Catholic Church intensifies search for Peace in Uganda

By Valerian Kkonde

PEARL NEWS SERVICE



L-R: Alex Kasekende, Fr. Cyprian Masembe and Miwenda Bagenda in their office plotting how to achieve peace in the volatile Uganda. Photo by Valerian Kkonde/PNS



There can be no opportune moment for one to affirm that indeed peace is relevant than in the present Uganda where one gets the impression that everything is bound to go amiss, with no solution to the many deliberate problems taunting the country.

This is the result of the leaders or rulers, failing to listen to those they lead or rule, Ugandans failing to play a meaningful role in the management of their country, institutions absconding from their duties and rule of law only existing in word but never respected and practiced. As a result many have lost hope to the extent of concluding that Uganda is cursed and will never witness peace, in the true sense of the word.

The Catholic Church, through the Justice and Peace Commission, is saying that it is possible to have peace and is upping its efforts to ensure that Ugandans understand what peace is and means. In so doing, they will work for peace and maintain it.

“It is lack of commitment. Attitude change is what is lacking and people not being committed to justice and peace,” says Fr. Cyprian Masembe when asked why peace continues to elude this once Pearl of Africa.

Fr. Masembe, the Director of Justice and Peace in Kampala Archdiocese, added that the search for peace has been on for years and will continue to be a priority to the Catholic Church. He revealed that its prominence dates back to the Vatican II Council from 1962 to 1965. The theme of the Council was: The Church in the Modern World.

In 1967, Fr. Masembe told PNS from his office at Cardinal Nsubuga Leadership Centre, Pope Paul VI decided to start the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church. Worldwide, the Church dedicated every first of January to the praying for Peace.

“This is proof for the importance of prayer. Prayer is an outstanding instrument through which the Church achieves whatever it wants.”

Commenting on the nine days of prayer starting from September 3 to 11 set aside by the Archdiocese, the Director said that this was in response to Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga’s declaration in November last year.

“During the Archdiocesan day last year, the Archbishop declared a year of prayer starting from November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2011.  That is how we came up with those nine days. We also intended to prepare for the September 21 when the whole world marks the Peace Day.

“Praying for peace has been on for the last six years in Kampala Archdiocese,” observed Fr. Masembe who has been heading the Peace and Justice Commission of Kampala Archdiocese since 2006. He had however started working with the Commission, on a part time basis, as early as 1990.

As the search for peace as well as the culture of peace intensifies in the country, Fr. Masembe has taken his efforts to another level. On Thursdays he puts to use Radio Maria airwaves to reach out to the populace with the message of peace.

“The greatest challenge we have encountered is the lack of funds to go down to the grassroots to get closer to the people. The other is the poor culture of reading. Most of the issues we are trying to address have been written about but people do not bother to read.

Radio Maria helps us to speak to them and we are happy that they are listening.”

Further highlighting and strengthening the need and importance of Justice and Peace, the Catholic Church put in place these Commissions right up to the Christian Communities which are at the bottom of the Church’s structure.

Fr. Masembe went on to reveal that Justice and Peace Commissions have been put in place in schools and higher institutions of learning.

The Commission also conducts public sensitizations on the importance of Justice and Peace. People are taught about the importance of justice and peace in society as well as their role in bringing about peace and maintaining it.

With Uganda’s politics turning out to be the most rewarding investment, election time is a matter of life and death; contestants want to win by hook or crook. The organizers too join the fray by taking sides with those promising more money and other rewards.

During the just concluded election period, which started with presidential elections in February, the Archdiocesan Justice and Peace Commission left no stone unturned in ensuring that the candidates adhere to the principles of justice and peace.

“I made it a point to talk to the different contenders for the Mayorship and Parliament, irrespective of their religious affiliations. I met Ssematimba (Pentecostal) and Lukwago (Muslim). These were vying for the Mayor’s post. I also met Kyanjo, Mabikke and the other candidates.

I also got agents to alert us about any incident of bleaching peace. On the Election Day there was chaos at Kabalagala as some people tried to propose that they vote according to their political parties. The Muslim woman who was my contact in the area telephoned me and I rushed there. I talked to the parties and voting went ahead peacefully.”

Miwanda Bagenda, an official with the Archdiocesan Justice and Peace Commission, told PNS that the misconception that when there is no war then there is peace, is distorting the essence of peace.

“There cannot be pace when you throw rubbish in your neighbour’s compound or release waste water from your house into the road. Whenever you do to others what you do not want them to do to you, you are working against peace.”

Alex Kasekende, another official of the Archdiocesan Justice and Peace Commission, observed that the Catholic Church’s commitment to Justice and Peace is actually a command from God. But because He is invisible, He is obeyed through the relationship with the neighbour who is in His image.

“What God wants of you is to act justly, love tenderly and live honestly with your God.”

