in
productive activities by opening up new employment opportunities for women.
Citing the Energy and infrastructure projects such as roads, Kadaga said Uganda
National Roads Authority should ensure that a certain portion of its public
works is set aside for women.
“I would like to
see in the adverts that UNRA puts out that there should be a clear component
that 30 percent of the project will go to the youth and women. I want to see
that in the advert. I would like to see a situation where we also break the bid
bonds into components where women and youth are able to participate,” Kadaga
said.
A bid bond is
issued as part of a supply bidding process by a contractor to provide a
guarantee that the supplier will execute the contract under the terms at which
they bid. The Speaker was also optimistic that the local content law would
better express the intentions of the policy and women’s participation.
Kadaga was making
remarks on Friday, during the sidelines of the ongoing UN Commission on the
Status of Women taking place in New York.
Commenting on
Uganda’s success in implementing inclusive sustainable infrastructure for
promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, Kadaga stated
that she had also made a similar appeal to IMF boss Christine Lagarde to ensure
that its loans take into consideration the interest of women.
“The bid bonds lock
out women because of the enormous amounts of money needed,” she explained.
Kadaga reechoed concerns of accessibility by women and vulnerable persons to
social services saying that in the 9th Parliament, a resolution was
made that any new road should have rest places.
“We support
inclusive infrastructure and I ask the members of parliament to carryout
oversight on the loans,” she said.
Sylvia Nabatanzi
Muwebwa, the Chairperson Equal Opportunities Commission said with the roads
bill that is currently in the offing, women should be supported legally to
undertake some of the government projects.
During the same
event, the UN Women Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Dr.
Izeduwa Derex-Briggs, lauded Uganda for being a trailblazer in enacting
legislation that advances the interests of women and girls and for exposing
women to markets. She said these were gains worthy of note.
She urged
governments to ensure that socio economic infrastructure responds better to the
priorities of women and girls at grassroots level and that governments
accelerate ongoing efforts to support women owned business to participate in
government funded infrastructure projects.
The 63rd
UN Commission on the Status of Women taking place from 11-22 March in New York
has attracted representatives of UN member states, civil society, to discuss
progress and gaps in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The conference is meeting under the theme “social protection systems, access to
public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls.”
ENDS