The European Union Ambassador-Designate to Uganda H.E. Jan Sadek has called upon religious leaders to avoid participating in partisan politics while doing their pastoral work.
While he made his first public appearance communication as the EU commemorated the international day of democracy, Jan Sadek said that the relationship between religion and democracy is very interesting, and sometimes leads to conflicts between moral authority and political power.
According to Sadek, politics, and religion, should not be put into the competition because both are fully needed in well-functioning societies noting that each has separate roles to play and thus need to combat all forms of discrimination.
“The way I see it, combating in an impartial way, all forms of religious intolerance, discrimination, and violence against persons based on religion or belief must be a priority for all states and for the international community. At the same time, religious leaders should ensure that their pastoralist role is kept separate from partisan politics” he said.
According to him, authoritarian regimes are on the rise and they are combating religious freedoms evident with the use of religion to mobilize against freedom and to pervert moral values.
“Russia’s recent history exemplifies this policy against religious freedom, with its devilish symbiosis between the state and the Orthodox Church. We have all seen Patriarch Kirill blessing and supporting Putin’s war in Ukraine – as if he had missed a few chapters and commandments of the Bible” Sadek said.
As per Uganda’s constitution under article 21, no Ugandan should be discriminated against on the grounds of her or his religion or creed. To the ambassador, the same values are embedded in the EU DNA and critical to the rule of law, a principle the commission commits to uphold around the world.
He further highlighted that no country is prone to democracy and religious challenges pointing out that in Uganda, there are reports about members of the Muslim faith being unfairly targeted by security operations and that some faith-based organizations were affected when NGOs were suspended last year, and to him, all this can be solved through dialogue.
“Dialogue with the government is key to solving these issues, and on our side, the EU will continue to engage in discussions about democratic governance and we look forward to supporting democratic governance initiatives as one of our three cooperation priorities for Uganda in the coming years.”
While giving a keynote address, Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, the Head of the Department of Philosophy, Makerere University said that throughout Uganda’s history, religious leaders and politicians have been at loggerheads.
“At varying degrees, it has been of interest for religious leaders to shape national politics; both as evangelical exercise and for their own survival or personal similarly, it has been of strategic consideration for politicians to court, guide, manipulate, and arm-twist religious leaders or their bodies.” He said
Ssentongo mentioned that president Museveni has constantly reminded religious leaders not to trespass on politics, which has created fear among these leaders, hence becoming impartial.
“It is possible that, following the constant reminders to not trespass, out of fear, some religious leaders have in self-preservation decided to either tread very carefully, withdraw from politically sensitive matters, or operate on an evasive level of generality.”
“Besides, there is also the awareness that being seen as a critic of government can come with other survival costs to religious institutions and individual leaders. Some religious leaders have raised concerns about spies being planted amongst them”
According to Ssentongo, in Uganda’s context, religion has been very critical in the building of democracy, progressively and problematically noting that “The most significant contribution is the indirect one, through fostering education to address illiteracy, ignorance, and boost civic agency.”
