Archbishop Ntagali is not being fair to Speaker Kadaga

The way in which the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda Stanley Ntagali is responding to public and political matters exposes two things: either he is growing increasingly passionate about fighting spiritual and moral decadence or he has found himself heavily captive to partisan political forces.
Not that I am well qualified to counsel the man of God but as a layman observing social and political dynamics, Archbishop Ntagali should appreciate all sides of any issue before he pronounces himself on them.
Whenever a person of his status makes a pronouncement, it should never leave doubt as to its motivation and intention.
The man of God should have exercised restraint on two recent issues about parliament: Taxation of MPs and the visit of the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga to her clan shrine at the urging of her clan elders.

On taxation, the Archbishop penned a letter to the President saying: “Your Excellency, on behalf of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda Council of Presidents, and the entire faith fraternity in the country, we wish to express our dissatisfaction with the conduct of our Members of Parliament who recently decided by themselves to pass the Income Tax (Amendment Bill, 2016) that exempts them from paying taxes on their allowances and emoluments.”
According to the Archbishop, MPs had passed a law excluding them from paying taxes. If the Archbishop had sought more information, he would have known that MPs pay taxes on their salary, gratuity, honoraria and sitting allowances. It’s the mileage which MPs sought to exempt from taxation and with valid reasons.

Armed with all information, he would then have said MPs should pay tax on their mileage instead of saying MPs do not pay taxes.
Church offertory and tithe are not taxed yet it’s income for the Church. The reason for not taxing it is valid. Pastoral leaders have to do work and must be facilitated because their work is noble. Church leaders have even received donations even when their flock are still very poor.
And because millions of Christians in Uganda are hard pressed economically, religious leaders must not drive vehicles? How would they perform their duties? It appears that the man of God followed the bandwagon orchestrated by some civil society group that MPs do not pay taxes.

He also wrote: “Further, on a number of occasions, you and Parliament have resisted calls for salary increment from other sectors of the public namely; teachers/lecturers and health workers.” Again if the man of God had taken time to meditate a little, he would have remembered that on several occasions, MPs refused to pass the national budget until government increased salaries for teachers and health workers. A call to Uganda National Teachers Association (UNATU) and former MP Dr Medard Bitekyerezo (who passionately advocated for health workers) would have given the Archbishop a balanced view.

In the same letter, the Archbishop said: “There is no doubt that with the taxation of the MPs allowances, the country shall be in a position to install a new cancer machine at Mulago Hospital. Subsequent tax savings in successive years can buy more machines so that the treatment of cancer is decentralised to other regional referral hospitals.” The implication here is that the man of God believes only tax from MPs is what should buy a cancer machine. Any other taxes were not meant for that! Not even the Shs4million trillion stolen at Uganda National Roads Authority or the more than Shs100billion stolen from pensioners.

To have a fair view of what Parliament had done in regard to the taxation issue, the Archbishop would have benefited from asking the religious groupings led by MPs in the House before making a public pronouncement.
MP David Bahati is at the centre of championing the gospel among the MPs; he would have given an elaborate explanation to the Archbishop about taxation of MPs.
On the issue of Speaker Kadaga visiting her clan shrine, the Archbishop has again weighed in. The tone is as if Ms Kadaga is judged sinner and unfit for God’s kingdom yet the Bible is clear on who the judge is.

Hopefully, the Archbishop has had a word with the Speaker before coming out with a public condemnation. If I were in pastoral work, I would have done private counselling before public rebuke, after all, the business of Church is to win souls to Christ not to judge them.
As a political actor, the Speaker has different constituents including her family and clan. Before she is Speaker, she is voted by the people of Kamuli District. She did not perform sorcery. She paid respects to her ancestors openly and left as demanded by her clan. Any politician at that level has to continuously work to create a balance between her constituency interests and national interests.

Manifestly, the Church currently appears to address social evils selectively and possibly those that are politically convenient. The same Ms Kadaga now given negative portrayal is the one who locally and internationally staked her political fortunes by robustly pushing for the Anti-Homosexuality Law. The Church is yet to petition and pile pressure after the law was defeated elsewhere.
Groups with a different agenda are teaching all forms sexual orientations in schools in Uganda, drug addiction is ravaging young souls. How this happened without the Church knowing leaves some of us wondering what the priorities of the Church today are.

The Church’s selective public demonstration of concern against wrong doing by political leaders undermines the superiority of God. The Church needs to take its place by first demonstrating that its mission is to serve every child of God; showing that God is superior to other gods materially and spiritually.
The superiority of God is not manifested through condemnation but enlightenment, after all the war is not against the people but the negative forces that compete for people’s attention. And each of us makes decisions basing on the information available. No one has all the information all the time; therefore, seeking more information is a duty. That is why the Archbishop Ntagali should have sought more information from one of the members of his flock—Ms Kadaga— before joining the forces of condemnation against her.
Mr Obore is the director, communication and public affairs Parliament of Uganda.