By Mulengera Reporters
The Uganda Government Minister in charge of Environment, the Honorable Beatrice Atim Anywar has prudently exercised her powers and proclaimed a ban on use of plastics and polythene materials at all Ministry of Water & Environment public functions and events.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 8th edition of Uganda Water & Environment Week (UWEW), that was presided over by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament as was represented by OPM’s General Duties Minister Justine Kasule Lumumba last week, Anywar said that time had come for the Ministry to lead by example since its their mandate to lead and coordinate all government efforts aimed at environmental conservation.
“I have been reluctant to say this right here but let me say it and now. I don’t want to see this again and I’m proclaiming a ban on the use of all manner of plastics and polythene materials on this Ministry premises and I won’t expect anything like that at the 9th edition of this water week come March next year,” Anywar said as she prepared to see off Kasule Lumumba with whom she had just presided over a photo session.
Polythene materials or kavera and all plastic materials are considered to be harzardous to the environment and the GoU has continued to be under pressure to emulate other countries or governments and enforce a total ban on their usage.
This has always been a controversial matter and indeed, Anywar’s pronouncement during the event at the Ministry headquarters attracted mixed reactions from the large audience that comprised of MPs, other political leaders, academicians, development partner representatives, CSOs representatives, cultural and religious institutions’ representatives.
It remains unclear how organisers of future such events at the Water & Environment Ministry will go about things like serving refreshments, like drinking water, at the same Ministry premises or even during top manament meetings without relying on mineral water which is always bottled up and contained in plastic bottles.
EFFORTS RECOGNIZED:
At the same opening ceremony for the weeklong event at the Luzira-based Ministry headquarters, Kasule Lumumba, acting on Tayebwa’s behalf, presented Beatrice Anywar with an award of recognition in appreciation of her relentless activism towards protection of wetlands, forests and other aspects of protected environment or natural resources in Uganda.
As early as 2006, Anywar served as the Shadow Minister for environment, the very platform she used to famously lead the famous Mabira riots of 2007 that were aimed at pressurizing government to back off plans to degazete sections of Mabira forest and donate it to the Mhetta group for sugarcane growing expansion. That’s how the nickname Mama Mabira derived and its how Beatrice Anywar came to be known by the media and across the whole country up to this day. It’s through such activism that even Gen Museveni took note of Anywar’s leadership credentials.
Lumumba asserted that the recognition, for which Anywar was recommended by development partners and other sector stakeholders, was well-merited and she explained why.
“My colleague Hon Beatrice Atim Anywar, you deserve this recognition because you have been a relentless voice for the protection of our environment even long before you even became a Minister in charge of the same. You have always been very outspoken and supportive of all manner of environmental protection efforts and it’s my prayer that you don’t relent. The Government of Uganda is proud of you and please keep going,” Lumumba said prompting Anywar to sarcastically protest while demanding to be instead addressed as Mama Mabira, which she said is easier to recognise and identify by even the ordinary person in every corner of Uganda.
During the same ceremony, Lumumba was also recognised with an award whose justification and purpose was explained by none other than the chief event convener himself Dr. Alfred Okidi, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Water & Environment.
Okidi said that Lumumba had been a consistent and outspoken advocate and supporter in Cabinet for the water & environmental sector to be funded and generally resourced even more; given the paramount important role the water and natural resources services it renders play in the sustaining of livestock, plant and human life in the whole country.
While accepting the award, Lumumba explained that her keenness and fascination with water-related matters is informed by a number of factors including her being the OPM Minister charged with SDGs (whose realisation rotates a lot around water resources) and her childhood which was largely one of deprivation regarding access to safe water for drinking and other domestic purposes.
She revealed that in the Bugiri village where she grew up, her native community was so deprived regarding water access to the extent that the only water source they had was daily shared by humans, cows, dogs and snakes.
She said that this was normal throughout her childhood period; adding that things only improved much later on when the area Church of Uganda leadership delivered the community or village’s first ever borehole which the GoU supplemented much later on by establishing for them a second one. Lumumba added that one of the reasons she appreciates President Museveni very much is because her community’s access to safe water was enlarged and deliberately improved during his reign following his takeover of power in 1986.
“That role the Church of Uganda played for our community explains why I have such a strong belief in the role and contribution that non-state actors like NGOs and the private sector can play in improving Ugandans’ access to water-related social services,” explained Lumumba before matching out to rush to Entebbe to join a Cabinet session where she said she had business to present and defend. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
