Let us fight HIV in the right way.

By Isaac Ssekuuma, Communication and Information division

President Museveni publicly testing for HIV in support of the AIDS fight

A few days back I was with my nephew of five years and suddenly she said “if it’s not on the game is off!” I asked her what she meant by that and she said she had seen it on TV. Later on as I was relaxing an advert with exactly the same words was played with two ladies where one’s boyfriend denied her sex because their was no condom! It ended with both these ladies sharing condoms so that may be next time the game is on! Still on the same note as I drove through Kamwokya i saw a big billboard with the words “if cheated get tested want to cheat use a condom!” All these messages are geared towards having sex with condoms as a way to prevent HIV! True condoms may protect but they can’t prevent us from HIV.

 According to the Uganda AIDS commission over 400 new infections are recorded in the country on average daily with the biggest percentage between 18 and 26 years of age. Truth be told the biggest channel through which people get HIV is through sex and so we are just fueling the spread of the disease rather than controlling when we tell people its safe to have sex as long as it is protected. First condoms are not 100% safe as they have their draw backs: they at times break  due to friction in cases where a lady may not be well prepared, during the process of unpacking  at times they are torn especially if its done hurriedly, with the rate at which counterfeit goods hit the market with medicines inclusive some condoms must be counterfeit and risky to use, sustainability may not be possible especially for couples that have stayed together for long as confidence and trust grows, there is also general lack of knowledge on how to properly use these condoms especially when it comes to the female condoms and off course the cost of these condoms is a bit high for an average youth with this rate of unemployment. 

Lack of Political will still a hazzard in the Fight against Corruption.

By Teddy Namayanja, Public Relations Officer.

Despite the numerous government policies, action plans, strategies, laws and established institutions like the Inspectorate of Government among others with elaborate and promising mandates to fight corruption, the vice has continuously increased and according to statistics; Uganda still ranks top in the East African region in bribery prevalence according to the East African Bribery Index 2013 while government loses 300 billion in corruption related cases every year.

Civil Society Organizations have also joined the struggle in the recent past by launching a number of campaigns and activities to fight the vice for example the Black Monday campaign but in vain.

The 9^th Parliament has so far demonstrated a strong stance against the vice through objective house debates on pertinent issues and demanding for accountability from government through its watch dog; the Public Accounts Committee but still, not much has been yielded. In fact a group of legislators dubbed; Anti-Corruption crusaders some of them are from the National Resistance Movement the ruling party, others from the opposition while some are Independents formed the Anti Corruption Crusaders Campaign however, In a twist of events, the Members of Parliament (MP) from the ruling party were expelled from NRM for allegedly taking on adamant positions from the earlier on agreed Party positions. The Coalition by MP’s had at least been active for the previous two years.