By Martha Nakimuli
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga wants government to make a review of the National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) programme that aims at improving the livelihood of millions of Ugandans in the rural areas through agriculture.
The speaker was officiating at the Women’s day celebrations for Kamuli district Monday 11 when she observed that the biggest percentage of the funds budgeted for NAADS are spent on facilitating the fund administrators.
“NAADS in its current form is a joke. Government needs to review the entire programme to ensure that the intended farmers at the grassroots benefit directly,’’Rt.Hon. Kadaga noted.
Commenting on the Marriage and Divorce Bill,the Speaker said the bill doesn’t intend to encourage divorce but seeks to protect families against abuse.
She noted that after several years in marriage many women have been forced out of their homesteads and walked away with nothing.
The Speaker also called for a solution to cohabiting which is not a recognized form of marriage.
‘’Cohabitation is a reality of life. Hiding our heads in the sand is not right.Let’s find solutions to it,” she urged religious leaders and legislators at the ceremony.
Speaker of Parliament ,Rebeca Kadaga
Kamuli district Chairperson Hon. Salaamu Musumba who celebrated her fiftieth birthday at the Womens’day celebrations lashed out at men who continue to mistreat Women because of their gender.
‘’Our biology should not criminalize us. I could have been something else. You could be me I could be you. God created us to complement each other’’,she noted.
Hon. Musumba also emphasized that domestic relations is not a war between sexes but it’s about responsibilities.
She urged the central government leadership to ensure continuity of the linkage with Local Governments. The Kamuli district chair warned that the current decentralisation system is dysfunctional since the intended beneficiaries of services at the grassroots seem to be detached from the centre where national resources are collected.
Several district women leaders appealed to government to help improve the welfare of women, saying their dependence on the husbands partly contributes to domestic violence.