Invest in human resource, Kadaga tells African govts

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has challenged the Sub-Saharan African countries to invest more in research and development if they are to see economic growth translated into human development.

Ms Kadaga said many African countries spend less than one per cent of their budgets on research and development, particularly in agricultural sector, yet it is the sector that employs the biggest percentage of the population.
“Countries like china and other eastern countries have heavy budget for research and development. It’s only South Africa and Tunisia that have one percent of their budgets allocated to research and development, but the rest of Africans have less than one percent of their funds allocated to research and development. I doubt whether this will help us to go where we want to go and compete effectively,” She said.

While opening the 25th session of the Association of Eastern and Southern Africa Accountants General Conference at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel at Entebbe, Ms Kadaga said Africa has witnessed rapid economic growth, but that it has come at high cost for the environment and the people.
She also said that more resources must be allocated to human capital development through better healthcare and education if sustainable development is to be achieved.

According to Kadaga, if the current emphasis is not backed by investments in human development, poverty levels will continue to soar and little impact will be created, adding that a lot of natural resources across the continent are being exploited but the impact on the population has been minimal.
“We need to ask how the economic resources have been converted into natural wealth, the agricultural land is arable and we are not using it why? Our forests and all other natural resources, these are God-given resources but we should ask ourselves whether we can use them to bring more wealth,” Kadaga said.

Held under the theme “public finance management forms and bridging for sustainable development goals”, Mr Lawrence Semakula, the Accountant General of Uganda said the conference will set targets to improve government accounting system in line with international standards enhance transparency and accountability and strengthen governance in the public sector.
“We all know that the ability of the governments to efficiently collect revenue and spend it in a transparent and accountable manner is instrumental. It’s therefore imperative to discuss positive approaches and issues relating to public financial management if you have to attain economic development.” Semakula said.

Matia Kasaija, the Minister for Finance, Planning and Economic Development said countries in eastern and southern African must do more to improve their growth rates which over the years have been slowing down. “Eeconomic growth in sub-Saharan Africa remains fragile. According to the international economic outlook in November 2017, the growth base slowdown in Sub-Saharan Africa is easing, but the underlying situation remains deep,” he said.
He said the regional risks to the economic growth include regional insecurity, climate change and environmental degradation.

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