Museveni to intervene as Anglican and Catholic churches fight over ownership of schools
President Yoweri Museveni has launched a probe into the ownership and management of schools between the Catholic and Anglican Churches in the Acholi and Lango sub-regions.
This follows wrangles between officials of the 2 denominations that emerged between 2006 and 2017. The dispute relates to the founding bodies of the schools, each claiming ownership of over 100 Primary and Secondary schools in Acholi and Lango sub-regions. A meeting was held yesterday at the Comboni Animation Centre, St. Joseph Cathedral in Gulu District following fears by stakeholders that the conflicts would affect the re-opening of schools in January.
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The meeting that was chaired by the Arch Bishop of Gulu, the Most Reverend John Baptist Odama was attended by over 10 serving Bishops of the 2 denominations. Among them was the Church of Uganda Bishop of Northern Uganda Diocese the Right Rev. Johnson Gakumba. Others in attendance were the Chief Administrative Officers and the District Education Officers.
The Head of the Anti- Corruption Unit of State House, Col. Edith Nakalema is leading the probe under the instructions of President Yoweri Museveni.
“We want to give the officials a chance to reform. If they fail they will be prosecuted. They must provide information. It is a big shame for all those in public offices who have compelled religious leaders to lament. Accounting officers in Government and civil servants in the Ministry of Education have been implicated. How can headteachers and DEOs decide on who is to be in charge of the schools? They came in to serve,” she said, adding that civil servants have failed in their roles.
Nakalema cited Akwang Primary School where a family donated land to the Church of Uganda but the DEO decided that it was a community school and blocked the Church.
She urged civil servants to do their work or else face the Court for the negligence of duty and revealed that DEOs and headteachers would be investigated. She assigned a team of CID Officers to remain in the area with instructions to conclusively conduct investigations into the matter.
Col. Nakalema gave the heads of the Education Departments a 5 weeks ultimatum ending 16th November 2021, to show the status of all the schools being contested in the Acoli and Lango sub-regions.
She called on the religious leaders to spearhead the drive to educate the communities about the value of education and urged them to strive towards solving the misunderstandings amicably.
She assured them that Government would ensure that the civil servants do their work efficiently. She urged them not to allow the politicians to mingle in Church matters.
The Archbishop of Gulu Archdiocese the Most Reverend John Baptist Odama thanked God for protecting them. He saluted President Museveni for supporting the meeting. He was optimistic that it would promote peace and unity. He also thanked Col. Nakalema for her efforts towards finding a lasting solution.
Rev. Charles Okello, the northern Uganda diocesan education coordinator said the issue of funding bodies and management of schools had caused a lot of tension which has affected education. He said some schools were changed during coding while others were taken over during the Northern Uganda conflict of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The Lira District Education Officer Ms. Frances Offungi attributed the conflict to the misplacement of records at the Lands offices in the Lango sub-region during the insecurity that was orchestrated by the LRA.
