An article with the same title appeared in the New Vision newspaper of 7th Feb. (http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/628867-628867-minister-urges-ugandans-to…).
The second Deputy Prime minister, who mentions toughening economic times as the reason for his appeal further … :
Henry Muganwa Kajura, who is also the public service minister, wonders how parents who have produced more than four children will look after them.
“Where will they educate them and how will they provide for their necessities especially education and health?” Kajura asked.
It’s quite something that such an appeal is coming from someone so high in the government, but one wonders why this did not come as long ago as 5 years back, because it’s not that tough economic times are just being experienced now. It has always been the case for decades that many parents cannot educate their children or provide them with a decent life style, because strangely, no one has made this connection before. People see children in a very different light, as an inevitable & irresistable gift from God.
This subject has been discoussed in other articles on this site before, though.
It would be interesting if we had the political elite also started connecting the high population growth rate to environmental degradation as well. There are enough examples around, including the tragic mudslides in the mount Elgon area, whose frequency and impact have increased in the last 3 decades. May be that chunk of the Mabira forest reserve will be spared & that sugarcane for the Mehta group will be grown somewhere else., … or someone