Kadaga pushes for special fund for refugee women

Session. Speaker Rebecca Kadaga engages the Qatar Speaker Ahmed Abdallah at the sidelines of the 14th session of the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Conference (PUOIC) in Rabat, Morocco. PHOTO BY PARLIAMENT PRESS

What you need to know:

  • Frustration. Mr Kadaga says the women in the camps suffer as single parents.

Rabat. 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, Ms 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 tasks of raising families because the fathers are either dead or active combatants,” Ms Kadaga said.
“Let us create a special fund and ensure that we eliminate their suffering and make life better for them,” she added.
Ms Kadaga is leading a delegation of Members of Parliament, who include Mr Latif Sebaggala (Ind, Kawempe North), Ms Sarah Nakawunde National Resistance Movement (NRM, Mpigi), and Ms Zaitun Driwaru (Ind, Yumbe).
Others are Mr Ismail Ogama Alli (NRM, Lower Madi County), Mr Abbas Agaba (NRM, Kitagwenda) and Parliament clerk Jane Kibirige.
The conference, which attracted speakers from OIC Parliaments, discussed conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa, and centred on how to bring an end to the wars in those troubled areas.
Ms Kadaga said the best solution is to ensure opportunities are created at home for the youth after they flee from the wars.
Uganda has been hailed for being receptive to refugees, amid the growing populist, far right movements in Europe and some parts of South America, which triumph on the anti-immigrant card.