Religious leaders urged to disclose their affiliations in 2024 census

The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has April 18,2024 held the National Population and Housing Census 2024 Prayer Breakfast Meeting, where His Grace Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu the Archbishop of the church of Uganda urged religious leaders to disclose their affiliations.

Kazimba said UBOS’s invitation of religious leaders to such a gathering, shows the government’s recognition of the importance of religious leaders.

“I would like to take this opportunity to call upon all believers to accurately report their religious affiliation, which data, when presented, will show the importance of religious diversity in our country,” he said.

Mugalu further urged UBOS to keep engaging religious leaders because they are FAT (Faithful, Available, Teachable) people.

The UBOS Executive Director Dr. Chris Mukiza noted that men and women of God will be a strong pillar as the bureau strives to have a successful and remarkable census in May.

He reiterated that the overall objective of the Census is to provide benchmark information on the spatial population distribution, age and sex structure, as well as other key socio-economic and demographic characteristics.

“I emphasized the role of religious leaders as publicizing the census during congregations and fellowships. Publicize census on the respective radio, television and social media appearances, as well as provide qualitative evaluation of the census implementation on an on-going basis.” He added.

Meanwhile Dunstan Balaba, the Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime minister(OPM), highlighted that in the government’s pursuit of sustainable development, they cannot afford to overlook the importance of Moral and ethical considerations.

He noted that their role as religious leaders becomes indispensable, adding that “Your teachings on compassion, Justice and solidarity inspire us to work tirelessly for the betterment of all members of society, especially the least fortunate among us. I am pleased to report that Uganda has made significant strides in several key areas including poverty reduction, access to education and health care, gender equality plus peace and justice.”

To strengthen government’s collaboration, Balaba noted that the office of the prime minister signed a memorandum of understanding with the (interreligious Council of Uganda), to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of sustainable development goals between government and the faith-based constituency of the country.

Dr. Albert Byamugisha the (UBOS) board chair, emphasized that census planning facilitates effective integration and implementation of various activities, by ensuring that each phase is properly implemented and that quality outputs are achieved within prescribed timeframes.

He said training is therefore one of the components of the planning process to ensure that everyone is aligned in the same thought as the Bureau undertakes the Census.

He has confidence that the religious leaders are going to preach the gospel of the census to the maximum, using their different communication channels and tools.

The religious leader’s breakfast meeting has been part of the ongoing UBOS’s publicity and sensitization activities, which are aimed at creating awareness among the public about the forthcoming National Population census.