By William Kituuka Kiwanuka.
In Uganda, we were under her for 10 years when we were a British Protectorate, and for 60 years, we have been associated with her as members of the Common wealth where she has been the head.
Queen Elizabeth II can be described as one of the finest examples of dedication to the people of the Commonwealth and the world Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in British history, died at the age of 96. She passed away peacefully in her beloved Balmoral surrounded by family. The future King was by her side. Her extraordinary life is best described in her own words from 1977 on her silver jubilee “When I was 21, I pledged my life to the service of our people, and asked for God’s help to make that vow. Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgment, I do not regret nor retract one word of it.”
It is known that the Queen’s last official functions were to meet Boris Johnson at the Queen’s Balmol Palace as he stepped down as United Kingdom Prime Minister on Tuesday, September 6, and thereafter met Liz Truss who became UK’s Prime Minister thereafter.
Briefly about the program for Monday, September 19:
On the morning of Monday 19th September, the Late Queen’s Lying-in-State will end and the Coffin will be taken in Procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, where the State Funeral Service will take place.
Following the State Funeral, the Coffin will travel in Procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. From Wellington Arch, the Coffin will travel to Windsor and once there, the State Hearse will travel in Procession to St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle via the Long Walk. A Committal Service will then take place in St George's Chapel.
In Uganda, in appreciation of the role the Queen has played through her 70 years in that place, we cannot fail to remember the support Uganda as got from United Kingdom over the years. The support has featured in boosting Good Governance and Human Rights hence funding efforts in that direction; support to infrastructure development; support to education including scholarships to UK Universities which has been one way of enhancing skilled manpower development; support to the health services; support to community development efforts, just to mention sum. Against that background, we hope all the monuments erected in observation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth will remain in place and also get rehabilited and care. In this regard, hopefully, Ugandans will see the Queen’s Clock Tower in place with a functional clock.
I wish to reflect on some of the UK support to Uganda for which we are most grateful:
UK gives £1.3 Million to Fight COVID-19 and WHO support mental health services
8 October 2020
The government of the United Kingdom recently released a grant of GBP 1.322 million (UGX 6.11 billion) to support various aspects of Uganda’s fight against COVID-19. Activities funded by the UK grant are being implemented by WHO and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
WHO and IOM are using their respective expertise to help strengthen and maintain the capacity of the health sector to prevent, prepare for, detect and respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
As the lead implementing agency, WHO will pursue two key objectives: (i) To strengthen coordination of COVID-19 preparedness and response activities at national and sub-national level, and (ii) to strengthen surveillance, detection, laboratory confirmation of cases and reporting system for prompt containment of cases.
Project activities will include: Recruitment of staff at national, regional and district level to facilitate coordination; support functionality of the national and district taskforces in high risk and affected areas; orientation of district officials on the Incident management system; orientation of surveillance teams; supporting follow-up of contacts of the confirmed cases; sample collection, transportation and analysis at designated laboratories; and procurement of laboratory supplies and testing kits.
In parallel, WHO also works with health authorities to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support as part of COVID-19 response. In Uganda, like most African countries, mental healthcare was already weak before the epidemic, and mental health services suffered. Experts from the WHO Regional office for Africa observe that little if any budget is allocated in many African countries to implement plans for mental health and psychosocial support as part of their COVID-19 response plans.
Uganda is increasing personnel and funding, with psychosocial workers trained across the country to ensure mental health and psychosocial support services are operational. In addition, teleconsultations and a helpline allow monitoring of discharged COVID-19 patients.
UK doubles export funding to Uganda.
Sunday, March 26, 2017 — updated on January 02, 2021
The British government has announced a major increase in the export credit for Uganda, from £300 million (Shs1.35 trillion) to £600 million (Shs2.7 trillion).
The British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Uganda, Lord Dolar Popat, who is currently visiting Uganda, revealed this on Thursday at a breakfast meeting held for United Kingdom (UK) business community in Uganda.
