Re: ugnet_: Opposing Third term: Stop Attacking Cardinal Wamala- VP Bukenya

[Owor Kipenji]

Ugandans,here we go again,being taken through that diabolical road

of bigotry in politics by what and how the press report on issues.

I find it distateful that the fact that Professor Bukenya's being a catholic

should take centre issue on his warning about what others should not

do to or with the cardinal.

17 years,ago, we were told we had a chance to embrace a fundamental

change and not a mere change of guards.That to this end,we were to use

individual merits and not tribal and religious backgrounds to access positions in government.It appears all that was ,has been and is hogwash!. Our saints of fundamental change have often recoursed to the

same malady that they purported to have burried and today 17 years on,it is still of interest to us to know what religiuos grouping one of our

leaders belong to.

Professor Bukenya made his observation as the "second" in command in

the Government and that is the message I strongly feel we need to take

home,not  just because he is also a catholic.

With all the global interactions that have taken place in the World and Uganda today,there are so many of us,who have a different interpretation

to religions and would not want our faiths or lack of it to be dragged in the political dispensations of some of the media groups.

For the good professor however,he should know that Caeser is of and from God and therefore everybody of and from God should not be excluded from discussing Caeser's issues for they affect the whole society.

Thank you.

Kipenji.

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Omar Kezimbira <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Leave cardinal alone - Bukenya
By Lynn Musitwa
Oct 26, 2003 - Monitor

KAMPALA - Vice President Gilbert Bukenya has asked Ugandans to stop attacking Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala. Prof. Bukenya, who is the highest-ranking Catholic politician in the country, was speaking at diocesan celebrations at Rubaga Cathedral yesterday. Vice President Gilbert Bukenya (top) and Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala. But in what could be understood to be an attempt to separate church and state, Bukenya also advised Christians to not involve themselves in "Caesar's issues" because they breed hatred. "I advise you to listen to each other instead of attacking one another," Bukenya said. "If a leader says something, it is only fair that we respect and listen to him regardless of whether we like it or not instead of attacking him." Cardinal Wamala has been at the centre of intense public debate after he publicly opposed a Cabinet proposal to lift the term limit on the presidency, a move that could, theoretically, lead to life presidency. The cardinal argued that the absence of term limits would undermine democracy in the country and breed dictatorship. Several government officials, including a junior minister and a legal aide to President Yoweri Museveni, have since lambasted the prelate for his views, advising him to keep out of politics. Bukenya's remarks yesterday made him the first and highest-ranking government official to publicly defend the cardinal's right to his views. And the vice president understood the danger in his defence of the cardinal being misunderstood as support for his views. "I know from here the press is going to interpret what I said differently," he said. Bukenya, who presented the controversial Cabinet proposals to the Constitutional Review Commission, did not, however, say if he, too, is opposed to the lifting of the limits. Bukenya thanked the cardinal for trying to put the church right and promised to support him. On his part, Wamala thanked the vice president for his fight against poverty.

© 2003 The Monitor Publications

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