African lawmakers discuss MDGs

Senate President, Dr Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo, has asked African Members of Parliament to play a central role in the attainment of Millennium Development Goals before the 2015 deadline. Ntawukuliryayo said the legislative arm of government has a crucial role towards the achievement of the United Nations development targets.He made the call during a consultative meeting of African Parliamentarians on International Conference on Population and Development and MGDs that commenced in Kigali, yesterday, to check on the progress made towards achieving MDGs, share successes and chart a way to fast–track goals that are fairing poorly.“We should be exercising our role as policy makers. We have been in several meetings in Maputo (Mozambique), Senegal and other meetings, this matter is in our hands and we have to tackle it. No one will come out to sort out the well-being of our countries,” he stated.Ntawukuliryayo also urged for African governments’ commitment to prioritise funding to attain the Goals within the set deadline.“I think it is not a matter of limited resources; it is (about) commitment. It has to be a must because we are talking about our children and we are talking about Africa tomorrow. “We will be held accountable tomorrow on these issues. Why do we have to commit the same errors? he posed. “We talk about planning, (but) why can’t we plan for the better, not to come back to the same errors?”Dr Ntawukuliryayo asked the legislators to borrow a leaf from the developed countries in order to achieve some of the MDGs. “We have to look at the developed countries, where they are, and the measures they take regarding sexual and family planning decisions.” He observed that although Rwanda had made tremendous progress towards the attainment of MDGs, the maternal mortality rate was still high. The Special Advisor to the Nigerian President, Saudatu Sani, said that African legislators should push their governments to implement policies and provide the necessary funds allocated in the annual budgets. He added that some challenges like corruption, lack of commitment, poverty, among others, should be dealt with if the goals are to be achieved.“A lot of literature shows that to plan a good family is about saving a life but many of us have shied away from our one important responsibility of putting resources to address the issue of planning. “As Members of Parliament, it is our responsibility to look at how much government is giving to save the life of that innocent woman,” she said.Meanwhile, Silvia Ssinabulya, the chairperson of the National Association Women Parliamentarians in Uganda, warned that unless the world invests in its young people, and, in particular, their sexual and reproductive health and their rights to health and education, there cannot be hope for sustainable development. “Many young people in the poorest countries wish to have fewer children than their parents but lack the means to do so, and relatively few in many countries have a better understanding of how HIV is transmitted or prevented,” Ssinabulya explained.She noted that the goal of universal access to sexual reproductive health and rights that are central to the outcome of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Beijing I Platform, was omitted from the MDGs at a later stage.“This omission cannot be repeated, particularly at a time when 215 million women already have an unmet need for family planning, and the world’s largest generation of young people will increase demand by some 40 per cent.” she underlined.