Summary:
- The Kigezi sub-region has long struggled to overcome the sectarian politics rooted in religion since the 1980s, when the Democratic Party and Uganda People’s Congress vied for control of the region, which is predominantly Catholic and Anglican.
KANUNGU: The Deputy Managing Director of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Dr. Sylvia Arinaitwe has called on journalists to lead the fight against identity politics.
Dr. Arinaitwe’s message was delivered on Sunday by Dr. Jude Katerega, the President of Ugandans Below 40 (UB40) a social mobilization movement under the NRM during a media symposium at Kanungu Resort in Kanungu District, addressing journalists from the Kigezi sub-region.
The Kigezi sub-region has long struggled to overcome the sectarian politics rooted in religion since the 1980s, when the Democratic Party and Uganda People’s Congress vied for control of the region, which is predominantly Catholic and Anglican.
However, Dr. Arinaitwe argued that identity politics not only divides people but is also a source of insecurity, citing the civil wars in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo as examples.
In her message, Dr. Arinaitwe urged journalists not to provide a platform to agents of sectarianism based on religion, tribe, and other divisive ideologies but to promote unity for socio-economic transformation.
“Religion, tribes, languages, and other differences should be uniting factors for socio-economic development rather than tools for division,” she said.
She encouraged people to choose leaders based on individual merit and what they can accomplish, rather than their identity or origin.
Dr. Arinaitwe also appealed to journalists to amplify the government’s call for participation in poverty alleviation programs such as the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga.
“This is where the government needs you most. Educating the masses about these programs to change their lives is one of the greatest contributions you [journalists] can make to this country,” she said.
However, journalists Botrus Amanya (Kanungu FM), Kate Atuzarirwe (Vision Group Kisoro), and Naboth Isaac Niwagaba (Hope Radio FM Kabale) urged the government to more actively engage the media in promoting socio-economic transformation programs such as PDM.
Dr. Katerega agreed with the journalists that the government had not done enough to properly engage the media in its programs.
Meanwhile, the Deputy National Coordinator of UB40, Mr. Moses Gumisiriza A.K., revealed that similar media symposiums would be held in all regions of Uganda, with the national symposium set to be held at a later date.
The theme of the media symposiums is “Mobilizing Uganda for Socio-Economic Transformation.”
