Only two countries in Africa, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, are expected to become ‘middle income’ countries in the next eight years, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has announced.

The information is contained in a report, ‘The Least Developed Countries Report 2016, titled ‘the path to graduation and beyond: making the most of the process’, that listed 13 developing nations expected to reach a middle income nation, and Uganda is not one them.

The report indicates that ‘a number of criteria were used to determine the findings by the UNCTAD, including the per capita incomes, human assets and economic vulnerabilities’.

According to the report, US$1035 (per capita of GNI) is considered for ‘possible cases of addition to the LDC list, and a threshold of $1,242 for cases of graduation from LDC status’.

‘The list of LDCs is reviewed every three years by the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a group of independent experts reporting to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)’ the UNCTAD report indicates in part.

Further, the report adds: ‘A country will normally qualify for graduation from LDC status if it has met graduation thresholds under at least two of the three criteria in at least two consecutive triennial reviews of the list. However, if the three-year average per-capita GNI of an LDC has risen to a level at least double the graduation threshold, and if this performance is considered durable, the country will be deemed eligible for graduation regardless of its score under the other two criteria. This rule is commonly referred to as the “income-only” graduation rule’.

Previously, a couple of Ugandan government officials led by President Yoweri Museveni and Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda have said that Uganda will achieve middle income status by 2020, a development that puts their predictions at variance with the UNCTAD report.

Conversely, other officials including finance minister Matia Kasaija and the Chairman of the National Planning Authority (NPA) Dr. Wilberforce Kisamba Mugerwa have cast doubt on Uganda’s attainment of middle income status, citing several bottlenecks.

Currently, there are 48 countries in the world including Uganda that are categorized as LDCs, with 33 in Africa.

Others include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Others are the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, the Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, the Sudan, Togo, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.

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African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are urging the European Union to look at migration as a development agenda and not a security matter. Members of Parliament from the ACP said that migration is a serious issue that needs to be tackled by opening up safe and legal means of entry, rather than sending the immigrants back to their countries of origin.

The MPs added that migrants are desperate to escape war and poverty yet the restrictions are informing the political choices being made by various governments across Europe. Speaking in a meeting of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats of Europe, Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean (ALDEPAC), the Deputy Speaker, Right Jacob Oulanyah said that migration is not only based on security but also on economic reasons.

He said that persons who come to Africa from elsewhere overcrowd the little economic opportunities available forcing people to go looking in Europe. “When people migrate to Europe, they are called economic migrants and different rules apply. When Europeans come to Africa, they are called expatriates. We need to address this imbalance,” he said. Oulanyah added that there is need to address the underlying causes of migration like poverty, war and lately climate change.

He added that the governments also need to control the so called investors who come to Africa but end up doing work that would be done by the locals. Hon. Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo) called on governments to have regulatory policies on foreign investors concerning employment.

“We must recruit locals to work in the investor’s establishments. These investors must not bring their untrained workers who take away opportunities that would be enjoyed by the locals forcing them to move,” she said. Hon. Catherine Bearder from the United Kingdom agreed that migration is an economic issue, citing the need to have more young skilled people working in Europe.

“Europe desperately needs migrants. We need young people to provide their skills,” she revealed. Bearder called on the European Union to implement the Blue Visa which is a temporary pass for the arriving migrants, allowing them to gain some skills before they are deported.

“When these young people arrive on boats, we should give them basic skills like plumbing and electrical skills before sending them back,” she added. Hon. Ibrahim Rassin Bundu from Sierra Leone weighed in saying ‘migration is as old as mankind’ adding that ‘Europeans came to Africa and took our raw materials.’

Bundu said that the young people migrating to Europe are looking to have some of the benefits accruing from the raw materials taken by the colonialists. “After graduating from university, these young people would like to go and see how the raw materials are being used and participate in the development,” he said.

While opening the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre on Monday, December 19 2016, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said that, “as long as the economic and political conditions remain dire, we shall continue seeing Africans drown in the Mediterranean Sea.’ ALDEPAC meets on the sidelines of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

The Assembly that has been meeting in Nairobi, Kenya will conclude with a debate on ‘How to support resettlement of migrants in their home country’. The Joint Assembly will also have a final vote on the motion for resolution on constitutional limits on presidential terms.

The Ugandan delegation in Nairobi included MPs Cecilia Ogwal(Dokolo), Juliet Kinyamatama(Rakai), Wamanga-Wamai (Mbale Municipality) and William Nokorach(PWDs).

