Church leaders under umbrella organisation, Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) have said Ugandans would like to see decisive actions being taken against people who plunder public resources for their personal benefit.
The group has warned that perpetrators have become emboldened, adding that it is high time government developed zero tolerance to corruption in the move to renew and guide the country’s struggle against such evil.
“Corruption is an evil that is condemned by scripture,” said UJCC outgoing chairperson, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali in a joint statement by the Church leaders, including Dr Cyprian Kizito of the Roman Catholic Church and Jonah Lwanga, Metropolitan of the Uganda Orthodox Church.
This was at a press conference hosted at the provincial headquarters of the church of Uganda, Namirembe in Kampala.
On the Age limit bill, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali warned that the current approach of seeking to amend the constitution through private member’s bill “was retrogressive and it robbed the constitution of its pre-eminent status.”
“As things stand now, it is likely that the age limit Bill may be passed by Parliament but we are of the view that the passage of the Bill will leave a huge number of Ugandans deeply antagonized,” he said.
“It (Age Limit Bill) will also dampen the prospect for any peaceful and orderly handover of power in the future,” he added.
Uganda was ranked 151 of the 176 countries in the 2016 corruption perception index (CPI) annual report released by Transparency International.
While addressing journalists at Masaka State Lodge in November, President Museveni stated he was taking some lessons from Mr Magufuli to win the war on corruption.
He blamed his failure to fight corruption on bureaucracy and institutions which he said are used by corrupt people thus making the fight against corruption tricky, according to Daily Monitor.
“Whenever you try to take action of suspending a wrong doer, he runs to public service commission or courts of law for protection because wrong people are misusing institutions to protect themselves,” Mr Museveni is quoted to have said.
By Paul Dennis.