The nine-day peace prayer was organized on the theme: Pray and work for Reconciliation, Justice and Peace as a key to development. The sub themes included:  the environment and quality leadership, pro people policies, a culture of peace and the Church as the moral eye of the state.

Further highlighting the Church’s unwavering commitment to peace and the desire to make it a culture, the Director said that in 2008, Rome issued a book indicating all it wanted. The book: Compendium of the Social teaching of the Catholic Church, clearly states the Church’s position on the social, Political, Economic, Cultural and Environmental aspects.

Visiting the African continent in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI told the Catholic Church to take the lead in trying to bring about peace.

It was in the same vein, Fr. Masembe goes on, that Archbishop Lwanga organized a three-day conference in 2009 for Cultural and Political leaders at all levels. The intention was to rally their support for peace especially as election time was at the corner, and there were loud calls for electoral reforms as well as pro people policies.

“Because these efforts are backed up by the Church, there will be peace on the African continent. And if every Catholic reconciled with the other, as the starting point, there will be a big difference,” Fr. Masembe observed with determination.

Since the discovery of oil in the Western part Uganda, people have witnessed a lot of mistreatment at the hands of those who would otherwise protect them. The Catholic Church released a book: The People’s voice for Social Justice where it calls upon government to respect human dignity and not only listen to the people but consider their interests and needs for the sake of peace and all-inclusive development.

Other communications geared toward bringing about justice and peace include A Call for Sustainable Constitutionalism and Rule of Law in Uganda, The Bishops’ Letter on Elections (June 2010) and A Communiqué of Catholic Bishops of Uganda (2011)among others.

There is no doubt that every one of us needs justice and peace. But for justice and peace to become a culture in Uganda, every individual has a duty to appreciate the importance of justice and peace and to extend the same to the neighbour.



Mabira Forest Reserve: The Gun-Mentality is taking its toll on Museveni

By Valerian Kkonde

PEARL NEWS SERVICE

From the 13^th of August 2011, the media has been coming up with reports showing how president Museveni is ganging up with Asians to destroy Mabira Forest Reserve.

These evil plans are being fronted in the guise of growing more sugar canes so that the artificial sugar scarcity is done away with.

Museveni has also been quoted as telling some businessmen that Mehta, the proprietor of the Sugar Corporation Of Uganda Limited (SCOUL), does not care about what Ugandans say; he will cut down the forest and plant sugar canes!

Museveni has gone to the extent of swearing that he will not listen to anyone pleading to save Mabira, claiming that he wants to “fight the sugar war once and for all.”

As Museveni’s government continues to load it on hapless Ugandans, basic goods are becoming prohibitively expensive for the majority. Museveni and cohorts are at the same time wallowing in obscene riches and lead a lifestyle that depicts oppression, insensitiveness and vanity.

While history repeats itself, it also guides us about the present and the future. That is why it is important to have in mind how Museveni and cohorts took power. It was the five-year bloody guerrilla war that catapulted this group to power. And they did whatever crossed their mind: they killed, robbed banks, stole chicken and cows, and engaged in many other savage acts and crimes against humanity.

If you think that they will not do the same to stay in State House, then you need to think twice. Truth to tell, Museveni and cohorts are exacting their pound of flesh to tighten their grip on power. To them, an ailing economy, hospitals without drugs and medical facilities, inefficient public servants, non-performing institutions and a populace demanding for justice, peace and rule of law are inconsequential.

Uganda today has 112 districts. To these, Museveni who is more interested in numbers than quality wants 21 more!

Kenneth Mugambe, a Commissioner in the Budget Policy and Evaluation Department- Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. He told PNS that they have always advised against these mushrooming districts because they neither improve nor bring services closer to the people as often claimed. But that the decision taken is always political; it is survival for the fittest.  

President Museveni seems to derive relief from talking about turning Mabira forest into sugar cane plantations given the many political, social and economic problems stalking him. These statements not only sound selfish, stupid and childish but they confirm what the public is saying about Museveni; he is tired and aging disgracefully. 

It was only in February 2011 when the Engineer Badru Kiggundu’s discredited Electoral Commission declared Museveni winner of the greatly flawed presidential elections with 68%. Soon after the results were declared, the president deployed heavily armed security personnel.

In August he is saying that he will listen to none! This is lending credence to the generally held view that the man did not win genuinely. Otherwise, if he cannot listen to the people who entrusted him with the ruling of the country then who will he listen to? How come he is only listening to Mehta? What is the incentive?

Mehta can be excused for saying that he does not care about what Ugandans say; he is a leach only making hay while it shines. His belching is typical of suppressors, cheats, idiots and dehumanizing employers.

Anyone who has visited or passed by Mehta’s Labour Camps must have witnessed first- hand his treatment of Ugandans as slaves in the 21^st Century. These camps have no toilets, no water and they are unfit to accommodate anyone worthy of the title of a human being. People are working under inhuman conditions but nobody seems to care.

