Religious leaders Pledge Support for President Museveni, Citing Peace and Religious Freedom.
“For the last 40 years, M7 has been in power; there has been peace and stability and freedom of worship, which the previous governments did not give us,” stated a collective resolution read at the gathering.
BUSIA, UGANDA – In a significant display of political alignment, over 10,000 religious leaders from across Eastern Uganda convened at Busia Border Primary School this week, declaring their collective support for President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (often referred to as M7) in the upcoming elections. The annual gathering of pastors transformed into a potent political rally, with leaders crediting Museveni’s 38-year rule for providing the “peace, stability, and freedom of worship” they say was denied under previous regimes.
The event was orchestrated by the National Treasurer of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), Ambassador Babura Nekesa Oundo, who served as the chief guest. She directly linked the continuance of religious liberty to the re-election of President Museveni, while also promising the establishment of a government-funded special grant to support churches.
The pastors’ endorsements were heavily framed within Uganda’s fraught history. Before Museveni’s NRM seized power in 1986 after a five-year guerrilla war, the country endured decades of instability and severe restrictions on religious practice.
Idi Amin (1971-1979): Amin’s brutal regime was notorious for its arbitrary violence and sectarian policies. In 1977, he ordered the expulsion of all Israeli influences, targeted the Jewish community, and later that year, banned over 20 Christian evangelical groups, accusing them of being “imperialist agents.” Several church leaders were arrested, and places of worship were shuttered.
“For the last 40 years, M7 has been in power; there has been peace and stability and freedom of worship, which the previous governments did not give us,” stated a collective resolution read at the gathering.
Personal testimonies underscored this historical contrast. Pastor Wanakina Mike, one of the leaders at the event, shared a narrative of a life built under Museveni’s long tenure. “Since 1986, when M7 came into power,I was a young boy, and since then I have grown in a peaceful environment which has enabled me to become a pastor just because there is freedom of worship for every Ugandan,” he said.
However, the pastors also presented a list of temporal needs, highlighting the economic precarity of their vocation. They appealed for a “special fund to support their churches as most of them don’t earn salaries and yet they are expected to do God’s work of visiting the sick and others.”
Ambassador Babura Nekesa Oundo’s speech masterfully wove together gratitude, promise, and a stark electoral ultimatum.
“There is nothing as important in the world as someone giving you the freedom to worship your God as you want,” she stated. “A lot of freedom can be given, but if one is denied the right to worship, then it will seem like the freedom is meaningless.”
She then made a direct appeal: “I therefore call upon these religious leaders to kindly vote for M7 so as they are sure of their freedom to worship, because they are sure that it will be given, unlike a new government, which they are not sure of giving them the freedom of worship.”
Linking the government’s longevity to divine favour, she reminded the audience, “Past governments which never allowed freedom of worship collapsed in a few years, but because M7 is a man who believes and respects God, his government has managed to stay on for all these years.”
To address the pastors’ financial concerns, Oundo made a pivotal promise: “As government, we are planning to give churches a special fund to help them run their churches, and therefore they should give full support to M7 in this coming election.” She concluded by framing peace as a prerequisite for worship, asserting that voting Museveni back would “guarantee all the peace and freedom of worship.”
