By Frank Kamuntu
Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Social Protection, Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development and partners today held a national dialogue on social protection under the theme: “Investment in Social Protection across the Lifecycle”.
The event held at Hotel Africana triggered calls to the government to fight corruption and ensure that all Ugandans access income ethically and legally over their entire life.
Makerere University Chancellor and a celebrated economist Prof. Ezra Suruma who was the keynote speaker revealed,”an environment of massive unemployment and widespread corruption is inherently unstable because it breeds immorality as citizens are forced to resort to theft, robbery among other crimes.”
The Professor gave an example of Uganda’s oil, expressing worry that as oil money is about to flow in the country, many mafias are already warming up to divert it into their pockets.
”With such practices, every government jurisdiction in Uganda is likely to be affected. Should such corruption become endemic, the country is likely to squander its oil windfalls and get little or no development at all,” said Suruma.
Back to social protection, Uganda’s overage of the social protection scheme is still very low at less than 4% while only 0.7% of the Gross Domestic Product – GDP is allocated for financing it. This is one of the lowest in the region compared to neighbours such as Kenya (1%), Tanzania (1.7%), and Rwanda (1.8%) in the East African Community block.
Flavia Kabahenda, the Kyegegwa District Woman Representative, also Chairperson of the Forum expressed concern as Social Protection Financing in the National Budget Framework Paper for the Financial Year 2023/24 is being affected by extreme funding shortfalls.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to deliver comprehensive social protection, the Government has implemented the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE) which is currently benefiting 302,000 older persons aged 80 years and above across the country.
Through the Special Enterprise Grant for Older Persons (SEGOP) program, the government is also disbursing grants of five million Shillings to groups of 5 – 10 older persons aged 60-79 years with a. Under the SEGOP scheme, so far over 560 groups have benefited and 800 more are pending.
Equally, the Government through the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project – DRDIP is assisting 43,084 households, (about 285,500 people) in refugee-hosting districts across the country through Labour Intensive Public Works.
According to the Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, eight million people, (about 20.3%) of the 45 million Ugandans live below the poverty while 43% of the population has a high likelihood of falling into absolute poverty in case of a shock such as crop failure, chronic illness, disability, job loss, or death of a breadwinner. Further, less than 2% of the population has access to health insurance.
