Elders' forum launched to spearhead peace

By Wilfred Sanya

The elderly who have retired in service have formed an umbrella body to guide government and the community to foster peace and development.

The chairman president of Council of the Inter Religious Council (IRCU), Metropolitan Yonah Lwanga launched the National Elders’ Forum on Tuesday in Kampala.

“The membership of the Elders Forum is drawn from different religious and regional communities in Uganda. Their selection is based on their experience in peace building and development work,” said Lwanga.

Members will contribute to the development framework for the national reconciliation and also propose interventions where conflicts may arise at any level.

The forum was formed during the 2011 elections of 2011 and taken up by the United Nations  Development Programme (UNDP)  which put it up into an independent  national structure for mediation.

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Rtd Bishop of Mukono Dunsan Bukenya (L), IRCU sec. gen. Joshua Kitakule (C) and Metropolitan Lwanga right. PHOTO/Wilfred Sanya

Among those who constitute the forum is former minister of privatization, Peter Kasenene; Prof. Rev Fr. Joseph Kato; Amb. Alphonse Oseku; Haji Habib Mushamba and Pastor John Wani.

Others are Archbishop Livingstone Mpalanyi, former Archbishop Luke Orombi, Prof. Victoria Mwaka, Rt.Rev. Paul Luzinda and Sam Busulwa.

IRCU secretary general, Joshua Kitakule said having the elders’ forum is “an important framework for positive transformation.”

According to him, the forum is the child of years of reflection on the special contribution of the elders in the country’s development.

“We discovered that while the modern world society looked at elders as retired, dependents    and helpless, to us we saw this stage as a very important one.”