KAMPALA – President Yoweri Museveni has revealed that all the years he has been in government he has never missed an East African function.
The president made the remarks on Tuesday, December 17 while addressing players participating in the 10th edition of the East African parliamentary games at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium.
According to Museveni, East African integration is a matter of survival.
“The East African market is bigger than Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and South Sudan,” he said.
He added that “If you talk of modernity, you cannot have a modern way of life without a market for what you produce.”
The President watched the ladies’ volleyball match between Team Uganda and Team Tanzania.
The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga appealed to the Summit of Heads or State of the East African Community (EAC) to ensure that the East African integration process is fast-tracked.
Speaker of the East African Legislative assembly Martin Ngoga said that the EAC parliamentary games have matured onto a flagship for the integration process.
The Deputy Speaker of the Tanzanian Parliament Dr Tulia Ackson said, “the games have been used to widen and deepen the East African integration and appealed to other heads of state to emulate President Museveni’ s commitment to the games and process in general.”
The inter-parliamentary games were flagged off on Sunday, December 8, 2019, with the first competitive matches played on Monday, December 9, 2019.
The games played under the theme: “EAC one spirit, one destiny – Strengthening Integration through 10 years of Inter-Parliamentary Games” has seen the teams compete in other disciplines like athletics, basketball, tug of war, golf and darts.
This year’s games have attracted the national parliaments of Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Uganda and EALA, the regional assembly.
