Catholic Bishops tell govt to ensure missing persons produced in court

By Francis Jjunju

23^rd Dec 2022

The Catholic Bishops of Uganda have expressed concern about the missing persons whose whereabouts are unknown for the last two years.

Rt. Rev. Dr Joseph Antony Zziwa, the Chairman of the Uganda Episcopal Conference while delivering the Christmas message on behalf of all Catholic Bishops in Uganda at the Uganda Catholic Secretariat Nsambya, said that they are concerned that some of the abductees haven’t been accounted for or produced in courts of law despite persistent appeals by the affected families and other stakeholders.

This follows recent media reports of armed men linked to the state security forces kidnapping people and taking them to unknown locations, where they have no access to lawyers or family.

Now, the Prelates suggest to the government to account for the missing persons and ensure that all security organizations do their work within the confines of the law in the spirit of Christmas.

His Lordship Zziwa, also the Bishop of Kiyinda- Mityana diocese  further appealed to the political actors and other stakeholders to cooperate and work together to deal with the root causes of some of these challenges.

The Prelates also noted with concern the rampant cases of domestic violence, road accident fatalities, excessive alcohol consumption, corruption, land grabbing, food insecurity, environmental degradation, crime and widening gap between the poor and rich that are still challenging Ugandans.

Bishop Zziwa further expresses their worry about the increasing poverty that has left many families not able to afford a decent meal and cannot keep their children in school.

The Bishops also consoled with people that have been affected by Ebola, lost dear ones and others still under treatment especially those in the two districts of Kasanda and Mubende, calling for patience, cooperation and observance of the guidelines of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) put in place by the government through the Ministry of Health to prevent the disease and people should not stigmatize the victims of Ebola.