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Uganda Peoples Congress

Uganda Peoples Congress
National Secretariat
Plot 8-10 Kampala Road, Uganda House,
P. O. Box 9206, Kampala
phone/Fax:+256-41-236748

Tresurer's Report to Annual Delegates Conference November 2008

22 November 2008

A REPORT TO THE ANNUAL DELEGATES CONFERENCE OF 21ST NOVEMBER 2008 OF THE UGANDA PEOPLES CONGRESS BY THE NATIONAL TREASURER

  1. Introduction
    Allow me to join the Party President and the other members of the National Executive Committee in welcoming you to Mandela National Stadium in Kampala to attend this Delegates Conference. Dear members of the supreme organ of the Uganda Peoples Congress, you are welcome and I greet you all in the name of the Congress.
    This Delegates Conference follows the one we had on the 20th November, 2005 where Mama Miria Kalule Obote was elected President of this great Party. I was subsequently appointed National Treasurer, the following year 2006 by the Party President in exercise of the powers vested in her by the Constitution of our Party.
  2. In the course of time the Party has undertaken many activities as evident from the report of the Secretary General and indeed from that of the Party President. A lot more could have been achieved if resources could allow and that is the essence of this report.
  3. In my report to the Central Executive meeting held on the 26th May 2007, I intimated that plans were in full gear to create a Resource Mobilisation Committee as indicated in the Strategic Plan.
    I am glad to inform members of the Delegates Conference that as we meet today, a Resource Mobilisation Committee is in place and has finished the work of drawing up a Resources Mobilisation Strategy.
  4. The current poor financial position of the Party makes resource mobilization a top priority of the UPC, hence the importance of the Resource Mobilisation Strategy. Allow me to highlight a few areas of concern of the Resource Mobilisation Strategy.
  5. Political Parties are a focal part of democracy. The Constitution of Uganda gives the citizens the right to freely come together to form and support political parties of their choice. Political parties, UPC inclusive serve many functions in any democratic system. In order to do so political parties need resources so that they can be effective and sustainable.
  6. The certainty of the resource fortunes of UPC has tumbled in the period following the coup of 1985 as the ownership of our major assets has been questioned from time to time, as a result we have been curtailed from carrying out many of the Party's activities.
  7. The Resource Mobilisation Strategy therefore is an initiative of the Party to raise the resources necessary for the Party to function in a business like manner and position itself to take power in the next general elections, come 2011.
  8. The goal of this strategy is to mobilize adequate resources for the UPC to fulfill its existing mandate as provided for in the Strategic Plan over the next two years (2009-2010). Given the large amount of work required to turn the fortunes of the Party around, this amount is estimated to be approximately five billion Uganda shillings over the next three years up to 2011, the year of the next general elections.
  9. Inherently we need to do the following:
  10. To stabilize and increase financing from in-country donors,
  11. To broaden the donor base and increase financing from outside the country,
  12. To develop capacity to set up and manage income generating projects and
  13. To strengthen the Party's Human Resources ( man power).
  14. UPC aims at developing Uganda into a united and prosperous nation offering equitable opportunities for all citizens. For this to happen the Resource Mobilisation Strategy will embrace the following core values of transparency, accountability, commitment, team work and innovation.
    Other details of the Resource Mobilization Strategy will be communicated to the membership of the Party through the various levels of our Party structures.
  15. In the earlier paragraphs of this report however I intimated that many activities have been carried out. Most of this would not have been possible without the support of the membership at various levels of the Party, allow me to thank everybody whose contribution has made it possible for us to carry out those activities.

    In particular, I wish to thank our sister organization Milton Obote Foundation, Members of the UPC Parliamentary Group and our international partners. The holding of this Delegates Conference is itself the epitome of their support.

    I wish also to thank our Party President and the members of the National Executive Committee for the mature and patient manner with which they have handled the delicate matter of the relationship between the Party and the Milton Obote Foundation (MOF). I can confidently report that there is now light at the end of the tunnel and I kindly urge members to remain patient over the issue of the relationship between MOF and the Party.

    I wish the delegates fruitful deliberations.

For God and my Country

Patrick Mwondha

National Treasurer