Ugandan government sued over closure of worship places

By Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - Religious leaders, activists and politicians collectively sued the Ugandan government Thursday at the Constitutional Court over the closure of places of worship to contain the spread of COVID-19.

On June 18, President Yoweri Museveni imposed a second total lockdown to curb a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with churches, mosques and religious temples among the public places shut.

After 42 days, some sectors such as public transport and business centers were allowed to operate, but Museveni directed that worship places be kept closed for another 60 days.

Through their lawyers, the applicants accuse the government of being discriminative by refusing to reopen places of worship yet allowing places like business centers to operate. The court is yet to announce the date for hearing the case.

“We have gone for justice to the Constitutional Court because we believe it is unfair for the president to keep us under lock yet more busy places like supermarkets, taxi parks and business centers are in full operation,” one of the petitioners, Pastor John Mukasa of St. Luke Church on the outskirts of Kampala, told Anadolu Agency.

He said they are seeking the Constitutional Court to declare that what the president did is inconsistent and contravenes some articles in Uganda’s constitution.

“Uganda is a God fearing country, but the current leaders seem to have forgotten about it. We demand the opening of places of worship immediately because this is our constitutional right,” Alice Alaso, the deputy national coordinator of the opposition Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party, said while addressing the press in Kampala.

“Ever since places of worship were closed down, there has been a lot of misbehavior among Ugandans, leading to an increase in killings, kidnappings and robbery. This is because people lack spiritual guidance since the places of worship where they go for it got closed. Places of worship should be opened immediately,” said Abbas Musajjalumbwa, the imam of Nakirebe Mosque in central Uganda.

An activist, John Baptist Okecho, said: ‘’It is unfair to allow people in markets to work as if there is no more COVID-19 in the country and yet places of worship are not allowed to operate.”

However, Dr. Keneth Kagwa, from the Ministry of Health said it is unfortunate that those people are going to court demanding that places of worship be reopened yet the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing.

According to the ministry’s latest records, there are 120,990 confirmed coronavirus cases in Uganda with 3,074 deaths and 95,697 cumulative recoveries.

The total number of people vaccinated is 1,476,526 out of a population of over 47 million.