President Museveni calls for inter religious cooperation
http://www.256newsonline.com/index.php?category=stories&id=441&cd=1&hl=President%20Museveni%20calls%20for%20inter%20religious%20cooperation
9th,October 2011
President Yoweri Museveni has said that the movement of righteous people from all religions is good for society.
The President was this morning speaking during the annual Uganda National Prayer Breakfast held at Hotel Africana in Kampala. The 13th Uganda National Prayer Breakfast is a brainchild of the Uganda Parliamentarians that is traditionally held to give Uganda a spiritual strength as the country prepares for the annual Independence Day Anniversary celebrations that fall on October 09th.
This year’s Prayer Breakfast session was held under the theme: “For God and My Country: A Call for Excellence in service”. In reference to the Bible, the President urged Uganda Parliamentarians and leaders at large to “let your light shine before the people so that they may praise you for the good deeds.”
President Museveni commended Mr. Steven Akabway former Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), Ms. Allen Kagina presently the URA Commissioner General and Ms. Jennipher Musisi a former employee at the national tax body, for having served as exemplary tax collectors in the Uganda Revenue Authority.
He noted that they were among the people who have served without stealing the tax payers’ money and attributed this to their commitment to their faith. He further commended Ms. Musisi, now the Executive Director of Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) for the good start in her new assignment of reorganizing the City of Kampala into a better place.
Mr. Museveni also challenged Africans to multiply their God-given talents adding that the continent’s major challenge is underdevelopment. He warned that Africans must not remain weak thereby offering a bait to greedy people to steal from the innocent ones. He strongly called for efforts to tame and dominate nature but also cautioned leaders against dividing the people along unprincipled sectarian lines.
The wife of the President, Mrs. Janet Museveni, prayed to God to visit Uganda with a heart of blessings as the country enters its jubilee year of Uhuru. She also prayed for permanent peace and harmony as well for all people to work with integrity.
The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, saluted the President for promoting African women. She also lauded him for facilitating and attending the national prayer breakfast.
The guest Speaker, who is the Ambassador of Zambia to Belgium, Dr. Inonge Lewanika, said that by attending the national prayer breakfast, became a dream come true. She challenged the leaders to work for the good of the future generations adding that “dig wells for the good of the people.”
The Minister of Health, Dr. Christine Ondoa in her testimony, revealed that she has achieved a lot due to her commitment to God. She noted that “we are blessed to have President Museveni who has a good vision for the country”.
Museveni wanted Musisi for judiciary
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15398&Itemid=59
Written by David Tash Lumu Monday, 10 October 2011 00:05
President Museveni has said Jennifer Musisi, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director, turned down an offer of an appointment to the judiciary and chose to take up the challenge of cleaning up Kampala.
“I wanted her to bring some Christianity and godliness to the judiciary, so I called her and told her to apply to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), but she said: ‘I cannot apply to be a judge’,” Museveni said.
The President, who was speaking at the 13th national prayer breakfast at Hotel Africana on Saturday, added that he did not give up on his quest to persuade the woman he describes as a “heroine”.
“I later told her that if you don’t want to go to the judiciary, why don’t you become a garbage cleaner? She agreed.”
Museveni said he does not regret having appointed Musisi as ED of Kampala and that very soon, he will write a letter congratulating her for “saving us from the floods at Clock Tower”.
“KCC had become a centre of filth, dirt, theft and disorganisation, but for the short time this woman has been there, you have all seen the work,” he said.
Musisi belongs to a group of people the President describes as “righteous” and whom he believes will change the way his government operates by restoring integrity. Uganda Revenue Authority Commissioner General Allen Kagina and Health minister Christine Androa are some of the other people in this group that Museveni mentioned.
He implored born-again Christians (balokole) to continue nurturing “a nursery of producing cadres who can deliver excellent service”.
But, in his usual humorous way, Museveni turned around and described the style of worship in balokole churches as “simply just jumping and dancing around”.
