KAMPALA CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION

REPORT ON THE 3rd GUEST PRESENTATION CONDUCTED BY BISHOP ZAC NIRINGIYE HELD ON WEDNESDAY 18TH MARCH 2012 2:00PM AT LOWER LECTURE THEATER, SCHOOL OF LAW, MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

Participants: PILAC Staff PILAC Students Civil Society Organisations Media i.e. WBS General Public

TOPIC: - RELIGION, POLITICS & TURBULENCE IN

STRUCTURE: 1.0 Profile of Guest Lecturer 2.0 Basis of Interaction 3.0 Background to religion, politics & turbulence in Uganda 4.0 The role of religion in abetting or causing or resolving conflicts 5.0 Way forward 6.0 Conclusion

1.0 Profile of Guest Lecturer: The Rt. Rev. Dr. D Zac Niringiye is a theologian, pastor, Bible teacher, counsellor, trainer, and organizational development consultant.

Currently, he is the Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Kampala, a position he assumed after four years as Regional Director of the Church Mission Society’s work in Africa and 20 years of ministry among students in Uganda and all over English and Portuguese Speaking Africa, initially with the Fellowship of Christian Unions (FOCUS) Uganda and then with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). He currently heads the African Peer Review Mechanism (Uganda Chapter), which assesses the performance of African leaders. (For more about his CV visit http://www.forum-intl.org/uploadedFiles/hiv_aids/Zac%20Biography.pdf)

2.0 Basis of Interaction He comes on Board as a pattern with HURIPEC and PILAC in the new Fellowship of

3.0 Background to religion, politics & turbulence in Uganda/Africa 1 He started off with a fundamental statement: “With respect to the question of religion and faith, Uganda is at cross roads given the multiplicity of religions.”

He noted that the debate all over is on the question: What does religion have to do with governance or politics?

Historical facts:  Our history is checkered with political, social and religious upheavals of violence  Africans are notoriously religious.  The upheavals are not only in Uganda but on the whole African Continent. He quoted George Ayittey in Africa's Crises: The Tragedy of International Response : Humanitarian crises have become a constant fixture on the African continent. Year after year, since 1985, one African country after another has imploded with deafening staccato, scattering refugees in all directions: Ethiopia (1985), Sudan (1972), Angola (1975), Mozambique (1975), Ethiopia (1985), Liberia (1992), Somalia (1993), Rwanda (1994), Zaire (1996), Sierra Leone (1997), Congo DRC (1998), Ethiopia/Eritrea (1998), Guinea (1999), Ivory Coast (2001), and Sudan (2003).  Wars in Africa are characterized as simply tribal or ethnic due to our obsession with tribalism  Wars/turbulences are a result of the struggle for power, the desire to monopolize power, the non- willingness to relinquish power

4.0 The role of religion in abetting or causing or resolving conflicts He categorically pointed out that:  Political motives are part and parcel of religious believers.  Religion is: a particular system of faith, customs, belief system, or world view  Religion is not a creation of foreigners, it long existed before the foreign invasions of Africa and Uganda in particular  The coming of foreigners simply redefined the paradigm.  Politics is the stewardship of public resources and the authority to use them or to manage the public sphere.  Real politics has to do with the material life of people.  Legitimacy of governors derives from ensuring that all communities have equal access top public resources and not from the occupation of the position. 4.1 The Turbulence in Uganda On this he painted a historical revolution or the growth of turbulence.

2 He divided the Uganda’s history of turbulence into two (2) periods: i) the budding years of Uganda & ii) The Amin era

4.1. 1 The budding years of Uganda This period sowed the seeds of turbulence, kicked off with H. M. Stanley’s arrival and fighting on behalf of the Kabaka of Buganda. This was followed by the invitation of military assistance and Christianity.

Christianity had a stronger impact on Uganda as the religion that spread the colonization agenda unlike Islam that had already been in place (1840’s) with Kabaka Suuna having received instruction in Islam though he never converted; Muteesa I received the Arab merchandise, recognized Islam, allowed mosques to built but Islam never took root.

It is urged differently that Muteesa motivation to invite Christians was:  Totally political and this is what prompts the separating of religion form politics  Totally religious, but understood in political terms

He however asserted that Muteesa’s motivation was that the coming would secure his military and political needs driven by Stanley’s abilities in war in Buvuuma.

The coming on the Christian Missionary Society (CMS) and the White Fathers (WFM) increased traffic in the Kabaka’s court, and confusion on the basis that all were white, carried the same bible, but each claimed to have the better version. Muteesa exploited this, using one against the other leading to the English versus the French, the Anglicans versus the Catholics. Religion became the mechanism of allocating resources and social services hence the wars of religion.

Each religion fought to control the Kabaka. The 1886 - 1888 killing of the martyrs (both Christian and Muslim) by Mwanga were simply political. For Mwanga the teaching of the Europeans increased insolence and insubordination, thus the decisive actions of throwing the missionaries out of his court, and then the murdering of the pages. This increased the tensions between Mwanga and religion. He decided to strengthen his armies under the chiefs not aware that they already had religious inclinations.

September 1888, the alliance of Christian and Muslim chiefs ousted Mwanga, followed by the Muslims ousting the Christians and getting a Muslim Kabaka. 1890 the Protestants and Catholics allied and to oust the Muslim and 1892 with the help of Lugard the Protestants ousted the Catholics. This led to Protestantism becoming the official religion.

3 4.1. 2 Amin Era Protestantism had been enjoyed as the quasi established religion of Uganda. Islam was on the margin. Amin on taking power deposed the protestant church from its position. Church had to face the reality of Islam.

Amin’s project was to create an Islam constituency, build new foreign benefactors. After meeting Gadaffi in German and inviting to Tripoli, he expelled Israelites, declared Uganda hence forth an Islamic state. Uganda with a population of less than 10% of Muslims was admitted to Organization of Islam Conference.

Amin knew that in the , religion has had a political dimension and politics had a religious dimension. Hence his agenda was both political and religious and this is what inspired him. He followed the principle “the religion of the ruler is the official religion of the state”.

The murder of Archbishop Janan Luwum is a manifestation of the Protestant - Muslim conflict. Janan had initiated the building of the Church House and Amin built a National Mosque. Luwum castigated the regime for the continued disappearances of the people and argued for the defenceless while Amin pushed for authority over the defenceless population. The holocaust in German was no less like the one in Uganda under Amin. In Amin’s eyes Luwum was guilty as a political criminal, hence he should be looked as a political martyr not necessarily a religious martyr. Luwum being a devout christian he was a loud nationalist.

Therefore the religious structuring of political power is responsible for the turbulences in Uganda’s history.

4.1. 3 Way forward The solution to the turbulence lies not in peace talks, dialogues, conferences or in multiparty politics. We need to restructure the politics, democratize access to socio-economic and political resources and privilege.

7.0 Conclusion The lecture was enriching and quite eye opening on the intermingling between religion and politics in Uganda’s history.

Report Compiled by: Arthur Nsereko – PILAC 11

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