25 October 2007
Kampala — Uganda Joint Christian Council is an ecumenical faith based organization that comprises of three member churches namely: Uganda Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Uganda.
As a member of the Uganda Coalition on the Millennium Campaign, UJCC together with other churches
mobilized their constituencies to stand up and speak out against poverty and advocate for the attainment
of the Millennium Development Goals on October 17 2007.
The churches are a strong advocate for good living. Poverty remains one of the biggest obstacles for our people thereby denying them the opportunity to attain a good and healthy standard of living. The Bible in John 10:10 says that "I have come that they may have life and that they may have it abundantly".
This verse makes it inevitable for us as religious leaders to participate in activities that promote better and healthier standards of living for our people.
In order to fight poverty and attain the MDGS, we as a people and government need to:
- Decisively address the cancer of corruption. This will make it possible for resources to get channeled to the most needed areas including: education, reduction of child mortality rate, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDs, malaria and other diseases. It will also enable government and the people
of Uganda to strategically plan together for sustainable development.
- Government needs to establish a recovery fund for public funds that have been embezzled. Those involved in corruption should be promptly prosecuted in order to deter others.
- We need to involve more women in decision making and ensure that all girls are sent to school. Each
girl sent to school means more skilled addition to our labour force and therefore increased development.
- We need to re-think the reasons why we remain poor despite the aid that we continue to receive and find solutions to address the obstacles.
- Leaders at all levels should develop a character of being accountable to the people both for finances and performance.
- We as Ugandans need to be more involved in our governance. We should take time to read progress reports being made by government in all sectors of service delivery and regularly demand for audience with our leaders so as to discuss issues arising from our observations in the communities and reports made.
- We need to work with government towards achieving the Millennium Development goals.
We as UJCC members pledge to continue working with government to reduce poverty in our communities through creating awareness, through our member churches we shall continue to complement government programs that aim to improve the living conditions of our people. UJCC will also not hesitate to point out issues and engage with government and other stakeholders to find solutions to areas that continue to keep poverty within our communities.
We join the rest of the world on this day BY STANDING UP AND SPEAKING OUT TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY AND TO CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS BY 2015.
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