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Govt to Spend Shs90b On Commonwealth Meeting
The Monitor (Kampala)
NEWS
April 21, 2006
By Peter Nyanzi
KampalaTHE government will spend some $50m (about Shs90b) on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting due in Kampala next year, Dr James Nsaba Buturo, has said.Buturo, who is the state minister for information and the government spokesman, told journalists at a press briefing at Nakasero yesterday that the summit was a "once in a lifetime event" and the government would do everything it takes to make it succeed."It is a new opportunity that this country should receive with both hands," Buturo said. "It is a once in a lifetime event that Uganda will be witnessing."He said $50m was just an "estimate" but that the country would get tremendous long-term dividends from the investment. "In our calculations, the returns would be enormously much more than this $50m that we are talking about," he said."The state of infrastructure is going to be superior to what we have today and much more that will be to our benefit as a country."Buturo said the Commonwealth team is in the country to check the preparations being made for the summit and that it was "happy" with the progress. "Bad news for FDC, the team is happy that our state of preparedness is on course," he said.Buturo added, "The Chogm will go ahead with or without the support of the FDC."The Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, Ms Zoe Bakoko Bakoru, attended the press briefing. She said a few months before the Chogm, Uganda was also scheduled to host the Commonwealth women ministers' summit from June 11 to 14, 2007. "It is a double benefit for Uganda," she said.Buturo said FDC was "stooping too low" in trying to lobby against the Queen's visit to Uganda along with over 10, 000 delegates from the 56 member states."When the Summit takes place here next year, its benefits will not go to President Yoweri Museveni or the NRM government alone, but to the people of Uganda who invariably include the FDC leadership," Buturo said, adding that Ugandans are already benefiting from jobs that are being created as a result of the new developments."Clearly, Uganda as a country will reap all manner of benefits and these will impact positively on the economic development. The summit will put Uganda on the global map."Buturo said the opposition should know that Uganda was no longer a colony of the British and "decisions are made in Kampala not in foreign capitals."He described as "misleading," "diversionary" and a "new invention," claims that the government was plotting to re-arrest the FDC President Dr Kizza Besigye on more trumped up charges. "He is trying to mobilise public sympathy after losing the elections," he said.Buturo revealed that the Cabinet on Wednesday discussed "the threat some sections of the media are posing to Uganda's security.""The government is investigating reports that some individuals posing as journalists are writing on Uganda on behalf of certain external interests," he said, adding that it was a kind of espionage under the cover of media freedom.He said Cabinet had identified several "avaricious journalists" who must be rolled back. He declined to reveal their identities but warned, "We will not hesitate to take action on such journalists. Buturo said freedom that compromises the country's stability must be resisted.-----If 50 heads of state were to toun up, that would be $1M per head of state. Vut only 25 or so will actually show up, so the cost will be $2 per head of state -- enough to buy modern equipment for each ward at Mulago Hospital plus medication for a year.
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