The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah has called for a shift of focus from the increasing population to creating enabling policies and an environment which supports the population to sustain itself.
He said that if an economy is strong and has the capacity to support its population, the issue of population growth ceases to be a challenge.
Oulanyah was speaking during the launch of the World Population Day activities at Sheraton Hotel on Thursday, 05 April 2018. The activities are organised by the National Population Council.
“There are countries which are seeking out people because they are under populated. This is because they have too much resource that is redundant,” said Oulanyah.
The Deputy Speaker said that Uganda should view the existing population as an opportunity and invest in it.
“Imagine if out of the 38 million Ugandans, 25 million are able to purchase without being dependant. How many industries would support that population; how many entrepreneurs would we have inventing new ideas? This can only be possible if we invest in the population,” said Oulanyah.
The Director General, National Population Council, Jotham Musinguzi said that they have spear headed the process of making sure that the national population policy is revised to reflect the emerging issues in the Sustainable Development Goals, the National Development Plan II, Agenda 2023, and Regional and Continental frameworks.
“In order for Uganda to harness the demographic dividend, we need to make sure that the country accelerates fertility reduction by investing in family planning, girl child education, prioritizing the health of the population as well as embracing good governance,” said Musinguzi.
World population day is commemorated on 11 July and this year, Uganda will hold its national celebrations in Omoro district under the theme “Leaving no body behind, improving service delivery and accountability,”
