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First Lady of the Republic of Uganda and Minister for Karamoja Affairs.

The First Lady and Minister for Karamoja Affairs, Janet Museveni, has called upon Ugandans in the diaspora to invest in Karamoja and help the region harness its natural resources and potential so that prosperity becomes a reality.
She made this call in her presentation about her experiences, successes and challenges of work in Karamoja during the second Ugandan UK Convention in London on Saturday.
The 2012 Ugandan UK Convention which ran along with the Diaspora Trade and Investment Expo 2012 under the theme “Aspiring for Sustainable Prosperity”, was promoting Uganda as the preferred investment destination for Ugandans in the diaspora.
Mrs. Museveni described Karamoja as a region full of investment opportunities and encouraged all Ugandans, friends, partners in development and entrepreneurs from within and outside Uganda to pursue and exploit them for the good of the Karimojong and Uganda at large. She cited examples of the endowed Kidepo National Game Park plus the stunning and unique scenery and the undisturbed habitat in the region that she said offers tremendous opportunity for eco-tourism. She also pointed out the rich volcanic soils which investors could take advantage of to engage in mechanised commercial crop and livestock agriculture and be able to feed the market within Uganda as well as the regional and global demands.
Other investment opportunities that Mrs. Museveni identified in Karamoja include the exploitation of various minerals, solar and geothermal renewable energy production, use of the vast lands for large forest plantations to offer carbon credit to partners from industrialised countries as well as contribute to climate change mitigation.
“Uganda’s development cannot be complete without the development of Karamoja,” Mrs. Museveni said and pledged the Government of Uganda’s commitment to support any endeavour towards enhancing the prosperity of Karamoja.

ganda must speed up decision making in the economic sector and make manpower development a priority if it is to take advantage of the many opportunities available in the country today.

These were some of the remarks by participants at the 2nd Ugandan UK Convention at the Proxy Arena in London over the weekend.

The Ugandan delegation to the convention was led by First Lady and Minister in charge of Karamoja affairs Janet Museveni, Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka, agriculture minister Tress Bucyanayandi and Minister of State for Teso Christine Amongin Aporu among others.

One of the highlights of the convention was a presentation by the First Lady on developments in Karamoja, where she explained government programmes in the region.

“Uganda’s development cannot be complete without the development of Karamoja,” she stressed.

Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga promised to create a desk on the Foreign affairs committee to address complaints of Ugandans in the diaspora.

Some of the talking points at the Convention’s Youth Forum:

o Exploring the predominant image of young people today as alienated, apathetic, and uninvolved in their communities. (Point to Yahaya Kiyigi, how can young people get involved in the social and political fabric of UK including the promotion of civil society.
o “Citizens in action: youth in political and public life”: this thematic area will examine the benefits of social and political inclusion of youth as well as mechanisms and processes to engage youth as decision-makers and key stakeholders in their communities. It will particularly reflect on the role of social networking and new media in fostering democracy, inclusion and active participation of youth in public life. Youth activists, members of community and national youth councils, bloggers and youth leaders are particularly encouraged to share their experiences. This Forum also plans examine the contribution that youth can make in their communities, particularly by engaging in post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction. Take example from the London Riot and recent political unrest in Uganda.
o “Countering youth exclusion, vulnerability and violence”: this thematic area will examine the different facets of exclusion and their causal relation with violence and vulnerability among youth. It will look into different types of violence, including street violence, gender based violence and violence in school. The objective would be to identify concrete and innovative ways to address social exclusion as a way to prevent violence affecting youth,
both as victims and as perpetrators, and to address the needs of vulnerable groups. The debate on this sub-theme will build on experiences of youth organizations, testimonies of vulnerable groups of youth participating in the Forum.