He was prompted to say this shortly after Androa’s testimony detailing how God compelled the President to appoint her a minister even when she had never had any connection to him.
“I didn’t know that Androa belongs to one of these churches where they dance and shout. They simply just jump and dance around. You see, I was tired of corrupt doctors and I told my network to look around and they contacted her,” Museveni said.
The joke sparked off some grumbling in the audience, but Museveni tactfully calmed the people when he reaffirmed that Androa’s appointment was ordained by God: “She told me that I was compelled by God to appoint her. It’s true that I was compelled; God compelled me”.
However, the President maintained that balokole are “mad”. Quoting from stories his grandmother used to tell him, Museveni said if she was still alive, she would say, “You are beyond madness”.
He said one of the reasons he remains close to balokole is the fact that they do not indulge in alcohol. “You are mad without drinking alcohol. Since you don’t drink alcohol, I welcome you. Anybody who is voluntarily mad without [the influence of] alcohol, I welcome,” he said.
The guest speaker, Dr Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika, advised Museveni and other leaders to start planning for Africa’s future generation if they are to change the continent from “a problem to a solution”.
“Are we digging wells for the future generation? We are here because someone dug a well for us. What are we doing for our children?” she asked.
The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, said the prayer meeting cost Shs 90 million.
dtlumu@observer.ug
Museveni Warns on Religious Extremism
http://allafrica.com/stories/201008260067.html
Cyprian Musoke, John Ssemakula and Francis Kagolo
The New Vision, 25 August 2010
Kampala — President Yoweri Museveni has warned against religious intolerance, saying it is one of the reasons that prompted him and his comrades to go to war in order to stabilize the country.
Addressing the All Africa Bishops Conference in Entebbe yesterday, Museveni said the formative years of religion in Uganda were characterised by friction between denominations. "There was friction between the Protestants and Catholics and later between the two and Muslims. Protestants came in 1877 and the Catholics in 1879, but by 1890, we already had a civil war. You can imagine the confusion allegedly in the name of God," he said.
From 1888, he noted, people were killing each other 'on behalf of God'. "I don't know where they met God to instruct them to go and kill each other, you should study this," he told the prelates, throwing them into laughter. That rivalry, Museveni added, went on into the 1970s, climaxing into the (former dictator) Idi Amin regime.
"This problem is one of the issues that formed my political awareness and together with my colleagues, we were determined to stop it. As a Christian, I challenged this and said: 'This is not what God told you to do; you are all wrong'," he said, to thunderous applause. He reminded them of the story of the Good Samaritan who helped a man who had been beaten up by robbers, yet he (Samaritan) was not of the victim's social caste.
"I am always looking for the Good Samaritan. Jesus said we shall know them by their deeds. Not clothes, titles or names, but by their deeds," he stressed. He described the religious wars going on in the world as okuhimbagira, "to disorient oneself in a very fundamental way".
"You fight this one, fight that one; what is your problem? That I am a Muslim? If you are, so what? If I am a Christian, what's your problem?" "You are what you are, I am what I am and everyone of us is here in their own right by the permission of God; so you must accept me the way I am."
He said there were some groups in Kawempe on the outskirts of Kampala some years ago who wanted to riot because somebody had eaten pork. "I don't eat fish because my people call it snake. I don't eat chicken because my people think it makes one unstable, don't eat pork and sheep but I am the number one promoter of piggery in the whole of Uganda.
"I think tolerance is firmly based on the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan," he said. The President, who was jolly and kept cracking jokes, invited the clergy to visit Uganda again, saying it is unique, being on the equator but experiencing permanent snow on Mt. Rwenzori because it is 5,000 metres above sea level. Only Kenya and Ecuador in South America, he added, have such an experience.
Addressing a press conference later, Orombi said they had met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, over homosexuality which has split the Anglican church. "He recognised that he has complicated work to do. We impressed it on him that he had totally gone in a different direction and he has to sort it out," Orombi said.
