By Charles Odongtho
Out going Secretary-General of the Commonwealthh, Don McKinnon wants 
leaders of the 53 member states to set out priority plans to tackle the challenges of Climate Change and Balance of Trade between countries. Mckinnon considers these two issues are currently the biggest challenges to be resolved.
On Tuesday evening on the BBC World Service programme“Have Your Say”, which was relayed live from Uganda’s capital Kampala, several Ugandans criticized the Commonwealth calling it an irrelevance and a mere party club. They said it has little impact on modern Africa because the delegates just come, meet and exchange business cards, eat and drink well and then go home.
But the Secretary-General disagrees. He pointed out that during his last visit to war-affected Northern Uganda, he visited development projects set up by the Commonwealth to rehabilitate youths who had been abducted by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
Don Mckinnon does not hide his disappointment with Uganda’s main opposition leaders who have boycotted the Commonwealth meeting. The opposition in Uganda say they have become cynical of an organization that cannot address their concerns on human rights and governance.
Mckinnon, who will be replaced by a new Secretary-General at the end of this week’s summit, said the meeting is crucial for the entire host country and not just for the ruling government. He said he met the country’s opposition four months ago and they had assured him they would participate.
He said that countries with good and established democratic institutions and good governance structures can benefit more from Commonwealth membership. He said it is important for all member countries, Uganda included, to build institutions that can help to build global confidence in their people.
See Don Mckinnon’s blog on the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting here.
I interviewed Don earlier. Below are both an excerpt and the full interview I carried out with him. In the excerpt, Don talks about having congruence between policy and projects ‘on the ground.’
Excerpt audio
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Full interview
Click to download a low bandwidth file here, or press play below:
I have listened to Don Mackinnon’s interview and convinced that indeed he was the right man to steer the commonwealth countries.
I am still perplexed why the Ugandan opposition did not participate (excluding the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Prf. Ogenga Latigo) in CHOGM activities and yet this was an opportunity for them to discuss critical issues pertaining to Uganda’s democratic situation. The People’s forum could have been a very good platform for such.
I have belief that Ugandans and other people from the commonwealth countries should learn to live with people of divergent views which reflects maturity. Let’s learn to tolerate others and debate constructively rather than failure to participate.