Archbishop Kaziimba calls for church inclusion in national budget

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the Most Rev Dr Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu has observed a need for the inclusion of the church development activities in the national budget.

Kaziimba made the statement during a service at his home in Namirembe today in reference to a recent  engagement between the Church of Uganda House of Bishops and a team from Operation Wealth Creation. He noted that this and other planned meetings are meant to devise ways of supporting the church through partnerships.

“In my regime as Archbishop, following the leadership of retired Archbishops and the Church Vision 2025, we are committed to ensuring that we develop the church. We have been advocating that the government ensures that they include us in the national budget because we are doing a lot to develop our country,” said Kaziimba.

He said that besides their meeting with the director Operation Wealth Creation-OWC, the church has already planned to meet other partners like bankers and others in order to ensure that they develop the church.

“We also contribute to the development of this country, so where there is unused land, we must develop it. I am so grateful to those who have been supporting us in this area and we got some tractors and seedlings in order to support our people in the rural areas,” Kaziimba added.

The Church of Uganda in its bid to boost agriculture had requested the government for 37 tractors to ensure that each diocese gets one. Out of the requested 37 tractors, the government allocated 10 and 2 have already been delivered to the province.

During the meeting with the coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation, Gen. Salim Saleh on Thursday, the Archbishop requested that the remaining tractors are also delivered in order to cover all dioceses. Kaziimba says that the church cannot just look on as people starve yet there is idle land that can be used.

“We want to invite everyone to join the campaign for developing our church. We are stakeholders and that’s why we call upon people to take their children for immunization, to be sensitive about COVID -19 and HIV/AIDs. So we are called to work together,” the Archbishop said.

The Archbishop has previously cited a need to provide support to the church in the area of extension services, marketing of the farmers’ produce, inspections in Church of Uganda founded schools and hospitals.

During the Thursday meeting with Gen. Saleh and others at the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO) headquarters at Kawanda, the Archbishop said that an accountable 50 billion Shillings per annum to the church would help in ensuring development for the start. He also sought for the provision of a milling machine to each diocese for purposes of value addition as well as a silo.

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URN