Speaker Kadaga blames government for slow implementation of SDGs
Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga (L) and Mr Ekwee Ethuro(R),IPU vice President and Speaker Senate of Kenya after opening the regional seminar on Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in Kampala. PHOTO BY ALEX ESAGALA
What you need to know:
- The three day seminar, convened in collaboration with the Inter Parliamentary Union, will aim to define the opportunities and challenges that parliaments face in fully exercising their role in the implementation of the SDGs.
- According to the seminar’s concept note, the discussion of Goal 16 will centre on how parliaments should institutionalize the SDGs so as to capture synergies and build coherence when policies are being developed.
KAMPALA: The three day Sub-Saharan conference on Sustainable Development Goals kicked off today with the Speaker of Parliament accusing government of being slow in the implementation of the goals.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Ms Rebecca Kadaga said government is yet to act on her demand that it appoints a special ministry to be reporting to Parliament about the implementation progress of the goals.
“I have been asking government to identify a minister who will be reporting to parliament about the progress of the SDGs but they have not done it. We are still there oscillating,” she said.
Ms Kadaga further informed the conference that the ministry of finance is yet to prove that budget lines in the budget framework paper for the next financial year to cater for the achievement of the SDG.
“I asked the minister to identify in all the proposals which ones comply with SDGs but he is yet to answer. I told him that I will wait for him when he comes to read the budget and I will ask for the same thing,” she added.
The SDGs are a set of seventeen aspirational "Global Goals" with 169 targets between them. They pick from the Millennium Development Goals which ended in 2015. They among other targets seek to achieve; no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy.
Ms Kadaga further noted that she directed all Parliament committees to ensure that SDGS are reflected in the laws and policies the House passes.
“We want to see them (SDGs) reflected in the local benchmarks. We shall be expected to give the necessary resources. We are the only people who appropriate in this country so let us ensure that they
(SDGs) are put in the budgets,” she said.
The three day seminar, convened in collaboration with the Inter Parliamentary Union, will aim to define the opportunities and challenges that parliaments face in fully exercising their role in the implementation of the SDGs. It will help participants to assess whether parliaments in sub-Saharan Africa are properly equipped to advance the vision of the SDGs.
According to the seminar’s concept note, the discussion of Goal 16 will centre on how parliaments should institutionalize the SDGs so as to capture synergies and build coherence when policies are being developed.
“By concentrating on environmental and health policy, the discussion should help shed light on the governance gaps that make service provision particularly difficult in some countries. The Seminar aims put climate change and health on the agendas of the parliaments of sub-Saharan Africa,” the concept note reads in part.
IPU Vice President, Ekwee Ethuro, pledged continued IPU support to parliaments to ensure that SDGs are achieved.
“Given the role SDGs play in the world, we began as a group of MPs and pushed through the United Nations to have the SDGs….We undertake to place democracy in the right place of humanity.
“Seminars like these are very important in terms of implementation of SDGs in the region. The presence of many of you here sends a clear message about your interest in SDGS,” he said.
He added, “SDGs is an opportunity for us not only to catch up with development but to lead from the front. This is an opportunity to make sure that the rising Africa is truly rising.”
