State Minister for Privitisation and Investment, Evelyn Anite has called on Parliament administration to procure breathalyzers to curb on the number of MPs who debate under the influence of alcohol.

Anite made the request this yesterday while responding to remarks by Aruu County MP, Odonga Otto who asked Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah to refer to the Minister to the Disciplinary Committee.

In his address, Odonga had accused Anite of leaking the list of NRM MPs supporting the removal of Presidential Age Limit, which saw rowdy voters beat up a woman down town Kampala, after they mistook her for Rakai Woman MP, Juliet Kinyamatama.

“I was going to ask the Speaker that we should get an alcohol mouth tester to taste the quantity of booze on their mouths,” the Minister said.

She also added; “Debating when you are drunk isn’t allowed. Drunk driving isn’t allowed. Drunk debating driving isn’t sober way of debating in the August House we will test their mouths.”

In her re-battle, Anite said that it wasn’t her but the disgraced Odonga that needed to be thrown out of the August House.

Anite also noted; “He doesn’t deserve the title to be called Honourable. A man that moves out a gun that is meant to protect himself and points it out to shoot at the civilian who is defenseless. No one raised the issue in this House.”

She dared Odonga to go ahead with the move threatening to awaken his earlier sins and have him thrown out of Parliament saying; “Now he has actually reminded us that we must dismiss him out of the House with disgrace for pulling a gun against a civilian.”

The Koboko Municipality MP also wondered under which capacity Odonga would move to censure her firing back that the people who sent her to the August House don’t come from Aruu but rather Koboko.

“They sent me here to represent them for five years. It will not be Odonga to casually say that Anite must be dismissed,” Anite remarked.

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The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

Uganda will mid next week hold a three-day high level conference on the application of science, technology in harnessing African agricultural transformation.

Participants at the conference will among others, showcase the current and potential impact of application of science, technology and innovation for improved agricultural productivity, value-addition and poverty reduction.

They will also explore the status of Agriculture in Africa capturing the past, current and future trends.

The participants will comprise high-level policy makers, experts, farmers, investor, regulators, communicators, development partners and the media.

Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, the Minister or Science, Technology and Innovation said on September 22 that the conference at Speak Resort Munyonyo will be held under the theme ‘Integrating the path in Africa’s agricultural transformation’. According to the Minister, Uganda will share knowledge and experience in areas of biotechnology during the conference.

“Uganda needs urgent interventions to find ways of mainstreaming utilization of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to transform agriculture needs,” Dr. Tumwesigye said.

He said the use of Biotechnology in Sub-Saharan Africa has tremendously grown and that the yields are impressive, with South Africa and Sudan growing biotech crops on a large scale.

“We are proposing that Africa needs urgent intervention in innovation and technology in harnessing agriculture,” he said, adding that some small scale farmers in Uganda are already successfully using biotechnology.

He also said Uganda would use the conference to showcase how to fight some pests and diseases, which have of recent affected Uganda’s agricultural productivity, particularly the army fall worm that hit farms in the first season.

For Africa to benefit from cutting-edge science, technology and innovation to mitigate its challenges, key issues need to be addressed such as low technology access, low public investment in agricultural research and development as well as public perceptions, among others.

Such issues, according to the minister will be addressed during the conference in Kampala supported by other stakeholders such as The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), African Union Commission (AUC) and the Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

Among the topics to be discussed are; The state of agriculture in Africa ,  Contributions of conventional science, technology and innovations to modern agriculture, Integrating modern biotechnology into Africa’s agriculture for food security, Securing smallholder farmers’ resilience to impacts of climate change, Fostering evidence-based policies for transformational change in Africa’s agriculture and the critical role of PPPs in transforming African agriculture.

Other topics to be discussed will be; strengthening intellectual property rights to catalyze transformational change in Africa’s agriculture, Inspiring a Climate for Change to enhance food security, Regional approaches to biotech adoption and trade in Africa, Winning political patronage/support to advances science in the age of ‘alternative facts’ and Repositioning agriculture in Africa towards agribusiness entrepreneurial ship.

President Yoweri  Museveni , former Tanzanian president-Benjamin Mkapa Ms. Gina Grey Ivey from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Hamadou Biteye the managing director Rockefeller foundation, Prof. Kevin Folta the University of Florida, Dr. C.D Mayee president Asian Biotechnology and Cyprian Ebong -Executive director ASARECA are expected to attend the conference.

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