Examination of Witnesses (Questions 55-59)
20 MAY 2004
RONALD NSUBUGA,
ISAAC TUMWESIGYE,
AGATHA NAKAKEMBO,
JAMALIE TOTO,
JOB KIGOZI,
PROSSY NAMPEERA,
PAUL SENTONGO,
AND FIONA
NAKAWESI
Chairman: Firstly, can I thank Plan International
very much for having organised this session. We are a Committee
of the House of Commons, the UK Parliament, that takes a particular
concern in issues relating to international development. One of
the matters with which we are particularly concerned is hearing
people who are directly concerned speak to us and give evidence
to us. It is brilliant that through this video link we are able
to talk to you and, more importantly, you are able to talk to
us. Thank you very much, and thank you very much for all the work
that you have done preparing this session, it is very, very much
appreciated. What I am going to do is I am going to ask my colleagues
very, very briefly to introduce themselves so you will know who
is here. My name is Tony Baldry. I am 54 and I have been a Member
of Parliament for 21 years. Let me introduce, on my left, John
Barrett. John, say a little bit about yourself.
John Barrett: I am John Barrett. I am
a Liberal Democrat MP from Scotland. I am age 50. It is a delight
to be here today and I am looking forward to speaking to Job.
Mr Colman: I am Tony Colman and I am
the Member of Parliament for Putney, which is part of London.
I have been to Kampala before. I am a father and my two children
are ages 10 and 12. They are both boys. I hope to be able to hear
from Ronald.
Mr Battle: I am John Battle, a Labour
Member of Parliament for Leeds in the North of England. I have
three children who are 21, 23 and 26. I am hoping to hear from
Jamalie.
Chris McCafferty: My name is Chris McCafferty.
I am Member of Parliament for the Calder Valley, which is in the
North of England in Yorkshire. I think I am probably the oldest
member of this group, I am 59 years old. I have one son who is
32. I am going to be talking to Prossy.
Mr Davies: Hello. I am Quentin Davies.
I have been a Member of Parliament since 1987, so that is for
17 years. I represent a constituency in the East of England, in
Lincolnshire. I have got two boys ages 15 and 16.
Q55 Chairman: Ronald, would you like
to introduce your team and tell us a bit about the issues by way
of introduction.
Ronald Nsubuga: Thank you. First
of all, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you over
there in London to our city, Kampala. First of all I will introduce
myself by saying that I am Ronald, 15 years of age and I am an
orphan. Next to me is my friend, Jamalie.
Jamalie Toto: I am Jamalie, 14
years of age.
Ronald Nsubuga: Next to him is
Agatha.
Agatha Nakakembo: I am Agatha,
16 years of age. I am in senior 4.
Isaac Tumwesigye: I am Isaac,
11 years old.
Ronald Nsubuga: Thank you, Isaac.
On my right-hand side we have Job.
Job Kigozi: I am Job, 15 years
of age.
Ronald Nsubuga: Another one is
Prossy.
Prossy Nampeera: I am Prossy,
16 years of age.
Ronald Nsubuga: Thank you. Also
I will introduce Paul.
Paul Sentongo: I am Paul, 15 years
old.
Ronald Nsubuga: Also there is
Fiona.
Fiona Nakawesi: I am Fiona, 13
years old.
Ronald Nsubuga: Thank you very
much, Fiona. I will also give a bit of background about HIV/AIDS
in Uganda, most especially on children. There are about 2.3 million
orphans in Uganda and one million of these are orphans due to
HIV/AIDS. Life is very hard for orphans and helpless children
in Uganda. Firstly, the children in Uganda have got problems and
some of these problems include access to drugs, expensive secondary
education and poor medical or health care. The problems are so
large and we need to have access to effective programmes and services
to address them. Without our parents, or when they are sick, they
cannot manage to provide for us our immediate needs of nutrition,
education, healthcare, love and guidance, clothing, housing and
other children's needs. We have needs, we suffer many problems
and we think it is important that we are included in finding the
solutions. This team has been discussing these issues for the
last two weeks and we have been trying to understand our own situations
better. I would like you to listen to the five selected members
talking about the children and HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Welcome. I
introduce Prossy to give us the hopes and fears.
Prossy Nampeera: Thank you, Ronald.
During the first day of the session we wrote our hopes and fears.
These are our hopes. I hope that I shall be able to reach my community
about the effects of HIV/AIDS. Another hope was I hope that the
Parliament in the UK will help some of our friends who are affected
and infected in the parish. I hope that we shall have good discussions
on 20 May. I hope that the number of people dying of HIV/AIDS
in Uganda shall decrease. Lastly, I hope that us meeting here
will limit the percentage of HIV/AIDS in the area where we live
and Uganda as a whole. Those were our hopes. These were our fears.
I fear that AIDS is a deadly disease with no solution. Those future
generations in Uganda will continue to be affected, so that is
bad for us. Another fear was I fear that AIDS is killing most
of the kids in Uganda and even in the world at large. Lastly,
but not least, I fear that we shall be too shy to speak to the
parliamentarians. Talking to that number of people, I fear talking
on behalf of someone else. Lastly, I fear that there is no hope
for HIV/AIDS patients in Uganda and there are no funds to assist
them financially. Those were our hopes and fears, thank you.
Ronald Nsubuga: Thank you very
much Prossy, for our wonderful fears and hopes which we discussed
last week. To embark on the first question which our group has
discussed, it goes as follows: as most people out there are saying
that AIDS has no cure, as we are the future generation what will
be the best solution for us not to be affected by this disease.
Chairman: Ronald, thank you very much
for that introduction and thank you very much for introducing
your team and for setting out so clearly your hopes and fears.
I think how we are going to do it is that I am going to ask a
number of my parliamentary colleagues to ask questions and, to
make it as straightforward as possible, one of my parliamentary
colleagues will ask each of you questions in turn. My friend,
Tony Colman, is going to ask you questions, Ronald, then John
Barrett is going to ask Job, John Battle is going to ask Jamalie,
Chris is going to ask Prossy and Quentin is going to ask Agatha.
Q56 Mr Colman: Ronald, good afternoon.
As I say, my two sons are called Alexander and Oliver. Alexander
is 12 and Oliver is 10, so you are older than them. The questions
you have suggested that I should ask you, just to confirm, are
about being HIV/AIDS infected, about being an orphan and about
stigma and discrimination. Those are the three headings that I
was told you were interested that I, as Tony, should ask you,
Ronald. You are prepared in those three areas, are you?
Ronald Nsubuga: Yes.
Q57 Mr Colman: The first question is
a very difficult one. If a pregnant mother is HIV/AIDS positive,
what do you think should be done to ensure that the baby does
not get HIV/AIDS?
Ronald Nsubuga: Thank you very
much. On this point of getting HIV or being HIV/AIDS infected,
when a pregnant mother is giving birth to a child that must involve
the clinical and work trained doctors or midwives to help that
mother, for example, in the cutting of the umbilical cord and
when a mother is producing there needs to be a professional midwife
to prevent blood contamination from the mother, who is infected,
to the baby.
Q58 Mr Colman: Are there drugs available
in Uganda to help ensure that the babies are not infected?
Ronald Nsubuga: I beg your pardon?
Q59 Mr Colman: Are there any drugs available
in Uganda to stop the baby being infected by the mother?
Ronald Nsubuga: Yes, there are
drugs available but they are very expensive. If a mother is very
poor she will not appropriate those medicines since they are very
expensive.
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