Catholic Bishops under their umbrella of Uganda Episcopal Conference have urged all players involved in the upcoming general elections to promote peace and unity ahead of the polls.
Bishop Anthony Zziwa, the Chairman Uganda Episcopal Conference said that they are citizens of Uganda and so they have a right to discuss issues concerning this country.
He said that for long Uganda has failed to secure free and fair election process due to a number of concerns raised by the different political players.
He called upon the Electoral Commission to involve all political players on all matters likely to affect the credibility of the process. These include breach of peace and rights of persons, intolerance, discord in political parties, commercialisation of elections and bribery.
“We as shepherds of the flock cannot look aside as society slides into injustice and violence,” Bishop Zziwa said.
The Bishops also challenged Police to take charge of all other security agencies since they’re empowered by the constitution in ensuring free and fair elections. The clergy said they should desist from unnecessary disruption of political activities authorised by the EC.
“…the Police should always invite the military as the last resort given the latter’s limited knowledge and experience in crowd management; the military is trained for battle not crowd control,” Zziwa said.