Mehta’s insults and arrogance bring to mind the 70s when former president, the late Alhaji Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada, VC DSO MC CBE ordered Mehta’s ilk off this beautiful land. Who knows whether it was this same attitude that forced Dada to act the way he did!

Indeed birds of the same feather flock together; Mehta contrasts well with Museveni’s Movement. Like Museveni, Mehta must be civil enough and accept the bitter fact that Ugandans deserve first-hand respect and treatment. Failure to accept and abide by this courtesy means they have no place in their midst.

Being president does not mean that one is the wisest or knows everything. Were this to be the case, wise men like the American strongman- Barack Obama- would be single handedly leading that great nation. But it is not the case.

Museveni’s failure to listen has already caused this once Pearl of Africa enough problems: the destruction of Acholiland, Teso, Luweero, Buganda and the agricultural sector to name a few.  These are signs of overstaying and outliving one’s usefulness. In turn one becomes another problem, instead of solving the problems.

On the few occasions that Ugandans have come out to express their grievances, Museveni has deployed disenfranchised soldiers and police to suppress them.

It is disheartening that twenty-five years in state house, coupled with visits to the capitals of democracy and good governance, Museveni is stuck with the gun-mentality!

This gun-mentality, the belief that the gun has solutions for all challenges, is a disease caused by inherent fear; being haunted by the past. It seems Museveni has some part of the past and present he wants to keep away from the public. And as he labours to do so, he commits blunder after blunder.

All these are signs of the times, announcing that change is overdue. Uganda urgently needs regime-change if hope is to be restored in Ugandans. People feel persecuted, deprived, oppressed and thus see no future under Museveni’s rule. With everything collapsing, regime-change is all that is needed.

This is a dangerous state which can easily ignite a fire that could be difficult to put out.

Museveni has presided over the destruction of Uganda’s fauna and flora in the name of development. Even the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA), like the many other institutions, only exists on paper. All it is preoccupied with is organizing seminars and draw fat salaries, while the environment is destroyed with impunity and enormous devastation.  The future of Uganda is already at stake only to be aggravated with the inclusion of Mabira forest on this destruction list.

The wonderful weather we used to boast of all the year round is long gone. Seasons are no longer predictable and the yields continue to depreciate just like the shilling.

When Museveni grabbed power in 1986, he sold off the limping factories instead of revamping them. The result was turning Ugandans into refugees in their own country, and giving foreigners special privileges. Is it mere love for the foreigners or a cover up for ill-gotten wealth?

Uganda may no longer be the Pearl of Africa, given the destruction going on, but it surely has a duty to jealously protect what is remaining of its treasures.

Museveni has been in power for 25 years and has surely outlived his usefulness. Managing a country is quite different from looking after cattle. It is possible to herd cattle for one’s life time but it cannot be the same with the presidency of a beautiful and great country like Uganda. You cannot rule out accumulated fatigue!

The wave throwing out Africa’s dictators like Hosni Mubarak, Laurent Gbagbo and Beni Ali seems to have brought nightmares for Uganda’s old man with a hat. And when you add the disgraceful ouster of his longtime friend, mentor in life-presidency projects, the Lockerbie terrorist and donor for repressive regimes- the former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi- receiving the pay cheque for dictatorship must send chills down the spines of club members like Museveni.

Because Museveni sees no life after State House, he is turning the security agencies into terror machines. He has failed to provide the needed services now he wants to cling on at all costs. Museveni forgets that security agents are also affected by the scarcity of services and the rising cost of living. Like it or not they are part and parcel of the victims of Museveni’s ravenous greed for power, nepotism, robbery, allergy to political competition, deprivation and dehumanization in all its forms.

Just as day follows night, the security operatives too must be quietly waiting for regime change.

The fact is that Museveni’s continued rhetoric about giving Mabira Forest Reserve to Mehta to grow sugar canes will not offer solutions to the issues at hand: the robbery of public funds and resources with impunity, the suppression of freedoms and the life-presidency among others. Again Mabira has nothing to do with Uganda’s predicament which has been brought about by greed, the gun-mentality and stupidity.

Mabira Forest Reserve is more than just a water catchment area; it is a protected area of core conservation value, home to some 300 bird species and lies between Lake Victoria and River Nile. The medicinal trees and plants, as well as rare tree species found there are precious to the present and future generations.

And Mabira being one of Buganda Kingdom’s assets Museveni has refused to hand over, the hatred he has often directed at the Kingdom is also very evident. But this will be for another time.

After destroying Buggala Island’s 10,000 hectares of virgin forest, an important rainfall catchment zone for the Central Region- Buganda- was lost.

The state of affairs in Uganda is very deplorable: the level of selfishness has reached alarming levels. But in a way, it is a wake up call to Ugandans that they must own their country; they have a stake and must play a prominent role in its management. This involves rejecting bad leadership as well as money and ministerial posts bribes. Short of this, Ugandans should get prepared to become refugees in their own country.