By Aaron Sseruyigo
KAMPALA – For the last 16 years, Dr. Joseph and Freda Serwadda of Victory Christian Centre Church – Ndeeba have been hosting an annual celebration on new year’s eve at Namboole stadium labelled, the Passover Festival.
The festival is expected to draw over 100,000 people, and unite national and international preachers including Frank Shelton, Chuck Balsamo, Dr Hugh Osgood, Bishop Ronald Mukiibi, Apostle Charles Tumwine, Eric Newberry Korean singers; Good News Missions Church Choir among others.
Speaking to Journalists at Namboole Stadium on Sunday, Dr. Serwadda said there are several constants that have featured over the years, such as donating blood, collection of household items for the needy, general prayers and preaching.
“This year, we intend to surprise our patrons with lots of prophecies that God has revealed concerning 2019, Gospel ministers, both local and international, and many highlights that we can only talk about tomorrow as we do not want them copied and replicated,” he said.
The theme of this year’s edition; ‘Little by little, step by step’ was inspired by Exodus 23:30.
Dr Serwadda went ahead and addressed several other issues prevailing in the nation including the National Dialogue and RFBO policy by Fr Simon Lokodo.
Full Statement.
NATIONAL DIALOGUE PROCESS : About two weeks ago, the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda had a meeting with the President of Uganda. Top on the agenda was the proposed National Dialogue Process which we believe will give Ugandans an opportunity to share in the restoration, transformation and development of Uganda. I would like to thank the President and his team for their commitment to the process. I request and encourage all clear minded Ugandans to support the effort and pray for a meaningful conclusion. Dialogue seems to be the only path to the much-cherished justice, peace, development, security and prosperity in the Uganda we want!
COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION: Recently, the Ministry of Education presented to the nation what was called the Comprehensive Sex Education. The curriculum proposes such education to be accessed by all school going children, even those of 3-5years. We advise that the lower age children, (3-12 years) be taught Hygiene instead of sex education. We further urge the ministry to engage parents more, rather than teachers and their assistants who have often proved to be abusive to our children.
CABINET RESHUFFLE : I appeal to the President to cause an early reshuffle in the Cabinet and the leadership of other State institutions. The President needs young blood and fresh energy to fulfil his tasks for the remaining part of this kisanja! The nation is ready for a change of guards.
CORRUPTION : Corruption remains a thorn in the flesh of Uganda’s development efforts. The President needs to embark on a serious search for incorruptible people in top government offices. Without these, it is impossible to fight corruption because darkness cannot chase away darkness. It is light that does! We ask His Excellency to look for God fearing people who are incorruptible to take the lead in weeding out corruption in Government, its agencies and departments. As Government and Parliament embark on the budgeting cycle which has just started with the presentation of the Budget Framework Paper for the 2019/2020 financial year, we ask decision makers to allocate more resources to Agriculture, Tourism, ICT, Science and Technology, and Health sectors for speedy economic growth. The five mentioned sectors are still greatly underfunded.
SALARY SCALE RESTRUCTURING: There is need to restructure the salary scale to provide for an increase in the remunerations for civil servants. What is in place today is that a few officers have set their own salaries, leaving the rest of the work force to survive on the yester-year arrangement that does not equate with today’s economic needs.
RFBO POLICY : The nation is ablaze with a string of gossip on the proposed Religious & Faith Based Policy in Uganda. The only person that seems to know where the policy is, happens to be Hon Fr Simon Lokodo , Minister of Ethics and Integrity. The rest of the Senior officials at the Office of the President deny the existence of such policy. Nothing has caused more confusion among the Born Again Churches and related fraternities than this in the recent past. What we know is that three years ago, the Government called a general meeting where we were all invited and told of Government’s wish to streamline the religious terrain in this country. We were told how the State was worried about the rampart falsehood that was happening in our churches. Among our leaders, were those selling healing prayers at prescribed fees depending on the magnitude of the need. Others were more creative; some tagging the blessing to the kissing of their shoes, others selling holy rice, bread, watermelon and the like. The Department of Ethics then decided to embark on consultations across the nation which have just been concluded, as we hear. We expected an Issues Paper next month. Then came Fr Lokodo’s grand announcement of the “policy” and its controversial contents. The very process itself presupposes that there can be no such policy at this time!
I encourage church leaders to exercise restraint and stop blaming each other. Balokole leaders, instead, should sit down in their fellowships, fraternities and fora, to brainstorm, form opinions, and prepare possible solutions on the issues Government is raising! The issues raised by Fr Lokodo, namely, registration, training, and property, cannot be wished away! They can only be answered by clearly thought out responses! I know very few occasions where Government was shouted down and they abandoned a desired legislature or an outcome!
PASSOVER FESTIVAL : Starting today with the Prayer Teams in our churches, the nation will congregate here at Nambole Stadium to welcome a new year, 2019.
