As the United States of America heads to the polls in November this year, Ugandan climate activist, Vanessa Nakate has urged Americans to vote for a President who will value lives of the people over fossil fuels.
Although the USA is several miles away across the Atlantic, Nakate said that their decisions continue to affect the whole world, and Uganda is one of the countries that continue to pay heavily for their decisions.
Nakate held a climate strike in Kampala last Friday to commemorate the Global Day of Youth Action, which is inspired by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg.
Addressing journalists on the sidelines of the strike, Nakate said that, “I don’t have a side on who should be President but I want a President who is going to value lives of the people and planet over profits and fossil fuels. We can’t drink oil and money will be useless on a dead planet.”
On June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation and Nakate says that was a clear that the USA and the rest of the world needs to do more to save the planet.
The recent floods that swept across the Sub Saharan countries in South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and parts of Uganda have displaced more than one million people and Nakate says that the fight against Climate change is urgent.
“Uganda depends on mainly agriculture but because of our complacency, we are having short and heavy rainfall while other regions are having longer and hotter temperatures. We need to act, and now,” Nakate added.
Nakate said that although voices from developing countries like Uganda are usually silenced when it comes to fight against climate injustices, she won’t cease to raise her voice.