He said the church in Singapore, south-east Asia and Africa had decided to stick to the Word of God and the Anglican Communion was strengthening its ties with them. "We sympathise with his (Williams) position. It's like having unruly kids in his house and he can't sit down to eat food. We told him no more diplomacy on that matter," he said.
Experts on family issues, maternal health and HIV/AIDS also made their presentations. Dr. Peter Okaalet said the 10 killer diseases in Africa like malaria, HIV/AIDS and accidents are preventable. "Africa has failed to prevent these 10 killer diseases because its health system is overburdened to the extent that it cannot deliver anything," Okaalet said.
"Most of the budgets of the African countries offer $10 to $20 for health per person every year, which cannot do anything."
Sylvia Mwichuli said Africa has the potential to end poverty. "Africa is not doomed, it has a lot of potential and South Africa has just exhibited it when she hosted a successful World Cup recently," she added.
Mwiculi observed that the gap between the rich and the poor who struggle to live is very big and needs to be bridged urgently.
She challenged religious leaders to support people and groups of people who advocate for the positive change on the continent.
Museveni Warns Religious Extremists
http://allafrica.com/stories/200004270093.html
Jonathan Angura and Nathan Etengu
The New Vision, 27 April 2000
Kampala — President Yoweri Museveni has said religious extremism will not be tolerated in Uganda. He said having fought the liberation war, he will ensure that Uganda remains a peaceful and organised society.
"We are not going to allow anyone to use religion to disturb the peace we have sacrificed our lives, energy and resources to bring about," Museveni said in a speech read yesterday by second deputy prime minister Moses Ali at the seventh graduation ceremony of the Islamic University in Uganda A total of 289 students, 93 of them women, graduated in various disciplines.
President Tells African Bishops - 'There Should Be No Room for Intolerance Because Everyone is Made in the Image of God'
http://allafrica.com/stories/201008271108.html
Uganda's President Museveni said today that tolerance was a biblical imperative and that Christians should not "have one minute of time wasted" by those promoting prejudice.
Speaking to almost 400 bishops and other guests at the All Africa Bishops Conference in Entebbe this morning, President Museveni used the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan to highlight the need to overcome difference and pursue peace and healing.
Drawing on Ugandan religious history, President Museveni explained it took only ten years after the first convert to Christianity in Uganda before Catholics and Protestants were fighting and killing each other.
"I don't' know where they heard God wanted them to fight and kill each other," he said. "A civil war between those calling themselves Catholics and those calling themselves Protestants! Then there was another war between the two of them and Muslims. They were all fighting on behalf of God, they said."
He recounted the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate that prejudice should not get in the way of peace and helping other human beings. In this New Testament story it is a traditional enemy of the Israelites, a Samaritan, who aids an injured Israelite when members of the Jewish religious elite fail to do so.
"I am always looking for the good Samaritan," he said. "Jesus says you shall know them by their fruits. You shall know them by their actions. Not by their words, not by their addresses, not by their titles, but by their works, by their deeds, by the products of their works."
The President said those of all denominations or faiths needed to recognise one another's right to exist: "If you are a Muslim, so what? I am a Christian. OK, so what's your problem? You are what you are, but I am what I am. We're different...I'm here by the permission of God. You must accept me the way I am whether you want it or not."
He added that anyone promoting intolerance should not "waste one of our minutes with this...We are all created in the image of god, so you are made in the image of god. I don't know whether God is black or white or Chinese, but we are created in his image-that's what the bible says."
He concluded his well-received speech by officially opening the CAPA-run conference for bishops of the Anglican Communion in Africa that is running until Sunday 29 August at the Imperial Beach Hotel, Entebbe. Aims for this conference include mobilising the bishops to tackle the obstacles that continue to keep the continent in conflict, poverty, corruption, poor leadership and disease.