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A motion for a resolution on constitutional limits on presidential terms has been rejected after the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries overwhelmingly voted against it.

The vote on the motion was taken during the plenary of the 32nd ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly that closes today.

The decision on the resolution comes following lengthy meetings of the Committees of Political Affairs of both the ACP and the European Union, which debated the reports in separate and joint meetings during the session of the assembly that has been meeting in Nairobi, Kenya from December 14, 2106.

The proposals for presidential terms limits were being advocated by Members of the European Union Parliament with support from some Members from the ACP.

During the course of the Committee meetings, there were heated debates on whether the European Parliament should dictate on the way sovereign countries should govern themselves.

Before the final vote on the motion, the ACP group met to harmonize its position with several members calling for the dropping of the motion altogether citing interference from the EU Parliament.

Uganda’s Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah, who has been strongly opposed to the motion citing sovereignty of countries, said that when the vote was taken at committee level, the ACP was not properly constituted and therefore lost the vote.

“We did not have numbers at the committee level; we now have the opportunity at joint assembly. The European side has brought back some amendments, which we rejected at the committee. Let us defeat the whole resolution,” Oulanyah said.

Hon. Tulia Ackson from Tanzania, who was the co-rapporteur for the Committee on Political Affairs, said that it would be unfortunate that the whole resolution would be voted down but added that the ACP agrees with the will of the people.

“Constitutions must be respected but these same constitutions can also be changed by the same people,” she added.

The delegates from Mali, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde expressed reservation on the decision that was agreed on wondering why there was a change in position at plenary yet they had voted differently at committee level. They said that this was unprecedented in the ACP and would cause a rift among the members.

Hon. Fitz Jackson (Jamaica), who chaired the ACP caucus, called for cooperation and reconciliation among the ACP countries urging members not to be divided.

“The last thing we want is refusing to support each other. If we don’t cooperate with colleagues today, we may not have support of the group next time,” he urged.

The co-president of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Netty Baldeh, from Gambia then put the matter to vote and 18 countries agreed to vote against the resolution with nine promising to vote for.

The motion for a resolution on constitutional limits on presidential terms was tabled in Brussels in December 2015.

The Parliament of Uganda delegation to the ACP-EU meet in Nairobi also had MPs Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo), Juliet Kinyamatama (Rakai), Jack Wamanga-Wamai (Mbale Municipality) and William Nokorach (PWDs).

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Gambia’s Foreign Minister Neneh Macdouall Gaye, has jumped ship, with sources indicating she is headed to the United States of America.

Media sources indicate Ms Neneh, who was supposed to be attending a conference in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the latest official to abandon Jammeh after the Gambia’s former Ambassador to the US Sheikh Omar Faye.

A good number of Gambia’s foreign mission officials have resigned from the government and have since rallied their support behind President-elect Adama Barrow, the sources add. Diplomatic missions fall under the purview of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which Ms Neneh is heading. She cannot effectively and efficiently operate in the absence of a functional Foreign Ministry. Hence, she decided to quit her job while on a foreign mission.

Media sources also indicate that there is a planned mass exodus of other Jammeh officials, who are planning to flee from the West African nation.

“I have just gathered from a very reliable source in the Gambian mission in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that Foreign Minister, Neneh Macdoull Gaye, has abandoned Yahya Jammeh’s sinking boat.  Madam Gaye, is currently in Jeddah to attend a meeting. She used the meeting to travel out of The Gambia.  Her destination is the United States,” the media quoted a source

Ms. Neneh Macdouall Gaye, used to live in Atlanta, Georgia, before accepting a job appointment from Jammeh. She was hired shortly before the December 30, 2014, failed coup.

Sheikh Omar Faye, the recalled Gambian Ambassador to the US, was very instrumental in convincing Ms. Macdouall to accept Jammeh’s job offer. Mr. Faye, visited Neneh at her Atlanta home, where the news of her appointment as Foreign Minister, was communicated to her.

She is a holder of a US Permanent Resident status otherwise known as (Green Card). Neneh’s departure from the Jammeh regime, will no doubt weaken his quest to cling onto power.

Sources close to Ms Neneh said the Minister has off late been complaining about the stress associated with her job, at some point contemplating quitting her job. She felt that Jammeh’s behavior towards her was becoming unbearable, sources intimated.

It was not long ago that Neneh was in the United States to visit her kids. Her husband Pa Gaye, the former MD of Gamtel, recently returned home from the US, to reunite with Mrs. Gaye.

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