The new export finance support is made available through UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK Government’s export credit agency which provides competitive finance for UK exports.
Mr Popat said: “This will provide Uganda with greater access to competitive British government trade finance, and enable more UK investors to bring their expertise, goods and services to Ugandan projects.”
He said the facility will also support Uganda to achieve its major infrastructure objectives by providing access to highly competitive long-term finance with the UK government and world-class British infrastructure expertise.
UK Government invests US$ 4 million to support Uganda address the population challenge and improve family planning uptake.
7 March 2018
KAMPALA – Wednesday, March 7, 2018: The UK Government has signed a five-year agreement (2018-2022) with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), providing Pound Sterling 3 million, equivalent to US Dollars 4 million, to support Government of Uganda’s efforts to address the population challenge and improve family planning uptake.
The key focus areas of the programme align with Government of Uganda’s priorities to: develop, adopt and monitor performance of an innovative financing mechanism for family planning; support a multi sectoral approach to adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights in order to increase access to age appropriate sexuality information and services; strengthen the health system for effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable family planning service delivery; strengthen partner coordination to provide sexual and reproductive health services to high burden and hard to reach populations including humanitarian settings; and to generate evidence to influence policy and decision making so as to accelerate harnessing of the demographic dividend.
“This is a very strategic intervention that is supported by the UK Government,” said Mr. Alain Sibenaler, UNFPA Representative. “Family Planning gives women and couples choice that, in turn, opens up larger possibilities and adds quality to their lives. Women and girls became more empowered to contribute economically, hence a spur to socio-economic transformation. We are honoured to count on the strong leadership and ownership by the Government of Uganda in this regard.”
Uganda’s Vision 2040 recognizes that if unchecked, the country’s high fertility and resultant high population growth rate can become a challenge in the realization of upper middle income status by 2040. According to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS, 2016), 28% of women who would like to use a modern form of contraception do not have access. Besides, girls start giving birth early – one in four girls age 15-19 have either given birth or are pregnant with their first child.
Support from UKaid will address key drivers to Uganda’s population challenges including low level of education, especially among girls, harmful practices such as child marriage, gender based violence and teenage pregnancy, among other issues.
“Working with the Government of Uganda to develop its human capital and unleash the potential its young population is a top priority for the UK Government. There’s a lot of good research out there on the inter-relationship and large scale economic and social returns of tackling child marriage, ensuring that girls stay on and complete a full cycle of secondary education and delaying childbirth. UKaid looks forward to working with all its partners to tackle some of these key drivers of Uganda’s population challenge.” Jennie Barugh, Head of Office, at the UK’s Department for International Development in Uganda.
At the Family Planning Summit in London in July 2017, Uganda recommitted to advance family planning through effective implementation of policies that will enhance delivery of services through innovative financing; expanding the range of contraceptives; empowering young people to thrive; and implementing interventions to reach the hardest to reach.
“Support from the UK Government is in line with President Museveni’s promise to rally Development Partners to contribute and match Uganda’s effort to invest in family planning. We welcome the initiative especially at this time when Uganda is focusing on how the country will harness its Demographic Dividend through strategic investments in education, health and skilling of young people,” said Dr. Jotham Musinguzi, Director General, National Population Council.
The programme will be implemented at national level with regard to policy and system issues with specific interventions in hard-to-reach and refugee-hosting districts including Abim, Amudat, Moroto, Nakapiripirit, Kaabong, Napak, Kotido, Moyo, Adjumani, Yumbe, Arua, Koboko, Lamwo, Kiryandongo, Kyegegwa, Kamwenge, Hoima, Bundibugyo and Isingiro.
“We are grateful to the UK Government for this generosity and commit to use the funds strengthen systems for family planning (FP) service delivery and management including in hard-to-reach areas,” said Hon. Sarah Opendi, Minister of State for Health, General Duties.
May the Almighty God grant Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II the much deserved eternal Rest.
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