THE SECOND NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION CONVENTION,

KAMPALA, UGANDA
CONVENTION COMMUNIQUE
3rd December 2012

I) PREAMBLE

We the over 1000 people of Uganda, having met on 3rd December 2012, from various walks of life including the youth, women, business community, persons with disability, media, political leaders, religious leaders and Non-Governmental organizations, met in Kampala, Uganda to discuss the most pressing challenges and creative solutions to fighting theft of public funds.

Since the first Anti-Corruption Convention that was held on 8th December, 2011, Uganda has lost not less than 1.3 trillion shillings resulting into a situation of deplorable health services across the country, ill facilitated educational infrastructure, spiraling poverty levels, growing unemployment, ethnic tensions, land grabbing, declining fortunes of agriculture, environmental degradation.

Aware that the unraveling theft in the office of the Prime Minister, Public Service, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice are a mere reflection of the trend in other government ministries, departments and agencies. The plunder of public assets can and will have worse impact if not stopped.

II) Today we re-affirm, resolve and commit to Individual and Collective Actions to secure our future as follows;

1. Harness the role of people power in fighting corruption through sustained collective actions that are fundamental to building positive change epitomized through the Black Monday Movement.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH:-- WE WANT ACTION ON CORRUPTION NOW!

Fellow Citizens of Uganda:

The President of Uganda, His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has over the years publically condemned corruption and promised zero tolerance to theft in public offices. This was supposed to be exemplified through the setup of the Anti-Corruption Court and the National Strategy to fight Corruption, the Directorate of Ethics and Integrity in the President’s Office, among other institutions put in place to fight corruption. What has emerged is that, we have too many institutions and yet we see no concrete action on corruption.

Uganda’s children continue to die of malaria, malnutrition, nodding disease and many other preventable diseases while our leaders and technocrats shamelessly loot with greed the money meant to provide medicine for our children. Our teachers sleep hungry and our children have no lunch at school, our policemen sleep like dogs and are paid peanuts, our doctors, nurses and midwives are underpaid, unpaid and on strike, our youth remain unemployed and helpless and we lose 16 of our mothers daily due to poor maternal health, while lots of money meant to address our plight as Ugandans is stolen day and night by individuals who time and again have been left scot free. Why should innocent Ugandans pay with their lives for injustices perpetrated by publically known robbers, pickpockets, burglars and thieves? We are tired of losing Ugandans from preventable death. We want Action on Corruption.

We strongly believe there is enough for the needs of every Ugandan but not enough for the greed of public servants entrusted to manage resources responsibly for the good of all Ugandans. This unacceptably shameful, draconian, uncivil form of conduct must be stopped in the greater interest of ensuring meaningful development for all Ugandans.

Safeguarding Adolescent Sexual and Reoproductive Health

Adolescence is a period of transition from childhood to adulthood that happens between the ages of 10-19 years. This is the stage when most young people begin to explore their sexuality and have intimate relationships. Engaging in sexual activities at this stage is risky as it exposes adolescents to early pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual violence.

It has been reported that problems associated with pregnancy are a leading cause of death among the adolescents. In addition, sexual coercion is a widespread phenomenon as evidenced by the fact that in some countries between 20% and 48% of young women aged 10-25 years have been forced to have sex.

Most young people cannot protect themselves since they lack information on where to go for adolescent sexual reproductive health care, and the majority are not empowered enough to negotiate for safe sex with their partners. In addition, most youth particularly the girls are under pressure to marry and produce children at such an early stage in their life.

What should be done?

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY OUTREACH AT KYAMBOGO COLLEGE SCHOOL