News circulated early last week showing the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga visiting a shrine, this was moments after being sworn in as Speaker of Parliament. She later spoke saying she had gone to inform the ancestors that she had triumphed on top of it being an act to promote tourism.
Archbishop Ntagali publicly responded to this act saying, “Like many Ugandans, Christians in the Church of Uganda prayed for Honourable Rebecca Kadaga for her re-election as MP and Speaker of Parliament. Like many, we were, therefore, confused by the reports of her visiting her ancestral shrine to give thanks for her re-election…We value our ancestors because we are connected to them by the relationship we have. But, we must always trust only in God,”
Mr Chris Obore, Director, Communication and Public affairs at Parliament of Uganda has said that the Archbishop should have had a word with the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga before coming out with a public condemnation.
Mr Chris’ statement, as published by the Daily Monitor on Monday, responds to the mode of action taken by the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Stanley Ntagali in addressing the state of affairs surrounding the Speaker’s visit to the shrine at Nhendha hill in Iganga District and the recent MP Tax exemption bill.
“The way in which the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Stanley Ntagali is responding to public and political matters exposes two things: either he is growing increasingly passionate about fighting spiritual and moral decadence or he has found himself heavily captive to partisan political forces,” Mr Chris Obore further says, ” Not that I am well qualified to counsel the man of God but as a layman observing social and political dynamics, Archbishop Ntagali should appreciate all sides of any issue before he pronounces himself on them,”
“If I were in pastoral work, I would have done private counselling before public rebuke, after all, the business of Church is to win souls to Christ not to judge them,” Chris says.
He urges that whenever a person of his (Arch. Stanley Ntagali) status makes a pronouncement, it should never leave doubt as to its motivation and intention.
Concerning the recent letter written by the Archbishop to the President on Taxation of MPs, Mr Obore says that “to have a fair view of what Parliament had done in regard to the taxation issue, the Archbishop would have benefited from asking the religious groupings led by MPs in the House before making a public pronouncement,”
“The Church needs to take its place by first demonstrating that its mission is to serve every child of God; showing that God is superior to other gods materially and spiritually,”
He further states that the superiority of God is not manifested through condemnation but enlightenment, “after all the war is not against the people but the negative forces that compete for people’s attention. And each of us makes decisions basing on the information available,”
“No one has all the information all the time; therefore, seeking more information is a duty. That is why the Archbishop Ntagali should have sought more information from one of the members of his flock—Ms Kadaga— before joining the forces of condemnation against her,”
