Uganda People's Congress Wishes Muslims a Great Eid Ad Dhuha
Benjamin Mwibo
The Uganda People's Congress (UPC) party has called upon the Muslim brothers and sisters to celebrate well throughout the holy day of Eid ad dhuha , which is speculated to occur on Sunday.
On Wednesday in kampala during a press conference, the party spokesperson Ms. Sharon Ayat indicated that recently, the Muslim Pilgrims went to Mecca to perform Hijja, which is one of the pillars of the Islamic faith fulfilled every year, however, the Muslim brothers and sisters will therefore be celebrating their Eid Al – Adha very soon and therefore UPC would like to wish them a joyful and celebrative Eid.
“May the Almighty Allah accept all their sacrifices and prayers. Let us share with one another as we celebrate.”
Ayat also expressed concern on the recently delivered state of the Nation Address by the president and said that the President indicated there is a surplus of milk production in the country and that Ugandans need to make use of the East African Common Market for its consumption.
“Recently, the same Government instructed both the school authorities and parents or guardians to start feeding pupils and students on a daily milk diet without considering in mind that it is out of reach for the majority of our people in the country and this caused an uproar from the public.”
Ayat added that the only way this can be a reality is to establish farms across the country with high yielding breeds, pastures and good animal husbandry practices which include routine vaccination.
The figure of government funding for a primary and secondary school child under Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) respectively is abnormally very low for a term! This affects the quality of education in the country hence producing half-baked products whose foundation is very poor, she noted.
“The learning environment is not only unconducive to learners, but also to teachers whose welfare is very wanting as well as facing salary disparities. At the extreme a good number of teachers are failing to take their children to school due to ever rising school needs. This is equally the same with other parents or guardians who are still repaying the old term's school fees on top of the new term that has just commenced.”
She explained that UPC therefore reiterates its call to government to harmonize salaries of teachers and the special treatment given to science teachers should equally be extended to arts teachers as well. The Government should be cognizant that people have different skills and with our struggling economy, they both face the same socio-economic challenges that are highly demanding.
The UPE and USE funding should be revised upwards. As for the health sector, it is confusing that there are persistent reports of expired drugs that the government has to destroy in the wake of scarce drugs to our people in health outlets, Ayat indicated.
UPC calls upon a functioning health system whereby the medical staff are well facilitated with both a good pay and conditions of welfare that includes accommodation within the medical facility.
