Let’s ensure a safe pilgrimage please

It is in this vein that we urge motorists to observe road discipline and if possible slow down upon approaching trekking pilgrims. 

It is that time of the year again when hundreds of thousands of faithful descend on the martyrs’ shrines in Namugongo, Wakiso District, for the annual religious pilgrimage.

Christians throng to Namugongo as part of the tradition to renew their faith by remembering the 22 Catholic and 23 Anglican Uganda Martyrs, who were executed by Kabaka Mwanga II between  January 31, 1885 and January  27, 1887 for defending Christianity.  

As is the norm, a section of pilgrims choose to walk hundreds of kilometers to the shrines, taking several days on the road. However, many pilgrimages have left blood on the tarmac after vehicles ram into them.

For this year’s edition, an accident has already been reported in Jinja District where seven Christians from Bugiri Catholic parish in Bugiri District were taken to hospital in critical condition after a speeding garbage truck reportedly rammed into them at the weekend.

On May 21, 2022, Jovita Tukahirwa, a 53-year-old pilgrim, was knocked at Akegeto Village on the Mbarara-Masaka Highway and died at Dr Kiiza’s Clinic in Lyantonde District upon arrival.

The years 2020 and 2021 did not register cases because of the lockdown instituted to check the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.

A year earlier on May 26, 2019, we reported that four Kenyan pilgrims were killed in Iganga, a district in eastern Uganda, while walking to the shrines.

The statistics are overwhelming, and we should learn lessons from them and do better. And this calls for joint efforts.

First, last year, police and sister security agencies provided protection to pilgrims trekking. We urge the security agencies to do the same this year to avoid loss of life.

Secondly, there’s brazen reckless driving on our highways, which is a pain in pilgrims’ necks. Every time there is an accident involving the faithful, police attribute it to speeding and recklessness.

It is in this vein that we urge motorists to observe road discipline and if possible slow down upon approaching trekking pilgrims.   

Thirdly, the onus of keeping safe on the road also rests majorly on the shoulders of those walking. Ensure you observe road terrains, blind spots, and busy sections of the road.

Otherwise, we join the rest of the world to pray for a peaceful pilgrimage while on the road and at the shrines where multitudes of faithful are expected this week.