Zadock Amanyisa
KABALE – The Government of Uganda, on Saturday, 3rd, suspended a registration exercise that had been activated by the Senior Presidential Advisor on Agriculture, Peace Rugambwa, as part of her activities in the Kigezi sub-region, to facilitate the smooth running of the ongoing electoral process.
Instructed by President Museveni to go to Kabale and meet the team of catholic leadership in Kabale diocese at the weekend, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa said the president wanted issues that had flooded social media, where the catholic church complained about the conduct and operations of Peace Rugambwa, solved.
But what happened?
Last week, the Catholic Church in Kabale Diocese protested a registration exercise that they said was ongoing in their ecclesiastical area of jurisdiction without the knowledge of the spiritual strata at Rushoroza. Located in Kabale Municipality, Rushoroza is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Kabale Diocese.
Rev. Fr. Christmas Philip Austen, the Rector at Rushoroza Cathedral Parish, Kabale Diocese, expressed in a letter written [with permission from the competent ecclesiastical authority of Kabale Diocese] to all priests, Catechists, and Kabale diocese how unverified registration of Catholics by “a team purportedly authorized by Mrs. Peace Rugambwa” had caused discomfort among the faithful and left authorities livid.
“The Diocese has received serious public concerns regarding an unverified exercise in which individuals are moving within villages collecting NIN numbers, names, and Contact details from National Identity cards. The activity, according to its protagonists, is authorised by Peace Rugambwa and is meant for Catholic-dominated areas. This activity has kick-started in Kabale District with indications that it may extend across the Kigezi region within Kabale Diocese.” Fr. Christmas
He added in the 31st December letter that Rugambwa’s team also used “derogatory, uncouth and defamatory language with sheer hate speech” and when the Rushoroza authorities reached out to Peace, and upon inquiry, no official, clear, lucid or substantiated communication was provided to the Diocese or the general public to justify the purpose, timing, legality, or selective focus on Catholics.
The letter copied to RDCs and DPCs of Kabale, Kisoro, Kanungu, Rukungiri, Rubanda, and Rukiga Districts also directed all parish priests, catechists, and church leaders, Christians not to participate in, support, or facilitate this exercise since it lacked credible clarification from competent Government authorities and also ran short of consultation from critical stakeholders.
About the closed-door meeting
It is against this background that a closed-door reconciliation meeting was held on Saturday to mend the government-church relations that had been polarised by uncoordinated movements, as much as the registration exercise was meant to help residents get out of poverty through the “Boona Bagaigahare Nyekundiire Group,” a movement that Peace Rugambwa heads.
Stressing that President Museveni works very well with the Catholic Church and the NRM has worked very closely with them, Deputy Speaker Tayebwa explained after the meeting that the reconciliation meeting was very important and timely from an interreligious perspective.
“We held a closed door meeting where we agreed that since there is a misconception and misunderstanding and there was no detailed consultation with the stakeholders on the program that Madam Peace Rugambwa was running, we have agreed that we suspend that program of registering people because we are in election period, people had started misunderstanding it as if we were registering those who are going to vote,” said Tayebwa
“We have agreed to suspend it; we shall resume that program after the election,” he added.
The meeting that was attended by selected members from church, political and security spaces agreed that before resuming the program, meetings should be held with critical stakeholders to bring them on board so that they can understand it and also be able to answer questions from their people or be able to encourage their people to go and participate in the program.
The meeting also took serious note of the bad language that had been used and the exchanges made. These were mended with Ms Rugambwa apologising to the leadership of the Catholic Church. She also had her apologies accepted.
The meeting underscored the strong working relationship that has long existed between the Catholic Church, President Museveni and the NRM across the country.
Having made peace, the meeting opened a new chapter that the leaders are going to build on to bring a lasting working relationship between the Church and government in Kigezi.
“There have been misconceptions that President Museveni is not supporting the catholic church in Kigezi. There were even rumours that he only got seven votes here (Rushoroza). Please, that was wrong. In 2021, President Museveni won the main polling station here with 63%, and they have committed that this time they are going to perform even better. They are going to work with us; we are going to mobilise the people to protect the gains that we have achieved in Kigezi.” Tayebwa briefed the media.
The Kabale Diocese Vicar General Msgr John Vianney Sunday told the media that all the derogatory statements [consciously or unconsciously] had been forgiven after the author asked for pardon.
“What I would like to let you know is that the author has asked for an apology, and the teaching of the catholic church fosters reconciliation, especially to the children of the church or the people of God who are repentant. And so, I would like to clarify that publicly that Peace Rugambwa, who has had some statements in public, has apologised formally to the church and we can work with her and to forgive her because that’s the norm of the church.” Fr. Vianney announced
“I would like to affirm that we have taken a step to solve the matters, and because the authors of this information have been able to apologise. We want to let each one of you know that we are fosters of unity in the region and the catholic church, our wish is to see that the welfare of our people is facilitated and that our people grow both spiritually and physically in terms of development and so we even took a decision that the registration that has been taking place in the villages stops here and now so that other programs after elections may commence.” He added
Explaining that her registration activity was intended to cover 12 districts, Ms Rugambwa told reporters that her team will continue with underground mobilisation work of rallying support for President Museveni and NRM flagbearers, adding that the exercise resumes after the election.
“It will even be better if this exercise also involves the priest with whom we have agreed to alleviate poverty at the village level,” Ms Rugambwa said, expressing gratitude that she had been forgiven for ‘shaking a table with expensive drinks.’