Use pulpit to fight poverty, Museveni tells religious leaders
“We should as religious leaders harmonise this message of chasing poverty from our homes. I don't want Uganda to be religious but poor."
President Yoweri Museveni (C) and the First Lady pose for a photo with religious leaders and other government officials during the Martyrs' Day Celebrations. (Photo by Alfred Ochwo)
NewVision Reporter
@NewVision
______________________
President Yoweri Museveni says he is pleased at the growing influence of Christianity in Uganda, but says the same is not being realized in efforts to reduce poverty figures in the country.
He therefore urged religious leaders to become champions of change in influencing more people to embrace the government's anti-poverty agenda for the socio-economic transformation of the country.
He made the revelation at the Catholic shrine during the celebration of the Uganda Martyrs Day at Namugongo in Wakiso on Monday.
"How can Christians fail to influence people by example, not just by talking but by doing so we can become an example for others?” he said.
He said prayer alone is not enough for people to have their needs met, adding that if this were the case the country with the most avid Christians would have the least poverty cases.
"If you go to Latin America, there are very many Christians, but the people are living in poverty. You see many of them walking on foot going to the US to look for prosperity.
“We should as religious leaders harmonise this message of chasing poverty from our homes. I don't want Uganda to be religious but poor."
He said he started opposing poverty in the 1960s, noting that where he was living in the Ntungamo district, in Isingiro and Kiruhura, they had very many religious people there.
"They would say look at the birds of the air, they don't sow nor harvest but God feeds them,” he said, adding that he rejected this biblical interpretation.
He said he set about influencing people in his areas and the results are there to show.
"They have woken up,” he said, adding that poverty figures have drastically plummeted in Western Uganda.
The commemoration of Uganda Martyrs Day is an event held annually on June 3, in memory of a group of 22 Catholic and 23 Anglican converts to Christianity in the historical kingdom of Buganda. The converts were executed on the orders of the Kabaka (King) Mwanga between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887.
This year's ceremony at Namugongo in Wakiso district is being led by Nebbi Catholic Diocese, located in North Western Uganda, under the theme: “But as for me and My Household, We Shall Serve the Lord,” taken from Joshua 24:15.
Comments
No Comment