COVID-19: We are ready for reopening, religious leaders tell govt

RELIGION | LOCKDOWN | HEALTH

KAMPALA - Religious leaders have said they are ready for the reopening of worship places. They asked the Government to consider reopening them immediately.

Through their umbrella body, the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU), the leaders said they have put in place the required standard operating procedures (SOPs) for preventing the spread of COVID-19 in their respective churches and mosques.

Sheikh Shaban Mubajje, the Mufti of Uganda, who is also the IRCU chairperson, said the council, together with the health ministry and senior presidential advisor on epidemics, Dr Monica Musenero, had developed SOPs and an orientation manual.

He said they had already submitted the SOPs and the manual to the Prime Minister and the national task force on COVID-19 for review and further submission to the President.

"We have put in place everything they needed and we are ready. We are just waiting for the President to allow us to open," Mubajje said.

During a press briefing on Thursday at the IRCU head offices in MengoBulange in Kampala, Mubajje, who read a statement on behalf of themembers, said the leaders were urgently looking forward to the reopening of worship places before the start of the forthcoming political campaigns and general elections to enable them offer spiritual guidance to their followers.

He said several months since the worship places were closed in March, many of their followers were starting to forget issues about God. "Calling people back to God should not take too long," he said. Mubajje said during his 18th address on the COVID-19 pandemic, the President advised religious leaders to liaise with the health ministry to work on SOPs for the safe reopening of worship places.

The team set up by IRCU, according to Mubajje, had also worked on a training manual intended to provide what he referred to as ‘step by step guidance' for managing places of worship to implement COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

The manual is also intended to train religious leaders on the control measures, creating awareness among stakeholders on the potential risks of transmission in places of worship and the risk mitigation.

The team also set up district task forces on COVID-19 mandated to play an oversight role on control measures in respective places of worship.

Mubajje said the leaders had made progress in rolling out the training of ordained and non-ordained leaders in their respective structures.

"We are confident that the training in our structures will build the capacity of our leaders to create safe environments that will contain the infections and manage the spread of COVID-19," Mubajje's statement read.

The briefing was attended by Jonah Lwanga, the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church; Bishop Joshua Lwere, the general overseer of the National Alliance of Pentecostal and Evangelical Churches of Uganda;

Apostle Dr Joseph Sserwadda, president of the Born-Again Faith (BAF) in Uganda and Msgr Charles Kasibante, the vicar general of the Kampala Archdiocese.

The council also condemned the demolition of St Peter's Anglican Church in Ndeeba and applauded President Museveni's quick response by directing the arrest of the perpetrators.

"We call for the fast investigations into this matter and bring to book all the culprits," the statement read.

Mubajje condemned some Muslim youth who were arrested for allegedly taking part in the demolition, saying as IRCU, they jointly detest anyone involved in the destruction of worship places.