Give the youth a chance to express their patriotism

 

RICHARD MUGISHA

According to the New vision of June 2018 quoting first Deputy Prime Minister Gen Moses Ali Uganda loses an equivalent of 7.5% of her GDP due to disastrous impact of climate.

Recently the National Secretariat for patriotism corps (NSPC) launched a National Schools Debate Championship for all secondary schools in Uganda under a theme “fighting climate change through protecting environment a patriotic call for young people” and precisely the aim of these debate was to take this conversation to the owners of the future of this country.

The debate is running throughout the country in all secondary schools and the climax of it will be the best a hundred schools coming to Kampala for a residential National debate championship where the best debaters will represent the country in the world debate championship

So far the debates are still going on at qualifiers level in regions and a number of schools have participated including the big and traditional schools.

It is interesting to see the youth as young as 13 years of age taking on each other on major environmental issues like severe soil erosion, deforestation, encroachment of wetlands, Poor waste disposal and low soil fertility, air pollution and water pollution.

The debate motions are various but most of them rotating on Climate change, Global warming, environmental degradation and protection of environment.

Young people today consume colossus of information contents from the media and other sources but so edited and censored to serve given motives.

It is very vital that the young people understand that their existential threat is not far from them. The threats of global warming and environmental degradations are real.

Political hazards, HIV/AID and other health hazards may not be the real man’s threats as we have been made to believe but the daily things we do to our environment cause  poses extreme dangers that threatens human extinction.

The conversations in the media and other forums are biased, largely edited versions of truth that rotate around political ambitions and self-centered convictions which generate cynical and stereotype conclusions deluding young people that like environmental problems are trivial and less of their concerns.

The repercussions of the recent deteriorating state of environment evidenced in extinction of some plant and animal species, the threat of depletion of Ozone layer caused by human activities in the name of modernization which expose human beings to ultra-violet rays from the sun, the destruction to our ecosystem that lead to severe rain shortages and draught, Landslides and floods leading to displacement, severe famine and hunger are issues that need a general conversation including the very young people.

Quoting Mr Wolimbwa a climate change activist, New Vision reported that the cost of adaptation to climate change is $400m but the cost of not acting at all is 20 times higher, however he does not mention how much it would save us if we prevented.

The statistics indicate that 78% of our population is below the age of 30 years old literary if all factor remain constant 78% of the population today still have at least another 50 years to lives on this planet.

If this group don’t converse about the world they will live in, who should?

Therefore, the young generation must start discussing issues of livelihood pertinent to their long term existence regardless of who or which party will be in power in 50 years to come

It is against this background that NSPC has partnered with the National Debate Council to run a nationwide schools debate championship on issues of environment with the aim to instigate a conversation on the threats posed by the degradation and what young people can do to reverse the trends.

NSPC’s mandate is to ensure that this country develops a complete citizen whose love for this country is unquestionable.

The Love and Loyalty to this country is not optional it is a command by the constitution of Uganda.

Section xxix of the constitution in the National Objectives and Directives of State Policy principles states that “The exercise and enjoyment of rights and freedoms is inseparable from the performance of duties and obligations; and duty number one is

Every citizen must be patriotic and loyal to Uganda and to promote its well-being.

Our mission as the secretariat is inculcate such values and norms that define who a complete Ugandan should be.

A Ugandan who understands that a better Uganda is a responsibility of every citizen.

A citizen with unconditional love who is loyal and ready to sacrifice for this country, hardworking,religious,honest,disciplined,transparent, knowledgeable and cherishes our roots and heritage as Africans.

Our (NSPC) conviction is that in order to produce a responsible, resourceful, loyal and devoted citizenry that will sustain this country for many years to come, the conversation should not only look at political and economic future of this country but our subjective physical existence both in short and long term.

The debate on the physical environment, how it is today, how it will be tomorrow and the dangers the threats poses viz a viz the livelihood of the future generation is a conversation we should encourage our young people to engage in seriously.

The dangers of harsh climatic change, food insecurity and issues of global warming are certainly costly and can have irreversible consequences. And these are genuine fears that young people should  worry about.

At NSPC we believe that understanding ones country and your obligation to it, is the basis for the country’s social transformation and continuity.

There is no doubt that the resultant threats from environmental dangers are real and enormous. And the efforts to counter these threats are becoming too complex to be reflected in mere reports from NEMA or other bodies involved.

For instance the government of Uganda has since 2007 been fighting to enforce the  ban on all plastic materials of 30 microns and below but up to now the efforts have been fruitless.

If you can remember in 2007 the Government through the then Finance Minister Dr Ezra Suruma Government announced the ban on importation, trade or production and use of plastic materials of 30microns and below,11years later Buveera is still around.

In 2015 a similar ban was announced by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) banning the use of polythene bags popularly known as Kaveera.

Recently during the environmental day celebrations the president himself reiterated the ban on the use of kaveera in Uganda but no one seem to take this ban seriously.

Unless we own up the dangers and people patriotically choose to avert the dangers posed by these hazardous products the pronouncements will remain as mare political goodwill nothing much.

Apart from the dangers these plastic products pose to our soils they contain other substances such as bisphenol which research is yet to find out how much threats they pose are to human health.

Bisphenol also referred to as  BPA is a chemical compound soluble in organic solvents produced in large quantities for use primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastics including plastic cups, baby bottles, plates, jerrycans, but mostly in one use plastic products like packed water bottles, kaveera etc

According to the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found detectable levels of Bisphenol  in 93% of 2517 urine samples from people six years and older in the United States.

Our call to all Ugandans is; prevention may be better than cure, but what is the use of prevention when you are already sick?

There is no doubt that the future of this country lies in developing a core patriotic citizenry.

Our primary mission is to ensure that we bring up a crop of Ugandans whose love and willingness to sacrifice for this country is unmatched anywhere in the world.

The writer is the communications officer for National Secretariat for Patriotism corps