Uganda’s government has already started holding meeting with various religious leaders in order to effectively implement National Ethical Values among the public, a local state-linked news daily has confirmed.
The 10 ethical values highlighted, all contained in the National Ethical Values Policy that was launched by President Yoweri Museveni in October 2013, will according to government change people’s mindsets if Uganda is to have a good citizenry.
These values include; respect for humanity and environment, honesty uphold and defend the truth at all times, justice and fairness in dealing with other, hard work for self-reliance, integrity creativity and innovativeness, social responsibility, social harmony, national unity and national consciousness and patriotism.
Presiding Apostle Dr. Joseph Serwadda of Victory Church Ndeeba has told New Vision that the “implementation of the policy stagnated, because Government had left out religious leaders and other stakeholders.”
The newspaper states that implementing this policy will also involve cultural leaders.
“We believe cultural and religious can play a big role in their communities. We must change our people’s mindsets if we are to have a good citizenry,” The Permanent Secretary, Directorate of Ethics and Integrity (DEI), Alex Okello is quotes to have said during a National Stakeholders dissemination meeting on the National Ethical Values at Hotel Africana in Kampala on Friday.
We want the values to be inculcated right from the grassroots, Mr Okello said.
He told the source that among the key issues they want to fight is theft (corruption) to ensure that Ugandans start shunning those involved.
“We want people to know that calling you a thief is bad. But in Uganda today calling someone a thief seems normal. We want theft to be known as an abomination and those involved to be rejected,”
“We should teach the children what we want to them to be. In the 1960s, the literacy levels were low but values were respected. Today, things are different yet many are educated,” Mr Okello added.
male@ugchristiannews.com