Yahaya was one of the panelists at the Youth Forum, the forum discussed how to:

• Deliberate on how the youthfulness of the Diaspora could be an asset and an opportunity;
• Deliberate on challenges that the Diaspora youth face to fully contribute to the development of Uganda and propose key recommendations for the consideration of the Ugandan government
• Citizens in action: youth in political and public life
• Countering youth exclusion, vulnerability and violence
• Empowering young people to improve the quality of life through the use of ICTs and social media (Facebook, twitter, BB, whatApp…) and exploit it as a means of self empowerment, self advancement beyond a social platform.
• Support the use of new social media, particularly in terms of building networks and sharing best practices on youth participation in decision-making.
• Use Diaspora youth as an effective instrument of advocacy, empowerment and public policy voice for young people in Uganda.
• Strengthen/build new strategic alliances and partnerships among youth networks within and outside the Diaspora.
• Youth facing Health challenges, HIV/AIDS

This young, slick, Ugandan born, lib dem “whizzkid” is tipped to be the youngest parliamentary candidate in the next general elections.

The 20 year olds family moved to the UK from Uganda when he was barley four years old. He grew up in inner city London, battling all the odds to gain a place to study politics at a Russell group university. He says that he chose to study politics because it upsets him when he see the “lack of political enthusiasm” within his generation “I fear that unless more young people stand up and are allowed to participate in politics at a higher level, we will have a whole lost generation which passively hands power to anyone who looks the part without considering their vision and their plan for our communities.”

The young Yahaya Kiyingi was already set to be a rising star even before he had completed his GCSE’s. At the age of 16 he had set up his own local magazine, and was sitting on the local party executive board as a youth and student representative. At the age of 17 he became an approved parliamentary candidate even before he was legally eligible to stand for parliament. At 18 he was enrolled onto the elite party leadership programme, a very selective programme designed only for the most promising parliamentary candidates the party has to offer. Earlier this year he gave an electrifying speech at party conference in front of a packed arena and the deputy prime minister. Conference was blown away by the Londoners heartfelt and incredibly delivered rally speech about Liberalism, opportunity and the next generation.
Yahaya talked about his family moving from Uganda to London, growing up in one of the poorest areas of his borough, but aspiring to where he is today through the principles of opportunity and empowerment.

Everyone, starting with the Deputy Prime minister Nick Clegg wanted to meet him and sing his praises afterwards, and as Deputy party leader Simon Hughes MP told conference “You are why we are in politics Yahaya”.

He says politics has really changed his life and has taken him places he would never have dreamed of. Asked, what has been his highlight so far, he quickly replies, “Lunch with President Clinton which I was personally invited to.” It is clear that this young “future leader” has laid the foundations for himself, but he remains humble in saying that his biggest inspiration has been his mother. He says, “my mother has always supported my political involvement but has also kept me grounded. She never lets me forget where we came from.” It is clear that his mother and father have groomed him well, despite having grown up in the UK, virtually all his life, he still speaks fluent Luganda, and readily indentifies with his Ugandan roots, pointing out, “I’m a proud member of the Ndiga clan”.

He has already assembled a strong team to fight the Tottenham seat in 2015, for which he is expected to be selected for later this year. His hope is to engage in a radical campaign — engaging those who showed how distanced they are from politics and the community in the 2011 UK Riots. “I don’t look to my candidacy as merely for political office but, more than anything, I looking to start a conversation, a debate, a movement. I want people to look at me after 2015 and say, that guy stood for something”

At first glance, this tall, dark and skinny, young man, does not fit the image of a typical British Politician and it is easy to discount him, but there is no doubt that after speaking to him, his eloquence, manner and vision puts him firmly in position to make it anywhere in Whitehall.

Article in the Promota: http://www.thepromota.co.uk/yahaya-kiyingi-young-ugandan-rising-in-the-political-realm-of-british-politics/

Western Union has been supporting most of Ugandan community projects and we are glad that it was one of our main sponsors at the 1st and 2nd Convention and looking forward to working with them in the future.

One of the Convention’s objectives is to Increase remittances inflows through targeted investment products for Diasporans and Western union has been one of the vehicles used to remit Diaspora remittances to Uganda.