Prime
What is disturbing the peace of Christ at Ediofe?
What you need to know:
- It is foolhardy for any country or organisation to treat its human resources casually.
A wind of change appears to be blowing across Arua City; it has disturbed peace of the award-winning Radio Pacis located on Ediofe hill of the city.
On January 10, several senior staff of the radio station either resigned or were sacked under dubious and unexplained circumstances, including Mr Henry Lematia who won a national award last year.
The other affected broadcasters are Mr Moses Atule, Ms Pamela Atim, Mr Patrick Nyakuta, Ms Sharon Angucia and Ms Judith Atizuyo.
Mr Lematia was winner of best radio feature story award at the HIV & SRH Media Awards organised by ACME in Kampala on December 2, 2021.
It’s amazing and mindboggling that Radio Pacis can afford to lose a nationally recognised broadcaster.
Radio Pacis whose motto is: “Peace of Christ for all” is a leading FM station in West Nile and was until recently one of the best in the Greater North.
Established on October 25, 2004, Radio Pacis is the brainchild of the much loved and dearly missed Bishop Frederick Drandua (RIP).
Radio Pacis broadcasts in Arua, Moyo and Gulu and has reporters based in Acholi, Lango and West Nile sub-regions. Its powerful signals reach the entire Greater North, Bunyoro Kingdom, South Sudan and Eastern DR Congo.
Root causes of discontent
According to reliable sources, lack of good management at Radio Pacis is to blame to a large extent for the absence of peace at the Ediofe-based Radio station which has hosted President Museveni a couple of times for live talk shows and many prominent Ugandan personalities, including yours truly.
Refusal and failure to offer permanent appointments and poor remuneration of staff are said to be among the root causes of discontent at the station.
In a country where the government has refused to provide a minimum wage for workers, the private sector can afford to get away with paying employees peanuts as wages. But for a Christian organisation to do likewise is the moral equivalent of blasphemy.
I was surprised to learn that members of staff who have worked diligently for five, six, seven years or more and won national awards for excellence and a job well done are employed on the basis of annual contracts renewed in January every year. It’s unbelievable, unethical, indefensible and a violation of Uganda’s labour laws.
The primary asset of any organisation and country is its human resources -- the people, not equipment, not infrastructure, not oil, not gold and not silver.
It is foolhardy for any country or organisation to treat its human resources casually, carelessly, mercilessly with contempt as happens in Uganda today.
I was a friend of Bishop Frederick Drandua who founded Radio Pacis. I am a supporter of Radio Pacis. As a devout Christian, I have written this Opinion piece in good faith as a wake-up call.
Radio Pacis deserves better. May the peace of Christ dwell in our hearts!
Mr Acemah is a political scientist and retired career diplomat.
[email protected]
