KABALE – Retired clerics under the Diocese of Kigezi Retired Clergy Association in Greater Kabale District, southwestern Uganda have expressed dissatisfaction with their exclusion from government programs such as Parish Development Model.
Rtd Rev Esau Habomugisha says that he has tried several times to join the PDM groups but in vain with Parish Chiefs informing him that he is not eligible according to PDM rules.
The Parish Development Model (PDM) initiative, introduced by the Ugandan government, aims to shift the 39% of the population still dependent on subsistence farming into the money economy.
Rev. Habomugisha says that the government needs to support retired clergy citing that most of them served the church and went home with nothing revealing that they don’t have a substantial pension to survive on.
CUE IN RTD.REV. HABOMUGISHA……ON PDM……RR/ENG//
Retired Reverend Canon Steven Warren Turyomwe urged the government to exempt retired clergy from paying taxes if they cannot benefit from its programs. Canon Turwomwe says that unlike the Catholic Church, which has a systematic arrangement to cater for its retired priests, the Church of Uganda does not have that arrangement. He says that church ministers devote all their time to the ministry, forgetting about the time of retirement.
CUE IN RTD.REV.CAN. TURYOMWE….ON GOV’T…………RR/ENG//
The Diocesan secretary, Rev Canon Milton Nkurunungi, stated that the diocese lacks a special program for retired clergy. However, he mentioned that the Diocese has a SACCO, encouraging both retired and in-service clergy to have shares and acquire loans for income-generating projects.
CUE IN REV CANON NKURUNUNGI…..ON THE MATTER…….ENG//
According to Bakak Ronald, Deputy RDC Kabale District, PDM guidelines do not exclude individuals based on their nature; the main criterion is whether one falls under the 39% of subsistence households. He refuted claims of the retired clergy being left out of government programs and advised them to join PDM groups if they qualify under the 39 percent category.
CUE IN DRDC BAKAK…..ON RETIRED CLERGY…..LUG/ENG//
Diocese of Kigezi has over 100 retired clergy and each one is entitled to Ugx 100,000 stipend monthly.
