Uganda will this Friday 9th October 2020 celebrate its 58th Independence Day anniversary in a “scientific” ceremony that will be held at State House Entebbe. A few VVIPs have been invited to join H.E the president at State House Entebbe to celebrate the day.
This year’s theme is; “Celebrating Uganda’s steady progress towards economic take off and self-sustaining economic growth”.
Minister for the Presidency Hon Esther Mbayo says there will be no traditional programmes and fanfare because the country is still observing the Ministry of Health Guidelines of the Standard Operating Procedures as we manage the Covid-19 pandemic, which is fully in our midst.
The day’s programme will be aired live on all television and radio channels across the country.
Uganda got her independence in 1962 from her then colonial masters, the British. “Our colonial masters handed us independence with a lot of confusion and tricky unresolved political issues that have made part of our journey very catastrophic. Tribute goes to all those who have paid the supreme sacrifices in the cause of nation building” Hon Mbayo.
She added that since 9th October 1962 to date, Uganda has stumbled and even fallen, but has also taken it in her strides, risen, stood firmly and made fundamental steps forward.
Hon Mbayo added that Ugandans today live almost twice as long as the independence generation. This is thanks, in part, to recent programmes that make medical equipment available to parts of the country once under-served.
Thanks to the NRM administration’s free maternal care programme, so far infant and child mortality has been tremendously reduced giving hope to thousands of mothers, Referral Hospitals, Health Centre IVs, Health Centre IIIs and Health Centre IIs have been constructed across the country to further enhance universal health care in Uganda. The Ministry of Health has ensured that 100% of our children are immunized against all the 13 preventable diseases and routine immunization services are provided at all health facilities and outreaches conducted in all districts within the country.
The minister also bragged about the introduction of Universal Primary and Secondary Education and partially in tertiary institutions.
“We have over 10.78 million children in our primary schools, 1.95 million in secondary schools and these are supported by the government of Uganda. Uganda’s economic growth has averaged 7% over the last 30 years. We have sustained single-digit inflation over a long time to date” she added.
She promises that Government will be implementing National Development Plan (NDP) III and focus on strategic objectives such as enhancing value addition to the productive sectors, which include agro-processing, mineral led industrialization, oil refinery among others. The above areas are expected to support the sustainable and accelerated growth.