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President Recieves Prince Charles
State House News (Kampala)
23 November 2007
His Royal Highness Prince Charles has appealed to the Government of
Uganda to plant more trees and to protect forests.He was meeting
President Yoweri Museveni at Serena Hotel on the sidelines of the CHOGM
summit.The prince expressed fears that if forests are not protected in
Indonesia and Africa, it will adversely affect the climate. He
suggested that governments, social societies, private sectors and
individuals be encouraged to invest in tree planting. He said that they
can benefit from what he called carbon trading.
The Prince said that in order to alleviate poverty in Africa,
governments and donor agencies need to invest in small groups of people
because this empowers individual groups to overcome economic dependence
syndrome. He commended the Government of Uganda for introducing UPE and
USE programmes.
The Prince, however, added that government should find ways of creating
jobs for the educated otherwise it will accelerate the brain-drain
syndrome. He said many African governments had neglected the youth
adding that the youth must also be encouraged to develop talents like
sports because they can depend on such talents in the future. He,
therefore, advised that in addition to developing talents, governments
should as well reward talented youth so that others can emulate them.
In response, President Museveni explained that forests in Africa are
destroyed because they are a source of livelihood and energy. He said
that In addition to carbon trading, governments need money to invest in
power generation and industrialization because people will not destroy
forests if they have enough energy.
The President said that the economic growth of Uganda has slowed
because of insufficient energy. He also said that Uganda needs energy
to develop more infrastructure and improve on business in the country
and in East Africa.
Mr. Museveni told Prince Charles that government invested in free
education deliberately rather than spending money on roads. |
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