Writes Leo Odera Omolo
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday evening hosted the visiting African and foreign Bishops to a dinner at State House Entebbe. The prelates are here for the second All Africa Bishops Conference in Entebbe at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel which ends tomorrow.
As they arrived atop the hill at snail pace in three minibuses, many were awe struck by the breath taking beauty of the palatial structure, imposing majestically over Entebbe town. They ate and drank, with the President who called on them to champion social economic transformation.
“It is very important that the church leaders, political leaders and traditional leaders understand that social-economic transformation is the main problem in Africa”, the President said.
Museveni told them that as shepherds of the people of Africa, they ought to appreciate that Africans are among the most under-developed in the world.
African societies, he stressed, must undergo changes from peasant, feudal settings to middle class and skilled working class societies, according to a state House Press release.
He noted that Bishops had plenty of time to interact with the people and pass on the message of social transformation.
The President asked the Church leaders to encourage people to work and not to sit idly thinking God would make things happen miraculously. Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi of the Church of Uganda assured his fellow prelates that the people of Uganda were hospitable and open hearted.
He thanked President Museveni for his support to the conference, saying over 300 bishops had attended the conference.
Yesterday, the bishops deliberated on ways through which the church could fight against climate change and food insecurity.
In a keynote presentation, Dr. Rose Mwebaza, a senior legal advisor on environment at the Nairobi-based Institute of Security Studies, said the continent was bound to suffer endless hunger and high disease burden due to climate change.
“The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says the greatest hunger in the world is in Africa. And climate change is going to exacerbate the problem through increased drought, floods and disease burden,” Mwebaza said.
She challenged the clergy to mobilise believers to start up simple energy technologies like biogas and reduce dependence on wood and curb deforestation
Ends