Greening Kampala has emerged as one of the central themes of the 2019/2020 pre-budget launch activities.
Finance minister Matia Kasaija has urged Kampala City Capital Authority (KCCA) to revive the green parks in the city to counter climate change disasters. While launching the 2019/2020 budget month awareness activities on May 24, Kasaija flagged off a tree-planting campaign along Bombo road and said Kampala was greener in the 1960s because of the numerous gardens, swamps and forests, which have since been destroyed.
“The aim of this exercise (tree-planting) is to highlight the importance of environmental conservation and contribute towards efforts of the greening campaign by KCCA. I want to encourage every family to plant at least three trees in their homesteads,” Kasaija said after planting a symbolic tree on the stretch between YMCA and Norvik hospital.
Officials from the ministry of Finance, KCCA, Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), ministry of Water, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and other government institutions braved the morning downpour to attend the function.
Kasaija said the ministry of Finance chose the tree-planting activity to emphasize the importance of climate change actions that benefit the economy.
“The choice of this activity is because Uganda’s economy is majorly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and tourism. We, therefore, need to pay more attention to environmental issues if economic growth is to be sustainable,” he said.
Prolonged droughts, floods and unpredictable rainfall patterns, which affect agricultural production in the country, are some of the climate change effects. Accordingly, Kasaija said government has set a target to reverse the trend in environmental degradation and increase the percentage of land covered by vital ecosystems to 24 percent by 2022.
Meanwhile, the ministry of Finance will conduct more activities to engage the public before reading the 2019/20 budget on June 13. The other activities include; donation of scholastic materials at East Kololo primary school on May 30 and an exhibition of service excellence by government ministries and institutions from June 3 to 4 at Kololo ceremonial grounds.
The ministry will also hold post-budget dialogue on June 20 at Serena International Conference Centre, Kampala. On June 21, concurrent regional breakfast meetings will be held in Lira, Arua, Soroti, Hoima and Kabale to engage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on the budget.
Commenting on activities, Kasaija applauded the civil society for working with his ministry staff to publicize and engage the general public in the budgeting processes.
mugalu@observer.ug